I alluded to the opposing force that inspired my own microscale battle fleet, but it looks like I didn’t end up blogging Mike Yoder‘s fleet on its own. Well, this wonderful new poster created for Mike by Stijn gives me a great excuse to do so.
All of Mike’s ships have a consistent design that visually places them within the same faction, while each vessel has a unique style of its own. I just love the little fighters!
There were a ton of simply amazing entries this year into Classic-Castle‘s annual contest. I tell myself each year I’m going to blog all of my favorites, and every year there are so many I fall drastically behind.
But! For your viewing pleasure, some of my favorites. I’m so glad I’m not judging.
In no particular order:
Fiant’s Lord of the North:
Koffiemoc‘s Maison de la Motte
Shmail‘s San Kastel
Noah McClung‘s Operation “Chimney Sweep”
Lolino‘s Secret of the Holy Grail
Jovian (Steve Vargo)’s Enchanted Waters
busboy489’s Castle New Hope
Stormbringer’s Frost Dragon Attack from Skyrim
The Porsche 917’s sweeping curves and smooth shape make it particularly challenging to translate into Lego, but Malte Dorowski has managed to accomplish it quite admirably, using some clever techniques and a great deal of skill. He has even managed to work in an opening engine compartment and functioning doors, and his presentation does his creation justice.
Be sure to also check out his beautiful Porsche 911 GT1.
Amacher Sylvain (aka captainsmog) is no stranger to this blog, and yet again his newest steampunk creation is simply delightful. This time it’s an elevated monorail of the most opulent style. The soot-coloured station and bare girders wonderfully balance the polished wood and ornate embellishments of the car itself, providing a lovely little diorama.
FBTB is starting a comic strip called Studs, and their first one plays off the drama of the new LEGO Friends line.
There’s a certain challenge in trying to recreate somebody else’s design (including historical vehicles and vessels), but I feel most creative when I build something completely my own. After poring over Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss
Next, I set myself a challenge to build something less vertically oriented — bricks stacked on bricks. Even though the build was much more complicated, I prefer my finished spaceships safely swooshable, and just don’t feel like the gunship below would be safe to hand to the nine-year-old who lives in my head.
Nevertheless, the gunship was a fun build, and I may reuse the front part for something different (more in line with my existing microscale fleet).
Most of the mecha we feature here on The Brothers Brick are standalone LEGO models all on their own. knobbyplastic goes farther to incorporate his menacing mecha into a diorama.
The crack going through the wall and windows on the gray building is a nice detail, as is the broken railing. The mecha doesn’t even take the central place in the photo, standing off to the side as if waiting to pounce. It’s an excellent composition, with a great balance between light and dark that draws the eye to the mecha even though the mecha isn’t in the middle of the picture.
Greg’s (Yatkuu) Lego creation of Shaun and the gang in front of the Winchester couldn’t get any classier. It won’t be complete without some zombie bashing.
Something I look forward to every New Year’s Day is the lovely LEGO creations by Japanese builders celebrating the new year, most often incorporating the animal from the Chinese Zodiac. I generally wait a couple days and do a roundup, but Moko‘s dragon is too gorgeous to share later.
(And since we get at least one comment about this every year, Japan celebrates New Year’s on January 1st every year. Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar, the exact date varies by year, and is celebrated by many other Asian cultures. Just not Japan.)
Even though the idea that the Maya believed the world would end on December 21, 2012 is a complete fabrication, it’s an amusing thought that makes for some great jokes. Perhaps the Maya were in on the joke all along, as Bricko suggests.
We’ve taken a look at the top LEGO news stories of 2011, but The Brothers Brick is really about the great LEGO creations built by LEGO fans all over the world. Let’s take a look back at the ones that proved most popular over the course of the year.
