Ah, LEGO’s gifts with purchase. To some they’re as important as phasers or transformers, to others they’re a form of evil second only to the Borg. But love them or loathe them, we have another one to look forward to: 40768 Type 15 Shuttlepod, the companion set to the recently revealed 10356 USS Enterprise. The Onizuka here will fly your way with the Enterprise if you order it between November 28th and December 1st (US | CAN | UK).
Reviewer’s log, stardate -297548.10*. A curious missive appeared on the bridge today: a new Starfleet vessel has been sent to us for appraisal. Its designation? LEGO Icons 10365 USS Enterprise. This is not a starship in the conventional sense. It consists not of tritanium or duranium, but of plastic bricks – 3,600 of them, in fact. For such a large ship, it has an impressively small contingent: nine minifigures, representing one of the finest Next Generation crews ever to journey the cosmos. Naturally Starfleet doesn’t auction off its ships, but we’re informed that back on Earth, this particular model costs US $399.99 | CAN $489.99 | UK £349.99. Its maiden flight takes place on stardate -297491.25 (or November 28th, depending on your timeline).
We’re also informed that this is the first time its manufacturer – LEGO – has entered the Starfleet fold. Hans B. Schlömer and Crystal Marie Fontan from the design and graphic design teams, respectively, briefed us with some classified information and insights, which we will distribute as we go along.
*There are a few different ways of working this date out – this is the calculator I used, for reference!
Star Trek, the final frontier of fandom, is coming at last to LEGO this month with the Black Friday release of LEGO Icons 10356 U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The 3,600 piece set is designed by Hans B. Schlömer (no stranger to big ships, having also designed the Millennium Falcon and Endeavor) with graphic design by Crystal Marie Fontan, who wonderfully captures the look of the crew across the 9 included minifigures. The massive display set features one play feature – a removable saucer section. When the set goes on sale on Black Friday, November 28, it comes with a Gift With Purchase of the Shuttlepod Onizuka and exclusive minig Ensign Ro.
Photos of the set leaked months before today’s reveal, but what didn’t come across was how substantial the set is (see some of the lifestyle pictures below to better appreciate the scale). We’re also thrilled to see Star Trek minifigs at long last, with new molds for Worf and Guinans’ headpieces.
Click to boldly go where LEGO has never gone before
In a Star Trek world of Enterprises and Klingon Birds of Prey, sometimes it’s the little ships that mean a lot. Take this LEGO Shuttlecraft built by Horace Worblehat for example. It’s expertly crafted and certainly takes me back to classic Star Trek episodes. This little craft has taken these two crewmembers to parts unknown. What will harangue them next? Will it be a ferocious Gorn or a hideous Salt Vampire? One thing for certain is one of these guys will escape by the skin of their teeth and the other will die a horrible yet amusing death. It’s the Redshirt, by the way. It’s always the Redshirt.
As intimidating as the Borg can be in Star Trek, the Next Generation, I still recommend lowering the shields for this gorgeous LEGO transmission by Pandis Pandus. It’s a stellar example of what we in the brick-building business call “greebling.” But unlike the Borg, don’t let this technical lingo scare you. Think of it as a “technical texture,” all pipes and tubes and grills serving some nondescript purpose on a spacecraft. And unlike the smooth exterior of a ship like the Enterprise, all these bumps and ridges don’t play nice with aerodynamics and the need to enter a planet’s atmosphere. On fact, you should use it on your next build -no, on EVERY build from now on. Assimilate. Assimilate.
Set your phasers to positively delighted because LEGO builder Kevin J. Walter has a duo of 1:1 scale Trek tech for you to dork out over. First up is a Tricorder used to sense data, record data, and analyze said data. Star Trek medics use special Tricorders to help diagnose diseases and collect bodily information about a patient while the engineering Tricorder is used for…well, engineering purposes. Captain Kirk mostly used his to categorize hot space babes that he made out with. I like the attention to detail here and it looks as if you can fold it up and stow it in your Star Trek uniform that somehow had no pockets.
Next is a Type II Phaser for shooting space baddies who were not cool with Captain Kirk or anyone else (especially Kirk) making out with their babes. Unless you count a smartphone and a taser, we have to wait a couple of centuries until we can have such cool tech. In the meantime, check out why Kevin J. Walter continues to impress us dorks with his masterful LEGO work.
When you’re looking to join the Federation, be sure to ask for Tim Goddard‘s USS Goldsmith by name. This Overture class starship’s crew specializes in first contact and related negotiations. It also specializes in some high-grade LEGO building techniques to create the seamless front saucer section and iconic nacelles. One of my favorite details are the Technic gears just barely visible under the transparent neon orange domes, a nice nod to the classic Enterprise model’s visual effects.
Multiple viewscreens active after the jump
Okay, Star Trek fans, yours truly (Christopher Burden) here with something fresh! For the last few years my best friend Capn.Brickard and I have been exchanging custom models for birthdays and holidays. We love giving each other a challenge, and this year I had my work cut out for me. Out of three options that he gave, I chose to take on La Sirena from the 2020 Star Trek spin-off Picard. Honestly, as soon as it was revealed, I wanted to build it, but at the time, I wasn’t quite ready to take it on — all the different angles and slopes, not to mention that accursed command deck.
This new LEGO creation by Mikael Montelius features all your favorites from Star Trek: The Next Generation. From left to right we have Wesley and Beverly Crusher, Captain Picard, Data, LaForge, Riker, Troi and Worf. There aren’t many parts here but the likeness to each character is uncanny. I like that each shoulder is touching the next but is slightly askew. The base and the whole presentation makes for a handsome display that could adorn any desk or office. The formula is simple, yet brilliant. We’ve been smitten by Mikael’s work before but I can see this setting a trend for other builders to follow. Think about how this formula of characters on a neat linear display could work for other fun franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, DC Comics, Harry Potter or…The Human Centipede. Sorry. I’ll just let myself out.
Star Trek creations are seen all too infrequently in the LEGO fan community (compared to other sci-fi worlds, say, from a galaxy far, far away). Another LEGO fan once told me it was impossible to build a convincing Enterprise. Perhaps he just wasn’t bold enough to go there, because that’s exactly what Chris Melby has done. This model is huge – 6 feet long and almost 3 feet wide. It’s so big that he built a custom aluminum stand for it.
See more of this 30,000-piece LEGO Enterprise
Ok, so not quite, but it is approximately eight feet in diameter, and I am only a little over six feet tall, so it is bigger than I am. And if I curled up around the central core between the docking pylons, I could probably fit. Thus, the title is not entirely hyperbolic. But I could wax hyperbolic about the eponymous space station from the Star Trek series Deep Space Nine, built by Adrian Drake from over 75,000 pieces, including an absurd amount of dark bluish grey. It took over two years to build, and I can see why.
Read more about this massive Star Trek build.
NCC-2112 USS Jefferies may not be based on any particular ship in the official Star Trek canon, but it probably should be canon. I particularly like how Ben Smith designed the placement of the auxiliary engines swooping forward like a Klingon Bird of Prey instead of the traditional Star Trek ships we typically see. Points also scored for a primary hull that’s closely shaped like a saucer, as that’s as good as it’s going to get with the limitation of a LEGO build angles.
And if that isn’t cool enough, Ben’s made a secondary starship made for planetary exploration and landing.
