This week Classic Castle announced the winners of their huge annual contest! The quality of the entries grows every year, but this year they seemed to really blossom. Quite a few of these have been featured already. But here they are, all in one spot, for your viewing pleasure.
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Tapestry: |
Vignette: |
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Chivalry: |
Haunted Castle: |
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Seige: |
Secret Hideout: |
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Crime and Punishment: |
Custom Figure: |
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Misc: |
Castle: |
Congratulations to all the winners!
Takeshi Itou is one of the most incredible Castle builders out there. Every one of his creations is incredible. Its been quite awhile since his last one, but it has definitely been worth the wait.
This City Hall with linking bridges is very striking and I love all of the various Tudor houses.
(Via E-Klocki)
Michael Jasper showcased some cool string bass and saxophone designs played by his Some Like it Hot characters last week, but he’s just added some more amazing musical instrument designs.
Not only do these Scotsmen carry ingenious bagpipes, but they’re also wearing kilts (made from minifig torsos):
This design for an electric guitar rocks my world:
Rock on, Michael Jasper, rock on.
It’s not often I look at a LEGO creation, go off to read more about it, and then come back and find that my appreciation for the work has grown. Even as a writer, I’ll admit that words rarely add anything to a LEGO creation for me.
Not so with this scene by Hillel Cooperman from Jackson Fish Market:
Hillel built this as a second-anniversary gift for his startup’s partners, using the restricted palette in LEGO Digital Designer.
The simplicity of the overall design hides some very cool conceptual details, like each person performing symbolic work on a representation of the first website they built, a virtual flower gift site called They’re Beautiful!
Head on over to Cooperman Brick Foundry to read more.
Kevin Fedde’s “larger project” Josh alluded to has apparently come to fruition:
A group of survivors cling to civilization in the middle of a wilderness. More on Brickshelf.
We love Adam Grabowski‘s vehicles, minifigs, and, oh, pretty much everything he does, but this Hellboy sculpture is an interesting departure. I suspect Mike Mignola would be proud.
Via Klocki. And don’t miss Jordan’s custom minifig from last year.
Huw Millington expands his 10193 Medieval Market Village set to include a full town square layout. The construction isn’t overly complex, but the effect is gorgeous. You can build your own with a baseplate and some additional plates to simulate the water, grass, and paved stones. Everything else is included in the set!
Like ApocaLEGO, steampunk creations have a fairly standard color scheme. You see brown, black, and gray and it’s safe to assume, “Oh. That’s steampunk (or ApocaLEGO).”
Draugaer illustrates that the Victorians who inspired our conception of steampunk probably had a can or two of paint lying around…
It can’t be helped, sometimes excellent LEGO creations get passed over by us Brothers. However, thanks to the excellent networking of Flickr, it is still quite possible to stumble upon excellent LEGO creations months (and even years) after they’ve been posted. This LEGO backgammon game by dh-l is a perfect example. Everything from the classic game is recreated out of LEGO except for the dice. It even folds up into a carrying case, just like the original!
It’s been more than two years since Nathan Todd posted the first installment in his “Entrance to the Caves” story — illustrated in LEGO, of course.
“The Forgotten Beacon” was well worth the wait:
The mountain has an interior full of caves, and Nathan says that the beacon uses a new curved tower technique.
Check out lots more pictures on Nathan’s website.
UPDATE: Nearly all of the LEGO sets featured in this post are now available, including LEGO Space Police, Castle, and Agents 2.0.
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LEGO fans don’t normally get an official look at third-quarter LEGO set releases until Toy Fair New York in mid-February. However, CTV technology journalist Kris Abel visited the Canadian Toy & Hobby Fair in Toronto this past weekend, posting a full run-down of the late 2009 LEGO releases.
We’ve confirmed with The LEGO Group that this is official. Although Kris Abel reports that many of the sets and box art are still prototypes, his photos of the sets themselves are pretty good. In keeping with our new policy, then, here goes…
First up,
5972 Container Heist opens up to reveal a massive cannon:
If you can’t see the photos, click the links at the bottom of this post.
5974 Galactic Enforcer has classic (dare I say Classic?) lines:
The alien criminals in the LEGO Space Police sets have several new, unique pieces:
In LEGO Star Wars news, Endor gets a bunker (8038), the Y-Wing gets a facelift (8037), the Neimoidians get their own shuttle (with Nute Gunray minifig?), and 7749 Echo Base includes a first-ever LEGO tauntaun:
LEGO Power Miners sport a larger rock monster and a very large drilling platform:
The LEGO Indiana Jones assortment includes a boat chase, a pair of fighters, and a new Elsa Schneider minifig:
On the LEGO Castle front, the trolls get their castle and the undead make their return in 7079 Drawbridge Defense:
Finally, LEGO has announced MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, with a new color sensor.
You can read all of Kris Abel’s coverage on his blog:
We’ll expect even more complete coverage at Toy Fair New York in a few weeks from the usual suspects. In the meantime, share your thoughts in the comments.
Chuck Citrin has made an amazing mini hard-suit and posted a breakdown for us to build our own. The sensor is my favourite touch but it’s full of goodness.
Title stolen straight from Chuck.
