Will Arnett has plenty of credits in the LEGO-verse, from voicing LEGO Batman in several movies to hosting the US version of LEGO Masters. But Trevor Pearson-Jones wants to celebrate a different one of Arnett’s characters with this excellent take on Bojack Horseman. Heavily inspired by the set 31140 Magical Unicorn, the creature of majesty and dreams is replaced instead with a washed-up TV star/anthropomorphic horse from the 1990’s. Probably something more appropriate in the Icons theme…
Kamil Karpiński is a master at working minifig parts and accessories into complex creatures bursting with personality. As much as we loved Kamil’s Aarakocrans, this centaur druid is a contender for his most impressive figure yet. While LEGO has made a molded centaur body before, Kamil’s brick-built solution offers more realistic proportions and posability. Using the head and hairpiece of Beorn from the LEGO Hobbit line brings appropriate animal rage to the build. Packing in around 100 elements, the centuar might be mini in stature but it’s a major building feat.
Menace and malice are the motto of Malefactor, the latest LEGO build from Scott Wilhelm. With outer plating of dark red and mouthparts and limbs clad in black, this giant parasite still appears to have some of the essentials of space travel like rear thrusters and forward battery. So is this a living creature, or a spaceship with a natural inspiration? I’d rather not get close enough to find out!
I like a heavy motorbike as much as the next guy, but there’s something a little fishy about this LEGO trike by Ian Ying! Maybe it’s the sharp blue-and-red custom color-scheme or the cold golden gleam of the engine (with many parts recolored to pearl gold), but something makes me feel like there’s jaws (and teeth!) closing in. Well, not to worry. With a ride this fast, you’re sure to leave the competition eating your bubbles!
We all know the story of the other mermaid who wished for legs so she could woo her prince. This mermaid already has legs—but she may find any prince-wooing to be a tall order, depending on how much he likes kissing fish lips. This horrifying LEGO reversal of the typical mermaid configuration comes to us courtesy of Maxx Davidson. While you’re staring, feel free to appreciate some of the fun parts usage: the eyes of the 21349 Tuxedo Cat, dragon wings for the fins, and smoke plumes for the splashing water. The rock is offset at a nice angle and the curved pearl blue rounded bricks over white make for a great water effect. If only I could look away.
Maybe it’s all the great LEGO cars by SFH_Bricks, or maybe it’s my recent re-watch of HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon – either way, this delightful diner scene from the Space Age is really speaking to me right now. With so many bright colors, laudable lettering, and a caravan of convertibles, there’s no doubt this popular 50’s spot has the best grub in town. You can even spy a tribute to a gift-with-purchase from years ago: LEGO Ideas 40448 Vintage Car is parked on the roof of Jim’s, in all its teal glory.
Nintendo has Mario. SEGA has Sonic. LEGO fans can build with both! Playstation has had its share of platforming mascots over the years, from Crash Bandicoot to Spyro the Dragon, but they didn’t stay exclusive or endure. But now Sony’s throwing its hat into the mascot ring again with Astro Bot, the adorable platforming robot who celebrates all things Playstation. Builder and gamer dad curtydc pays tribute to the bot in LEGO form and the results are pixel-perfect. From TV head to thruster toes, curtydc captures Astro’s adorable energy. My favorite detail and building technique is found in the stand where three frayed cables are created from macaroni tubes filled with brown stems. Simple yet effective, and instantly recognizable to fans of Astro’s games.
For the past few years, I haven’t had as much time to build as I once did. That’s a tale that’s no doubt familiar to many of our readers with careers and families. That also means that when I do find time to build, I’m working through the backlog of ideas that have been piling up in my brain. And so lately I’ve found myself returning over and over to microscale space, because my brain has a logjam of sci-fi scenes I want to translate to bricks before moving on to pirates or castle or any of the other myriad themes I enjoy.
Set in the same universe as my previous large spaceships Vanguard and Discovery, this simple diorama depicts a launch facility on the moon with an attached habitat. I built the rocket first as a standalone model, but I wanted a better way to display it, and what better way to display a rocket than with a huge burst of engine exhaust? And of course, any facility on the moon worth its salt needs a habitat.
Concept artist Pierre E Fieschi is a SHIP legend, having created dozens of large-scale LEGO space vehicles over nearly 20 years. It’s been a while since we’ve seen new MOCs from Pierre (outside of his work on LEGO video games), so it was a joy to see his return this SHIPtember with a model inspired by the machine designs from the Horizon video games. As a fan of the franchise, I can’t help but look for weak points for Aloy to chip away at. Those power cells look tempting and are brilliantly designed using Technic link treads. The head, cleverly using black tubes to achieve the shape of a baleen whale, seems lacking in firepower. True to its name though, this Gentle Giant is closer to a peaceful Tallneck than a Thunderjaw, so maybe we shouldn’t try to blow this one up.
Batman: The Killing Joke, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, is considered by many to be the definitive Joker story with its bleak origin story and striking imagery. LEGO and comics fan Toryman translates the punchline of Jack’s bad day as he goes from Red Hood to Joker. The builder captures Bolland’s colors beautifully, where the red costume and green chemicals pop in against monochrome bricks. The top half of the scene mirrors the comic panels’ changing perspective, but it’s that last panel that looks best in LEGO, with extra depth that lets the brick-built typography fill the space. It’s funny how well it works. So why aren’t you laughing?
Miniaturizing a large set (either for budget reasons or just because a microscale version looks so darn cute) is a common enough practice among LEGO builders, but most of the time the miniature versions don’t stay at minifig scale. “Eldoradito Fortress” by. Ciamosław Ciamek keeps most of the major features of the larger 10320 Eldorado Fortress (itself a remake of the classic set of the same name), so it stays true to its storied pedigree despite its smaller size. We’ve got the winch, jail, tower, cannons, dock, stone ramp, rowboat, and palm tree. There’s even a solitary guard, though he looks as though he’s probably overdue to be relieved. The only feature that doesn’t make it into the smaller version is the ship (which would be tough to shrink down much further anyway).
BigBrickStan is a new face in the online LEGO community, but already the builder is making waves with splashy builds like this LEGO sea serpent. The Chinese-style dragon uses a lush mix of plant elements as scales. I love the variety of orange wings and claws along the creature’s back, splayed irregularly for a more organic look. An array of points and curls in white make for effective roiling water at the dragon’s base. Most impressive is the head shaping, especially the toothy jaws made of Ninjago bone swords and unicorn horns.
