Yearly Archives: 2020

Carve out some time for this Halloween pumpkin

Let’s avoid the “pumpkin spice” joke this time, and just take a moment to enjoy this elegant build by Corvus Auriac. The fluted exterior of the pumpkin hints at a complex interior structure – getting those curved slopes to nest that closely is both a trick and a treat. I also like the small touch of adding minifigure hands to the spider web to make it feel a bit more organic.

Corvus has been kind enough to share instructions for other spooky builds in the past. Hopefully we’ll get a look inside that pumpkin soon, too.

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Bloodborne Hunters Dream

The game Bloodborne holds a very special place in the heart of Nathan Hake. It inspired him to make this LEGO Bloodborne Hunters Dream creation. The build took about a year to make and I can understand why. Hunters Dream is a location in Bloodborne. Also known as Dream Refuge, it is the place where the player goes after their first death and operates as a central hub, providing trade and upgrade services. The player can port from this location to any of the Lamps that they have activated.

More than a year later Nathan decides to remember his epic creation by making a micro-scale hunters dream and it is absolutely stunning. Not only is the building very recognizable. The whole ambiance of the big creation is well translated to the micro-scale build.

LEGO Star Wars 75292 The Razor Crest from The Mandalorian [Review]

The highly anticipated second season of The Mandalorian launches today on Disney+, so now seems as good a time as any to take a closer look at the Razor Crest, which was finally released on August 31st after selling out almost immediately nearly six months earlier via preorders. The set is now back in stock online (US $129.99 | CAN $159.99 | UK £119.99), built from 1,023 pieces and featuring the Mandalorian himself, Greef Karga, IG-11, a Scout Trooper, and the Child.

Read our full review of LEGO Star Wars 75292 The Razor Crest from The Mandalorian

Just a little messy

LEGO bricks are used to make stuff, sure. But when LEGO bricks are used to make stuff that makes stuff…that’s a different level of meta. SephiMoc FF7 has created some painting supplies that do indeed look ready to be applied to canvas. I like how they’ve used different building methods to show the pooling paint, but it’s the brushes that make me smile most. We’ve seen minifigure brooms and plumes as brush tips before, but this may be the first time I’ve seen both a banana and carrot in play as well. I do kind of feel bad for the table, though. That’s a lot of messy spillage to clean up.

If you’d like to see a different design for paint tubes, I found a gem in our archives.

Halloween this year brings a full moon, and a full moon brings...

It’s spooky season, and that means it’s time for spooky LEGO creations. And what’s spookier than Nathan Hake’s feasting werewolf? Spooky might even be an understatement, this thing is downright frightening. Maybe even scary.

It’s also incredibly well built. The werewolf itself is expertly sculpted using a plethora of bars and robot body parts, as well as ample minifigure hands for extra detail. There’s something meta about a vicious werewolf being built out of people’s hands! For me, the icing on this terrifying cake is the use of the sails from the Silent Mary, a somewhat haunted pirate ship, as ripped and torn clothes hanging off of the foul beast. Not to be overlooked is the expert scenery, acting as a backdrop. The lamppost elicits a Victorian vibe, an era that’s spooky in and of itself. Underneath the beast and the blood dripping from its mouth, the sidewalk tiles lay beautifully. Simple plates and tiles are arranged in a way to give the texture perfect for the setting.

This junkyard’s a fest

Gather round the old battered ship for a bit of haggling and jawing! The dilapidated hulk of a downed spaceship sets the scene for a colorful marketplace in this diorama by Australian LEGO builder Rod Iseppi. Displayed as part of his club’s Bricktober virtual event, the old junkyard is teeming with banners and streamers that remind me more than a bit of some scenes from the new Star Wars trilogy, except for the presence of a few creatures like an eagle and an ankylosaurus pack animal. With the piles of scattered debris you can tell this place has a fascinating history and you’re sure to find some treasures. The garage doors elements in particular make a perfect drooping awning.

LEGO Marvel Avengers Taskmaster’s Ambush 77905 exclusive available at Amazon [News]

LEGO Marvel Avengers Taskmaster’s Ambush 77905 Exclusive Black Widow Movie Building Kit, previously rumored to be the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive for 2020, is currently available at Amazon in the US, although we’re hearing it’s already sold out in other countries. Get ’em while they’re hot!

Update: It appears to be out of stock at the moment, but we’ve seen it come in and out of stock a few times today, so it’s worth keeping an eye on it if you haven’t gotten one yet.

Here are some set details from the product listing:

- Capture Marvel Studios’ Black Widow movie action forever with the LEGO Marvel Avengers Taskmaster’s Ambush (77905) play-and-display superhero construction toy
- Includes Black Widow, Taskmaster and exclusive Red Guardian minifigures, a buildable 6-wheel monster truck plus cool weapons and accessories
- The scene depicts an epic battle from Marvel Studios’ Black Widow movie; The vehicle detaches for imaginative play, then reattaches to the baseplate to create an eye-catching display
- For ages 7 and up, this LEGO Marvel Avengers building playset makes a great birthday, holiday or ‘just because’ gift for kids
- The iconic characters are captured in a striking display piece that will appeal to Black Widow fans of all ages and attract interest from all who see it

Big machines for little critters

Did you ever feel bad for the cute baby dragons that kept being harassed by Ragana back in the LEGO Elves theme? I did. So I built some mechs to let them defend themselves, and then (since I only had three dragons) I built an evil cat mech in the same style (I know, I know, “evil cat” is redundant…). I’ve already written about one of these mechs, but I think they look even better all together. When I started building for the fan challenge Mechtober, I half-heartedly built the small black mech. But then, as usual for me, I got excited and invested and built a larger dark grey one, followed by an equally large light grey one, and finally a white one. I have a hard time going halfway on projects, it seems.

The minimalist style I started with, relying on lots of bar-and-clip connections, was carried throughout, but it was interesting to find what parts were color-limited for me. For example, I do not have any bars with clip in white, which was one of the key connection points on the black and grey mechs; that meant I needed to get creative, and ended up using most of my white skeleton arms to compensate. I was especially happy with the light grey one’s cockpit, since I have always wanted to use that canopy for something besides a Ninjago spinner. Will they keep the dragons safe? I don’t know, but they’ve at least got a fighting chance now.

Orange and brown and very uncanny

I have no idea what this robot’s task is, but I think I’d probably prefer not to find out. What I do know, however, is that this organic-looking LEGO bot by Marco Marozzi plays host to a myriad of unusual parts used excellently. The oddest might be the brown Bellville horse saddle that makes up the bot’s mid-section between the orange bits, but don’t miss other details like the brooms behind the head or the maraca antenna. And ultimately, whatever its purpose was, I can’t escape from feeling this is what No-Face from Spirited Away would look like if he were a robot.

The (Pumpkin) Spice must flow

Don your Uggs and yoga pants as Pumpkin Spice season is upon us once again. But where do all those pumpkin spice lattes, lipgloss, scented candles, and dog shampoos come from? It’s probably all harvested by this creepy fellow constructed by Brothers Brick regular and LEGO builder extraordinaire Joss Woodyard. He tells us this is Pumpkinhead Fiddlesticks, a character from the game League of Legends which, upon further research, seems to have nothing to do with harvesting pumpkin spice. Well, there goes my humorous holiday tie-in! No one said we were good journalists, did they? Regardless of your opinions of my journalistic integrity, you’ll have to agree Joss is a pretty formidable builder. We offer a well-deserved pumpkin spice latte salute to all things Halloween and maybe you should too.

A “Panda-emic” is a thing, right?

We take a break from spooky builds and space ships to share some lovely family imagery from Vincent Kiew. These panda bears are super adorable, super emotive, and superbly constructed. It’s rare to see BrickHeadz eyes in such a realistic depiction of animals, and yet they seem the perfect fit here. I love how the shaping of the adult and cub are each unique, but use many of the same parts to unify the build. The green bamboo shoots add just the right pop of color, too.

Turns out they’re also fun to accessorize. This is the Mario crossover the world needs right now.

As a bonus, these pandas are also have a good level of articulation, allowing for even more expressive photo ops.

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Work in progress or finished creation?

Is Katja and Ryan’s LEGO creation a finished work or a work in progress? Well the creation itself is finished, but the church is far from finished and it is nice to see how the structure is being created from the ground up. From the flooring to the pillars to the stained glass windows, the roofing, and the gargoyles. There is also a lot going on around the church on the ground. Among the activity is a small model of what the church will look like when finished. There is a cart delivering a Madonna and Child statue and an artist creating a painting of the church to be. There are a lot of small details to behold. Can you find the poor guy getting sprayed by a skunk in the background?