The online LEGO community is an all-around friendly place and quite open to newcomers, with very few exceptions. What few realize is that this comes at a high price; the comments exchanged by builders are friendly and positive — and often that means only positive. And here lies a potential pitfall, because honest critiques and (seeming) negativity tend to be avoided for fear of creating awkward situations. Additionally, not all builders want to receive constructive feedback. The end result is that most creations gather a plethora of dry comments that do not really help the builders improve much. I have been passively raising awareness to this problem for years now, but never have I gone to such lengths as Aaron van Cleave, who has made a series of bad creations as a social experiment.
Yearly Archives: 2017
LEGO Bento Box that actually made my stomach growl
This Fried Shrimp Bento Box literally made me hungry just looking at it. ABS chef Moko certainly knows how to make our taste buds tingle. As for me, I only know good food when I see it, but I’m going to give it a go and identify them – you can correct me out if I’m in wrong!
Top Left, clockwise – We have boiled pumpkin and some shiny cherry tomatoes, Next to that is cabbage for our daily intake of healthy greens, followed by the main serving of fried shrimp! At the bottom right corner, we’ve got what looks like a serving of meat, beef perhaps, and some asparagus and tamagoyaki (rolled omelet) and a lovely portion of chuka lidako (seasoned baby octopus). Finally, a healthy portion of Japanese rice topped with an Umeboshi (pickled plum)
If you still don’t hear your tummy growling after that, I suggest you take a closer look at the parts that were used to make ABS plastic so appetizing! I’m just going to call out that Umeboshi made from a minifigure helmet, and the baby octopus tentacles which are made from sausages! What else can you find? In the meantime, please excuse me as I have to head over to my favourite Japanese restaurant now.
LEGO Creator Expert 10258 London Bus is the latest addition to your London-themed LEGO collection [News]
Since the introduction of 10253 Big Ben, 10214 Tower Bridge and some LEGO Architecture sets, the LEGO Company seems to be on a mission to LEGO-ify London. Today, they’re adding more to the batch with a model of another hallmark of the British capital with the 10258 London Bus. This 1686 piece set will be an awesome addition to the LEGO Creator vehicle lineup as well, taking its place right next to another British icon, the 10242 Mini Cooper. The iconic red double-decker bus is an impressive copy of an AEC Routemaster, which first appeared on London streets in 1956 and ran till late 2005, becoming one of the world’s best-known public transportation vehicles.
If you want to be among the first fans to see 10258 London Bus in person, on July 1 you can visit one of 5 LEGO brand stores in London for an official unveiling of the set and the ability to purchase it early. For everyone else, however, if you want to buy one you’ll have to wait for the launch date of August 1, 2017, or get VIP early access on July 17. We’ve got the full press release, designer video, and all the images below.
The London Bus will retail for $139.99 in the USA and £109.99 and €119.99 in the UK and Germany, respectively.
Find your inner LEGO peace on the mountain summit
There is something about this mountaintop temple by David Zambito that just makes me want to be there. Climbing the mountain for days to reach it, and then meditating for just as long. The serene environment is achieved by soft, earth-tone colours and a warm background. There are many great techniques used throughout, like jet engines as bells, and hair pieces and convex tiles as cobblestone walls. I am not sure whether I am supposed to imagine a larger temple behind the scene or not, but it works either way.
Bet he won’t reprimand his daughter
Every LEGO builder knows it’s better down where it’s wetter, but LEGO 7 takes it into uncharted depths of building skill with his rendition of King Triton and Princess Ariel. The Little Mermaid herself is immediately recognisable, but it’s the modeling of the Trident-wielding monarch which grabs all the attention in a fabulous combination of System and Hero Factory parts. That beard! That crown! Great stuff, but the best bit is the use of hot air balloon pieces for the tail. Genuinely inspired.
3 LEGO sets from DC’s upcoming Justice League movie revealed [News]
Today, LEGO has pulled the wraps off three upcoming tie-in sets for DC’s Superhero Justice League movie, which is due in theaters November 17. The LEGO sets will arrive earlier, hitting store shelves August 1. This will be the first time LEGO has produced a film-accurate Aquaman minifigure, while the Batman and Flash minifigures sport updated designs. Between the new sets for The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Thor: Ragnarok, and the inevitable slew of Star Wars sets, it seems much of LEGO’s offerings for the rest of the year that we’ve seen so far are tie-ins to the big screen.
Super-Duper Duplo Mech
Who’s the King of the Toybox? Well, I think we can answer that now. nobu-tary‘s latest LEGO mechanoid/hardsuit creation is a typically beefy beast, but tricked-out in an atypical colour scheme, accented with the use of Duplo bricks. I like the air of comic menace this thing is lugging around.
Don’t miss the rear view, with the Collectible Minifigure retro-style rocket put to excellent use as a jetpack — a perfect fit for the overall aesthetic.
Whilst I love the model, can we maybe see LEGO mechs adopting a different pose? That whole “chin down, hips forward” stance thing is becoming something of a trope — the cyberpunk equivalent of steampunk’s brown.
New Elementary LEGO typography competition results [News]
Back in May we told you about the LEGO typography competition taking place over on the LEGO-elements-and-colours-obsessed blog New Elementary. Over 100 creative and ingenious font designs were submitted, making the judges’ job really tough. The final three winners can be seen below, but it’s worth seeing the lot!
Eduardo Moreira (Brazil):
Li Li (USA)
Jeffrey Kong, Artisan Bricks (Singapore):
You can read more about the entries and the judging process over on New Elementary.
LEGO Space: ICE Titan – exclusive free download and interview
The Brothers Brick enjoyed LEGO Space: Building The Future — the book of wonderful sci-fi creations from rockstar Space builders Tim Goddard and Peter Reid. When the guys got in touch to say they’d penned and illustrated a new tale set in the LEGO Space universe, we got very excited. Even more so when they asked if we’d like to host the tale as exclusive downloadable content for our readers.
Click here to download a free PDF copy of LEGO Space: ICE Titan.
We picked up with the guys to find out more about the creation of this new chapter in the LEGO Space saga…
Click to read our interview with some of the creative team
To be frank, it’s a nice house
Chris Eyerly has built an excellent model of the Laurent House, a lesser-known work by Frank Lloyd Wright, built in 1951 for Kenneth and Phyllis Laurent. Chris has used some unorthodox techniques to capture the flowing curves of the house, particularly “brick bending”, in which many 1×2 plates are connected to form a wall, then the wall is bent into a curve, taking advantage of the tiny gaps between each piece.
It can be challenging to capture curves with a system based on squares, much less integrate the curves with the square sections without ugly gaps between the bricks, but Chris has done a perfect job here, all while staying true to the original design.
Machu Picchu in microscale
In 1983, UNESCO designated the legendary Peruvian citadel of Machu Picchu as a World Heritage Site. Located in the Sacred Valley, 50 miles northwest of Cusco, the city was constructed around 1450 at the height of the Inca empire and was abandoned just over 100 years later. At time of writing, the LEGO Architecture theme has yet to feature a South American structure or building. This omission prompted Diego Baca to build his own microscale version of this historic site.
Diego has captured all the key features including Huayna Picchu as the mountainous backdrop, the blue of the Urubamba River glistening on the left, and la piedra sagrada [tr. the sacred rock] represented by a single 1×1 round plate sitting on high. Also note the wandering llama in the middle of the site!
Diego has kindly created PDF instructions for this model in the same style as the official LEGO Architecture instructions, with a few pages of photographs, historical information, and step-by-step building plans.
Weapons from a galaxy far, far away
I have to admit, I never really gave much thought about Chewbacca’s weapon of choice until Han Solo gave it a go in The Force Awakens. What I can’t believe is that in all those galactic years, Han never had a chance to wield this weapon, not even for target practice. What I do know is that this build by LEGO Admiral does the bowcaster justice with the level of detail on it.
Other weapons wielded by Ray and Solo respectively have been built with equal care and attention, with the bases making for excellent for a table top display. I’d certainly like to have these on my office desk, as would any self-respecting Star Wars fan.



















