Getting a leg up on the enemy

LEGO builder Marius Herrmann has been on a quest to design what he calls “Fashion Robots,” that is, cool LEGO mechs and robots that employ some of LEGO’s most unusual elements, the cloth apparel items that show up from time to time in official sets, most prominently the Scala and Belville themes from the 90s and early 2000s. We’ve covered quite a few of these excellent Fashion Robots already, and this one marks Marius’ ninth with a cool dark tan color scheme. It employs Scala pants as the coverings for its four legs, but it’s actually the rest of the design that has me interested.

Sentry “Peucaea” 10E-R

The silver ingots make great durable armor cladding on the legs, while the molded-in speakers from the boomboxes are perfect grilled covers for a missile launcher. A variety of dark tan curved slopes and arches make an interesting body, while the mech is topped with a three-barrel Gatling that’s strapped together with stretched rubber tires and a set of Tauntaun reins.

Bounty hunting is a dangerous profession

While Mos Eisley may be the most wretched hive of scum and villainy in the galaxy, there are plenty of contenders for runner-up when it comes to rough and tumble locations where you would be wise to have someone to watch your back. Darth Bjørn shines a light on one such location on Devaron, the homeworld of the devil-like beings first glimpsed on the famous Mos Eisley cantina. The rock work at the base forms a solid foundation for this shady outpost, which sports a number of non-specific vents, domes, and other mechanical details. The weather-worn walls are built using plates of various colors stacked vertically, which provides an unexpected texture.

Bounty Hunter Bright

The chase is on! It’s speeder bike versus speeder bike!

What’s better than one speeder bike? Two speeder bikes so that they can race against each other! -Disty- built a dynamic duo of hovering bikes with distinct styles and colours to match their pilots. They may be vengeful arch-enemies hellbent on destroying each other or just racing rivals here for the thrill of the chase. With the opposing styles and colour schemes, these two speeder bikes remind me of the old Technic battle bots from the late 90s.

Shinrai Technologies 'Orca' - Sport Bike

The tropical-themed Shinrai Technologies ‘Orca’ is a green mean speed machine piloted by a surfer dude. I love its lime green paint job that compliments azure waters and bright sands it flies above. Disty uses very clever parts usage with Hero Factory armour plates and robot minifigure legs as the secondary booster engines. I particularly like the usage of the transparent blue Bionicle eye/brain stalk as the headlight. It reminds me of the wheels of Legends of Chima Speedorz and even some Roboriders.

Rascal Motors 'DBL 790' - Urban Cruiser

The black and red Rascal Motors ‘DBL 790’ rules the night with furious speed. Despite the large Hero Factory spikes jutting out at all angles, this speeder bike retains aerodynamics to brave even the most congested cyberpunk air traffic. I love its angled look and greebly details; it looks like some creepy-crawly monster of the dark.

Nimble Nimbus V-wing Fighter

Star Wars is notorious for its level of detail and worldbuilding that we barely notice at times. Things like a background character or a vehicle that appears for a split second have extensive Wookieepedia articles. Many of these elements receive backstories from writers of the extended universe. And many of them return to the forefront of newer Star Wars media due to popular demand. For example, the Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing starfighter – as built by Pande (Malen Garek) appears at the end of Revenge of the Sith for a few seconds. Yet, its striking unique silhouette piqued the interest of many vehicle-oriented fans. Many LEGO builders built their own version of this starfighter despite not being very well known.

Alpha-3 Nimbus-class Imperial V-wing

You could say that the V-wing is essentially an evolutionary step between the Delta-7 Jedi Starfighter and the TIE Fighter. Its sleek arrowhead shape and bladelike wings are tough to get right considering looks and structure. You either make it too skinny and it falls apart, or you make it too thick. Pande found the balance between the two in a beautiful clean finish and sharp angles. I particularly like the usage of tall slopes to make the front wedges and throwing in a little dark grey for greyscale colour variation.

Fast and Furious: Eastern Bloc

Growing up in Hungary in the early 2000s, we would make fun of old Soviet cars, relics of a bygone era. They weren’t so common in my childhood, but our parents and grandparents have seen them plenty. They were the first small, affordable family cars in a time where automobiles were barely making their way to the Eastern Bloc. One such car was the Polski Fiat 126p, which builder Legostalgie faithfully replicated in LEGO Creator Expert scale. Despite the distance from real 100% Italian Fiats, this appears as the uglier relative of the more iconic Fiat 500.

Polski Fiat 126p

Legostalgie, being an expert in Eastern Bloc vehicles, really nailed the angular, boxy shape of the Polski Fiat. It’s a simple car, but with a strange angle in the black, and Legostalgie worked that out with SNOT. I’m particularly fond of the 2-cylinder engine in the rear. I remember my family owning such a car, and we had to get the engine started by poking it with a stick!

Polski Fiat 126p

Post-apocalyptic scene in the palm of your hand

You don’t need a big collection of parts to create something remarkable. Just ask Mark, who accepted the 101 part challenge, and made this amazing microscale scene of nature reclaiming those structures built by man. This scene could be straight out of the video game Last of Us with those vine-covered buildings and that abandoned bus. I especially like the cracks in the pavement with just a hint of green. And don’t miss that vine “snaking” across the sidewalk on the right side.

Nature taking back its place

There’s something fishy going on here.

A while back IKEA released a line of LEGO-compatible storage boxes. We’ve seen some creative builds based on them before, but this creation by Chi Hsin Wei (LEGO7) is a little sus. Sorry, I mean “fishy”.  The white IKEA box makes for a perfect insulated container, transparent 1×1 brick makes realistic ice, and metallic silver tile and slopes add just the right sheen to the saury. The brick-built sign with pricing really elevates the build, giving everything context and letting you imagine visiting your favorite fish-monger for the catch of the day.

Saury

I don’t want to carp on about what a great build this is forever, so I suggest you go check out some other featured fishy builds.

Snack time for a sea serpent

There’s no other way to say it – it would really suck to be these guys. This LEGO Jörmungandr (Midgard Serpent) built by Cecilie Fritzvold could swallow that little boat in one toothy gulp. But could there be any solace in knowing that at least they were eaten by a pretty sea serpent? It’s an excellent use of the blue shield holder element, and the color combo with the dark blue and teal is on point. Finally, those wings on the head finish it off nicely as well!

Jörmungandr

Are you interested in seeing more from this builder? Check out Cecilie’s page in our archives. We also have more viking foder for you too!

I spy with my little eye... some clever parts usage

This one might be worth zooming in for a second. There’s a lot of fun stuff packed into this little LEGO build by Roanoke Handybuck. Where should we start? We’ve got chain links for the water wheel, bridge, and windmill. There are also hands, horns, and wands galore used for a variety of things. We even have full arms (minifigure and tauntaun) here as part of the cobblestone pathway. Let us not forget the reddish brown crown in the tower. That part only came in the 71040 Disney Castle in that color. Finally, can you find the paintbrush and frog?

Meek Creek Village

Actually, those aren’t ALL the cool things. But I encourage you to see what else you can find on your own. Just the colors and shape of the base are fun by themselves. The only negative points for the purist in me are the cut-up pieces used for the grass. Added points, though, for the fact that apparently the water wheel and windmill spin! By crankshaft? We’ll have to stay tuned for a video! In the meantime, check out more of Roanoke’s work in our archives.

The metamorphosis of a bird

In this surrealism-inspired LEGO sculpture, Woomy World achieves a dynamic and organic look through the use of clever part usages and a bright color palette. According to the builder, Technic supports were used as the skeleton for the sculpture. We see some of those beams at the base, but throughout the rest of the build, they are virtually invisible beneath the twisting tree trunk and the bird’s plumage/foliage. Instead, I’m drawn to the gradient of the leaf parts from teal to dark azure, as well as the dramatic flourish of the wings made with flex tubes, a technique used by fellow builder Joss Woodyard. And contributing to the seamless flow of the bird’s transformation, the twisting tree trunk has all of these natural grooves and textures from parts like technic connectors and a Belville saddle.

Avian Blossom

If you love this build, check out some other mythical builds by Woomy World, including castle titans and a reimagining of Ninjago dragons.

New LEGO Super Mario starter set featuring Luigi revealed online [News]

Amazon China has just revealed the upcoming extension for the LEGO Super Mario theme. The new starter course, 71387 Adventures with Luigi, will include Mario’s brother in his signature green outfit. The set is similar to the last year’s 71360 Adventures with Mario set, but will be 50 pieces bigger consisting of 280 elements. According to Amazon, the set is priced at ￥420.64, so we expect price tags around US $60 and 60€ in other regions.


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Asteroids dead ahead! Shields up!

Creative part usage crosses over with retro-gaming nostalgia in Classic Space Arcade by brickleas. This entry into the Iron Builder contest takes uncommon Large Figure Part Shield Holder with Axle LEGO elements and mashes them up with side-scrolling in a way that’s sure to earn a high score. The use of the shield as both a part of the spaceship and the scoring counters is brilliant, but I also like the other creative touches. The smallest white stars are made from headlight bricks with white bars inserted into them, for example. And check out the similar-but-not-identical builds on the asteroids. It looks like classic Atari graphics to me!

Classic Space Arcade

Over the years, we’ve featured a lot of creative builds resulting from Iron Builder challenges. Why not check our archives and see what you’ve missed?