Yearly Archives: 2016

Official LEGO Star Wars Rogue One teaser image [News]

After seeing the Rogue One teaser trailer which was released last week, we’ve been very excited about the next installment in the Star Wars franchise. Unsurprisingly, we’ll be getting LEGO Star Wars sets from Rogue One as well as the main trilogy, and today LEGO has released their first teaser image featuring Rogue One’s main characters in LEGO form.

LEGO fans are also getting excited for the upcoming movie, and we’ve already started to spot Rogue One creations popping up. One of the first out of the gate is builder aranobilis98 with this great shot of the first Death Star under construction, as glimpsed in the trailer.

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LEGO unveils massive new Minecraft set: 21128 The Village [News]

LEGO Minecraft has come a long way from its humble origin as a crowd-sourced idea back in 2012. The latest addition the ever-expanding LEGO Minecraft theme is a massive new exclusive set, 21128 The Village. The set features a minifig-scale Village, one of several naturally-generated structures in the Minecraft world. The Village will have 1600 pieces, and be available for $199 USD for VIP members on May 18, and for everyone else on June 1.

Click to read the press release and see more of The Village

Slums of Mandalore

The Sydney Brick Show is coming up this weekend, and we get to see an amazing preview of a contribution by Joshua Morris. He has collaborated with Jade Wisniewski to build a large sci-fi diorama, and this is his half.

Mandalore is an an Outer Rim planet from the Star Wars Universe, which has an interesting and violent history. Of course, Mandalore’s greatest claim to fame is that fact that Boba Fett – everyone’s favorite bounty hunter – wears the iconic Mandalorian armor (though Boba Fett himself was neither a member of the Mandalorians nor born on the planet).

Click here for a closer look at this hive of scum and villany

Let the fire inspire you

I’ve been promoting the Mecha racing leage (MRL) for a while now and I’ve seen amazing creations from great builders across the LEGO-verse, so I could not stay quiet, and built what I think is one of the best mechas I’ve made so far, the Fira:

I wanted to create a mecha inspired by hot rods (my favorite type of cars) and rally cars (I love how they look). This mecha is all about pure power and speed, with fire coming out of its exhaust and a color combination that draws the eye. I used a few stickers from this official set to add details, and I think it adds to the build. It also fits a pilot and I particularly like the way it opens to access the cockpit:

Remember, if you want to be part of the fun, you can see how to participate on the MRL here.

Portal to a lost world

What exotic destinations would you choose to visit if you had a portal through time? Piotr Machalski selected the Mesozoic Era for this startled minifig who’s unfortunately come face-to-face with a venom-spitting Dilophosaurus. Good thing he brought a turkey leg! Piotr’s cleverly-built time machine looks a bit like a cross between a Stargate and the Nexo Knight portal we featured in February. But most of all, it looks like it could be an official LEGO set! I’d certainly swipe it off the shelf and into my shopping cart before you could say “hold on to your butts!”

A different stop-motion method – “The Farmer”

LEGO stop-motion films or ‘brick films‘ are a popular way to bring LEGO to life. Brick films often feature minifigures and depict movie scenes or action moments using LEGO. Andrea, an Italian fan of LEGO, has employed a stop motion method that is certainly unique. His film shows the smooth creation of a build by Massimiliano Marino. The final creation centers around the Farmer minifigure who appears in Collectible Minifigure Series 15 along with his pig.

The creator Andrea plans further stop-motion fan builds on his YouTube channel AnkTales. The great thing about a stop-motion video of a build is that you can remember how to build it long after it has been deconstructed and the bricks used for the next project, not to mention letting other builders take a look at the construction process.

Santa Maria del Fiore in microscale

Once, when I was in Italy, I had a chance to visit one of the cathedrals — and was rendered speechless. The massive scale and timeless beauty of these historic works of art is awesome. Each cathedral has its own history and architectural details, and the Santa Maria del Fiore (or Il Duomo, if you prefer) in Florence is a stunning example.

While the original took centuries to complete, Legorevival Lrevival‘s version is small, compact, and considerably easier to construct. He’s given this beautiful landmark the LEGO Architecture treatment, and it’s totally one I’d love to buy someday. It’s instantly recognizable.

Tiny brick-built brownstone neighborhood welcomes you home

Looking for a new place? Barton Thinks has the perfect neighborhood for you. These microscale brownstone homes are just adorable. The build is full of great detail, which can be tricky when you’re working in microscale. The easily recognizable brownstone architecture caught my eye, but check out that wonderful stoplight!

I love the roof and bay windows the building has, all packed into a small footprint. Each home sits on just 3 by 6 studs, making the whole module just 16 by 16 studs.

Eight arms to swoosh you

Although this vehicle is titled “Light Armored Squid Attack Fighter”, it doesn’t look like a squid. Squids are soft, cuddly, and cute. No, wait, that’s kittens. Squids have eight tentacles, ink sacs, and lightless fishy eyes. Actually, this space fighter (ink jet?) from BobDeQuatre doesn’t really look like anything with which I’m familiar. But the unique curves and thoughtful patterning appear nautical indeed. Like something one might find scuttling near a coral reef. Why not a squid? Anything with guns like this can call itself what it likes.

LEGO Koenigsegg CCX is striking and insanely detailed

The Koenigsegg CCX first debuted in 2006 featuring an insane top speed of 245mph, and would set you back around $700,000 USD. But it’s also been named one of the ten most beautiful cars of all time. The Koenigsegg’s gorgeous curved lines are incredibly difficult to render from rectangular bricks, but builder Gerald Cacas has done a great job here. Perhaps more impressively though, he’s filled it to the brim with detail, and even made the doors, engine lid, and hood functional. The engine compartment looks so real you almost can’t believe it’s LEGO, let alone at such a small scale, and the interior is equally astounding. Check out all the pictures after the jump.

Click to see more pictures of the Koenigsegg CCX

The new Ferrari SF16-H is alluring like never before

Ferrari produces some of the best sports cars in the world. And Noah_L builds some of the best LEGO scale models of Ferrari cars. The latest SF16-H, which is actually a Formula 1 car built for the 2016-2017 season, looks amazingly good and is loaded with clever building techniques. What I find the most satisfying is the balance between tiled areas and rare exposed studs. These studs, being hard to cover up, give the vehicle a nice retro look, as if it was one of the legendary Model Team sets from the ’90s.

If you’re new to Noah’s collection of cars, I’d strongly recommend you check his Flickr stream and take a look at the huge progress he has made. Can you believe that only 3 years ago his cars looked like this? That’s what happens when your skills align with your passion.

13 Miller’s Court in tragic detail

The late summer and fall of 1888 was a rough time for women in the Whitechapel district in London. The ever evasive Jack the Ripper slowly but surely made his way into history and headlines, culminating in what is believed to be the last attack on Mary Kelly, who was discovered the morning of November 9, 1888.

Mark Hodgson has illustrated the room she rented with stunning detail of how it looked prior to the first week of November that year.

The alley way, building front, and room are full of detail of the cramped quarters where she lived. Her life, up until her tragic death, is illustrated in one tiny room. Her murderer was never found, and the legends surrounding Jack the Ripper endure to this day.