The LEGO Kingdom

Pirate Ship!

2011-07-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

I just entered a LEGO Universe pirate ship building contest!! Click here to view the contest and entries, mine will be up as soon as it's moderated. Here's some pics of the ship:

~Calvin-

~Addicted2LEGO13-

Bridge

2011-01-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

I just sent in a picture of a bridge I built for the LEGO Brickmaster Bridge Building Challenge! Here's some pictures. Thanks for looking!!

~Calvin-

LEGO Universe is %50 off!!

2010-11-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

If you want LEGO Universe, order now!! It's %50 off, making it only $19.98! LEGO Universe is a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) that's all LEGO!! Hurry, I don't know how long this offer will last!!! Click here! PLUS!! You'll get a FREE exclusive LEGO rocket set with it!! (While supplies last only)

~Calvin-

New set

2010-10-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd post this little creator Jet set... It hasn't been released yet, but according to Brickset , the instructions are on LEGO.com. Looks like a cool little set.

~Calvin-

A large model coming soon....

2010-08-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the title may be slightly... um, misleading. My next biggest and greatest MOC is probably about halfway done. However, if I get around to it I may post a spoiler. But at this time it will probably be a few months until it is completed. Especially as the 2010 season of FLL is quickly approaching! Check out our FLL blog for more info on FLL, or our website.

~Calvin--

Brickworld!!

2010-06-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

Brickworld has been going awesome! Wall E has been getting LOTS of attention!! (Check out The MINDSTORMS Kingdom for more on Wall E)

~Calvin-

Second 1/2 of brickworld day one

2010-06-17T22:04:00.001-07:00

Here is the rest of the stuff we did today!

We went back to the hotel to work on the robot for the BOTS challenge (its a lot quieter and not so stressful.) The challenge was to move LEGO cubes out from your base into the field, 1 point for large blocks 2 points for small, if we stacked them up we would get more points. We then went to the dirty brickster challenge (its the LEGO equivalent to white elephant or sneaky Santa. I got a Space Police set, and Calvin got a PoP set. Coach went to the BOTS challenge while we did that and did quite well for what our robot was capable of. Then we wandered around and saw MONSTER CHESS! That was awesome! Still has some bugs that need to be worked out, but that is a small issue when you see the size and programming involved! Now we are back in the hotel after building our sets. Tomorrow has a lot in store for us!

Will keep you posted!

Jarren ;)

Day ½ of Brickworld 2010

2010-06-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hello!!

We had a safe trip to Chicago, then came in late last night to a hotel and then got up to go register for Brickworld 2010! We went to 2 seminars, one on designing and building custom LEGO kits. the speakers (Jeramy Spurgeon and Mark Peterson, editors of RAILBRICKS Magazine.) talked about designing kits, building them, acquiring parts, selling and packaging for shipping. The second seminar, "Introduction to LEGO Animation", led by David Pagano was the basics on LEGO stop motion. Along with the essential tools and equipment needed. David Pagano does LEGO animation for a living, and has made videos for LEGO, such as Space Police videos that are on the LEGO website. He also does videos of his own, such as "Little Guys", one of my favorite LEGO animations. Right now we're working on the BOTS(Build On The Spot) Challenge. More info coming soon!!

~Calvin- EXCITED for the rest of BRICKWORLD!

Woot!

2010-05-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

I did it again! Top 10 in the Technic challenge four times in a row! Please vote for me here.

Good luck to everyone!
Jarren :-)

I Pre-Ordered!

2010-05-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

Yup, me and my bro both pitched in and purchased LU today! Why don't you do it too? Click here!

Jarren

LEGO Universe!

2010-05-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Guess what?! LEGO Universe presale is out!! It's $40 for the original program which comes with 30 days of membership. After that it's $10 for 1 month, $50 for 6 months and $90 for 12 months (1 year). AND! While supplies last you'll get an EXCLUSIVE minifigure and in-game accessories! From what I know, this is gonna be an AWESOME game!! :D

-Calvin-

Brickworld 2010!

2010-05-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

Jarren and I are going to Brickworld 2010! Brickworld is the Largest LEGO convention in North America. It's held at the Westin Hotel in Chicago. It's June 17 through 20. There are 2 days that are open to the public for only $10 at the door, so if you're in the area on Saturday or Sunday of that weekend, maybe you can stop by and see everybody's creations! Here's the Brickworld 2010 website for more information: http://www.brickworld.us/bw2010

-Calvin-

What do you call it when you don't hit a single pin 3 times in a row?

2010-05-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

Yup, I didn't win . . . again . . .
I thought that the chicken would win the May Technic Challenge, but I was suprised to find that the Tractor with trailer won.

Well, maybe better luck with the bridges . . .

Jarren

Turkey!

2010-04-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

Well, if I was bowling I would call 3 strikes a turkey. What do you call it when you get in the top ten in a LEGO Technic challenge 3 times in a row? :-P

Yup I did it again! Quite surprised, but glad!

If you would like to vote for me, please go here!

I really like the models in this months challenge, may the best MOC win!

He did it again!

2010-03-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

YAY! I MADE IT AGAIN! Top ten finalist in the march Technic challenge! Please click Here, to vote. Mine's the rock crawler.

Thanks!
Jarren :)

Oh well . . .

2010-03-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

Oh well . . . I didn't win the feburary technic challenge . . .

But the March one is up and I have a good chassis going! I invite you to enter this one, its a lot of fun!

Jarren :/

LEGO TECHNIC Challenge

2010-02-17T13:49:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone check this website out! Every month they have a challenge and you have to build a model. This month I got selected to be in the top ten! From now until February 28th you can vote for you favorite model. Whichever model gets the most votes, that creator gets a technic set. The model will then go into the final contest in October with the winners from the other months. The winner of the October contest will receive the ENTIRE 2010 TECHNIC LINE.

Could you guys head over there and vote? If you vote then i will win! . . . that is . . . if you vote for . . .me. And if you don't . . . well, you gotta do what you gotta do, but don't think i wont find out about it! :)

My model is the "cargo copter" and my user name is "Jayko543"

Thanks!

The Bradford Rant mystery is not over yet!

2010-01-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

That's right! Although all the pods have been found, the mystery is far from over. The team has imputed the pod's I.D.s into their supercomputer and well, it blew up! But in the process of that, they created a rip, or portal, from our world to LEGO UNIVERSE! Now thousands of Minifigures are becoming re-animated, and are flooding into LU. You can help too! By completing missions you can re-animate Minifigs all around our world and send them back to LEGO UNIVERSE! But the Maelstrom has somehow gotten through too, and is tampering with the displayed mount of minifigs entering the universe. This makes it appear as if there are already enough minifigs in LU, but its not true. So we need to get as many Minifigs to LU before the rip closes, on April 1st. Check out the website at www.legouniverse.com/helptheminifigs to "Answer the call and save imagination!"

Brickset!

2010-01-14T14:21:00.001-08:00

Man, I haven't posted on here in awhile, anyway, I have created a list of most of the LEGO elements that my family owns using peeron.com and brickset.com! Using that information and an estimate of what they don't have inventoried I bet we own about 70,000 elements! Thats 400 sets, 500 minifigs and 13 years of collecting!

I gotta go now, I might post later with more info.

Be shure to check out www.brickset.com and www.peeron.com!
Calvin :)

Even more Christmas reviews

2010-01-07T13:59:00.001-08:00

Okay here comes the big stuff!

8264 Hauler

Price: 59.99
Part count: 575
B model: Flatbed truck
Ease of build: 5 out of 5
Overall rating: 5 out of 5

This is one awesome technic set! The parts are wonderful, with the power functions, 6 yellow panels and 6 sweet wheels. The model is a little smaller then i thought but its still cool. The steering is different, instead of turning the wheels, the whole cab turns. I haven't made the B model yet but i will post once i have.

Okay are you ready for this? Drum roll please . . . tat ta ta tat tat tat ta ta tat tat

8996 Skopio X-V 1
Part count: 849
Ease of build 4 out of 5
Price: 89.99
Overall rating: 100 out of 5!

THIS IS THE BEST SET IN THE HISTORY OF LEGO!!!!!!!!!!!!! (next to the NXT)
I was afraid that this set was going to be out of stock. But my parents surprised me by nabbing the last one off amazon. Im sure i could go on for days about this set but here are some of my favorite things. The 96 tracks and 4 large sprockets are sweet, now calvin and i can really work on that wall e. The 8 weird clicky parts that are on the legs are awesome for just about anything. All those red panels on the side of the legs are going to be used in a crab i am working on. The building its self was a little boring because you had to build 4 identical legs. This is the biggest bionicle set ever because bionicle is done after the stars!

So all and all, I think i had a great christmas, and i hope you had a good one too!

Jarren :)

More Christmas reviews

2010-01-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

I am going to review some LEGO stuff other then sets today.

Brickjournal magizine subscription:

What can I say? Pure awsomeness!

NXT light sensor, NXT touch sensor:

Now I can create some cool robots, I will post them on the www.themindstormskingdom.blogspot.com

LEGO mindstorms NXT ROBOTS ALIVE! Endangered Species:

This book is kinda the sequel to The NXT Zoo by Fay Rhodes. The animals are neat,but the documentation is terrible! The book basically says: "build the robot, make the program, push the button." No more, no less. So its very hard to figure out how to get some models to work (e.g. the sloth). Every single animal has a sensor, but Fay never uses them for a purpose! And this is supposed to be educational for the class room! Okay I will stop talking about this one now.

NXT thinking robots:

This book looks very cool, letting you build a rubiks cube solving bot and a unbeatable tic-tak-toe bot. But my computer is not compatible with NXC and Brixcc! So unfortunately i am returning this and probably keep the money for an NXT 2.0.

Part 3 coming tomorrow!

Jarren :)

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

2010-01-04T10:46:00.001-08:00

Hope you all had a great Christmas! I received some LEGO sets that I will review. Here are two of them.

8395 Mini Bulldozer
Price: $9.99
Part count: 165
B model: Mini excavator
Building ease: 4 1/2 out of 5, It wasn’t hard to build but clipping the tracks together is a bit tedious.
Overall rating 4 1/2 out of 5

This was a stocking stuffer that I really liked. It’s very cool how the dozer lifts up and down, and you just have to love the 52 track links that it comes with! The B model is real cool with 4 degrees of freedom! Unfortunately, there are no new parts that I don’t have in this set.

8045 Mini Telehandler

Price: $10.99
Part count: 117
B model: Motorcycle with sidecar
Building ease: 5 out of 5, any one can build it without any trouble.
Overall rating: 4 out of 5

This set was also a stocking stuffer and I was surprised at the parts it came with. Two 13-length beams and one 15-length beam. It also had a new decorative panel and one T-beam (#4552349). There was something new that I never saw before, I’m sure that this part will come in handy in the future. The B model is very basic with the only function of steering. This is the reason why I gave it 4 stars.

Thank you for reading and I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Jarren ;)

PS. I will review some more sets tomorrow.

Set review

2009-11-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

I am going to review a set that my brother bought at Meijer because they had a sale "Buy one power miner or city play set, and get one power miner or city play set 1/2 off!"

Power miner set #8958 "Granite Grinder"
Quality of parts: All power miner sets have cool parts but this one is especially cool! The bucket and treads are new to me and i will use them in future creations (if i can get them away from my bro). I love the rock monster and the crystal.

Quality of play: I really don't role play, but the set has a lot of potential for stories.You could pretend that Glaciator stole the bucket and crystal, then you can have the power miner fight to get it back.

Set Features: This set features a drill that goes in and out as the treads spin to hack up rock. The twin air canisters look very cool siting on the back of the grinder. The over-sized spotlight is cool but there is no way for the minifig to hold it.

Quality for price: $11.98! Thats quite pricey for only 94 parts, but some of the parts are rare. (and i didn't buy it! ;))

Over all rating 4 out of 5.

Jarren ;)

The Bradford Rant Institute of Cosmic Kinesis.

2009-11-15T12:45:00.000-08:00

THE PODS ARE COMING!

Mysterious LEGO® pod found. More on the way!
The signals from deep space are transmitting map coordinates to Earth. Could they lead to the discovery of more pods?

Go to WWW.BradfordRant.ORG for more information, and help solve the mystery!

Jarren ;)

All my Technic sets, sorted!

2009-11-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

Finaly, I sorted all my Technic parts! Here are some pics to show you how cramped the bricks are.

My birthday!

2009-10-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Monday was my 14th birthday! And of course, I got LEGO. I am going to review what I received.

The LEGO book: This is a cool book packed full of facts and info about making the brick, designing a set, and includes a long time line. It also goes through the different themes they have made over the years. Also included is the 96-page book "standing small" which celebrates the 30th birthday of the minifig. If you would like to buy it click here.

Technic set #8265 Front loader: this big Technic set comes with over 1000 pieces! the main model is very cool with huge wheels and working steering, gigantic bucket and loads of special parts. I love the articulators and Calvin and I plan on using them on a 2 NXT WALL-E.

Jarren ;)

Technic 8262 Quad Bike . . . Motorized!

2009-09-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

This is the Technic 8262 Quad Bike . . . Motorized! I have built power functions into it so it can move forward, backward, and turn. It also has lights. I made it remote controlled except for the headlights. All the suspension is still in there. but i had to change the back spring to a stronger one because the battery pack bottomed it out. I used a motor for turning but geared it down and used a clutch gear for more accuracy. An XL motor controls the rear wheels with knob gears. The only problem is that the battery pack and motor stick up so high, but other than that its a fun little toy!

Jarren ;)

Old Technic set

2009-09-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

I got the Technic universal 8074 a few months ago but i never posted about it so here we go.

My dad was at a thrift store and was looking around, he spotted this set and picked it up, turns out that it was only 10 bucks!
It comes with a lot of cool parts even though it is old and you can build some pretty neat models. The coolest parts are the Flex system and the turntable.

Lego animation

2009-09-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hey, i am starting to do stop motion animation.
Here is my studio introduction.

Sabon

2009-08-31T14:53:00.000-07:00

This Glatoran is ready to fight in the arena!
Sabon was made for a Glatoran contest in a lego magazine.

Hope you like it!
Jarren ;)

Lego Transformer

2009-07-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

I finally made a transformer out of Lego!

R2-D2 Mech.

2009-07-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

My brother and I made a R2-D2 Vehicle. It is for a Lego magazine challenge to make something to help find R2-D2.
Here is a video showing all its features.

Lego set built in the bag!

2009-07-14T12:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read the title right, my brother and I made the Creator mini off-roader inside its original sealed bag. Well, there were two bags, one inside the other and we had to open the small bag inside the big one. But in the end we completely made the main model with out opening the bag.

Don't believe me? Check out this movie!

Welcome

2009-07-10T11:38:00.001-07:00

Welcome to The LEGO Kingdom.

This blog is about Jarren and Calvin's LEGO projects.