Tall ships and steampunk make very good bedfellows, especially in the hands of Sean and Steph Mayo. Their latest build, the Iron Maiden, is just stunning. I didn’t quite grasp that it was LEGO when I ran across the thumbnail originally.
Should you be so interested, I also recommend checking out the build prior to this. I happen to not care for little flying death monsters myself, but I will acknowledge they are brilliantly done.
When I first spotted this, I did not realize it was a render. I am a big fan of scientific builds, and this is definitely up my alley. I particularly love the molecule model. The scale is fantastic. The periodic table is instantly recognizable.
Matt Bace is definitely knocking out some amazing things, like the power strip we featured last week. I definitely recommend poking around a bit in his flickr steam.
“Here’s your assignment, Inspector Gadget: Use your powers of Eighties cartoon awesomeness to help Dr Clites defeat the dastardly Mayo Twins in their plot to take over the Iron Builder contest. Use the seed part in any way you can to outdo them. Bring along a small child and a talking dog, for when you inevitably get into trouble. Regards, Chief Quimby. THIS MESSAGE WILL SELF DESTRUCT.”
This mesmerizing Phoenix is made entirely from transparent bricks, and was created by Moko as an entry in the Click Brick 2015 Winter Original Model Contest. Starting next month, LEGO stores all across Japan will be showcasing competition entries created by local builders. One of the interesting features of this contest is that every model has to fit within a 20 stud x 20 stud wide, 30cm high space. We’ll be keeping an eye out for pictures of the best entries, and featuring them right here.
If you are millionaire and think a Porsche is just a bit too ordinary for you, perhaps the Ruf CTR3 is just the thing you are looking for. Ruf is a German car manufacturer that specialises in building supercars using mostly Porsche parts. Supercar builder/super car builder Firas Abu-Jaber used to be featured on this blog on a regular basis, until real life took over for a bit. However, he has recently resurfaced and, judging from his spectacular version of Ruf’s current model, is back to his old form.
One of the outstanding features of Firas’ models is how every LEGO element seems to fit in place as though it was designed with just that use in mind. On this one, I particularly like the angled door and flared side panel just behind it, to give the car a bit of a coke-bottle shape. It looks completely natural and comparable to a die-cast model.
Official set photos of the new wave of Avengers sets are now available. Marvel’s next big blockbuster, Avengers: Age of Ultron, releases on May 1, and we can expect these sets to hit stores shortly before that. The 5 sets in this lineup range from a small to large, and while pricing isn’t yet available for them, it’s a safe bet that they’ll range from $12.99 for the small set to somewhere around $70 or $80 for the Quinjet.
76031 The Hulk Buster Smash
Hulk has been trapped by the powers of Scarlet Witch and she is ready to fire an electrical bolt if he tries to escape! Place Iron Man in the cockpit of the humungous Hulk Buster suit and rush to the rescue. On the way you must fend off aerial attacks from the flying Ultron.
Adjust the Hulk Busters arms and legs to create fearsome battle poses and grab the villain with the powerful hands. With Ultron safely in the mechs grip, attach Iron Man to his Super Jumper. Then take out Scarlet Witch with an accurate jump and free the imprisoned Hulk!
Includes 3 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: Iron Man, Ultron and Scarlet Witch, plus a Hulk figure.
See the rest of the sets after the jump.
[Updated] LEGO is officially picking up the Scooby-Doo license. First announced at the London Toy Fair, we’ve now got an official image of the most iconic Scooby-Doo set, 76902 Mystery Machine. The set will include 301 pieces, and retail for USD $29.99, and features a new mold for Scooby. The new line will hit stores this August, along with a 22-minute special cartoon in which Scooby and the gang will be LEGO-ized.
75900 Mummy Museum Mystery – $14.99
75901 Mystery Plane Adventures – TBA
75902 Mystery Machine – $29.99
75903 Haunted Lighthouse – TBA
75904 Mystery Mansion – $89.99
[via USA Today]
UPDATE: We’ve received the official press release from LEGO, which you can read after the jump.
Put into service with the RAF in 1947, just after the close of WWII, the Hawker Sea Fury isn’t quite as well known as its older sibling, the Hawker Hurricane, but it went on to see service as a carrier-based fighter in the Korean War. Building good minifig-scale fighter aircraft is a notoriously tricky thing, particularly sculpting a decent looking cockpit. Maelven has done an admirable bit of work here, though, and this plane looks ready for action.
For about four years I have been living next to a canal inhabited by crested grebes, gulls, coots and ducks and visited regularly by swans, herons and cormorants. The coots, in particular, are immensely funny. They are reluctant flyers that tend to run across the surface of the water, whilst flapping their seemingly too small wings, instead of actually taking to the air. They are also fiercely territorial and are constantly chasing ducks and other coots away. Their shenanigans put a smile to my face every time.
It will come as no surprise then that I also had to smile at the wonderful pelican built by vir-a-cocha. It was built using only twenty pieces, which goes to show that you don’t need an awful lot of parts to build something that has character, as long as two of them are tiles with eyes printed on them.
The penguins from Madagascar, built by Peter Dornbach (dornbi), also make good use of said tiles and, inevitably, also made me smile. You can support these on Lego Ideas. Penguins may all seem indistinguishable, but one of the neat things about this wacky foursome is how Peter managed to make each unique and recognisable.
The TBB Chibi Micro-Fighter Contest wrapped up with a bang with 242 entries. WOW. Nothing micro about that!
Thanks so much for everyone that entered. It was incredible seeing what everyone came with chibi-ing some of our favorite vehicles and LEGO sets.
Our first place winner, and the soon to be recipient of the exclusive Fan Expo Ghost Starship with Kannan Jarrus #460 and full set of Star Wars microfighters: Letranger Absurde (Vitreolum) with his Chibi Serenity:
In Second place, and winner of 4 Star Wars MicroFighter sets: Kyler Wilson and his Chibi Ecto 1:
And lastly Third place, and winner of 2 Star Wars MicroFighter sets: John Kupitz (Phuonom) with his Chibi Earth Defense HQ 1:
We had a hard time choosing from so many that we had to do several rounds of judging to narrow down the eventual winners… And there were so many that we really liked and deserve special mentioning (in no particular order):
Rod Gillies’ Jurassic Park
Letranger Absurde’s Chibi Mutt Cutts (again!)
Bentbricks’s Borg Cube
Jacob Unterreiner Now This is Chibi racing
Thanks again to all the builders and stay tuned for our next contest!
Does this look a bit familiar to you? I knew there was something about it when I saw it, like I’ve seen this build before. That’s when I realized Dead Frog inc built a steam punk version of Inferno Interception:
There’s some really great techniques in here and there’s just enough great steampunk conversion while paying tribute to the original source material. And you might notice a few other steampunk builds floating around this month, that’s because when Rod Gillies isn’t off building an amazing steampunk metropolis, he’s running the Agents of the Imperial Crown – Steampunk Competition.
Smaug! Using some pretty great techniques, Finn Tegotash has recreated the head of everyone’s favorite gold hoarder: Smaug the Magnificent.
I particularly love the use of seats for scales, the horse saddle for the nose and a window for the lower jaw. But what really impressed me was the the Dwarven runes he created using LEGO string:
Spoiler alert! The above translates to the first word in this post.