Big In Japan Roundup

It took awhile to get to writing this roundup what with BrickCon, then with post-BrickCon clean up and coming down from the BrickCon high. Some of you might know what I'm talking about. If you don't, you ought to get yourself to BrickCon one of these years. Anyway, this challenge delves into into the island nation of Japan where they have square watermelon, vending machines doling out used panties...and the world's most formidable automotive industry...well, except for China, who apparently took that title from Japan last year somehow. lets get to it!

You know what's big in Japan besides square watermelon and used panty vending machines? This 1973 Datsun 510 LH Turbo built by Jason Son. Even though he claims Japanese cars are not his thing, Jason Son accurately depicts the early 70's style, its shape, the grille, headlights and all around feel that just screams...classic Japanese. You know that feel I'm talking about, right? Well, this MOC just screams it!



Also screaming from the hilltops and making their presence known are these two Japanese super bikes built by Aaron-smileyface-potleaf. The hair and wild color scheme is indicative of Japanese anime cartoons. Aaron says it feels good to contribute to the challenges again but apologizes for double dipping into blue-purple color scheme again. With MOCs this good he can double dip into blue-purple cheese dip anytime!



Speaking of double dipping, Japanese designer Teruo Uchino had his eye on European contemporary sedans, particularly the BMW, when he designed the Datsun 510. That's what Legogil tells us as he presents this stunning Datsun rally racer with it's striking red, yellow, white and gray color scheme. If the Datsun 510 has been dubbed the poor man's BMW...rich or poor, Legogil has done a great job of recreating it!



zenn takes us into the future with these four Neo-Tokyo hoverbikes. As we're not a spaceship building group, this sort of dances the line between what is allowed in our group and what is not but you can't deny these sleek little creations took its main inspiration from motorcycles...and as Japan is such a tech-savvy nation, this could be pretty accurate in terms of what the Japanese may have in store for us in the very near future.






By this point, Dylan Denton jokes that "a better name for this challenge would've been Build a Datsun" as he rolls one more Datsun off the assembly line, this time a white 1971 Skyline GT-R. Even though a smaller scale than the other Datsuns presented in this challenge, its shape, its grille and headlights are unmistakably BMW...er, I mean Datsun! Damn that Teruo Uchino!



Tim Inman knew the Nissan/Datsun sedans would be popular. That's why he built this 1970 Datsun...er, I mean Toyota Celica 1600GT. While Tim is a diehard Chevy guy, he has no problem relaying this Toyota's distinctly Japanese form. Oh, and guess what? He's so good at building Japanese cars that his black and orange Mazda RX-7 won Best Modern Japanese at BrickCon's Big In Japan exhibit! Way to go, Tim! Maybe we should start calling you Rabidtunerracer. ;)



You really can't get tired of Datsuns when they look this good. This Tuner built by J0n4th4n D3rk53n is chock full of complex curves, advanced build techniques and even some totally chromed out rims. I got to meet Jonathan and his parents at BrickCon. He seems to be a totally cool young man...he came during public hours and wants to be "one of us" for BrickCon next year. I'm surprised his parents took so well to me, considering that day I wore my skull rings, a skull and cross bones cap and a skirt. Yep, a skirt!



You really can't have a Big In Japan vehicle building challenge without Akira inspired super bikes...such as this one built by Brad. Its shape is unmistakably Akira...throw in a rider with purple cabbage hair and you've just won the Big In Japan jackpot! I never thought I'd write such a sentence including purple cabbage hair and winning the Big In Japan jackpot, but low and behold...there it is!



Tuner sedans are Big In Japan. These tuners built by Dohoon Kim are...Tiny In Japan...or Tiny in Togo, which is where Dohoon lives. Ah, I can just see these little tuners drifting circles around that little cop car! Poor copper would never have a chance against them!



Speaking of drifting circles around the competition, no one does it better than Ken Block in his Subaru Impreza WRX...also built by Dohoon Kim. The familiar black, white and lime green color configuration adorns the little car as well as the iconic Monster Energy Drink logo.



GorillaWer tells us to bless the mess with this Suzuki Gori bike. You should never swim until an hour after you've eaten but apparently you can build with Lego as evidenced by GorillaWer telling us this was constructed within an hour right after dinner. I like how the front tire is held on by minifig arms.



Mad Physicist is exceptionally good at making very common things look...um...good. Here we have the Toyota Prius. Ralph tells us this is the most distinctive Japanese car on the road in Europe and come to think of it the most distinctive here in the US as well. That reminds me of that South Park episode where Prius drivers were completely smug and enjoyed the smell of their own farts. Yeah, that's pretty spot on. ;)



Lino Martins was hell bent on building a Hayabusa motorcycle for this challenge. So I did some research on the Hayabusa and suddenly I was building this Suzuki GSX R/4 concept car instead. See how my mind works? Well, its not like I'm completely daft...this sleek little concept racer runs with a rear mounted Hayabusa engine. See, so its totally justifiable!



A man of few words...no words...Ricecracker graces us with this tiny Honda S2000. Its little...and its a Honda...which makes it Little In Japan...or something. That reminds me, I'm hungry for a meat and cheese snack. Maybe I am a little daft after all.



Also a man of few words is Raphy. Wait, what? The usually talkative young man doesn't say much when he presents his new '04 Subaru rally racer. Seems like this time we gotta do all the talking for him. Lets see, well, its blue and its a four wide...and it probably burns rubber and peels out. And its probably owned by Superman or the President. There, thats more like it!



And what would a LUGNuts challenge be without a day late last minute run by Peter "lego911" Blackert? It would be very punctual, but a lot less populated...and not quite as exciting. Lets rattle off the run in quick succession, first is a 1967 Toyota 2000 GT.



Next is a '74 Toyota E30 Corolla Wagon. I didn't even know they had the Corolla in '74!



Next on the Lego911 slab is the '85 Mitsubishi Australia TM Magna...apparently Japanese cars have infultrated the Australian market as well.



Then make way for the '85 Toyota E80 Corolla SX Twin-Cam 5-Door...all I can say about that is thank God for copy/paste!



And next is the '66 Toyota E10 Corolla Sedan.



Then Lego911 takes a break...for probably like five minutes, then presents us with the Toyota Corolla AE86 Levin.



Next is the Toyota Corolla AE86 Trueno



Followed closely by the Toyota Corolla AE86 levin (standard)



Then Lego911 takes a short break and returns with a brick built Toyota...uh, I mean Nissan E23 Urvan



Changing it up a little, we have the Toyota TF104 Formula 1 racer



And proving he can build more Toyotas in shorter time than the entire Japanese auto industry, next we have the '84 Toyota Tarago MPV.



And finally Lego911 finishes us off with a '91 Honda NSX. That's a wrap, boys!



Well that was a satisfying end to our all Japanese-y challenge! Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto indeed! You youngins look that up...and try not to blow your minds while you're at it! Early 80's progressive rock should be taken in small doses. What shouldn't be taken in small doses is our birthday challenge called...LUGNuts Turns Three! This month we get to build from any challenge over the past three years...sort of a free for all, anything goes, year in review thank you for making LUGNuts a raging success. So have yourself a heaping load of birthday cake for us, and while you're at it...why not build something! Stay tuned throughout the month to see how we do. Happy building all y'all!

The Scuzz And The Fuzz Roundup

This month's roundup has to do with the Scuzz and the Fuzz...its the law breakers vs the law enforcers...creepy criminal cars and the police vehicles sworn to hunt them down. We were sure to get a nice mix of vehicles for this challenge and boy did we not disappoint! Lets see how we all did, shall we?

Dylan Denton is off to a strong start with this pair of prototype Japanese police vehicles...one a sporty coupe with gullwing doors and the other a massive supervan to haul off unruly criminals. Both have that futuristic concept movie vehicle feel that the Japanese adore so much...and be sure not to miss the video illustrating the vehicle's features including flashing lights!



Dohoon Kim brings in the fuzz in classic black and white with this Saleen S281 Extreme police vehicle. He also tells us this could technically be considered the scuzz as Barricade was a bad cop car from Transformers. Who could forget the tag line it said on the car..."to punish and enslave". I'm thinking of getting that put on the side of my dad's rusted out Aries K wagon. Ah, its been sooo long since I pulled an Aries K joke!



Here is something Ralph Savelsberg would have seen a lot of in his rear view mirror...if he had a rear view mirror. Or a car. Still, this Dutch police bike must be familiar territory for our Dutch born Mad Physicist. I'm particularly liking the accurately portrayed slumped shoulders of the rider and the rear mounted blue light.



Ralph is probably glad he doesn't have a car to speed by this stealthy unmarked vehicle. He tells us that American unmarked police cars are fairly easily identifiable...what with their marked license plates and specialty antennas, lights and other doodads...but Dutch unmarked cars are truly unmarked. Who could suspect this unassuming dark blue VW Passat as being an unmarked speed trap? They come in both sedan and estate wagon flavors!



With all this fuzz hanging around you'd think the scuzz wouldn't rear its ugly head. But sometimes the scuzz isn't too bright as evidenced by the ugliest of all scuzz...a trailer park built by my bug-builder buddy Doctor Mobius. His first ever LUGNuts entry features the requisite broken down car in the front yard as well as other not to be missed scuzzy details. Mobius has lived in Alabama so he knows all about the lowdown scuzz. Makes you wanna wash your hands, doesn't it?



Lego Junkie loads in s'more scuzz to keep the trailer park company...this time in the form of a heavily modified Ford F-100 pickup. With menacing exhaust pipes sticking out of the engine cavity and a boat window, this design borrows heavily from Nathan's post-apocalyptic pickup, but Lego junkie also included a 50 cal machine gun and a cooler to keep those scuzzy Coors Lites as cold as the Rockies!



Tommy N keeps law and order with this little Fuzzati Veyron. I'm not a gamer, but the trailer that Tommy included for Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit looks awesome! Among the fuzz's ranks is the million dollar Veyron police conversion that inspired Tommy's build. With fuzz that powerful, I'd think twice about outstepping the law, heck, I'd even consider never bringing in my library books late ever again!



Jason Son shows the scuzz some love with this lowdown '55 Chevy Bel Air complete with red and yellow flames and a 50's era greaser. It was these kinds of cars with their suped-up engines that started illegal street drag racing. In spite of all the police efforts to restore order, many a hot rodder was killed during these illegal races...which in turn spawned the sport of legal drag racing on safer, more controlled drag strips.



J0n4th4n D3rk53n chimes in with this too wild to believe polizia concept vehicle designed to chase down speeders. The strange flattened design seems to flow well with the shiny chrome rims courtesy of Bricksonwheels and with its raked up back end and sick exhaust pipes, I wouldn't want this concept vehicle in hot pursuit in my rearview mirror!



From the fuzz to the scuzz, Jonathan gives equal billing to the...um...criminally insane. You'd have to be if you chose this bright yellow and red low down '50 Merc as your getaway car. Nothing says "hey, look at me!" like a custom Merc in flashy Ronald McDonald colors.



Speaking of flashy colors, Jake conjures up a trio of tiny English Police cars with their bright lights and blue and yellow stripes. One is the Mitsubishi Evo X, another is a Lambo Gallardo and the last is the Vauxhall Astra. Gosh even the English sirens sound polite and dignified. Neener Neener Neener Neener!



Aaron F1...not to be confused with our other Aaron...presents the Vegan Police vehicle from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I didn't see the movie but the Vegan police are probably as weird and obnoxious as vegans in real life. Those folks don't eat any animal products...like not even cheese or eggs. I've done a lot of reading up on animal conservation and I've come to the sound conclusion that there is plenty of room for all of God's creatures...right next to the mashed potatoes. Hah! I love that joke!



NK DeSign-er declares the quadbike to be the perfect scuzz getaway vehicle...and why not? They're small, agile and can get on and off the road with equal ease and speed off through the forest or rough terrains where most police vehicles dare not tread. This quad is an alternate model to the official Lego Creator 5867 Super Speedster set. It seems alternate models are NK's specialty.



Sometimes the fuzz is not at all from the official police force. Sometimes they're just suave and debonaire heroes. Take this James Bond Blower Bently Convertible 1930 Coupe for example built by none other than Peter Blackert. While the movie version of Bond chases bad guys and beautiful women in an Aston Martin, the literary version does the same in a Bentley in pure English elegance and style. Just look at that white tux. Classy!



Some more lego911 fuzz for your viewing pleasure is this Ford Mondeo Mk III UK Police Cruiser in striking blue and lime green stripes. Its what all the modern Bobbies are driving! They still call them Bobbies, right?



Finally on the Lego 911 slab, we go from ultra-modern to ultra-oldschool with this Ford Model A 1928 Tudor Sedan Police Vehicle. Peter has this body style down pat, as evidenced by his several recent appearances on The Brothers Brick. Man, I still can't get over how perfect those rubber tires stretched over spoked wagon wheels are!



New guy Parda Technic somehow lives up to his name with this futuristic Police Cabrio...chock full of gear trains, moving pistons and other technic doodads and doohickeys. He tells us this creation is half old...half new...then he laughs menacingly. The technic scale driver sits all the way in the back and rides this beast like a chariot. Neat!



Firas Abu-Jaber is all about the fuzz this month with this 1991 Bugatti EB110 SS. With this sleek car patrolling the beat, I wouldn't even consider stealing a pen from the bank!...which would be hard considering they're always attached to them little ball-in-socket chains...which can make it hard to fill out a deposit slip.



Legogil lives in Brazil (hey, that rhymes!) so he knows all about the Chevy Opala. Its a little unclear if he's supposed to be representing the scuzz or the fuzz with this ride (maybe a little of both) but he tells us the Opala used to the used as police cars and taxi cabs. This particular Opala looks like it was refurbished for more...um...scuzz related activity like maybe street racing.



Sir Nadroj tells us all to respect his authoritah! And who wouldn't with this very respectable classic 1979 Dodge Monaco police cruiser? This is just the kind of police vehicle you'd see running down baddys in American car chase movies of yore. Ah, whatever happened to the classic American car chase? Nowadays car chases are done very slowly in a white Ford Bronco.



Orion Pax also has classic 70's police chases on the brain with this sleek tan and black highway patrol vehicle. Pax busts the legs off an ultra-rare chrome stormtrooper to form that front bumber...and check out the wheel wells. Long before anyone else can get their greasy mitts on them, Pax somehow sports the tan cheese slopes!



Is it any surprise that self proclaimed badboy Lino Martins goes with the scuzz on this one? With a screaming blue on blue on blue 60’s era panels paint job, this custom '59 Ford Ranch wagon has wracked up three speeding tickets, four parking violations, three counts of disturbing the peace, two counts of illegal street racing and even one count of “riding a little too low for this jurisdiction”...and that was all just this Friday alone!



A guy with Asian characters for a name (a.k.a. "Brad") is a man of few words. Actually, only one word..."old". Whether he's telling us this an an old MOC or a MOC of an old car, you don't need many words to tell us this is the classic iconic '74 Ford Gran Turino from the old Starsky and Hutch show of yore...putting this law enforcing MOC squarely in the fuzz category.



A man of many more words...and more entries is Sangi13. First he chimes in heavily with a trio of entries spanning both the scuzz and the fuzz. First a '70 Ford Mustang for the law-biding fuzz, second a '32 roadster also for the fuzz and a '32 roadster 5-window for the scuzz...which somehow surprisingly looks more like a hummer. Hmmmm.



Looking much more like what its supposed to be is this little 1982 Mustang convertible built for the scuzz to outrun the police. Two fuzz and two fuzz from Sangi13. He seems to like balance and order.



According to Tim Inman, there is nothing scuzzier than Japanese underground street racing gangs...and nothing outruns the law like Han's Veilside Mazda RX-7 from "The Fast And The Furious III: Tokyo Drift". Tim tells us he built this sweet ride primarily for "Big in Japan" the Brothers Brick BrickCon layout. Had he waited six days, he could have also built this for "Big In Japan" the LUGNUts challenge. Awwww nuts!



GoRiLLaWeR tells us if you're gonna run from the cops, you may as well do it in early 90's style in this Lamborghini Diablo. He also says the idea came from the E-Team movie (?) M. A. Barrracus drove one. Wait, is this some sort of twisted alternate reality dimension? I thought his name was B. A. Barracus, he drove a black van and he was part of the A-team! Eh whatever.



Know why this slick Noble M12 is so scuzzy? Rolic tells us its because cops only see its tail lights...oh, and also because it has no license plate, so take that, stupid coppers! That puts this badboy ride clearly in the scuzz category and a stunning sophomore effort for Rolic. Yep, I said sophomore. It means 2nd...not just in high school terms. Look it up, kids!



Ah, finally the power of suggestion worked! I suggested someone should build the A-Team van in the challenge write up and sure enough Raphy answers the call of duty with this badass B. A. Barracus-mobile. Not bad for a kid whose never seen even one episode of A-Team. Come to think of it, its been a long time since I've seen A-Team and I only remember Mr. T always "pitying the fool!" I didn't check out the new movie either.



You know what's Big In Japan besides Godzilla and used panty vending machines? Akira bikes. Aaron smiley face (not to be confused with Aaron F1) builds a whole slew of them in preps for BrickCon 2010. Who's all gonna be there? I know I will. Aaron will. He's a cool dude...kind of a hip-hop guy with lots of tats. You should introduce yourselves to him, when you see him. Ask him about Mary Jane. ;)





Speaking of Big In Japan...and BrickCon...that brings us to next month's build challenge called...um...Big In Japan. Once again I've created a Brothers Brick challenge tie-in right before BrickCon. I mean really, what else would you have expected considering last year's zombie killing challenge? Who could forget the mean and nasty Sgt. Rex Malone? I'm still hearing that line in my head about electric cattle prods to the nutsack. Anyway, register for BrickCon 2010 if you haven't already and come back soon to see how we all do with the new Big In Japan challenge. Until next time, peace out and "domo arigato, Mr. Roboto!"

Ah, Styx...they were so ahead of their time!