The Star Wars Alphabet Project 385
An anonymous reader writes "A ship for every *other* letter in the alphabet. Jon Palmer is creating a Star Wars fighter out of LEGO for every letter in the alphabet (minus X,Y,B,A,E and V). He has about 5 to go. Check out the project on From Bricks to Bothans." I have to admit, some of these look even cooler than the ships created for the newer Star Wars movies.
Fonts? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Fonts? (Score:2, Informative)
Instead try this legitimate [echostation.com] link.
-uso.
S.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:S.... (Score:5, Funny)
Great job on the other letters though.
I'd really love to see a stop motion animated movie of these guys in action fighting for the old republic.
Re:S.... (Score:3, Insightful)
The LL487 S-Wing is so old it makes the Y-WING look new. The ship has a very mysterious past and little is written about it in the old republic archives.
So it looks like that because the ship is very old, not because of a cop-out. That still doesn't make much sense (Ships in Eps 1&2 look much different), but maybe that was the style at the time?
Re:S.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Anyway, according to Star Wars lore, the rise of the Emporer was a time of great increasing boxiness in the fighters and such, as hand-tooled craftsmanship gave way to more factory friendly designs. So an old ship should look more organic (ala the Naboo fighter) and not less.
Or not. I'm sure there would be tons of exceptions either way, and of course it has more to do with F/X technology than anything else...
Re:S.... (Score:2)
S is for Shuttle.
--Azaroth
There is a S-Wing.... - Re:S.... (Score:2)
Re:There is a S-Wing.... - Re:S.... (Score:2)
But does it look like an S?
Re:There is a S-Wing.... - Re:S.... (Score:4, Funny)
No, it looks like a Winnebago.
Information on "S" (Score:5, Informative)
http://guide.lugnet.com/set/918_1
One of the most famous sets ever made, the 918 was one of the original three classic spaceships released by Lego. Jon did not "give up", he built a deliberate homage to the Holy Grail of
http://news.lugnet.com/space/
Space. Forever!
Re:Information on "S" (Score:2)
Re:Information on "S" (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, this is nitpicking. Bite me Slashdot crowd. I care is because I used to have one of those
Re:S.... (Score:5, Funny)
First, make an "S". Then add a more different "S". Then add some consummate "V"s. And . .
You're right. "S" is for "Sucks". Better start over . .
</tribute to the Bros. Chaps>
Poor guy. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Poor guy. (Score:5, Funny)
"There's nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?"
Re:Poor guy. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Poor guy. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Poor guy. (Score:2)
Re:Poor guy. (Score:5, Funny)
He's the Microsoft of the Sci-Fi world. But you have to admit, the /home-Wing, /usr-Wing and the /etc-Wing don't sound that impressive.
Re:Poor guy. (Score:3, Insightful)
The Spice Girls have some bling too... does that make them creative geniuses as well?
Re:Poor guy. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah. I mean, at least this guy's being creative and enjoying himself! In my book, that's far, far more worthwhile than sitting on Slashdot and mocking other people's hobbies.
Wouldn't be complete without... (Score:5, Funny)
Also, try this one [biglobe.ne.jp].
lego star wars? (Score:2, Funny)
Almost as impressive as... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Almost as impressive as... (Score:2)
Re:Almost as impressive as... (Score:2)
Do all those pieces actually exist? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Do all those pieces actually exist? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Do all those pieces actually exist? (Score:2)
Re:Do all those pieces actually exist? (Score:2, Informative)
The really geek chique about the new ship designs is that the S-wing [fbtb.net] looks to be made entirely out of 'old skool' space lego pieces, circa 1980s ;-)
Oh, and without custom moulded lego pieces we'd never have had the undersea set, and thus legocthulhu [rit.edu]!
Re:Do all those pieces actually exist? (Score:2, Informative)
Hmmm... lets see...
The Q wing [fbtb.net] is the quake logo.
The C-wing [fbtb.net] is a kilrathi fighter.
The G-wing [fbtb.net] looks like its a Starfury from Babylon 5.
And the O-ring is just silly
Many of them do look pretty cool though.
Ian.
Re:Do all those pieces actually exist? (Score:5, Funny)
limited fun (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree that they have gone a tad overboard on the specialized parts in recent years, but the Star Wars line actually uses a lot of the old basic bricks, simply because they're needed to replicate the arbitrary shapes of the SW universe vehicles. I bought several SW Lego sets and they're loaded with great simple parts.
the canopies! (Score:2)
ah, the good old days when i could reconstruct the argo from the big blue 2x8 bricks...i never did have enough pieces to make appropriately scaled fighters...
[waxes nostalgic]
32 years old and here i am waxing nostalgic about freaking legos. this
Re:limited fun (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:limited fun (Score:4, Insightful)
Your parents need a dope slap. Firstly, 11 is not too old to be playing with Legos, and secondly, to ban a child from playing with a toy is just wrong. What the hell were Mom Unit and System Dad thinking?
Re:limited fun (Score:2)
Just to point out that there's a difference between "specialized parts", and regular, normal parts that have "specialized decals" on them. Of course, the decals look cool in certain situations, but sometimes they're not appropriate for what you're trying to build.
Re:Do all those pieces actually exist? (Score:3, Interesting)
My parents' staircase was the proving ground for many doomed dragsters and nuclear bombers.
And as a followup... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:And as a followup... (Score:2)
All from the top and side... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:All from the top and side... (Score:2)
Re:All from the top and side... (Score:2, Insightful)
WOW! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:WOW! (Score:3, Insightful)
Wings In Space (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wings In Space (Score:3, Flamebait)
Star Wars fans have a peculiar attitude to the universe. George Lucas decided, probably after no more than a second's thought, to call an imaginary spaceship the "X-wing". Possibly the shape of it even came after he'd come up with the futuristic-sounding name. But the fans seized on it and decided that there must therefore be a spaceship for every other lette
Re:Wings In Space (Score:2)
Your kidding right?
Re:Wings In Space (Score:2)
Re:Wings In Space (Score:5, Insightful)
That's probably because there are (currently) only 5 Star Wars movies (plus one Christmas Special which I haven't seen yet), yet there are something like 10 Star Trek movies (I can't be bothered to actually count), 5 Star Trek live-action series and a Star Trek animated series (I'm not counting the Endor series of Star Wars spinoffs, coz that would be silly).
The Star Wars fans have much less material to go by, so they have to concentrate their efforts into those outlets. Hence every line is important to them, because it is one of a limited edition of lines in the Star Wars franchise. The Star Trek fans learn Klingon instead.
Matter=Energy and Distance=Time (Score:5, Interesting)
I am not a Star Wars fan at all (though I used to be a casual enjoyer of the movies, before episodes I and II), but this point isn't as convulated or silly as you may think.
Remember Einstein's equation: e=m (more commonly known as e=mc^2)? You can drop the c^2 if you chose your units to be such that c=1, meaning that the speed of light is little more than a constant that converts between two sets of units that essentially measure the same thing. Indeed, physcicists have proposed [physlink.com] that we adopt more natural units that clarify this relationship.
Distance and time are likewise the same thing (as becomes apparent when dealing with general relativity).
You could measure time in units that describe how far light travels in a given period of time. While saying "just give me 300,000 kilometers, I'll be right with you" is a little more verbose the "just give me a second," the two are, in terms of physics, identical. Alternatively, you could say something is about a nanosecond distant, i.e. that object is one light-nanosecond away from your current position.
The fact that we didn't understand the relationships between space and time, nor that between energy and mass, is why we've ended up with two essentially incompatible units for each (meters vs. seconds, grams vs. Joules) which make the e=m relationship, and the distance vs. time relationship, appear more complex than they actually are.
So, saying one made a trip in x parsecs (which is silly sounding and undoubtably resulted from George Lucas not knowing a thing about physics or the units he was tossing about) isn't really as silly as one would think.
What is silly is that we still have different units for distance vs. time, and mass vs. energy, when in each case they are one and the same.
There, now you've read a 'convuluted' explaination by someone who hates what Star Wars has become and was never a very ardent fan
Re:Matter=Energy and Distance=Time (Score:3, Interesting)
That may or may not be true - but the explanation you will get from a hardcore fan involves Solo being such a skillful pilot that he was able to fly closer to debris fields or black holes or something than any other pilot in the galaxy, so in fact flew from A to B by a shorter route. That's
Re:Matter=Energy and Distance=Time (Score:2)
What about the explanation from Star Trek for the difference in look between the original Klingons and the later ones? "The Klingons genetically engineered a race of humanoids that looked more human in order to facilitate peace between them and the humans. After war was declared, they didn't need this any more, so they've gone back to how they should be."
I think it's a little unfair of you to pick on just Star Wars fans. Just look at the sphere of fanfic which is av
Re:Wings In Space (Score:2, Informative)
Didn't you see the episode with the "trilithium"?
Re:Wings In Space (Score:4, Informative)
Dude, you've clearly not seen what I do for fun.
Why Warp Works [star-fleet.com], (or doesn't work).
Star Trek Computers [star-fleet.com]
Born and raised a Trekie.
Re:Wings In Space (Score:4, Insightful)
Ever notice that the space shuttle has wings?
Disturbing... (Score:3, Funny)
So, one day, on a website devoted to Nerds, someone asks why the spacecraft have wings.
Someone else has to point out that they do fly through the atmosphere, which means, wings are a good thing to have, unless you enjoy making craters on every landing...
AND SOMEONE HAS TO MOD THAT POST AS INSIGHTFUL.
Which, lets be quite honest, it isn't very insightful at all: "Things that fly-wings helpful."
No offense intended to p3do, because it needed to be said. And props to the moderator who
Re:Wings In Space (Score:2)
Ever notice that the space shuttle has wings?
Counter example: The Millenium Falcon takes off and lands from the ground but it doesn't have wings.
So we can conclude that wings are not necessary for atmospheric flight or landing in the Star Wars universe.
So the real questions is why do some ships in SW have wings and some don't?
Re:Wings In Space (Score:4, Insightful)
Same with the Slave I - no real wings (those flaps are supposedly a gravity stablizer/gyro of some sort) and I doubt Boba or Jango could properly fight with it on a planet.
The ships with wings seem to be designed specifically for flight in an atmosphere or in space. Thinking about the video games, the only ship without traditional "wings" that I've used in an atmosphere is the Y-Wing (maybe those massive engines make up for that). Or the car, if you've played Rogue Leader with the cheats... ;)
Re:Wings In Space (Score:5, Funny)
Repulsors (Score:3, Informative)
Why? (Score:2)
Re:Wings In Space (Score:3, Insightful)
If you look at the ships, the wings are clearly not intended for aerodynamics. Their main purpose is to carry guns, and expanding the X-wings turns two gun turrets into four.
But they look like wings, and they're shaped like wings, so you may as well call them wings.
Re:Wings In Space (Score:5, Informative)
The requirement of being "space worthy" does not itself add any shape requirements to a spaceship. Many sci-fi spaceships are spheres, for maximum bang-for-the-buck surface area/enclosed volume ratio. Also due to limitations on materials. One of Vernor Vinges spacecraft described in Marooned In Realtime, for instance, was an assemblage of spheres, not even physically connected to each other (impossible due to other technological considerations).
But Star Wars spacecraft aren't traditional spacecraft. The ones we see are typically combat craft, and that adds several concerns into the mix:
- Mounting space: There must be space to mount weapons platforms, such as missles, turbolasers, ion cannons, and other things. A Spherical design is actually a little too efficient with the surface area in this case; you probably need more room then a Sphere would have left over, plus you'd be challenged to get spacing and angling right.
- Reduced silhouette: You want to be able to present a reduced silhouette to the enemy, so you can be harder to hit. This means that there is some other angle with an increased silhouette, but the tradeoff is worthwhile, if you have an intelligent pilot. Again, a Sphere, or a random misshapen lump of metal, does not meet this criterion, and this strongly indicates a traditional aircraft-type design, with a limited number of thin protrusions and as small a main body as possible. (Of course this doesn't indicate exactly an aircraft; the B-Wing fits this just fine.)
- Manueverability: You need to be manueverable. Whether you have air-like physics as in Star Wars, or real Newtonian physics in space, that indicates being able to turn quickly and focusing the thrust elsewhere. Again, random lumps of metal don't do this well. This forces a relatively short axis on the thrust line, so you don't get too much rotational inertia, again limiting your freedom of design.
Add this all up and you aren't free to throw hunks of metal together.Most of the designs on that page aren't too bad, and thrust coming from off-axis is regrettably already established in Star Wars (B-Wings in particular look really wrong to me, the engines should be about 25% lower, unless the lower spike is entirely hollow, in which case it should not exist for other good reasons). Star Wars has already established high levels of technology, such that while we'd never build those ships, they make OK sense in that universe.
Once you have these limited protrusions, you might as well go ahead and make them wing-like. All Star Wars craft have enough power that true wings are not necessary, in the sense of providing lift, but they can still provide valuable manueverability by acting as control surfaces in atmosphere. Also, since drag rises quite quickly, you still want to limit drag in a craft that will spend significant time in an atmosphere, as many, if not all, craft in Star Wars do. Again, "misshapen hunk of metal", while spaceworthy, doesn't help you here.
All in all, while Star Wars craft are fanciful and deliberately made for aesthetic effect, they aren't too badly done, and harsh criticism of them, once you accept the aircraft-maneuverability "physics" of Star Wars, really isn't too justified. (Criticism of the physics is, but you have to at least admit they knew they were wrong and they were deliberately imitating WWII dogfights, which mitigates it a little; I find deliberate violation less annoying then accidental violation.)
Re:Wings In Space (Score:2)
Wow, all this.. (Score:3, Funny)
I've always wondered if I can rebuild my lego mindstorms into some sort of robotic sex-toy.
Re:Wow, all this.. (Score:2)
Wrong Alphabet? (Score:4, Funny)
Oh hang on, am I taking things too seriously?
Jolyon
His employment status should change ..... (Score:3, Interesting)
Hmmm! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: The Danish alphabet (Score:2, Funny)
The umlauted letters are in Swedish, Finnish, German, etc.
Difference of opinion. (Score:5, Insightful)
Well that's hardly difficult seeing as they sucked ass. X wings and TIE fighters on the other hand looked like they actually had someone engage their brain before making them.
Re:Difference of opinion. (Score:2, Funny)
But my favorite part of that game was when you messed up a mission and shot down an Imperial ship. The commander would say "Return to base immediately! The Emperor will have your head!" What great incentive.
For those who think this is a stupid waste of time (Score:2)
I mean, he took a common exercise (Building and designing Lego things is pretty common in western culture) and he added a set of restrictions (the Roman Alphabet, The Star Wars Universe). By denying himself total creative freedom, he forced his mind to solve actual problems, but in a very creative way.
This is what they should be teaching in schools! Creative problem soling is the key to intelligent thought. Hell, I'd
I have this irresistible urge... (Score:5, Funny)
And have them blow stuff up (imaginatively, of course).
Ah, to be a child again...
Cheers,
Ethelred
depressing... (Score:4, Interesting)
Lego is coming out with some really cool stuff these days, getting back to their roots a bit, without being too blocky. Designer series [lego.com] come with pamphlets with like 30 or so creations (you can build 2 or 3 at the same time with the bricks provided) and the new Star Wars mini stuff [lego.com], tiny scale, is really clever (though I've seen fans do similar stuff earlier.)
Star Wars Action Figure Theater (Score:2)
A Lego first! (Score:3, Funny)
What the F? (Score:3, Funny)
Marketing hype for the S-Wing (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, but what about rich Corinthian leather?
A-wings and B-wings (Score:2)
Well, aparently they developed two new prototypes for George Lucas to take a look at, and they called one A and one B. They realized that the A model actually looked like an A, so A-wing felt very natural.
Whne George picked both, the B sort of stuck to the other one also.
Tor
S-Wing look familiar? (Score:2)
Lego Space Cruiser circa 1979 [tubafrog.com]
Busted.
K Wing (Score:2)
For something really challenging... (Score:3, Funny)
So what are YOU doing for the rest of your life?
Re:What's special about those 6 letters?? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What's special about those 6 letters?? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What's special about those 6 letters?? (Score:2, Funny)
There are few places on this planet where a person would have as thurough an answer as that, Slashdot is one of them.
Re:What's special about those 6 letters?? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's special about those 6 letters?? (Score:2)
Re:What's special about those 6 letters?? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What's special about those 6 letters?? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What's special about those 6 letters?? (Score:2)
Imperial fighters are all named as some sort of "TIE" something; TIE stands for twin ion engine. Like the Alliance, the Empire appear
Re:What's special about those 6 letters?? (Score:2)
all readers of /. are geeks, right? geek watch star wars... in fact, for the certain age group (which i fall into), we GREW UP with star wars as our favourite movie... to not know that X, Y, B and A wings are already in the original movies is blasphemy!!
why do you assume i am american? unable to click on a user link?
Re:Yeah! (Score:2)
I have a simple reminder for BigBadDude (Score:2, Funny)
Re:gimme a break (Score:2)
No. Which is probably for the best, given that "news that matters" isn't part of Slashdot's remit. "News for nerds" is. "Stuff that matters" is. This story falls neatly into the former category.
If you're looking for news that matters, you might want to try elswhere [bbc.co.uk]...
Re:S-Wing (Score:2)
Re:WoW (Score:2)
Re:the q wing reminds me of the quake Q (Score:2, Funny)