The Brothers Brick

As Thanel alluded to earlier, one of the new themes at BrickCon in two months is Battle Bugs. Harrison (Corran101) built this lovely WASP (Winged Arial Scout and Patrol) bot, complete with warning stripes.

The newest LEGO Star Wars sets, including 7754 Home One Mon Calamari Cruiser and 7753 Pirate Tank are now available from the LEGO Shop online.

The Home One playset includes minifig all-stars Admiral Ackbar, Mon Mothma, a new Lando, and Crix Madine, along with a green A-wing. A bit pricy at $110, but hey, Admiral Ackbar!

Having never watched the Clone Wars animated series, I don’t know much about the tank, but the minifigs are some of the coolest aliens I’ve seen outside Space Police III.

Speaking of the new Space Police, two more sets are out — ones I hadn’t seen from Toy Fair coverage or leaked catalog scans.

With a gap between LEGO creations of almost two years, it’s great to see something new from Chris Malloy (porschecm2). His Iron Golem is both sinister and adorably, simultaneously mechanical and biological.

The Chinese hats from the Adventurers Orient Expedition theme add a nice riveted look over the robot’s joints.

Time for the annual animated GIF! Lovely work as always, Jason Freeny.

Check out this fighter by Mristoph Chonnaie (stenertje).

It’s called a heavy fighter, and it really feels like one. I really love the chunkiness of this thing. I’m also a big fan of the tube making a seam across the bubble canopy.

I remember seeing work-in-progress pictures of this model, but I can’t believe it took Sean Kenney three years to make it. I mean, what a slacker, just kidding! What’s more incredible than making a 1:150 scaled model of the real stadium out of more than 45,000 LEGO bricks is the fact that the model was built in part by a gradeschooler. Check out more pictures of this grand accomplishment on MOCpages.

Even if you haven’t seen the cartoon, you may recognize these adorable characters from Shaun the Sheep built by Misa Qa.

Luke Chapman‘s vignette is hilarious, but it wouldn’t have been featured without the bubbling acid effects, which I’ve only seen in one other place. I wonder what R2′s thinking.

Sounds like it should a horrible mashup of bandwagon themes, but it’s actually one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while. Nathan Proudlove built this steampunk battle bug for this year’s BrickCon in Seattle. Way to bring it.

Looking forward to seeing it in person.

Jon Hall (jonhall18) recently built this fantastic speeder.

It incorporates a lot of great angles, without looking like it’s a bunch of sections being forced together. Instead, it really appears as though the hull came from a factory in one piece. It also features just enough greebles inside of the fins to look good, without going overboard. The sticker use is also impeccable.

In 1963, The LEGO Group spun off a company called Modulex to create planning tools for architects, including a completely separate system of bricks. Though Modulex still operates today (still based in Billund, making modular corporate signage), they no longer manufacture little plastic bricks.

Nevertheless, Modulex bricks continue to be sought-after collectors’ items among LEGO fans. Some fans even have enough in their collection to reproduce contemporary LEGO sets, as Brixe has done with her collection.

The limited palette of bricks in the Modulex system doesn’t stop Brixe from an excellent recreation of 10182 Café Corner and 10190 Market Street.

Even though Brixe’s Modulex version is nearly a stud-for-stud clone of the LEGO set, this comparison shot shows the difference in scale between the two systems (LEGO on the left, Modulex on the right):

Jordan Schwartz finished a three month project on making a “steam-powered, schooner-shaped paddleboat.” Although there are many classic sea vessels and pirate ships, a large-sized steampunk ship is quite a delicacy. You can see this great build in person if you’re coming to BrickFair later this month.

Yes, I know this picture, by Jason Railton is rather old, but I just found it. It has the best wave technique I’ve ever seen, bar none. Incredible!

Lino says that he geeked out again. I don’t think that adequately describes the elegance of this build. I guess he can call it what he wants.

By the way, I saw this in person. It’s swooshable!

This poor overloaded Mech, by Uspez Morbo, has such a hard life. I pity him.