Precious spider has jazzy-looking legs

A LEGO model built predominantly from a single colour generally needs to be something special to grab the eye. This gleaming clockpunk-style spider beastie from Markus Rollbühler manages to do exactly that, using a variety of textured pearl gold parts to provide lots of delicious mechanical detailing in amongst the bling.

LEGO Steampunk Spider

The eye in the mechanoid’s “face” is a brilliant parts choice, and I like the egg-sac feel of the teal balls held between the wheels of the abdomen. Katana for the lower limbs make this thing look like it’s tip-toeing around, but it’s the use of saxophones for knees which is the masterstroke here, adding touches of tiny texture to a nicely angled joint, and proving once again there’s no such thing as a single-use LEGO part!

Cute robots will outlive humans eventually

Love, Death & Robots seems to be making waves on Netflix via word-of-mouth recommendations. It’s a series of animated anthology short clips targeted at adults, and this character is featured in Episode 2, which simply titled Three Robots. It’s pretty cool to see the various LEGO elements that builder Lu Sim used for a change of expressions just like on the show.

K-VRC

K-VRC

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TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for March 24, 2019 [News]

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the fourth week of March 2019.

What are The LEGO Group’s plans for the future and what has impacted their business model most strongly the past few years? Read on to find out.

TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: It could have been called Disney week with new minifigures, Steamboat Willie revealed and a Darth Vader bust that caught our eye.

OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:
Click to read even more LEGO news

Microscale LEGO model of Lion Rock overlooking Hong Kong

Many cities throughout the world have at least one natural locale which presents a postcard-perfect view of that city. Hong Kong is no exception, as seen in this microscale model of the city by Twilight Yellow which features Lion Rock, a hilly area just North of downtown Hong Kong. The city is filled with modern architecture and pastel colors, which come to life in this scene. The repetition of simple shapes along with a choice selection of grills and tiles and plenty of green spaces captures the clean and colorful spirit of Hong Kong.

Lion Rock(獅子山) is a mountain in Hong Kong. It is also an important symbol of the spirit of struggle among the Hong Kong citizen.

This quiet gardener’s retreat deserves a double take

Have you ever played one of those games where you look at an image and find the hidden details? They used to be in magazines, but these days there are loads of apps for them. And now, there’s even a 3D LEGO version! This greenhouse, built by César Soares, is a hidden-gem masterpiece. While there are lots of LEGO creations with incredible parts usage, this one goes above and beyond, and may be one of my absolute favorites!

Greenhouse

No spoilers! Take a moment to scan the whole thing, and read below once you get stumped. Can’t remember where you last saw that part? We’ll fill you in on a couple of those hard-to-pinpoint pieces!

Click here to discover which items you may have missed

Minifigure murder mystery in a magnificient mansion

The two things that stood out first in this build by XBrickmonster were the imperfect walls and the intricate windows made of LEGO elements ranging from claws and minfigure hands to tails and even Technic pins. That aside, the scene itself is a grand mystery waiting to be solved by our two detectives. While I leave the hard part to the experienced folks, I’m still trying to solve how that yellow frog got up there on the beams of the roof.

Murder in the Study

How to Build your Dragon: Make your own LEGO Toothless [Instructions]

We’ve come to enjoy the many LEGO creations from Build Better Bricks not just for their quality and variety, but because they often provide inexpensive building instructions. Their latest is the titular dragon Toothless from the How to Train Your Dragon series, which just released its third movie recently. I love the dragon’s eyes, and Toothless’ low profile is captured perfectly, along with key details like his makeshift tail fin.

Toothless

You can check out the instructions for Toothless on B3’s website.

Age is a high price to pay for maturity

This build by Justin M Winn reminds me of a future that may be me, not far away. I’ve always imagined that once I get old and retired, the one thing that I could imagine myself doing is reading–lots and lots of it to keep the grey matter going. This wise-looking, matured gentleman seems like he’s dozing off in the middle of a sunny day–it must be the hearty lunch he just had. What makes this LEGO build stand out is the great use of contrasting colors and textures that approximate a very cozy abode.

Leslie - Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon

A microscale recreation of Predjama Castle from Slovenia

Seeing one of your national icons made in LEGO always gives a wholesome sense of civic pride, like the Mount Rushmore build we shared recently surely did for our American readers. However, living in a small country like Slovenia as I do can make such events scarce at best. Luckily for me, Isaac Snyder has given me this satisfaction and luckily for you, he has informed you about the largest cave castle in the world. Predjama Castle was first mentioned in 1274 as a small defensive fortress built inside a cavern with 6,5 kilometres of cave systems and a vertical 130-meter high cliff behind it. In 1570 it was expanded in the Renaissance style and remains this way to the present day.

Predjama Castle

The microscale build captures the real castle perfectly, as you can see from the reference used by Isaac. The build looks simple at first glance, until you start looking at the seams between bricks and notice how many difficult half-plate offsets and angles are scattered throughout the build. The landscaping is spot-on too, from the slanted cliff extending over the castle to the grass-covered hillside below. My favourite part is the staggered bricks on the side of the rightmost tower

Click to see the castle recreated in LEGO by local builders

Classic Space has never looked as good as with these jaw dropping details!

Benny would not only be thrilled but ecstatic and going bonkers with this upgrade of the Classic Space 928 Galaxy Explorer. Builder Alec Hole did such a great job and so jaw-dropping of an upgrade that it almost looks like it could have come out of a scene in a sci-fi movie. The detailing and greebling in key spots paired with minimal stud exposure give it a very sleek look. Measuring in at almost a meter in length, this is one sweet spaceship that I wish I had in my collection.

Large Galaxy Explorer

LEGO Store offering double VIP points from now until the end of March [News]

The LEGO Store is offering double VIP points on all purchases through the end of the month, ending on March 31st. This is the perfect opportunity to pick up some new sets like the sleek 10265 Ford Mustang, LEGO Ideas 21316 The Flintstones, or the massive 70840 Apocalypseburg. There are region-specific links below for the LEGO Shop online, or you could peruse our guide to all the new LEGO sets launched earlier this year.

LEGO V-19 Torrent from Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Every installment of the Star Wars movie franchise has brought a plethora of new spaceships and other vehicles which continue to inspire LEGO builders around the world. In addition to the movies, the six seasons of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series also introduced many more. One of the more distinctive fighters to emerge was the v-19 Torrent. This LEGO creation by Thomas Jenkins shows off some of the features of this highly maneuverable 1 man fighter.

V-19 Torrent-flight

Inspired by the F4U Corsair, the V-19 Torrent was designed for vertical landing and take-off, with the folded wings allowing more fighters to fit in the hanger of the Venator class star destroyers used by the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. Thomas has very skillfully recreated the clean angles using a number of angled slopes and Technic lift arms.

V-19 Torrent-landing