Welcome to Day 23 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.
If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump and posted in the evening every day, so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. What holiday glee will we gain from Day 23?
Here in the Pacific Northwest, the weather report is calling for snow this Christmas, almost as rare as finding two snowflakes exactly the same. Even if our dreams of a white Christmas melt away, we can still enjoy this beautifully simple LEGO snowflake by BrickinNick. The build uses tiles and a variety of tooth elements to craft a snowflake that Elsa would be proud of.
Don Figueroa is a Filipino-American artist and a toy designer whose is best known for his work on many different Transformers designs. An early concept drawing of Rolling Thunder Optimus Prime by Don Figueroa was produced for a Transformers/GI Joe crossover comic, but it never came into fruition. Alex Jones has used the concept drawing to create a LEGO version of Rolling Thunder Optimus Prime using Olive Green, a challenge in itself as this colour has limited parts.
Rolling Thunder Optimus Prime transforms from robot mode, complete with a rolling weapons system, to vehicle mode, aka Supreme Tactical Commander Grand Patriot
Click to see more views and Don Figueroa’s original concept artwork
Ever since LEGO first announced the BrickHeadz line, these super cute blocky models of some of our favorite pop-culture characters have inspired LEGO builders to make their own creations (including TBB’s own Iain Heath’s hilarious Rejectz). So now for your building pleasure is my own tribute to the LEGO BrickHeadz, Santa Claus. I’ve also created instructions for the jolly old fellow, so you can create your own!
The Ford Mustang GT350 lost its Mustang tag and was marketed simply as the Shelby GT350 for the 1966 production year. Ford struck a deal with the car rental company, Hertz Corporation, to offer about 1,000 GT350s for rental and afterwards these cars were returned to Ford, refurbished, and sold to the public as GT350-H models. Most ex-Hertz cars were black with gold Le Mans stripes and rocker panel stripes, just like this phenomenal LEGO version built by Paweł Kmieć.
Paweł Kmieć’s LEGO version is not just about looks, it has functional doors, bonnet and boot (aka trunk for you US chaps) but that’s not all…
For centuries, Saints have held a certain fascination for mankind. There is a Saint for pretty much anything. So it stands to reason, that in the future after mankind has been wiped out or enslaved by our new robot overlords, that they would produce Saints of their own. Several LEGO builders have brought this vision to reality, and as the song goes, I would really like to be in that number.
ST. 67656f7267 by Djokson
Acclaimed LEGO builder Markus Rollbühler is no stranger to making neat brick Christmas ornaments. We’ve covered some of his previous exploits in the genre before, and this year he’s back with an adorable new batch of ornaments that all make touching nods to the LEGO sets of yesteryear.
From the photo’s description, we learn exactly what set each ornament (from left to right) depicts…
1. 396 Thatcher Perkins Locomotive (1976)
2. 6285 Black Seas Barracuda (1989)
3. 6973 Deep Freeze Defender (1993)
4. The sub from 6195 Neptune Discovery Lab (1995) and 6135 Spy Shark (1996)
5. 5571 Giant Truck “Black Cat” (1996)
6. 8480 Space Shuttle (1996)
7. 6098/6091 King Leo’s Castle (2000)
Welcome to Day 22 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.
If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump and posted in the evening every day, so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. Will we get something new for Day 22?
Large spaceships are a staple of LEGO building, mostly in the fan community’s theme month of “SHIPtember” (September), which is a celebration of spaceships measuring 100 or more studs in length. Why am I mentioning this now, nearly three months after the 2017 SHIPtember project is over? The builder of the featured spaceship, Lisqr seems to be a little late to the party with his “Galactic Destroyer”, which is his first SHIP and was intended to be finished a couple months ago. Whatever the reason for the delay, I say it was worth the wait.
There are many more and less subtle angles throughout the spaceship, cleanly transitioning one into another. Flat surfaces are broken up by splashes of texture and large gray areas accented by vibrant orange lines and details. What I love about this creation so much is that there is almost no redundancy – every part has its place and adding anything would detract from the model rather than improve it.
Kinetic LEGO sculptures have already become Jason Allemann’s (JK Brickworks) signature builds, and we interviewed Jason last year about his LEGO Ideas Maze set. However, it looks like he can build a moving creation for any occasion. His most recent work, Voyageurs Automaton, is designed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada. Even before the electric motor is turned on, the build impresses with a rugged pair of French Canadians who are busy transporting furs in their canoe.
Hang the mistletoe, roll out the yule log, and saddle up your tauntauns, because Andreas Lenander has built a fabulous LEGO Star Wars-Christmas mashup. (Alas, this LEGO creation doesn’t have anything to do with a certain notorious holiday film.) This jolly parade of villains and heroes features several exclusive minifigures from Advent Calendars released over the years and one adorable chibi AT-AT.
And, for those of you eager to build your very own chibi AT-AT, Andreas has posted free 3D instructions for his creation on the Brixtar app.
LEGO has just announced that 75192 Star Wars UCS Millennium Falcon is available again in “limited quantities” at local LEGO stores. Expect the set to be gone quickly. Unsure whether you want to drop $800 on a LEGO set with 7,500 pieces? Check out our hands-on review of the new UCS Falcon.
[Update] 75192 Star Wars UCS Millennium Falcon is now available for purchase online. You must be logged into an account with a VIP card in order to purchase it. This is also the last chance to get a special black Star Wars-themed VIP card, which comes free with the purchase of the Falcon. LEGO says the card will have special offers through the coming year, though there’s no word yet on what they will be.
