Yearly Archives: 2020

LEGO to invest $400 million in sustainability, begin phasing out plastic packaging next year [News]

Today The LEGO Group announced an increased commitment to sustainability and social responsibility, pledging to spend $400 million USD over the next three years to fast-track a variety of green initiatives and social programs. The most visible difference to fans will be the introduction of paper bags in LEGO packaging, which are set to replace the clear plastic bags that hold each step’s pieces in LEGO sets. The company plans to trial run the new paper bags next year, with the goal of making all its packaging sustainable by 2025. Tim Brooks, Vice President of Environmental Responsibility at The LEGO Group, said, “We have received many letters from children about the environment asking us to remove single-use plastic packaging. We have been exploring alternatives for some time and the passion and ideas from children inspired us to begin to make the change.”

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A fleet favorite in microscale

Star Wars starships can come in all scales and sizes especially when built out of LEGO. Ron McPhatty demonstrates this concept of size variation in his digital microscale LEGO build of the Ghost, the premier starship of the rebel fleet piloted by the fierce Hera Syndulla.

The most interesting thing about this particular model is that the interior space is fleshed out. Most microscale models do not have interiors, while the Microfighters that LEGO offers just include a seat to place an out-of-scale minifigure in. Continue reading →

LEGO BrickHeadz Frankenstein and Star Wars Obi Wan minifigure now available for sale [News]

The Frankenstein BrickHeadz will be available on the LEGO Online stores (Sept 15). As usual, the exact time of release may vary across regions. A new addition to the store is the Obi Wan Star Wars LEGO 20th Anniversary figure that was previously only available as a gift-with-purchase and if you feel lucky, you can order individual packs of the latest Harry Potter Series 2 collectible minifigures.

Click to see the listings

Mayor McCheese is through taking your crap.

Okay, let me start off by saying I saw something in this LEGO mech that builder nobu_tary probably never intended. For all intents and purposes, this is “just” an elegant mech with unusually bright colors. There’s interesting part usage like the kayak as for a shield, and great articulation through ball joints and click hinges. But then I saw the head area, which features a printed 8×8 dish from the Overwatch theme. The suggestion of eyes there reminded me of the squashed head on the new 76164 Iron Man Hulkbuster set. The yellow round plate under that then became a slice of cheese. Suddenly I was looking at Robocop version of Mayor McCheese. I guess the Hamburglar finally went too far.

Up for a challenge? I invite you to take some time and try and find fast-food parallels with other mechs in our archives.

Swallows and Amazons

Fledgings look to expert builder Inthert and crane their necks to see what he builds next. Specialising in spaceships, he finds the right pieces to build intricate shapes that bring beauty to otherwise now-generic vehicles. He presents us with a pink-haired lady piloting a small and unique starfighter with an unusual shape. When taking a gander from different angles, we can see that this ship has the shape of a plump bird, with the elements of a fighter jet.

Bird puns aside, this well put together craft checks all the boxes that satisfy a parts- and technique-oriented coot such as myself. A bulky body with downwards sloping wings that resemble a small bird gliding on a current is perfect. Aside from unique parts like a white Slizers visor in the front and two sizes of barrels, the use of inverted slopes for small intakes is ingenious. There is minimal greebling, but it works just as well, as less is more. Last but not least: the wing and landing gear function: the landing gear swings out as the wings fold in.
That’s it.

Only Inthert can make it so simple and work so well. But my favourite part still remains the girl with the lavender coloured Elves hairpiece. Something about a pink-haired girl being the pilot makes an already perfect spaceship even cooler.

See more perfect builds by the talented Inthert here.

Morning is for tea and contemplation

Summer is winding down and where I live the trees are already starting to change color just a little bit. The morning light hits the leaves in such a way that is similarly portrayed in this built LEGO vignette by Instagram user architeclego.

Looking at this vignette, I can smell the crisp autumn air and even feel a light breeze hitting my face like on a chilly but sunny morning in late September or early October. Architeclego makes use of many different plant pieces such as the tree limb element and even some LEGO pumpkins and logs to create this peaceful fall scene. Hopefully this little vignette will help the less autumn-inclined folks mentally prepare for the beginning of a new season.

Counting sheep til you sleep

Some fans of LEGO are convinced that LEGO Friends animals do not belong in the LEGO universe as they are too cutesy looking. Gayle Spiller proves them all wrong in her creation titled Insomnia.This creation has everything that makes you feel sleepy. You can sway away in her rocking chair made of a regular chair with two flotation rings attached to it. Have a cup of hot milk. Read a bedtime story in one of the books on display. Turn on the radio and play some sweet lullabies. And last but not least you could focus on the wall clock’s ticking noise. And if all of that doesn’t help, you could always start counting sheep.

Come to the dark side. We have cookies. And octopi.

Upon reflection, this warm and cozy den build by Krzysztof may not be as warm and cozy as you first thought. But take a moment to appreciate the great details in this LEGO scene before you get worried. I like the use of crates to give the table legs a bit of texture, and this is the first time I’ve seen a Chima mask used as part of a bear-skin rug. I also like the small details like the blue 1×1 tiles for chalk on the pool table. And the mirror is pretty swanky, too.

However, through that looking glass, another pair of eyes looks back, and they’re nowhere near as friendly.
Continue reading →

It’s all a big joke(r)

At a glance, this may look like a LEGO minifig, but it is indeed a Maxifig. It has the same shape and proportions of your usual minifig, but it built up to a monstrous size. Pascal Hetzel has crafted this Joker Maxifig nicely with a bright bowtie, a purple and green outfit and even a pocket watch chain.The hands are shaped by using actual minifig legs. Using minifig parts to build a Maxifig; I’m sure there’s a clever word or phrase for that but damned if I can figure it out now. Perhaps you can in the comments.

As this shot reveals, Pascal has even built each section as if it were an actual minifig, complete with separate legs, torso, head, and hair elements. That is some clever Maxifig building right there! Pascal has built the Joker, and now he should build the Smoker and the Midnight Toker to finish out the trio. Boy, did I just date myself! Nevermind Googling the reference, kids. Just get off my lawn.

Shiny moonbase is a sparkling sight for space-faring eyes

Many builders use standard squares and rectangles as the base for their base, and it makes perfect sense, considering how many LEGO plates are rectangles. so, using a non-rectangular standard really stands out. Simon Liu has come up with an experimental new collaboration standard using a triangle base which fits together neatly and is designed for the trophy figure scale. The base is filled with gold parts that combine with the stark blue and white color scheme and check out those rovers!

I thought it was just a teal spaceship, but it’s actually better

When I saw this spaceship build by Elven Ranger, a certain colour caught my eye. Everyone knows I am a lover of teal, and any LEGO creation with that colour wins my heart. But upon a second glance, I realised that it is a different shade of green, just the lighting is different. “My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.”

Nevertheless, this grey-and-green spaceship features enough details for its small size to feast my eyes. The angular wings contain layers of plates resembling hull panels, enhanced by a few masonry bricks and minifigure ingots. This adds to a great balance of smooth surfaces and more textured elements. Similarly, the two colours balance each other, making sure that the dark green does not overshadow the light green. Stickers provide extra decorative piping and paneling to give this ship a subtle, yet rugged look. And if anything other than teal that wins my heart, it’s greebles.

If you want more, take a look at our spaceship archives. There is plenty of greebling, and even some teal!

Build it like a rock star!

Do you feel that? That is your heart racing just a little bit at the sight of this LEGO Barracuda GT-3 built by Michael Ablinger. I get that feeling around nice cars in general and superbly build LEGO creations. Michael tells us this was constructed with nine-hundred parts. There is working steering, a fully modeled interior, and realistic aerodynamic devices. I’m a fan of an understated primary color with a flashy secondary color. Black and lime green fits the bill nicely. Custom stickers really set this GT-3 apart from your usual LEGO builds. You should settle in and check out all the other times my heart went a pitter-patter. Maybe I should cut down on the Rock Star energy drinks?