Doing a stand-up job of keeping hobbits out of Mordor

Barad-dûr — or as most people will know it, that tall black scary thing that can see very far — has magical properties and scares hobbits. Created by Koen, this intricate reconstruction of the Dark Tower is about as tall as the LEGO Saturn V. The bright Eye of Sauron and glowing lava stand out instantly, but it’s not until you look close that you notice the amazingly fine details. I love how the builder has integrated the blacks and greys around the base of the tower and the hundreds of spires, ramparts and turrets adorning Lord Sauron’s base of operations.

Barad-dûr

“Then at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-dûr, Fortress of Sauron. All hope left him.“

Reinforcements have arrived

Marius Herrmann built the Pelican dropship from Halo 3 based on the design by Ben Caulkins. What takes the model to another level of novelty are the spray-painted bricks that were used to build it. Whether you condone or cringe at altered parts, it’s hard to deny that the end result looks superb and fit for a true Spartan.

D77H-TCI Pelican (from "Halo 3")

What breathes fire and drinks tea?

After a hard day breathing fire and scaring unsuspecting villagers, even dragons need a little down time. Anthony Wilson has built one of the most distinguished, chilled-out dragons I have ever seen. In his relaxed position, this dragon is able to effortlessly enjoy a cup of tea without disturbing those fine Magenta wings and the floral decorations in his ‘hair’. I particularly love the use of the lime Gresh helmet for the dragon’s flared nostrils and Corroder Claws to form the head shape.

Tea Dragon

A closer look at the relaxed dragon shows that he likes nothing better than a Jammie Dodger to dip into his cup of tea. Milk and no sugar please, he’s looking after that fine figure. I love the cute little teapot suspended from the tip of the dragon’s tail, while the cup and saucer really look the part.

Tea Dragon

“What happened to your lights? and...blueness?” “I’m too cool for those now”

While I haven’t seen it yet, the new movie Blade Runner 2049 does look quite awesome. However, I will admit I was a bit disappointed when I saw the new spinner sans all blueness and police lights, to me there’s nothing cooler than a white and black (or blue in this case) speeding down the road lights flashing, sirens blaring. Nonetheless, Marius Herrmann has done an amazing job building the new spinner in LEGO form. I love the unusual use of cut fiber optic cable as lights on the front nacelles.

Spinner (from "Blade Runner 2049")

The builder also managed to take a scene from the trailer, and using Photoshop, remove the real spinner and person from the scene, replacing it with his own. The result looks fantastic and could easily be mistaken for a real life setup.

Spinner (from "Blade Runner 2049")

The Future of American Muscle

With flying cars becoming a not-too-distant reality, my hope is that they come in models  like Volker Brodkorb‘s awesome underground racer. This ferocious tiger-coloured beastie brings to mind old-school 1970s American Muscle cars. With its bold front wheel arches, front grill and air intakes all helping to give it a chunky look, yet has a very Jetson’s-like vibe with it’s bubble top and the omission of rubber wheels. Wouldn’t you love to jet around in this futuristic retro cutting-edge classic.

Team "Coyote"

Building forts in the clouds has never been so productive

Floating islands are a popular motive in LEGO, most often coupled with steampunk or similar themes. Andrew JN goes just a little bit back in (alternate) time with this colonial themed floating rock. The scene represents a heavily guarded prison fort and a flying ship. While the ship does not look especially like a floating one, it is unique enough that it does not look out of place in the sky. The prison actually looks so nice, it makes me want to commit some heinous acts of piracy in the skies.

Ballinicor Prison

Move over Saturn V, meet the Jupiter V

We are now fully entrenched in October, but SHIPtember is still with us with this late entry by Tim Schwalfenberg. Living away from his home (and his LEGO collection), but still wanting to participate, Tim was convinced by a friend to construct an alt-build of the LEGO Saturn V and voila we have the Jupiter V. Making good use of printed elements Tim has created a sleek molded body using most of the Apollo launch vehicle, even using the stand as a kind of outrigger for a necessary splash of colour. Combine all this with some fancy editing skills and the Jupiter V looks quite capable of boldly going to a galaxy far, far away.

Jupiter V

Oh, how the tables have turned!

There are millions of galaxies far, far away. And while some of them include droids and wookiees playing holochess with holographic alien pieces, others may hide, well, hideous aliens playing the same game making small figures of wookiees attack defenseless protocol droids. This epic diorama by Brickwright is utterly remarkable in so many ways. Besides its brilliant idea, the aliens themselves are very decent copies of the models from the movie, not to mention an extremely spacious and detailed interior of the Millennium Falcon.

Kintan Strider and Mantellian Savrip up close.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out Brickwright’s Flickr gallery to see what other aliens are aboard of the famous freighter!

LEGO Ideas 21312 Women of NASA unveiled [News]

Back in February, we shared the news that LEGO Ideas chose Maia Weinstock’s Women of NASA project as one of their newest additions to the LEGO family. Today, LEGO is unveiling 21312 Women of NASA, available November 1. The primarily minifigure set has 231 pieces, and will retail for $24.99 USD.

21312_Box1_v39

The model, similar to LEGO Ideas 21110 Research Institute, includes four minifigures based on real-life NASA pioneers: astronomer and educator Nancy Grace Roman; computer scientist and entrepreneur Margaret Hamilton; astronaut, physicist, and entrepreneur Sally Ride; and astronaut, physician, and engineer Mae Jemison.

21312_Top

21312 Women of NASA also includes three mini-builds illustrating three areas of science including programming software for the space program, a model of the Hubble Space Telescope and a mini Space Shuttle Challenger with three removable rocket stages

21312_Prod

More photos and info about 21312 Women of NASA after the jump

What does the millennium fox say?

With the release of the new Star Wars 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon it seems like everyone just lost their minds and interstellar space is now cluttered up with countless falcons. Miro Dudas makes a good point: why falcons and not a fox? Fox makes just as much sense as a falcon in intergalactic travel! So, why would you fly a piece of garbage when you can choose this fluffy orange beast?

Millennium Fox

Mankind’s gift to the seas from which life arose

It’s easy for LEGO builders to focus on the happy, shiny world of little plastic people surrounded by fake plastic trees, but builder Emil Lidé doesn’t shy away from making a powerful statement with his latest LEGO creation. Did you know that every piece of plastic ever produced (yes, including all the ABS that LEGO is made from) will continue to exist indefinitely in the environment? That there is a floating patch of trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in size? Emil uses LEGO as a medium to remind us of the impact that our modern lives have on the planet we live on.

Garbage in Paradise (5 of 5)

As much as I love the message that Emil’s creation conveys, it’s also an excellent LEGO build on its own merits. The tranquil beach scene above the water contrasts harshly with the waste beneath the waves, from the usual tires and barrels to bicycles and even a washing machine.

I’ll take that Falcon with a splash of bricks

Most people may not think so, but LEGO builders really are artists in their own right. The medium that they choose to express themselves in is simply tiny bricks instead of the traditional tools of oil and canvas that we see more often. The traditional approach of interlocking these bricks is the expected aspect of it, but a more unusual approach is the loose placement of bricks, such as this spread by city son.

Millennium Falcon Painting

This design is a breath of fresh air to the overdose that the Millennium Falcon is getting recently due to the largest set ever being released by the folks over at Billund (plus a couple of major contests inspired by the venerable freighter). What stands out with this piece of art is the colorful, celebratory effect showcasing the Falcon in flight. It almost looks like a splash of rainbow paint in pop-art style.