Interview: Catching up with Ben Caulkins (Benny Brickster)

Recently, I caught up with Ben Caulkins, who we interviewed last year. Over the course of a few days, we talked about his Halo Spartan/Master Chief armor, the Halo series, and Brickworld 2011. Let's get started!

MB: Ok, so, it's pretty much been a year since last "talking" as far as an interview goes. Catch us up on what you've been doing. In what ways have you seen your building, or your Lego community experience change and improve over the course of a year?

BC:"Well, the greatest change was made through a recent creation of mine: my Master Chief costume. Before I had even finished, it brought me a great deal of attention from the internet and LEGO fan community, and, I dare say, gave people a reason to take me seriously as a MOCist. But that just stemmed from another change, namely my tendency to build exclusively Halo MOCs. In my last interview I mentioned several MOCs that I wanted to build, yet none of them involved Halo. Unfortunately I never did actually build any of the MOCs I listed, but rather built several new Halo creations. I'm not sure why I became addicted to Halo: maybe its the angular look of the UNSC vehicles, and the contrasting smooth and reflective look of the covenant craft, but either way, it stuck with me. I don't regret it either,
otherwise I might not have ever built the Master Chief costume."

MB:Yeah, I've certainly made claims of MOCs I'll build and then never build them, and build something else. I find though it also shows me where my building priorities are.

(Moving away from Lego for a bit) Since you build heavily in Lego Halo, would it be safe to assume you grew up with the Halo franchise on the classic Xbox? Or did you not start playing it 'till later in life? Have you never played it? Overall, When did you encounter the games?

BC:"My story with the Halo franchise is actually a strange one. I never had an xbox, and I never even knew what Halo was until a few years ago, but I can remember the first time I played it. I was so young, I didn't even know what I was doing, who the bad guys were, or how to operate the controls, but I remember what it looked like: it was the level in Halo CE where you have to reenter the covenant's flagship, of course I didn't figure that out until many years later. After that, several years later, I met a guy while on vacation in Maine who I'm now good friends with. He had an xbox and Halo 2 with him, so we played that. We never actually played it to win the game, we just sort of played it. I was still pretty young, and I payed no attention to the storyline, so I had no idea what was going on. Fast forward to spring of 2010. That same friend from Maine was at my house, and we were on the floor building, and I told him, "name something you want me to build." He said, "a warthog", so that's what I did. From then on, I started to delve deeper and deeper into the Halo franchise, and then, last summer, I was again on vacation in Maine, when I went over to my friends house, and as usual, we played Halo 2, but this time we actually played to win. Its not as if we had literally agreed to play it to the end, but rather there was now a determination to finish that hadn't been there before. Sure enough, within the two weeks I had been there at about one hour a day, we beat Halo 2. Then over the course of the last year, I bought Halo CE for my computer and played Halo 3 at a different friends house, so now i can finally say that I've played the essential trilogy."

During E3, we found out during the Microsoft conference that they will be releasing two new games. Halo 4 and Halo:CE Remastered. Are you excited about these new games? Do you think they will inspire you to create more Halo MOCs? Do you think they will inspire other Lego community member as well?

BC:"When I saw the Halo 4 trailer, I was very disappointed. To me, Halo ended with the Chief floating towards that distant planet. What made it so cool was the mystery, the lack of knowledge of the Chief's next adventure. Now that there making a Halo 4, that mystery is lost. Plus, 343 industries is known to handle the expanded universe side of the Halo franchise, publishing the novels and stuff. What worries me about their taking over of the project is that they're going to try and force a personality onto the Chief as they do in the novels, to try and make him into a different character than what we all imagined. Part of what makes Halo "Halo" is that we know so little about the chief so that we can imprint our own personalities onto him. Also, how can you make a Halo game without the covenant, which is exactly what Halo 4 is going to have to do. 343 better have some big tricks up its sleeve, otherwise I'm going to pay this game no mind. As for the Halo CE re-release I am very excited. Still though, all there doing is giving the old Halo a spit-shine, nothing really all that special. As far as inspiration for MOCs goes, will just have to wait and see what new surprises Halo 4 has in store for us."

MB:(Back to Lego!)What led up to creating a full body suit of a Halo spartan? When did the idea start the project happen?

BC:"The root for the idea I guess could be my first attendance of Brickworld last year. The things I saw there really heightened my standards of building and I realized, if I was going to get any attention at all, I was going to have to go big! It was on a walk when I was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that I really thought of a specific thing to build: a Master Chief suit made entirely out of LEGO. Why not? Simafol had done it. Of course, it took a lot more thinking before I actually thought it would be possible."


MB:So once you had the idea, where did you go from there?

BC:"I knew I wanted to start with the helmet, so that's what I did. It took me three weeks and was an instant hit with the blogs, but that only lasted for so long before I was back to work. From that point on it was months of work constructing all of the different segments, and as I progressed I gained more experience, so some of the pieces of armor that I finished later in the process are actually of a higher quality than some of the earlier pieces. But in the end, it all came together beautifully."

MB:So, walk us through how you would put on this contraption.

BC:"I put it on from the ground up, so naturally the first that goes on are the shoes. The legs can crack in half so I can snap them on over my legs. The thighs don't form a full circle, so those are pretty easy to put on. The belt can separate into two halves, so I put one on usually which sticks using Velcro, and then attach the other half to it. The next part is pretty difficult: the torso. Those thing that loop under the armpits can come off so I can put the torso on over my head, then the armpit loops reattach. Its a pretty tight fit, but it works... mostly. Next is the most hazardous part, the upper arms. I never really thought them through all that well, so the only way to put them on is to slide them up my arm, which is difficult because they're covered in Velcro, and my entire neoprene suit sticks to Velcro. Also, I made them to small, so whoever is helping me has to push really hard in order to get them far enough up my arms. Once, in fact, one of them exploded because it couldn't fit on my arm...oops. Then the most irritating part: the forearms. They can crack in half similar to the legs, but there is a very precise place to put them on, and most of the time it ends up attached wrong, so I have to make my helper take them off and do it all over again. Afterwards comes the gloves, and finally the helmet. In the end, I feel very satisfied, and my helper is pissed at me for being so bossy, but I think he's a little satisfied too."

MB:Oooooh! So it does require an extra person...I was going to ask that. Ok, so let's move on to BW'11...

How did you like general vibe from Brickworld? Was it better than last year's or about the same?

BC:"Its difficult to judge this years Brickworld. My personal experience was very different as I was part of a group layout for the first time, so I got to meet some really awesome people. Also, I got a lot more attention from attendees due to the suit. But, as a person just visiting Brickworld, I'd say it was about the same. There was no serious leap in the total size of the convention or the quality of the MOCs in general, but I should say that the quality of the MOCs is probably beyond improvement as many of them are superb. Now that's not to say I didn't enjoy Brickworld, I did very much, but it's just more of the same from last year, which is a good thing because that formula works."

What was the public's reaction to the Halo armor?

BC:"The public's reaction to the Halo armor was overwhelming. Everywhere I went I was followed by a crowd of people trying to take pictures. I ended up not moving for long periods of time as parents took picture of me with their kids over and over again. Also, I even had a few attendees following me who I had never met, so I guess its akin to stalking. If it wasn't for Nick Jenson (Nick Brick) I probably would have been trampled by a crowd of people, as he was the one made holes in the crowd for me to pass through (also, here's a bit of shameless plugging: check out Nick's Halo weapons, they are sick!). As the man in the suit, I was constantly giddy with joy. Sure it was difficult to walk in and the crowds did get pretty annoying, but still, it was awesome to be noticed like this."

MB:You (and I) attended the advanced mosaics workshop by Roy Cook. What did you think of it? Did you find it helpful, inspiring, or interesting in anyway?

BC:"Although I don't plan on making mosaics in the future, I found the workshop very informative. I found his discussion on how he made his Halle Berry mosaic especially interesting, what with all the unique techniques that went into it."

MB:Did you attend any other workshops or presentations from this year, and if so, which ones stuck out for you?

BC:"My favorite workshop was presented by Jamie Berard (LEGO Creator designer) on what life is like as a designer in Denmark. Not only did it reveal some pretty interesting facts, but it also answered some questions that I had about LEGO product design. Plus it didn't hurt that Jamie is a really nice guy."

MB:So at one point, you were given the epic privilege of destroying this cylinder of Brickworld 2011 made entirely of 1x8s. What was that like?

BC:"To be honest, I was actually kind of nervous. I was mainly concerned with looking like an idiot in this big bulky suit. Secondly, I was worried the suit would break, which of course it did, and I have yet to fix it. When Nannan posted the video of me knocking it down, I was worried that I would look really stupid. But when I watched it, I actually think I did a pretty good job considering the limitations of the suit. The only real problem is that you may notice that part of my knee armor is missing."

^^^ My video of the epic destruction ^^^

MB:Overall, do you plan on attending next year?

BC:"Absolutely, although I don't know how I could possibly top myself next year considering the standards that I have now raised myself to. But my goal is to win some kind of award, because the last two years have been teasing me with two nominations per Brickworld, and I thought I had it this year with the suit, but Ryan McNaught's massive Loveboat bested me at that. Anyway, I can't imagine not going to Brickworld again, because getting to talk to people who genuinely get this obsession with LEGO is such a treat, and how one forget the hundred of awesome MOCs populating the display tables. Yup, I will definitely be going."

MB:Ben Caulkins has certainly made himself a name for himself. How does he top this? Got any grand schemes?

BC:"At the moment, I've got nothing. Or at least nothing on the same scale as the suit. But what I am working on is the first minifig scale Halo 3 Pelican, and I hope to follow this up with a similarly scaled Halo 3 Phantom.

To see Ben's fantastic MOCs, visit his Flickr photostream, here or visit his MOCpages account here.
Many thanks for the interview, Ben! It's always a pleasure. ;-D

And, I leave you with this photo...

^^^ Ben and I, looking epic. ^^^

Interview: Ben Caulkins (Jetfire35)

Today we have our very first interview. Over a few days I was able to talk back and forth with TFOL, Ben Caulkins, a.k.a. "Jetfire35". We talked about him, his Halo Master Chief mosaic, and his experience in Brickworld. Let's get started...

Who are you?

"My name is Ben Caulkins, I'm fifteen, and I'm from New York (no the city)."

How long have you been playing/into Lego?

"I think I came out of the womb building Lego. I've been building for as long as I can remember, and longer than that. I remember in kindergarden when everyone was playing with wooden blocks, I was sitting quietly on the floor building Lego. But it wasn't until I was eleven that I started building seriously."

How and when did you find the online Lego community?

"Since I was ten I had known of the online community, but not all of it. I regularly checked Brickshelf for new products coming soon, and Mocpages and Flickr for peoples' Mocs. I was very inspired by the builders Kevin Fedde (Crimson Wolf), Red IV, and Keith Goldman, who really got me started into building. But it wasn't until I met Arthur Gugick and he said I should join the online community that I started posting my Mocs on Mocpages when I was thirteen.

What themes do you like to build in?

What I like to build the most are things from movies. It could be a robot or a spaceship. But I prefer to do the robots like Optimus Prime, or the Terminator, or the AMP suit from Avatar. But recently I've been doing some more creative stuff in the space theme, one of the Mocs I've done in that theme even receiving an award nomination at Brickworld (for those who were there it was big and speckled with orange). And even more recently I've been building in the Halo theme, which I find a good thing to work with when there are no new movies with robots in them.

Now on to your mosaic,

When did you get the idea to build the Master Chief Mosaic?

"As I became more involved in Halo, I wanted to do something for the Master Chief. I didn't really want to do something 3-d, so I though I'd try my hand at mosaics, but for me using colors was out of the question, so I settled on black and white."




Did you use any online or computer programs to help design the mosaic, if any?

"To design it, I first found a good picture of the Chief, pixelated it, and turned it black and white. I then used LDD to design a model of the chief as close to the picture as I could. When I was done, I slapped a halo logo on it as well as my internet alias to take up space, and then sent the order in to shop at home."

How large is the mosaic?

"It's 64x80 tiles, so that's 5,120 tiles, although there are a few missing because the TLG sent me some pieces in the wrong color so I left those spots blank. So it's dimensions are approx. 20x25 inches."

The mosaic is made mostly of 1x1 tiles, especially orange ones, how did you go about acquiring so many?

"Actually, it's made of entirely 1x1 tiles, which I did to give it a consistency all the way through. I acquired the parts through the online pick a brick store, which I learned is a lot cheaper than shopping from LDD because of the instructions that come with LDD. Also, I learned that Lego is not entirely reliable, as I have already said I didn't get exactly what I asked for, but it worked out for the most part."

Is the mosaic still in tact? Or was it scrapped for parts?

"Well, I disassembled it for the trip back from Brickworld, and have yet to put it back together, although I plan to at some point. It has proven to be a very popular Moc, and I plan to keep it around for future exhibitions."

Now on to Brickworld...

I understand that you brought this mosaic to Brickworld. What was your overall, general experience of Brickworld?

"My experience of Brickworld was overwhelming. I had never attended a Lego event aside from a very small festival around where I live where I met Arthur Gugick, and that's meant more for little kids anyway. But at Brickworld, it was the first time I had been surrounded by people who shared my love of the brick. My eyes were opened up to a much larger community where everyone is accepting of everyone else no matter if they like G.I. Joe's or are obsessed with Star Wars, and I am proud to have been a part of it. Also, I was able to see some of the most impressive Lego Mocs I had ever seen."

Did you attend any of Mosaic workshops?

"No, I did not attend any of the mosaic workshops. Although I had thought about it, but I thought that there wouldn't be anything I didn't already know. Apparently I was wrong, but luckily my table buddy was the teacher of that workshop and he offered me some tips."


Will you be attending next year?

"I will absolutely be attending Brickworld next year, and will hopefully be able to stay for the closing ceremonies next time. But I wouldn't miss it for the world."

And lastly,

What is the future hold for Ben Caulkins? Any more mosaics?

"In my foreseeable future, I'm thinking of doing a layout of models that tells the story of the film 2001: a space Odyssey, and I've already finished one of it's iconic ships, a midi-scale Discovery One. Also, if I go through with the display, I would like to include a mosaic depicting the stargate sequence. Further in the future I look forward to building another Vic Viper which I've already made some Bricklink orders for. The last thing I've planned out is a model of one of the drones from Iron Man 2. But mosaics are a tricky thing, and a bit pricey, but whenever I can, I'll try to squeeze them in."

To see Ben's fantastic MOCs, visit his Flickr photostream, here or visit his MOCpages account here.

~Casey~

Mosaics at Brickworld 2010: Master Chief Mosaic

As many of us know, one of the most popular Lego conventions took place last month (June) in Wheeling, IL. Brickworld 2010, which took place June 17th-20th with 795 attendees, was a huge success (Or at least what I've heard and seen). And it had a fairly good sized presence of mosaics!

One such mosaic that was brought and displayed, was a Master Chief Mosaic, made by Flickr user, Jetfire35.



The mosaic is incredible because it appears to be made entirely of 1x1 tiles.

Seen below is the mosaic at Brickworld (on the left, click the image for a slightly larger size).



Although I don't have much of an interest in Halo, the mosaic is great. =)