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The Brick Testament website has been
expanded today with three new stories from the Biblical book of
Judges, relating the tale of Israel’s
first king, Abimelech:
Sixty-Nine Sons Slaughtered
Massacre at Shechem
Abimelech Not Killed By a Woman
...plus a bonus story of Israel’s sixth and seventh judges, Tola and Jair:
Tola and Jair
(NOTE: For anyone unfamiliar with The Brick Testament or the Bible, please take
note of the content warnings for the
stories before viewing.)
Enjoy,
-The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith
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Hey Brendan,
How’s this for turn-around? :)
69 Sons: The idol is really well done. I especially like the bug-eye things
with the helmets. The floor idea with the turntable halves is also very nice.
In 9:3-4 are those chrome silver coins? If so, where are they from? Both
Peeron and Bricklink list only chrome gold.
Massacre at Shechem: I really like that custom hairpiece. Did you have to glue
it to the head, or did it hold there by friction? (Or is this a photoshop
trick?) In 9:22 I really like the Gungun sub pieces as wall decoration. Cute
photoshopped ghost. I’m not sure I like the half-cape thing Zebul is wearing.
Is this just a cape folded over? What are you trying to represent there? Jack
Stone columns as textured floor is nice, btw. In 9:39 I see that Shechem has
perfected sliding-door technology. Where are their patios. :) The tubing arms
aren’t bothering me as much in these pics--maybe they’re growing on me? I like
the picture layout in 9:45 especially. The black bodies are once again very
effective.
Not by a woman: Interesting gate design in 9:51. In both 9:52 and 53 you
effectively show the boulder falling. Nice job.
Two guys we’ve never heard of: What really makes this story is the “What did he
rescue us from?” “I don’t know!” exchange. I’m not a big fan of the customized
medicine man helm as afro. I remember you used this a long time ago in the
slavery scenes. Harry Potter hair works better as a fro, IMO.
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In lugnet.build.ancient, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
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Hey Brendan,
How’s this for turn-around? :)
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I thought I had beat you this time!
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Two guys we’ve never heard of: What really makes this story is the “What did
he rescue us from?” “I don’t know!” exchange. I’m not a big fan of the
customized medicine man helm as afro. I remember you used this a long time
ago in the slavery scenes. Harry Potter hair works better as a fro, IMO.
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Ah, that’s what it is! This is the buffalo-horn hat we’re talking about, right?
I like it - if I could pull it off, I’d make one myself. I’ve been wanting to
do a Dr. J fig for a while.
Marc Nelson Jr.
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In lugnet.build.ancient, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
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How’s this for turn-around? :)
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Crazy. I posted, went out for a quick bite, and come back to comments by both
you and Marc. My thanks to both of you.
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69 Sons: The idol is really well done. I especially like the bug-eye things
with the helmets.
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Not sure if archeological evidence will ever lend any support to this fanciful
imagining of Baal Berith (literally “Lord of the Covenant”), but it was fun to
create. I know I’ve seen someone else use the helmet-covered black minifig
heads as eyes--can’t think who offhand. A quick search for “helmets for eyes”
turned up this creation by Patrick Bunn from September of 2003.
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The floor idea with the turntable halves is also very
nice. In 9:3-4 are those chrome silver coins? If so, where are they from?
Both Peeron and Bricklink list only chrome gold.
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A few times now when the Bible has specified silver coins, I’ve used Photoshop
to play the alchemist, turning gold to silver. I just highlight the gold coins
and then make that area grayscaled.
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Massacre at Shechem: I really like that custom hairpiece. Did you have to
glue it to the head, or did it hold there by friction? (Or is this a
photoshop trick?)
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That’s a standard long black hairpiece that I cut in two. (Incidentally, the
upper section makes for an interesting new LEGO hairdo, and I think I will try
cutting that same long hairpiece in a few other colors as well to get the new
“short middle-parted hairpiece” that results.) Abimelech’s hair stays around
his lower head just with friction. It doesn’t always work perfectly, so I
sometimes had to touch things up in Photoshop to make it look right.
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In 9:22 I really like the Gungun sub pieces as wall
decoration. Cute photoshopped ghost. I’m not sure I like the half-cape
thing Zebul is wearing. Is this just a cape folded over? What are you trying
to represent there?
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Just trying out a new look. In my mind, it was supposed to represent a
toga-like piece of ancient formal wear, signifying his govenorship. I realize
that it doesn’t quite work like a toga, but I think it still looks kind of cool.
And yes, it’s just a folded cape.
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Jack Stone columns as textured floor is nice, btw. In
9:39 I see that Shechem has perfected sliding-door technology. Where are
their patios. :)
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Maybe they were lifted up and then over. :) So, were all fortress doors of
ancient times the raise-and-lower variety, or operating on hinges? Help a
non-castler out.
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The tubing arms aren’t bothering me as much in these
pics--maybe they’re growing on me? I like the picture layout in 9:45
especially.
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I though that shot worked out particularly well. It doesn’t say how Abimelech
breached the city walls--or actually even that he had to. But it does say he
captured the city after fighting for a single day, so I thought ladders would be
more appropiate than raising earthworks, etc.
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The black bodies are once again very effective.
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Glad to hear it. It’s hard to shoot a nearly all-black LEGO scene. The black
is really reflective, for one. I had more charred bodies to show, but if I
pulled back too much to show more bodies, it was less clear what they were.
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Not by a woman: Interesting gate design in 9:51. In both 9:52 and 53 you
effectively show the boulder falling. Nice job.
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Thanks. I just realized you can see the gray spigot piece that’s hooked into
the fence on the roof, keeping the millstone in place in 9:52. For the shot of
Abimelech taking one on the head, it’s the soldier standing behind the millstone
that is keeping it in place.
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Two guys we’ve never heard of: What really makes this story is the “What did
he rescue us from?” “I don’t know!” exchange. I’m not a big fan of the
customized medicine man helm as afro. I remember you used this a long time
ago in the slavery scenes. Harry Potter hair works better as a fro, IMO.
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Yeah, I hadn’t pulled out the customized ‘fro piece in quite a while. What
prompted me to use it is: my girlfriend’s dad is named Jair, so I modelled my
LEGO version of Jair after him, hence the ‘fro for accuracy’s sake. (By the
way, I already portrayed her mom in LEGO back in the story of Jael and the tent
peg.)
-Brendan
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
Jg 8:33: Great idol! Very grotesque and creepy.
Jg 9:3-4: The turntable bases look great as a tile floor. I’ve used them as
mullions before, but this is an really nice use. The neat thing about it is
that you can put another pattern underneath the turntable bases.
Jg 9:30-31: The undersides of the bricks make an interesting accent in the
walls.
Jg 9:48: Pretty horrific.
Great stuff, as usual.
Marc Nelson Jr.
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Hi, Marc.
Thanks for the quickly-produced comments. But I guess you’ll have to try harder
to if you want to beat Speedy Gon-Hietbrink to the punch.
In lugnet.build.ancient, Marc Nelson Jr. wrote:
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Jg 8:33: Great idol! Very grotesque and creepy.
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Just the sort of Baal that might tempt anyone away from worshipping Yahweh. :)
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Jg 9:3-4: The turntable bases look great as a tile floor. I’ve used them as
mullions before,
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Hey, that’s a pretty cool use for them too.
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but this is an really nice use. The neat thing about it is
that you can put another pattern underneath the turntable bases.
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Sure, you could use different colored 2x2 bricks or plates underneath them to
get more intricate patterns.
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Jg 9:30-31: The undersides of the bricks make an interesting accent in the
walls.
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Yeah, it’s one of those things where it would be pretty hard use to a technique
like that and build a MOC with good overall structural integrity, but with my
quick-and-dirty Brick Testament sets that are only shown from one or two angles,
it’s a lot easier to experiment with weird building techniques like that.
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Jg 9:48: Pretty horrific.
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Glad I captured what I was going for, then.
Thanks, Marc.
-Brendan
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