As the spending season kicks into high gear at the start of October, LEGO has turned out quite the interested “Gift with Purchase” to help keep us entertained. Unlike any other GWP I’ve encountered, 40596 Magic Maze is a gravity-powered ball maze seated on a 24×24 stud square. Read on to get my thoughts on quite a novel concept. 40596 Magic Maze consists of 332 pieces and is available until October 9th from LEGO stores or their website with qualifying purchases of US $150 | CAN $200 | UK £130.
Those are lyrics from a song by Enya that I was listening to when I saw this diamond-shaped spaceship build by Roanoke Handybuck. This build is very fitting to Enya’s music, as both are beautiful, ethereal, and simultaneously dark and light. The spaceship is bright, smooth, with just enough greebling, and is adorned with gold cannons, antennae, and engines. The shaping is definitely alien; not scary and menacing, but rather welcoming and beautiful. With a small yellow frog as the pilot, I doubt this poses a threat. I like to imagine the frog is also listening to Enya inside the cockpit.
The builder packed this small ship full of interesting techniques to give it a unique look. The end connections of croissants form 45º angles with rounded edges, so that the diamond shape of the ship isn’t too sharp. A smooth windscreen that sits flush on top of the ship, and blends well with the smooth surface. The bright ship hovers above a dark maze, which provides a contrast between vehicle and the environment. The end result is truly a work of art. It makes me want to listen to Enya’s music, hoping the spaceship I build will be just as beautiful.
Sometimes you don’t need a wide breadth of pieces to build a great LEGO model. You just need a large quantity of a handful of elements. That seems to be the case with this eye-catching maze by Dutch builder Erik Eti Smit. Using a repeating pattern of tan arches, curved slopes, and striking red slopes, Erik has crafted a stunning maze for some hapless dwarves.
Last month we featured a stunning maze made out of LEGO. But the design of that creation was stationary, leaving only one way out. In contrast, the walls of Jake Lee‘s LEGO labyrinth shift and move, which means the tiny maze runner inside has to constantly adjust and find a new escape route.
Jake’s maze is made up of 15 unique, moveable squares and one stationary “temple” square that serves as the maze’s starting point. The outside pieces can be moved around and worked like a puzzle. The ultimate goal? Preventing dead ends and finding a path to freedom. Just so you know it can be done, one solution to this maze is pictured below, but the builder claims there may be more than one way to solve this LEGO puzzle. Can you find another solution?
The LEGO Ideas Maze continues to inspire builders to construct their very own LEGO mazes. IamKritch steps into the fray with this Aztec-themed beauty. In order to make it out alive, you must delicately and precisely guide a ball from the very top of the pyramid to the lone ship anchored along the shore. Along the way you must avoid pit traps filled with spikes, and cross narrow bridges.
The jungle and temples look great at this tiny scale and I particularly like the decorative skulls and scrolling patterns along the frame of the maze. Be sure to watch Kritch’s video to see all this build has to offer.