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(Written by William)

In this Brick Breakdown series I review official LEGO sets, from the perspective of looking at interesting building techniques we can all learn from. Today we will be looking at the #70814 The LEGO Movie Emmet’s Construct-O-Mech. You can also check out the previously discussed LEGO techniques found in official LEGO sets at the end of this article. 🙂

#70814 The LEGO Movie Construct-o-Mech

The biggest, coolest, baddest thing Emmet builds in The LEGO Movie is the Construct-O-Mech. Yes, he also designed the double-decker couch, which is pretty sweet… especially if you have a lot of buddies. The #70814 LEGO Construct-O-Mech does include a couple of skeletons, and an angry – though still adorable – version of Unikitty, but the rest of the set is all mech. There’s no dinky catapult, no Micro Manager, just intense bipedal goodness. So let’s see what makes this set a great teacher of techniques.

#70814 LEGO Emmet's Construct-O-Mech

FAUX DESIGN WITH LEGO

Most of the time LEGO sets simply build what they are meant to be. For example a fire-truck is a truck used for fighting fires, and a LEGO fire-truck looks pretty much like the real thing. Rarely do you see a level of abstraction in LEGO sets where something looks like it was built out of something else. Of course children do this kind of building all the time, but as far as official LEGO designs, The LEGO Movie sets are some of the first to really embrace this concept wholeheartedly.

#70814 LEGO Construct-O-Mech Cockpit

This is not to say there haven’t been sets that combine two different concepts – you can just look at the LEGO Legends of Chima and LEGO Ninjago lines for examples – rather, what you don’t see much of is something decorated to look like it was made of components from something else. And this is a subtle, but very important difference. In the first method, the way you go about planning the model forces you to combine the ideas from the very first pieces. On the other hand, if a model only has faux elements you can wait to integrate them at a later point in the design process.

#70814 LEGO Construct-O-Mech Review

When you use a faux design your primary concern isn’t structural stability nor is it functional use – although you can certainly work a functional element into the design. Your goal is all about manipulating color and shape, because these two factors will allow you to sculpt practically anything onto an existing design.

For example, let’s look at the feet of the LEGO Construct-O-Mech. First of all the feet needed to be big enough. This has nothing to do with faux design itself, but the structural integrity of the set. Once this important feature was figured out the treads and other decorations were added to make the feet look like they belonged to an excavator. If you remove these decorations you would still have feet that keep the model standing.

#70814 LEGO Construct-O-Mech Details

This same principle is true for the arms and hands of the mech as well. Once the core is built, you can add pretty much anything from spinning claws to a chomping face. The important thing is that the faux elements can be decided on last. And this is what makes this technique so useful; it shows us that we are not forced to finish a model as we build various parts. LEGO fans who are familiar with LEGO Hero Factory sets know this technique all too well; when they want to make a different mech/robot, all they have to do is re-skin a similar frame and they are done.

MOUNTING WITH LEGO

Sometimes you just don’t know what will work in a spot of your LEGO creation. This could be because you are not yet sure of how much space you have to work with, or you aren’t ready to make a decision. In such situations mounting is your best friend. There are dozens of ways to leave open a mounting-spot that you can use later. It can be as simple as some free studs, or the option that will fit nearly any situation, is an axle-brick. There is nothing as secure as a good old axle connection; it can hold a good deal of weight, and there is enough variety of connectors to angle things in virtually any direction.

#70814 LEGO Construct-O-Mech Shoulder Mountings

So if you are building studs up, add in a 1×2 brick with axle-hole. If you are using some sideways building, throw in a 2×2 round brick with axle-hole. Once you are ready to figure out what needs to be mounted, the hard work has already been done. You can see this technique used in the LEGO Construct-O-Mech at shoulders; the two mixer barrels, and the two crane booms. Each piece is given a connector to determine its angle, and then the object being mounted is added. As you can see, once you incorporate a simple mounting option you can take advantage of it later, and pretty much the sky is the limit to what you can add.

APPLYING WHAT YOU LEARN

Understanding faux designs is nothing more than understanding how to prioritize while you are building with LEGO. Consider how you make a house; you don’t start with the window decorations first, rather you begin with floors and walls. Faux design is similar to this concept. In many ways it is easy, on the other hand it will test your ability to give the finishing touched to a model and work with shapes and colors effectively. Mastering these technique will strengthen your building skills in other areas as well.

As far as mounting goes, there is a wide range of ways to leave mounting points on your LEGO model. You may not know exactly what you want to mount, but it is useful to know if is going to be something light weight or heavy. If what you are adding is going to be light, you may be okay with clips and bars or locking finger-hinges. In cases where you aren’t sure, then taking advantage of things like pins and axles will be much more reliable.

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What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Construct-O-Mech? Do you have the set? Have you built it already? Do you use similar techniques in your own LEGO creations? Feel free to share your own experiences, tips or ask questions in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the other reviews in this series:

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Here is another wonderful LEGO stop-motion video from the BrotherhoodWorkshop for your viewing pleasure, titled LEGO The Hobbit: The Aggravation of Smaug. This video was sponsored by LEGO and also appears on the official the LEGO The Hobbit website. The second video is a behind-the-scenes look at how the film was made, which I always find very interesting and educational. Enjoy! 🙂

LEGO The Hobbit Aggravation of Smaug

Kevin Ulrich mentions that to date this has been their most ambitious LEGO stop-motion video project, and as you will see below it includes everything from great animation, humor, and of course lots of LEGO gold. Also, this is the first time we can see in detail the upcoming LEGO Smaug character that will appear later this year in the #79018 LEGO The Hobbit The Lonely Mountain set.

Wasn’t that fun? Smaug is terrifying! And the best part is the pig – at least that’s what I think. The LEGO stop-motion animation techniques and special effects on this video are just excellent. In the video below you can go behind-the-scenes with Kevin as he explains how the film was made, and also shares some tips and tricks that aspiring LEGO animators can learn from and use as inspiration for their own stop-motion videos.

As I have mentioned, since this video was directly sponsored by LEGO, the BrotherhoodWorkshop had early access to the #79018 LEGO The Hobbit The Lonely Mountain set. This is the largest of the upcoming LEGO The Hobbit sets that will be released sometime towards the end of this year (you can read about the other sets here: LEGO The Hobbit – Revelation of Smaug). The Lonely Mountain will feature five minifigs; Bilbo Baggins, Balin the Dwarf, Dwalin the Dwarf, Kili the Dwarf, Fili the Dwarf, and of course Smaug. The piece count is 866 and the price is going to be $129.99.

#79018 LEGO The Hobbit Lonely Mountain

So what do you think? How did you like the LEGO The Hobbit: The Aggravation of Smaug video? And are you looking forward to the LEGO Smaug and new LEGO The Hobbit sets coming later this year? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below! And you can also browse the current selection of LEGO The Hobbit sets at the Online LEGO Shop.

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Also, if you would like to learn more about LEGO stop-motion, I highly recommend checking out the other videos from the BrotherhoodWorkshop listed below, or you can also visit their YouTube Channel directly for more.

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