Blake Baer

Those of you who have been following my LEGO career know that I build a ton in LOTR. I have had series of hints recently that this was coming, so for the CCC I started to build Hobbit creations instead of the typical castle(this is proof that LOTR can replace history/castle). The timing was absolutely perfect on my part. PROS: For me, I am totally excited about this prospect. I have waited over 10 years of my life for this time, and the availability of LEGO LOTR sets is just making me dizzy. The new sets and pieces that will be coming are just unimaginable. Totally stoked for this. CONS: I can't help but have a certain reluctance about the licensing as well. The fact that I will now be building in a licensed theme kinda makes me sad. That is a major reason I have stayed out of StarWars, if only for the fact that it is way too popular(debatable). However, I think that because people know that I have been building LOTR long before LEGO announced this, I feel that I can still have some credit left as being a creative thinker(not saying you SW guys aren't). My second nitpick with the license is that it will be replacing the history sets. For how often I get the history sets, I probably won't notice a change. But for the periodic few that I get, I will be missing them. This also depends on how good the LOTR sets will be. In my eyes, I can see them being exactly the same as the POTC sets-- which I am not a fan of. I don't know what to make of this boyos. The entire community is getting pretty excited about this, while I have some qualms. Time will tell, and I suppose the ultimate satisfaction will be in actual seeing the sets. Just my 2 cents as a loyal LOTR/castle builder -Blake

Hello all! This year for the CCC over on Classic Castle, I have decided to follow the storyline of the book, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, and create scenes of Bilbo's adventures along the way. This is my 3rd scene(The previous 2 can be found in my photostream) and so far my best one. I thought this one was worthy to post on the EB forums so here I am! Anyhow, I'll let you guys peruse around and let me know what you think! Queer Lodgings by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr As I said, that was the 3rd in my series. The first two can be found in my flickr steam. Though actually, I'll post 2 images below. The first one, Roast Mutton, shows Bilbo's adventure when they are captured by 3 trolls! Roast Mutton by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr Riddles in the Dark, shows Bilbo's riddle game with Gollum, underneath the misty mountains, and with high stakes! Riddles in the Dark by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr So yea, hopefully this will advertise the CCC as well as the project that I am doing. Any support and encouragement will be highly appreciated. C&C welcome as always. Thanks mates, -Blake

Thanks Luke. It means a good bit coming from you, by whom much of this MOC was inspired. Haha, it is the title of the chapter in The Hobbit.

Hello all! I had just come off of a very intense contest on MOCpages, when Siercon and Coral invited me to join them as they made a microscale masterpiece for the MCC. I hesitantly replied, feeling somewhat exhausted. However, after they began posting the first volume (which can be found in their photostream) I gained tons of enthusiasm and began to build the second volume. I built it to be modular, so I could show off all of the details in each individual section, and nothing will be lost. Chapter 1 WarScape: Vol2; Chapter 1 of 5 by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr Chapter 2 WarScape: Vol2; Chapter 2 of 5 by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr Chapter 3 WarScape: Vol2; Chapter 3 of 5 by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr Chapter 4 WarScape: Vol2; Chapter 4 of 5 by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr Chapter 5 WarScape: Vol2; Chapter 5 of 5 by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr Chapter 5 is where all the pieces come together and are photographed as one whole creation. Here is the complete set on flickr. Also here is the original thread by Siercon and Coral about Volume 1. Thank you all for your tremendous support. I really appreciate the encouragment. Thanks for viewing, and I hope you enjoyed it! -Blake

Howdy! Following in the wake of the Spaghetti Western contest here, the MOColympics gave me a category entitled "The MOC with no Name". Pictures link to MOCpages. Link to flickr= Thank you all for looking! C&C very much welcome!

B-RV-6D Hello all! With the huge contest on MOCpages going on now, my first entry depicts the recent Hurricane Irene in the category of wind. Please feel free to check out the MOCpage/flickr for more pics. Pics link to MOCpages. Also a link to the flickr stream. Thank you all! C&C very welcome! ~Blake

Thank you all for your tremendous support and encouragement. It is truly an honor to be on the homepage 2 times in a row. Especially since both were my first times. Thank you all!

Thank you all for your very encouraging and supportive comments! One of the things I really hoped to capture was the sense of wind and realism. From what you all are saying, it appears as though I did that. Thank you all!

They are the result of rather poor lighting and rather ineffective photoshop:). Also does anybody know what the little "Indexed" title up on the original post means? I'm still sorta new here.,

Thank you all for your comments and encouragement! Blake

A tornado touching down in a scenic landscape. As seen at Brickfair. This was built in approximately 4 hours. I had the general design down already though. I hope that you like it! Comments/suggestions/criticisms are all welcome to me! Thanks.

Hello all! This is one of my older creations, and I was not planning on posting it until a very kind fan posted this creation here. Naturally I had to officially post a thread. This is the first of the Tribute to America series and you can find others in my flickr stream. Lexington 1 by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr Lexington 8 by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr Lexington 29 by Blake's Baericks, on Flickr Please leave any criticisms/comments/suggestions/overall praise below because it helps make me better! Thank you all. Also quick question to any much more knowledgeable Eurobrickers than I. Is posting old MOCs allowed or encouraged because I may have some more I would like to add. Thanks

Scottish history has always been very interesting to me and I have been wanting to create a scene for a long time. Brickfair '11 gave me a perfect chance. In the beginning of William Wallace's illustrious career, one of his first battles was the Raid on Scone. The city of Scone was where Scottish kings were crowned so it was important for Wallace to crown the rightful heir to the throne. I hope you enjoy! Feedback/questions/criticisms are very much welcome! Thank you. ~Blake

An excellent question, and I certainly will (and have already)with my latest installment of the Civil War

Thank you very much! I have sincere respects for your castles. In response to your suggestion, that is a very good idea and one that I would normally try to fit in. Unfortunately given the deadline of Brickfair I decided to have a slightly unfinished MOC than no MOC at all. Excellent comment and thank you for your criticism! Another excellent comment. You must also remember that this is not nearly as advanced a civilization as England and other countries. Aside from Roman influence and now English tyranny, Scottland has been very much in the dark as far as technology goes. Aside from the Roman fortifications, stone castles only came into Scottland during the English rule. Based on these facts, I really tried to gather the impression of a much older town. (I believe the estimated time for the battle is 1271) Thank you for your excellent suggestion!

Hello all! I built this star fort for a Series I am doing called the Tribute to America. I thought I would share it here though it can be found on MOCpages,Brickshelf and Flickr. Enjoy! `Blake

Hello all! I am taking a break from my normal historic creations, and decided to expand my horizons to city. This is my first City MOC since I came to the community so I am a little tentative to hear your response. Anyhow, I won't bore you, and instead I will just show you the MOC. NOTE: All pics link to MOCpages though this can also be found on Flickr Link to Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/baericks/ Anyhow thanks for viewing, and I would appreciate hearing what you think! MOCpage has much more pictures as well as some stats and descriptions about it. ~Blake

Thank you all for you feedback and encouragement! Haha Rog, you are correct. In as much as I like yellows, Fleshies retain some element of realism. Thank you! Agreed, If I were to do this MOC over again, I would redo the interiors. I found it to be much more cramped than I wanted it.

Hey Dirk72, I don't often comment on creations but I just had to ask something on your grand army. Was this by any chance at Brickfair 2010? If it wasn't then there was an army almost the same size as yours. Very impressive collection.

Alright gang here it is. :) This is my first attempt at Microscale and this contest gave me a great excuse. This is based off of the legendary King Arthur's Camelot. Enjoy! Pics=link to more pics.

Thank you all for your kind comments. I am really starting to like Eurobricks. I have had a lot of responses in no time at all. Really brightened my day!

On and off 3 months. Those are available on the link on the original post. For those of you who like Brickshelf better than MOCpages here is the link there as well. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=445330 Well Done Phred! Age of Empires 3 was the major inspiration for the rockets. And correct they are Congreve rockets. Well done indeed!

Thank to you all for the great comments! Thanks! Oh I do appologize for my erroneous placement of this MOC. I am somewhat new here as you can tell Hey thanks for posting Sly Owl! I have always enjoyed your works. As far as the bottom of the wall goes I used essentially the same idea. I tried to blend it together as much as possible but unfortunately I did run out of the correct pieces. Yeah the half ship was very hard to build just because it was all cantilevered. Very wobbly. The inside was somewhat intentionally bare. I wasn't sure how much more( or what) I could put into there besides the ever cliche barrel. I also agree that the standard SNOT shoreline is rather blockish. I tried to blend it together as much as possible but there is only so much one can do. I even used colored bricks from UV rays in the blue. Thank you all for the great comments, Blake