Third Third

For the third year running, I won 3rd prize in the Adult age division of a local toy store’s LEGO competition.

The annual event at S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes is in its ninth year. This year’s entries are still on display at the Squirrel Hill store until the end of July.

Now that voting is over, I’ve posted some pictures of my entry on flickr.

Meanwhile, another LEGO model I recently posted to flickr got blogged by The Brothers Brick. If you don’t follow the LEGO art scene: that blog is one of the most prominent, and has pretty high standards. Having one’s work appear there is a minor badge of honor, so I’m quite pleased to join those ranks.

It’s LEGO contest time again!

Voting has begun in the annual all-ages LEGO contest at S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes in Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh PA). Stop by the shop (shoppe?) to see my entry and plenty of other cool stuff from adult LEGO artists down to five- and six-year-olds. Vote for your favorites – one in each age division – now through June 30.

A small preview of my entry in the 2013 LEGO competition at S. W. Randall Toyes and Giftes

A small preview of my entry in the 2013 LEGO competition at S. W. Randall Toyes and Giftes

I’ll post more pictures of my entry some day, but for now you’ll have to go see it in person!

…Oh, and say, isn’t that me in the newspaper, talking about LEGO as an art form?

A Cave for a Cave

My entry in this year’s LEGO competition at S.W. Randall Toyes & Gifts won Third Prize in the adult division!

Predictably, the First and Second Place winners were models of local landmarks. Those are always popular. (These were nicely done: they didn’t win just because of the local angle. For that matter, I put a local spin of sorts on mine, too…though more tangentially.)

What was particularly cool about coming in third this year, though, was the prize: my entry was The Batcave (circa 1929), and third prize was Set 6860: The Batcave! Perfectly appropriate!

My old-timey Batcave was based on the idea that, after all, Bruce Wayne is insane. He’s an obsessed vigilante who hangs out in a cave. With bats.

Bruce Wayne broods in my LEGO Batcave.

Therefore…why would he care if his cave doesn’t have a floor? I envisioned an upside-down office, clinging bat-like to the roof of a vast bottomless cavern beneath Wayne Manor.

A top view of my LEGO Batcave, showing its bottomlessness.

He doesn’t need to lock his file cabinet: Batman’s about the only guy Ninja enough to reach it. (It’s on a swivel arm…but he’s got the only key to the controls.)

The hard-to-reach filing cabinet in my LEGO Batcave.

Anyway, I had a great time in the contest again this year! (If you voted for me, thanks!)

…apparently my model was even on TV! The contest got a fair amount of publicity from the local media this year, and here’s a clip (seen here on YouTube) from a TV news broadcast:

My entry is featured around 1:10 – 1:13. They got a beautiful close-up of brooding Bruce Wayne, expertly framing one of the model’s best angles. Woot! (And a good view of my Batmobile around 1:42 – 1:45.)

To commemorate my Third Place-ing, I built myself a little trophy using (mostly) parts from my prize:

A LEGO trophy made with Batcave parts.

While I was at it, I built myself a trophy for last year too, utilizing more new parts from set 6860:

A LEGO Trophy with a crystal cave theme.