Brick Road & Dungeon Man

A big and small update abound- a new addition to the main build, some tweaks, and a series of all-new renders!

Here is the new main render of the entire set. Some immediate changes are that Dungeon Man has lost some points of articulation in his feet- unfortunately, a necessary change for the stability of the build. His feet can still swivel, and this is the only change to the main build.

A new addition to the set- the iconic Mr. Saturn, piloting the Phase Distorter!

The top of the Phase Distorter can be opened up, allowing Mr. Saturn or a very small minifig to fit inside. It's a bit cramped, but it's an overall clean build that I'm very happy with. All of these changes are currently being uploaded to the main page!

Finally...

The side build from the previous update, the Ultimate Chimera, is real!!

I'm very happy with how it came together. Next step will hopefully be Dungeon Man now that his stability has been improved. I've gone back and forth on whether or not a MOTHER 3 themed set would be more popular amongst fans, but the fact that it's never been localized gives me worry should it make it into the review stage. 

It's the 14th anniversary of the release of MOTHER 3! While it's never gotten a release stateside, it's definitely seen its fair share of spotlight over the years. Makes you wonder if they're still planning on doing something with it!

To celebrate, as promised, here's a side-build featuring the Ultimate Chimera!

It's huge mouth is hinged and can be moved up and down- perfect for taking a big bite out of its victims!

I wanted to add a quick update to thank everyone for getting us to 1k!!! I'm planning on getting a proper update ready in the very near future to celebrate. I've been busy lately with everything going on, but rest assured I won't let this milestone go unnoticed.

But, let's keep this fantastic momentum going! With this milestone we've been given an extension, which means more time to hit that big 10k goal! I know we can do it! MOTHER fans are tough! Let's do it!!!

Happy New Year! It's been a good while since the last update, hasn't it?

I don't quite have any new builds yet, though I wanted point out that this set has been featured by the wonderful people at Mother Forever. They've written an article and put up a video showcasing the set and its history, so please check it out if you're interested!

https://motherforever.net/a-lego-earthbound-set-approaches/

We've finally made it to 500 supporters! We're halfway to the next major milestone, and with that, I've got some cool new builds to finally show off.

Introducing: the Dali's Clock and Lesser Mook! 

These enemies are encountered near and inside of the Dungeon Man. The Dali's Clock build features a custom dish decal for the clock's face, and an appropriately melty appearance. 

The Lesser Mook knows all kinds of dangerous PSI- it can even turn you into solid diamond! Its family can be found haunting department stores and travelling throughout Winters.

These two, alongside the Slimy Little Pile, make up the enemy repertoire for LEGO Dungeon Man!

What's next? Well, next time, hopefully, we make Dungeon Man real! I plan on investing in the pieces necessary to build him and this should be coming with new pictures showing him off. This update will not be tied to any milestone- it'll come when it happens! See you next time!

We've surpassed 400+ supporters! I've come with a pseudo- mini update of sorts.

While not an addition or change to the main build, I've decided to show off a fun side build that fits right into the Lego EarthBound world- Onett!

I've faithfully recreated some of Onett's most memorable landmarks- the meteor from which you meet Buzz Buzz, Ness' house, the Onett drug store, the arcade, and, of course, your first sanctuary location- Giant Step!

The quaint drug store even features a sign nearby! I wonder, what treasures could be found in that trash can?!

Frank Fly, from atop his arcade "fortress!" He'll let you join his gang, the Sharks, if you beat EarthBound.

Ness' house is a cute, small size, but is still extremely recognizable! The Starman guards the meteor, but Buzz Buzz will help!

At one point, Onett was one of my earlier ideas for a Lego Ideas campaign featuring EarthBound. I decided against it because the concept never quite sat well with me- while it's a pretty set, it's also huge! Onett in its entirety dominates Dungeon Man in it's piece size- however Dungeon Man stands to be a more interactive and fun playset.

As for the Dungeon Man, I do have a sneak peek at the next update...

We've made it to 300+ supporters! I promised an update, and update I shall.

Dungeon Man's got a new build! I'm extremely satisfied with this build. He made it to <800 pieces! He's currently sitting pretty at 763. He's a bit smaller now, but he still towers over minifigs. He's a bit more slender too. The primary difference in his build is how his base is constructed- instead of using stacked hinge bricks, he uses wedge plates, giving the base more security overall with fewer pieces to boot.

He's a bit more cramped on the inside, though. Let's take a peek...

Seems everything is here and accounted for, though! The bench has been shrunken down a bit, but is still there. The Instant Revitalizing Device is right where we left it, but... Where's the broken submarine?

Oh! It's now it's own separate mini-build!!

This submarine was used to cross the Scaraba ocean into Deep Darkness by Ness and company. The yellow color is, of course, purely coincidental.

The top can also be opened up to fit minifigs inside for a ride! This mini-build is 139 pieces on its own, so it stands to be further streamlined. The current overall part total between this and Dungeon Man is still smaller than the previous build- 902 pieces total!

The broken submarine makes for an excellent companion piece to Dungeon Man. I plan on making more mini-builds in the future- some intended to be included with Dungeon Man, and others just for fun! I'll see you all at the next milestone- 500 supporters!!

Not quite the 300 supporter update, but 230 works for me!

Since the last update, I decided to give the build a second pass- primarily for efficiency reasons. My goal was to aim for ~800 pieces and, well, I overshot it. But! I managed to dock about 100 pieces off of him from the original. Baby steps!

But, this second pass also had a more important purpose. This build uses all pieces that exist already! Meaning if you wanted to... you could build him right now! He's not exactly the cheapest build, but it's at the very least possible. Maybe one day I'll release the instructions for him.

A few aesthetic changes had to be made for this update. The most immediate one is the different colors of foliage- which I was against at first, but it began to grow on me after a while (no pun intended). The curve of his torso is now more accurate to his official design, following a smooth rise and fall around his head. I've revised some of his insides a bit to match some suggestions made, too.

He has a bench now! You can also now see that I've reinforced the hinge along his spine, and the stud lock to keep him shut is properly rendered. Reinforcements were made all around to make sure he's sturdy and fun to play with. His arms now also go out a tiny bit further- greatly improving posability!

A very obvious change is that now his entire body is one size throughout. Before, his lower body was larger than his head. There isn't a huge reason for this- it simplifies the build and reduces part count without removing too much. I also added some stoppers along his outer body to make sure it stays in place.

That's all for now. I've been toying with a few ways I can further bring his part count down, but it's difficult to find the right balance of structural integrity, playability, accuracy, and just plain looking good. A direct route I could take to streamline him would be to shrink him down more, but that might be doing a disservice to Dungeon Man.

Thank you again to everyone who made this such a successful launch! Let's keep the ball rolling! #LegoEarthBound

Hello everyone! As of writing we're not quite at 150- but 149 is good enough for me. Thank you to everyone for making this such a successful first day! It hasn't even been 24 hours and we're already well past the first milestone. 

I plan on updating the set as I see fit, adding new elements and revisions each time. I'll try and coincide them with milestone updates, as well. In the meantime, here's a small tweak...

Can you see the difference? His feet have been rebuilt!

The new model features sturdier feet, at the cost of a bit less posability. He's now rocking two linear joints (a vertical swivel and a horizontal swivel) as opposed to one ball joint. In this way, he's built a bit closer to other big sets- namely a certain yellow sponge- but which type of joint would you prefer for the feet?

Not immediately shown in this image is the fact that the hinge to open him up has been reinforced throughout his back. These updates have increased the part count- now inching slightly over the 1k mark. I always feel very iffy when it comes to having a set with a large amount of parts, as it hinders the price accessibility. I may look into ways of optimizing this build going forward, but I'm not sure how much I can really do without actually altering the structure itself overall and making him smaller, or limiting some of his features.

I'll be back soon with more updates, particularly involving the inside of the build- see you all at 300 supporters!