The Hulkbuster Ultron Edition was the last high-priority set I needed to cover this "review season," and now that it's out of the way, a pretty sizable wave of relief is flowing through me as reality sinks in.  I have a ton of Bricklinked parts & MOC-making leftovers to methodically sort & store. Many of this season's sets need to be evaluated & processed one way or another, and the NEXO display needs to be taken down & packed for charity.  I need to make some decisions about low-profile sets I didn't get to at all over the past couple of releases.  Heck, I still need to sort through & stow all manner of wires, adapters, nuts & bolts and other hardware that are strewn about from from the past couple of studio changes.Catching up with these & other menial, always underestimated & underappreciated (yet essential) background tasks will clear up...

A friend who's known me for the entirety of the current millennium recently told me that a trait he's always observed in me is a constant quest for self-improvement.  I think that sounds a lot more lofty than it feels and really is.  I can at least confirm that I apply such effort to whatever work I do and specifically to the JANGBRiCKS channel, where I keep a tentative pulse on viewer feedback and make frequent, often unnoticed tweaks to my video-making formulas.  Just last week, for instance, I completely tossed out a custom solution that had taken me weeks to piece together for one of my lighting needs, and I've replaced it with something fundamentally different.For the first half of this year, I will continue to work towards my goal of a doing my first full New Jang City walkthrough since 2015, but that work is going to have a...

I'd like to start off by assuring you I do not intend to post once per week on this blog long-term.  I've just been a bit more overloaded than usual of late, resulting in the need to trim a bit from even my regular routine.  This most recent week has been a prime example of the phenomenon, with a rush to move New Jang City forward being unexpectedly interrupted by the Toys R Us release of some cool cars and embargoed live-action superhero sets.Avengers Infinity War reviews:LEGO Avengers Infinity War Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown review! 76108LEGO Avengers Infinity War Thanos Ultimate Battle review! 76107LEGO Avengers Infinity War Hulkbuster Smash-Up review! 76104LEGO Avengers Infinity War Corvus Glaive Thresher Attack review! 76103LEGO Avengers Infinity War Outrider Dropship Attack review! 76101Speed Champions reviews:LEGO Speed Champions Ferrari Ultimate Garage review! 75889LEGO Speed Champions Porsche 911 RSR & Turbo 3.0 review! 75888LEGO Speed Champions Ferrari 488 GT3...

Well that was a productive week!  At times I felt like I was really having to push myself to work ever faster, but taking a look back at the before & after, the progress isn't half bad.  I received & unboxed quite a lot of loose pieces, but better than that is the fact that I used a lot of pieces!  In New Jang City, the port area has really come together and just needs a couple more ships and some custom vehicles to finish it up for the foreseeable future.  The big terrain feature has started to get its final layer of detail in some areas, though other parts need more foundation work.  The mine display that I just started last week is already approaching "done for now" status.Last but not least, I snuck a few reviews into the mix to maintain variety, including the second of the two biggest Power Miners...

This week has been all about 1) using up parts, 2) getting more parts, and 3) returning to 1.  The land side of the cargo harbor area went from a field of plain baseplates to a 3/4ths tiled-in yard with a "done for now" warehouse and an admin/operations building.  The terrain to house my Planetary Defense Force base has very nearly reached its final height and the second (of four) layer of parts has been painted across its entire outer surface.  Oh, and I used up still more pieces setting up the major terrain features for my underground mine.Videos:Mining scene Under the LEGO City begins! Feb. 11, 2018LEGO city update: New harbor building, taller hill, moved warehouse Feb. 9, 2018More LEGO parts from Bricklink! ? #218LEGO city update: Harbor warehouse, rail crossing, more tiling Feb. 7, 2018Four LEGO part lots from Bricklink opened ? #217Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

This week I got to mix a few reviews with some substantive work on New Jang City, in addition to finishing that new small passenger train (pictured above).  With countless pieces added onto and beneath my little corner mountain buildup, I find myself in that ever familiar state of needing parts to proceed.  With relevant Bricklink orders at various states of fulfillment & shipping, I've begun to divert attention towards other works in progress.  Gotta keep the momentum going!Reviews:LEGO Ninjago (Juniors) Zane's Ninja Boat Pursuit review! 1075560 Years of the LEGO Brick set reviewed! 40290LEGO Ideas Ship in a Bottle review ⚓ 21313Customs & layout related:Work In Progress: Custom LEGO passenger train MOC update 2Farewell LEGO NEXO Knights! Final year 3 display & retrospectiveA better LEGO city update! Terrain, train, mess, etc. Feb. 1, 2018LEGO city update: Harbor tiling, terrain rises Feb. 4, 2018Other:LEGO 60th Anniv. Black Seas Barracuda in the...

This evening I completed my review of this beautiful, well-constructed, practically 1:1 realistic scaled collectible display piece.Video: LEGO Ideas Ship in a Bottle review ⚓ 21313To my utter shock, I'm seeing a lot of fan negativity towards this wonderful fan-inspired product.  While I agree that the ship in original Ideas submission looked much nicer, there were some pretty strong & inescapable factors that made duplicating it completely unreasonable to expect:Total ~1,800 pieces, which would have made it a $140+ USD set, twice as expensive and accessible to a fraction as many potential buyers.Bottle diagonal dimension of 9" (double) vs. this 4.5", and a similar (if not greater) difference in ship sizeFully glued masts to cheat away the inherent instability of the designUse of numerous cut pieces (clearly illegal)Use of discontinued pieces (not available to use)Complex string rigging (completely out of the realm of allowed techniques for LEGO's techniques)The original looked way better, unquestionably,...

Hey!  More work in progress!  My last update was pretty boring & pedestrian, covering a lot of little grunt work, cleanup & basic chores that had a subtle, but important effect on the overall appearance of the layout.  Now I've undone some a bunch of that tidiness, but mostly in the corner where the Planetary Defense Force base is going.  I've put up a lot of Big Ugly Rock Pieces with Duplo supports and completed most of the first sweep of smoothing & randomizing, with at least two more such passes to go.Video: A better LEGO city update! Terrain, train, mess, etc. Feb. 1, 2018In this video I also show the "done for now" form of my latest passenger DMU train, which thankfully runs smoothly the first time out.Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

This was a slowish week on the video side with "just" 10 videos released in 7 days.  With the transition away from release season I completed one MOC (for now), made good progress on a new one, and did all manner of cleanup & important foundational chores around New Jang City. Videos:LEGO City Off-Road Chase review! 60170Custom LEGO intermodal container gantry crane (STS) MOC complete! (also previous WIP update)One unexciting LEGO city update after hours of work! Jan. 23 2018Work In Progress: New custom LEGO passenger train MOCMega Construx Halo Fireteam Castle set reviewLEGO parts order unboxing from Bricklink.com ? #216LEGO Technic 1:10 scale Rally Car review! 42077LEGO Build My City Accessory Set review ? 40170LEGO Star Wars The Last Jedi DJ polybag review! 40298With those couple boxes of parts received from Bricklink, I've since finished paneling off my elevated rail track and dove back into the terrain work for the Planetary Defense...

At long last, I have a functionally complete ship-to-shore crane in New Jang City!  I previously did a few progress videos, plus a few updates on Instagram, but now there's a single video to show the last additions plus the basic operations of the whole thing.Videos: Custom LEGO intermodal container gantry crane (STS) MOC complete!Work In Progress: LEGO Container Gantry Crane (STS) update Jan. 21, 2018Work In Progress: LEGO Container Gantry Crane (STS) build update Jan 19, 2018Work In Progress: LEGO Container Gantry Crane (STS) MOC beginsWant to see the earliest suggestion of one of these types of cranes coming to my LEGO layout?  You'll have to go all the way back to my June 2013 city update!  Ha!!  On to the next thing, and here's hoping whatever that is won't take almost a half-decade to turn into reality.Original linkOriginal author: theJANG