After blogging old Han & Leia, I remembered that I hadn’t highlighted this classic scene from Star Wars: A New Hope. Even though your eye is drawn to the two stock minifigs, the real stars of this scene by Andrew JN are the backdrop, lighting, and photo editing. I can hear the buzz of those lightsabers now!
Via BrickNerd.
I really enjoyed the growth of the Star Wars Expanded Universe back in the 90’s, from the gorgeous Dark Empire graphic novels by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy to the stellar Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. Though I stopped paying attention following the Prequel Trilogy, I’ve always liked seeing the unique vehicles and vessels from the EU. Dead Frog, Inc. built this compact little TIE/D droid fighter, capturing the iconic look of the larger, manned TIE fighters while reducing the size to match the EU source material. Now imagine thousands of these spewing out of a World Devastator, swarming a Mon Calamari city…
We’re starting to see a lot more LEGO Star Wars creations as we ramp up toward the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens LEGO sets — or maybe as I get excited myself, I’m just noticing them more. Either way, this little Miniland scene by Matt De Lanoy had me laughing uproariously. I realize it’s not a new joke, but Matt’s LEGO build is very well executed, with instantly recognizable characters, innovative parts usage (more on that below), and very cool lighting.
Matt built this as part of the current Iron Builder challenge, with the barbell accessory piece as the seed part. Expect to see a lot of posts over the coming days featuring this piece…
Last July, the LEGO Wall-E designed by Pixar director/animator Angus MacLane achieved 10,000 votes on LEGO Ideas, and its approval as an upcoming official set was announced in February. LEGO officially unveiled the set just yesterday, but thanks to the good people of Billund, we already have a copy of the set for a hands on review!
Spoiler alert: Wall•E is a a fantastic model with some great building techniques, lots of parts in an unusual color, and quite a good value for the money. I expect strong popularity from the subject matter alone, so I strongly recommend you pick up your LEGO Wall•E while supplies last.
Read the full review after the jump!
Here’s your first look at the lineup of sets for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. No word yet on precisely when these will hit stores, but you can probably look for them in the next month or two. See the full list below the jump (mild spoilers possible).
75101 First Order Special Forces TIE fighter ($69.99): Available from Amazon.com & LEGO Shop Online
75099 Rey’s Speeder ($19.99): Available from Amazon.com & LEGO Shop Online
75100 First Order Snowspeeder ($39.99): Available from Amazon.com & LEGO Shop Online
75102 Poe’s X-Wing Fighter ($79.99): Available from Amazon.com & LEGO Shop Online
75103 First Order Transporter ($89.99): Available from Amazon.com & LEGO Shop Online
75104 Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle ($119.99): Available from Amazon.com & LEGO Shop Online
75105 Millennium Falcon ($149.99): Available from Amazon.com & LEGO Shop Online
Vehicles and vessels from anime shows continue to be a popular subject with LEGO builders. Christopher Hoffmann joins the fray with this small but well-executed Swordfish II fighter from Cowboy Bebop.
If you like this microscale version, I think you’ll also enjoy Adrian Florea’s minifig-scale Cowboy Bebop Swordfish.
Zachary Lewis is quite the LEGO architect. For the last year or so since picking LEGO up again as an adult and joining a local LEGO club in Ohio, he’s been alternating between highly detailed houses and highly detailed interior rooms — each one built for a specific person. My favorite of Zachary’s houses so far is this one: “Mom’s House.”
While the classic 1950’s one-story ranch house is not my favorite form of American architecture (I live in one), this build by Zachary is pretty amazing — from the paneling on the garage door to the wood slat siding and brick walls. Smaller details jump out as well, like the barbecue out back and the small window/fan into the attic.
I could highlight just about every photo Zachary has posted in his photostream, but I won’t spoil your enjoyment — go spend some time poring over “Wesley’s Room,” “Robert’s House,” “Elliott’s Room,” and more.
But since I can’t help myself, here’s a beautiful Georgian-style house in Zachary’s hometown of Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Korean builder Simmon Kim doesn’t say a whole lot about the LEGO models he builds — many of his photos don’t even have titles — but build quality always speaks louder than words anyway, and his mecha are awesome. Simmon’s latest mechanical wonder takes advantage of the new Mixels towball socket connections for a wonderfully compact stomper, replete with excellent application of stickers for little pops of color.
When you’ve had a long day at work, there’s not a lot more relaxing than a nice scented bubble bath. While simple and plain-looking at first, this little scene by takamichi Irie packs a lot of details. As odd as this is to say, it’s the toilet that steals the scene, with its flush handle and toilet paper roll.
Each year except 2013 (we needed a break!), The Brothers Brick organizes a collaborative display at BrickCon in Seattle, the first weekend in October. We’ve mentioned this a few times and set up the official group on Flickr a while back, but with just under two months left until BrickCon, it’s time to share more details!
“Picket’s Charge” by Sean Edmison
After zombie outbreaks, space colonization, and time-traveling dinosaurs, “The Battle of Bricksburg” will be TBB’s first historically themed collaborative display. All TBB readers who attend BrickCon are welcome to participate. (Please note that we cannot accept drop-offs during the public hours on Saturday and Sunday.)
Following the custom sonic screwdrivers he made for ChronoCon last year, we’re incredibly grateful to Will Chapman from BrickArms for collaborating with us on a number of specially designed custom accessories for our display. Planned accessories (pending finalization) include:
To start getting your minifigs properly equipped, you can pick up the BrickArms Caplock Musket from Brickmania (where you can also buy a really excellent M1857 cannon used by both sides during the war). Both US and Confederate flags are available from our friend Dave Ingraham over at Cape Madness (along with other cloth accessories, like great coats).
Even though we’re targeting a certain level of historical accuracy, the display isn’t trying to reproduce a specific battle or a specific location. To help make this a success for everyone, we’ve designed the layout so that it can be as large or as small as it needs to be, and can accommodate nearly whatever you build. Whether you bring just a few infantry, a squadron of cavalry, big hulking ironclads, houses for the town, or a full section of landscaping, we’ll do our best to incorporate your hard work.
Nevertheless, BrickCon organizers need to have a sense of how much space the display will need, so please register your MOC(s) — after you register yourself, of course! — and please also let us know in the Flickr group and/or here in the comments on this post.
It’s been a couple of years since I set aside The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The organic landscaping contrasts nicely with the stonework and wooden mill. (Must resist urge to look for Nirnroot…)
Guy Himber’s Crazy Arms Kickstarter project hit funding over the weekend, and deliveries are expected by the end of the year. This one looks particularly useful. If you want in on the Kickstarter rewards yourself, you have about 12 more hours to support the project.
I’ve always enjoyed Guy’s various custom projects, and this particular one has the approval of Abraham Lincoln on a velociraptor (my war-like Honest Abe is using one of Guy’s older straight-arm prototypes, and is wearing one of his stovepipe hats).
