Yearly Archives: 2016

Incredible LEGO Roman Temple of Minerva with parading legionaries

Antonio Cerretti has brought a marvel of the ancient world to the brick with this stunning Roman temple and courtyard. When many of us LEGO fans saw the Roman soldiers in the collectible minifigures lines, we envisioned a scene like this with legionaries standing in formation before their eagle, perhaps just returned from a campaign in Gaul or Africa. But although I’ve seen a few impressive Roman armies so far, it’s Antonio’s masterful recreation of Roman architecture that sets this model apart. The pure white marble columns and reliefs are beautiful, and the sheer scale of the temple and courtyard is amazing — over five feet in length and featuring around 130 minifigures.

Click to see more pictures

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Donald Duck, Mech Pilot

Following up from the fantastic LEGO Duckburg scene we featured previously, here’s a chance to see everyone’s favorite Disney duck in his other lesser known guise: Donald Duck, Mech Pilot. Japanese builder Moko has built a cracking duck robot with brilliantly goofy-looking (if you’ll excuse the pun) feet and beak. But the killer detail has to be that horn…

And if you liked Mecha-Donald, then you’re going to LOVE this epic face-off…

Pedal to the brick

I usually prefer not to feature creations which involve official LEGO sets but Simon Pickard definetely requires an exception with his racing build. He has utilized four official car models from three different sets but the absolute attention center of this creation is the amazing curved road. Such superb craftmanship is complemented with a flying car and its tire resulting in a perfect action scene. Just a little peek is enough to give you an adrenaline rush!

Also note the filming tower, angled tribune, decorated billboards and tire barrier. Unofortunately, there are no more photographs of this simple yet effective build on Simon’s Flickr stream. But if you are really dedicated, you may find them in the next issues of Blocks magazine.

Donald Duck is peking in his mailbox

The latest series of collectible minifigures from LEGO has released a wave of nostalgia as Disney characters find their way into LEGO scenes. This adorable scene by LegoJalex shows Donald Duck checking his mailbox while Neighbor Jones is in his garden taking care of his roses. The build has a great retro feel and merges LEGO bricks with cartoonish effects thanks to clever use of parts and colour choices, and some photo editing of course

Donald Duck’s car is worth a closer look, especially as it runs on ‘eco-friendly fuel’.

A very chunky knight

Another day, another great build from nobu_tary. This time we have a knight that clearly didn’t skip leg day and could probably do more damage to you with a kick than with a stab from that polearm. Standouts here are the great head, which manages to make a thick plume work, as well use of a new Nexo Knights pointed piece to great effect. The loincloth made of a minifig-scale banner piece (from the Knights Kingdom theme) is also a nice touch.

Vignettes from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

For the past two months, Markus Rollbühler has been posting a series of elegantly crafted vignettes from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The project was inspired by his friend Marcel, who previously built vignettes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Below are just a few from a gallery of 20 so far, and I really like the presentation of the model by using a quote from the book to add both context and flavor to the builds.

Click to see more Harry Potter vignettes

LEGO Minecraft 21128 The Village [Review]

Ah, LEGO Minecraft… Some consider it the perfect pairing of the physical and virtual worlds of building, while others are left scratching their heads at what they consider glorified basic brick boxes with Minecraft branding. Either way, the latest offering in the LEGO Minecraft line is the largest one to date. It’s a playset version of one possible arrangement of a village randomly generated when loading a new Minecraft world, a recognizable landmark for even an occasional player like myself. How does 21128 The Village, with 1600 pieces, eleven minifigures, and a price tag of $199.99 USD, hold up to a LEGO fan like myself, or to a hardcore Minecraft fan?

Click here to read the full review

Apocalypse driving with style

Whether it ends with zombies or mutants, we all know that getting around during the end of humanity is going to be a matter of literal life and death. So why not get around the apocalypse with style? Stephan Johnson has cobbled together a gorgeously rough wasteland rider, complete with all the necessary rust, mismatched mechanics, and accompanying bat with spikes to make any doomsday scenario exciting. Now all we need is some sort of epic chase scene with some demons flying overhead and we’re ready to go!

Udine, Italy’s Piazza San Giacomo in LEGO

Luca Di Lazzaro and the Italian LEGO club ItLUG have built a minifig-scale model of San Giacomo square in Udine, in northeastern Italy. Featuring over a dozen buildings surrounding the square and populated by numerous minifigs, the model even includes a row of Italian supercars for the minifigs to drive away in.

The model was on display in Udine at an event last month, where the mayor of Udine posed with Luca and the LEGO version of their home town.

Click to see more photos

Antigravity sentry drone invades the world of Ma.K hard suits

Rarely do we see new mechs and drones in the style of the Ma.K universe. This genre is quite specific and demands some extraordinary thinking and use of common pieces for impressive greebling. Marco Marozzi continues to amaze us with his alien-looking droids, and the way he treats the most useless parts leaves me speechless.

The structure of the drone is not overcomplicated, still there are so many parts that catch your eye. The secret of the Marco’s creations lies in his ability to combine pieces whose shapes complement one another best. For instance, in this drone he uses a bunch of round bricks of various sizes and colors. They all go pretty neatly together with a couple of sharp lines and corners, not to mention a dazzling choice of stickers.

At my signal, unleash hell

What’s not to love about this giant crossbow siege engine from sanellukovic? We’ve got great landscaping creating a believable patch of terrain, and there are figures and assorted equipment providing a genuine sense of military activity. Then, to top it all, check out the fantastic medieval contraption which genuinely looks like it’s straining at the leash to fling a massive spear at somebody.

You can almost hear the enormous SPOING! this thing would make when fired. I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of this when it was used in anger.

LEGO cones make perfect Spanish roof tiles

I’ve been waiting for more people to utilize o0ger‘s roof building technique since it was posted last December. As o0ger showed us then, when you alternate the direction of stringed one-by-one cones they make a pretty snazzy-looking Spanish tile rooftop. At least one other builder has incorporated o0ger’s technique into a build of their own. And now the technique’s inventor himself has decided to show us how it’s done, with this fantastic harbor scene:

While the cone roof is the standout feature of this build, the entire scene is simply terrific! The harbor itself looks sturdy and lived in, with just the perfect amount of clutter and detail. I also love the dangling water plants.

If you want to incorporate new building techniques into your own builds or share some of your techniques with the LEGO community, I recommend checking out the LEGO Techniques Flickr Group for inspiration.