LEGO Mechs come in all shapes and sizes and a well-designed mech is usually packed full of details and mind-boggling parts usage that can leave you wondering, just how does that fit together? This Seraphine II mech by Devid VII is a great example. Using the mech cockpit part featured in many LEGO Nexo Knights sets at its core, Devid VII has created a slender but battle-ready mech. One of my favorite details is the orange rollerskate part used as part of the mech’s jaw.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, the summers never got that hot. But that didn’t stop every kid in the neighborhood from chasing down the popsicle truck, clutching their allowance whenever that twinkling version of Daisy, Daisy was heard piped out of an old loudspeaker. Sven Franic has captured this vibe perfectly in this wonderfully detailed popsicle truck built using aqua, which is impressive, and the perfect color choice for this model.
The addition of a table and chairs, and a bright, colorful awning really completes the scene.
We recently covered a bunch of new sets announced for many LEGO themes during the Fall 2018 preview event in New York, and there were 13 new sets from the Friends theme, including the advent calendar. I got my hands on early copies of 12 of those sets for review. I divided them into three groups. There were 5 sets focused on customizable go-cart racing, 4 sets centered on Heartlake City businesses and lastly, two sets of bedrooms, and the Friendship Box.
Okay, I’m just going to get this out of the way right off the bat. The Friends theme is not exactly popular with many adult LEGO fans and collectors, but when it comes to parts in both pastel and bright colors, particularly for drafts, they are a pretty great source, and these sets are no exception. There are even some rollercoaster tracks in a few of these sets which we will get to later. I wanted to get some insights from my 9-year-old daughter, but aside from the Friendship Box, she didn’t have much to say about them, preferring the American Girl Mega-Construx sets for their larger and far more customizable mini-dolls.
Note that some of these sets won’t be available in the US and Canada until August 1st. Click the links to the LEGO Shop to check availability of individual sets.
Read the full overview of the summer 2018 LEGO Friends setsreview
Over the seven years that LEGO has been releasing sets from their very popular Ninjago theme, there have been a lot of dragons across a wide variety of sizes. The quality of design and play features has improved over the years, and I thought the recent 70612 Green Ninja Mech Dragon from The LEGO Ninjago Movie was about the coolest dragon so far. Until now. In our recent announcement of the summer wave of LEGO Ninjago sets there were two new dragons, and I got my hands on an early copy of 70653 Firstbourne, which is now my new favorite Ninjago dragon. The set includes 882 pieces and 6 minifigures, and it will be available in August for $69.99 USD, along with the rest of the new Ninjago wave and the Ninjago City Docks.
Video games are a great source of inspiration when it comes to building LEGO spaceships, especially the Halo franchise, with a wide variety of orbital, deep space, atmosphere, and ground vehicles from many space-faring species. Marius Herrmann, who has built models from Titanfall 2 and Horizon: Zero Dawn has built a stunning version of the AV-22 Sparrowhawk from Halo Wars.
While this might look like a digital render to some, the source for many of the unusual olive green elements is much more analog. The builder used a very careful application of spray paint to produce the needed parts for this wonderfully detailed craft, and the results speak for themselves, if you ask me. On the more traditional side of things, I especially like the propellers, made from a lattice radar dish plus mini-fig hands and hooks.
Here is even an added bonus, a depiction of the craft in action.
Straight from the LEGO Fall Preview 2018 event, we’re bringing you all the new product reveals in the LEGO Friends line, scheduled for release later this year.
See our complete coverage of the upcoming LEGO Friends sets
When it comes to Star Wars fans, we have pretty strong feelings about many of the characters introduced over the years, which is evident in the wide variety of cosplay at comic and popular culture conventions. A few characters have generated serious hate, with Jar Jar Binks widely regarded as the worst Star Wars character ever. While I personally don’t have any issues with Rose Tico from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it seems some folks place her in the same category.
No matter how you might feel about Rose or Jar Jar, it’s hard to deny that they make great BrickHeadz models. LEGO 7 has successfully interpreted these characters in the style of the BrickHeadz theme, which is not an easy thing for non-human species.
One of my very favorite features that really completes Rose is her stun prod. LEGO 7 has also put together another pair of characters that would make a great BrickHeadz double pack: Sith Apprentice Darth Maul and his nemesis, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The Ninjago City modular set, aside from being one of the largest modular sets so far, is jam-packed with amazing interior details. This ramen and sushi bar by SpaceBrick would be right at home next to the official set. This scene is full of great details, like the gentleman with the fishing pole which uses an added LEGO string for a line and the ladder used for a frame at the front counter. Even the sideways window elements with visible studs at the bottom and a narrow gap at the top add perfect visual texture. This model would also fit perfectly into our Ninjago City Collaborative project for this year’s Brickcon in October!
Star Wars is a pretty rich source for LEGO fans to find inspiration, and while we have featured many massive creations on TBB recently, especially as part of our Star Wars Day coverage (like the Death Star Hangar Bay or the crashed Star Destroyer on Jakku), sometimes a simpler scene can be just as magical. Take this vignette by LegoFin, for example. While there is nothing simple about that layered rockwork, which captures the look of the ancient Masassi temple perfectly, the scene shows a slice of life picture of a mechanic working to maintain the fleet of Rebel fighters, and a pilot sharing a moment.
The Micropolis standard is what allows LEGO builders from around the world to come together at a convention and build a sprawling but tiny city that fits together. Here, LEGO creator Tammo S demonstrates some great microscale building techniques in this city block, featuring a hotel, some apartments, a pizzeria, a few residential buildings and a lovely courtyard. The model has a very European vibe, with a variety of dormer window designs, satellite dishes, and landscaping.
See more photos of this lovely little town
Last year’s LEGO Ninjago Movie (the third installment of the LEGO Movie franchise) has led to the release of the largest modular city set in the entire expert line, 70620 Ninjago City, and the announced 70657 Ninjago City Docks. The modular nature of these sets is the inspiration for our latest collaborative display at BrickCon 2018 this October in Seattle. We were even able to do a test display recently at Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC) in March.
This year’s collaboration will be open to any of our TBB readers who are planning to attend the BrickCon private convention (unfortunately, we can’t accept drop-offs during the public hours). The display at ECCC was well-received by both builders and the general public, and there was a lot of discussions during the event about how to make the display even bigger and better for BrickCon.
Read more about the Ninjago City collaboration at BrickCon this year
There has been a recent wave of microscale models inspired by official LEGO sets… Maybe Brainiac has set his intergalactic collector sights on LEGO creations. This microscale model of 70751 Temple of Airjitsu by play captures many of the great details of the larger set perfectly, from the tree next to the blue blacksmith shop to the gold ornaments on Sensei Wu’s tea shop. The temple itself is the perfect miniature replica of the traditional structure.
