While the real thing plies the waters of Rotterdam, this LEGO tugboat — Smit Bison — by Arjan Oude Kotte (Konajra) makes its way into my heart. Even if the LEGO tug can’t pull 28 tonnes, it’s a chunky little beauty with gorgeous lines and lovely colors.
Thanks to _zenn for the tip!
Jarek has captured the unique personalities from the “Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution” add-on for Borderlands.
Via The Living Brick. Iain suggests that these little robots could become the next LEGO building fad. I certainly wouldn’t object.
We featured Mike Dobson‘s first Rubik’s-solving CubeStormer last year. Now, Mike has teamed up with David Gilday to create an updated version that scans the cube, creates a solution, and then manipulates the cube to solve the puzzle.
Read more about all the technical details on YouTube.
Seth Christie has concocted this riotous scenario of the dashing gentlemen Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, as they engage a befuddled company of the Cardinal’s men, to showcase the fantastic Musketeer figure from Series 4. Beyond the amusing bedlam in the tavern, this diorama is brimming with crafty techniques, like the paintings above the stairs, and the slate flooring.
Perhaps coincidentally, Seth has released this just in time to coincide with the awesomely-Steampunkish new Three Musketeers movie.
Sometimes, all it takes for a great creation is to make creative use of an unusual part. Take these space ships built by Haypro. Shamefully, it’s taken me almost two months to post this photo, which I loved as soon as I saw it.
First, I was struck by the creative use of the Hero Factory armor pieces as armor on the larger ship. These pieces work great as armored cowlings, and I know that they are difficult to attach to normal LEGO bricks. Upon further examination, I noticed the front of the smaller ship. Those are minifigure neck baskets, but the shape is absolutely perfect for a Corellian style ship.
Upon first glance, Taylor (Stormbringer) shows us just how lovely a good bit of landscaping can be. A good deal of overgrowth, a nice little cliff, and a tree to tie it all together, with some intrepid outdoor explorers crawling all over it for good measure.
I invite you to look just a little closer, though, and please remember that you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
Thank for the tip, Dan A!
After I posted my little fleet of microscale spaceships in September, I kept tinkering with the design of the ships, and when I got bored, built new ones. By BrickCon, I had added a new cruiser and hospital ship.
The cruiser is based on the same keel as the carrier, but the most notable improvements overall are the little bits of light gray, red, and yellow, plus the decals. Exo-Force sets provide a remarkable diversity of military/industrial designs on clear sticker sheets that add cool details to a finished model.
Since I had all that gray greebly LEGO lying around, I tried building a Silverback from Gears of War 3,
For the minifigs, I’m trying out the new Gears-inspired armor and weapons from BrickWarriors. Their lineup doesn’t currently include a non-retro Lancer rifle or Gnasher shotgun, so I’m using the old Amazing Armory versions.
(I’m also experimenting with a new indoor photo setup and post-processing, which explains the difference in the same light bluish gray between the two photos.)
I’m not sure where Brickshelfer grogall has gotten all the official photos of 2012 LEGO sets, but I keep finding more high-res photos of upcoming sets. The latest is the “Dino” line, reminiscent of the Dino Attack/Dino 2010 sets from a few years ago.
5885 Triceratops Trapper includes a tan triceratops with a bulky 4×4 vehicle:
The new dinosaurs reflect the improvements to animal molds and printing we’ve seen recently in other themes. The Tyrannosaurus rex in 5886 T-Rex Hunter looks simultaneously more LEGO-like and realistic (at least compared to the LEGO dinosaurs from the Dino Attack sets).
I’ll withhold judgment on the vehicle designs until I see them in person (presumably in January), but I really like what I’m seeing of the creatures.
LEGO’s North American Community Coordinator Kevin Hinkle participated in a recent Halloween contest at work. The pumpkin-decorating contest required participants to include at least five LEGO elements. Kevin’s pumpkin uses the design from the recent Collectible Minifigure vampire.
I like how Kevin left the edges “rough,” as though the vampire painter minifig actually painted it.
I may or may have mentioned it before, but I’m a bit of a sucker for a pretty ship. You can take the girl away from the sea, but you can’t take the sea away from the girl. (And, coincidentally, yesterday was the USS Constitution’s 214th birthday!)
But I digress. Luke Hutchinson‘s newly posted ship is just stunning. I love the lines of the hull, and the details. It’s always in the details.
Matija Grguric has been building American “Old West” dioramas for a while now and they’ve all been excellent. But his latest one is a particularly neat depiction of the construction of a railway line. The workmans’ tents are a beautiful touch. Great stuff.
