Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Freakin' Balls-Out Sweet 75th LUGNuts Challenge Extravaganza...Roundup!

Welcome to the best blog on the net that no one reads. Why are we the best blog on the net? Cuz we feature some of the best LEGO cars, trucks, and bikes ever built on this football we call Planet Earth. Why does no one ever read us? Cuz it seems people really love pictures of cats and dogs with cute misspelled words, apparently. Also, sadly,we have never posted any videos of hot naked co-eds bouncing on trampolines. But all that is about to change!

No we're not about to do the trampoline thing and the I can haz cheezburger and whatnot. Sorry. We're sticking to our LEGO car buildin' ways, but you may have noticed a little facelift around here. Pretty sweet, right? I also suspect this very special Freakin' Balls-Out Sweet 75th LUGNuts Challenge Extravaganza will bring in a few new looky-loos. You see, normally we slave away building for these challenges with no personal gain other than bragging rights. But since this is our special 75th challenge, we threw in some awesome prizes! The rules were simple: Ask for a random assignment. Build accordingly. If you win first, second, or third place, both you and the person who suggested your assignment win sweet, sweet LEGO sets and all the fame, glory, and sex-crazed groupies that is naturally inherent with grown-ass men playing with Legos. I assume you all have groupies, right?

Anyway, since you may be new here, lets do a round of introductions of our admins: I'm Lino, I do most of the writing and have a kick-in-the-nuts sense of humor. Nathan, my co-founder, does all the HTML around here, Ralph is sensible and conservative, but can't help it cuz he's Dutch, Peter builds a bazillion cars but never on time...and Tim always pays for strange. Now that you're all caught up, let's get on with the roundup, shall we? First the winners.

If you live in Latvia, hide your girlfriends and daughters because they're all going to be clamoring for Peteris Sprogis and his 1967 Ford Mustang GT 500. He could have stopped at just building the car, but Peteris shows us how to win first place with the addition of a horse trailer and a diorama. In other words, its a Mustang pulling a mustang! He takes home the super awesome Technic Service Truck set for a well deserved win!


Incidentally, his friend and fellow Latvian, Rolands Kirpis suggested the winning build so he takes home the City Cargo Truck set. The two top prizes go to Latvia, it wrecks havoc on the LUGNuts budget, but its all worth it knowing the Latvian ladies have two new LEGO superstars to drool over!

I'm no good at ancient history, but something like four score and 100 years ago, God wanted Noah to build an ark or something. Everyone thought he was plum crazy but it all turned out well for Noah and a bunch of animals. Now, pretty much the same thing happened; Curtydc heard the random ramblings of the LEGO car gods and pulled through with the Lamborghini Egoista. For his efforts, he takes home the Technic Monster Truck!



For suggesting the second place winning vehicle, Raphy is the proud owner of the City Grand Prix Truck. Now all the animals will be saved from certain head exploding doom. Who's crazy now?

Before you answer that, consider the fame, glory, street cred...and Technic Motocross Bike that will go to our 3rd place winner, Lego Junkie and his Ford RS200 Rally Racer. I was just there, and I've come to the sound conclusion that Hawaii has three things: flowing lava, foot long centipedes...and a star LEGO builder sure to appease even Pele's wrath. Good going, Lego Junkie! May you never seek rehabilitation of your LEGO addiction.



But just like the other two winners, somebody had to have suggested them first.  Dylan Denton fit the bill by suggesting the build and as a result now has the City Firetruck. Sweet!

Those were the winners, now let's showcase the rest. Definitely a worthy contender for the win was Marin Stipkovic and his awesome Foden Steam Wagon as assigned by Dennis Bosman.



Marin chimes in again with this cute little Trabant 601 as assigned by pasukaru76. He even mimicked the composition of the original photo suggestion, with the Trabant up on a shelf in a warehouse somewhere.



Proving lightning can strike three times in the same place, Marin erupts again with the Nike One Concept Car as suggested by curtydc. It was a good idea with great execution. Its like something out of Star Wars.



As it turns out, Marin was the busiest little bee in our whole challenge. And why not? The rules say you can (shampoo, rinse) and repeat and he does just that with an encore performance. Pasukaru76 wanted to break the sound barrier and Marin pulls through in spades.


Curtydc wanted the curvaceous Rally Fighter and Pasukaru76 answers the call of duty with good racing style and a desert diorama. It takes me back to the old Octan Racing challenge. Remember that one?


Proving multiple entries to be a good winning strategy, Lego Junkie pulls through again with this Mercedes-Benz 190 SL Convertible as assigned by Marin Stipkovic. it had great styling, but his other entry squeaked out the win.


A self proclaimed noob comes along with some great advice...Don't Talk To Robots. That's his name...and its some good advice. Anyway, he proves that even noobs have a few tricks up their sleeve by being a very close contender for the win with this '73 Camaro as assigned by Marin Stipkovic.


Judging this challenge was as hard as Chinese Algebra. Part of the difficulty was choosing other winners over this awesome "Double Trouble" hot rod as built by Legotrucks and assigned by Peteris Sprogis.


Pasukaru76 wanted something fast, old school, rocket-driven, experimental and unusual and CleverNiftyDude lives up to his name with the sleek Opel Rak 2. Nice!


We go from rocket powered and experimental to something boxy and practical but that's how it goes when you answer the crazed whims of the LUGNuts members at large. Dylan Denton wanted the 1961 Subaru Sambar van and Rolic does it in Dubai police livery.


I'm not even sure if I should include this one as it is only half a bike. But since I said I'd give everyone equal billing and I was personally rooting for this one, Nolnet proves the Confederate Motors B120 Wraith as assigned by Curtydc is a not so easy rider. Bummer, dude!


Lastly, CleverNiftyDude mumbles something about a 1987 Toyota LiteAce Van and Silcanter squeezes out one final entry, thus bringing an end to our challenge. The clocked tolled its midnight chime and we had to bring it all to a screeching halt. That's how it goes.


So, what did you all think of the roundup? I think for a prize challenge, we had very few entries, but as us admins know, this business of building based on random assignments is hard work indeed. Many have tried, few have succeeded. Oh, and speaking of which, us admins had to sit out building for this one as we were the financiers of the prizes...which means, now that I think about, introducing all of us in the beginning was pretty stupid. Oh well. But us admins...and incidentally everyone else (even you!) can build for this month's challenge. Its called Viva Italia and its all about (yep, you guessed it) italian cars, trucks, and bikes. This challenge will give you a good excuse to talk with your hands and live with Mama until you're 35. Oh, and if that doesn't convince you to build for this challenge, a recent poll says that Italians are more likely to have sex in their cars than any other nation. I'm sure living with Mama until you're almost middle aged has everything to do with it but I never imagined the Fiat 500 or even the Lambo Gallardo was conducive to hanky-panky. But what do I know? Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks for making LUGNuts the best LEGO group ever. Until next time...Mama Mia, thats-a spicy meat-a ball!