Sergeant Chipmunk is the master of texture. First, it was insanely beautiful, jagged rockwork. Then, a sleek and stylish castle of ice. Now, it’s a deceptively simple castle with extra-blocky crenellation surrounded by autumn-time trees. The new texture? Well, Chipmunk put a handful of 1×1 round tiles to great use by carefully stacking them into dragonscale-like textured walls for his castle. I can’t imagine the zen-like patience this man must have.
Justin Winn‘s spacemen have been tirelessly going about their day-to-day jobs and even studying for advanced space degrees. So it’s good to see these hard-working minifigs take down their hair and have fun from time to time. Justin spacified Set 10196: The Grand Carousel and his new version is awesome. It has a ton of spacey details but my favorite bits are those custom printed space logo sails that form the carousel roof. They’d look pretty sweet on a space ship too, right?
Everyone knows Paul Hetherington is no stranger to phenomenal Batman-themed dioramas. Even so, I was completely blown away by Paul’s latest Batman build. This thing is brimming with clean lines, super-sharp details, and even moving parts! The 1950s Batman logo looks like a sticker rather than LEGO brick and the dual-distanced skyline is simply inspired. The Art Deco theater gives me chills it’s so good. Even the lamp posts look like tiny pieces of art. Seriously, look at a closeup photo and tell me you’re not going to start redecorating your living room in brown, black, and gold today. I know I am!
Paul explained that he modeled his Gotham theater off of the Marbro Theater which used to stand in Chicago. He also posted a terrific video showing all of the amazing power functions. Check it out here:
Check out more photos of this amazingly-detailed build on Flickr.
Have you ever wanted to cook your own tiny, 99.1% chemically-pure LEGO crystal meth? Well now you can with the LEGO Superlab from the TV show Breaking Bad! Builder Paul Trach packed an incredible amount of detail into this scene. My favorites include the utility sinks (made with cupboards turned on their backs) and the tiny barrels of phenylacetic acid made with 2×2 black round bricks and three yellow rubber bands (And yes, I imagine they are each stamped with tiny, little bee logos). Perhaps most impressive is the fact that Paul created a spot-on Walter White with just a simple yellow shirt, pants, and blue gloves (no fancy hazmat suit required).
Click to check out all the details in the lab
Good news, everyone! Remember all those times you desperately needed a LEGO spaceship fast enough to outrun a murderous Robot Santa Claus? Or what about those times you justed wanted to deliver a LEGO pizza in a stylish vehicle with a sweet “electric mucus” paint job? Well, you’re in luck because Nicola Stocchi, builder of the incredibly detailed Transformer Grimlock has created a beautifully rendered version of the Planet Express Ship from Futurama. Nicola built this beauty in LEGO Digital Designer with 5112 parts. Seriously, could this LEGO ship be any more spot on? At the risk of sounding negative, no.
These larger-than-life sculptures by Bruce Lowell look more like pixelated photos than LEGO creations. Seriously, just squint your eyes a bit and these lunchtime treats look just like the real thing! I particularly love how Bruce captured the Subway and Lay’s logos perfectly, even on three-dimensional surfaces. And while it normally bothers me to see an underlying color showing through to a top layer of a different color, allowing the white layer to show through on the stair-stepped portion of the raw red onions is simply genius!
This Asian-style castle by Henry F. is so beautifully put together that I can’t stop looking at it. At first glance, this build appears clean and simple, but further reflection reveals tons of amazing details like the wooden lattice-style steps with multiple landings, the iron-barred windows, and the amazing texture Henry built into the rock formations. Henry cleverly designed this build with multiple levels, each one stepped up a little higher than the previous level. This results in a terrific photo composition that shows all the details of the build in one clear photo.
You can check out close-up photos (including a shot of that sweet, mullet-rocking soldier) on Flickr.
I love it when a LEGO creation doesn’t look like a LEGO creation. And that’s exactly what is happening here. With just four unique LEGO pieces, Wookieewarrior created a stunningly acurrate, life-sized golden snitch from the game of quidditch (a popular sport from the Harry Potter universe played on flying broomsticks). The parts used to make this beauty (who is worth 150 points in the game) include only a set of insect wings, a rubber band, some string, and a spacey disco ball.
This huge Blacktron-themed tank by Adrian Drake measures a whopping 104 x 48 studs. Complete with a rotating turret and articulated corner treads, this LEGO tank is an absolute necessity for any Blacktron fleet worth its salt.
Adrian explained that his build was inspired by the artwork of DeviantArt user Duskie-06, but of course modified for LEGO building and tricked out in black with yellow trim and red transparent pieces in order to be a true Blacktron vehicle. According to Adrian, “The entire thing is basically a giant technic framework that, when I take the treads off, I can pick up and swoosh quite easily. It is, in reality, a SHIP with tank treads.”
If you’re looking to build a Blacktron Behemoth of your very own, be forewarned, to complete a tank like this you will need to spend countless man-hours in R&D and manufacturing. It took Adrian nearly two months to complete this build and that was even with the assistance of child labor: Adrian’s 9-year-old son designed the gun on the top of the turret and his 12-year-old son tirelessly mass-produced the tank’s treads. Without minions of your own, you’re looking at a much longer timeline before your tank rolls off the assembly line.
To see the up-close details of this build, be sure to check out more photos of Adrian’s massive Blacktron tank on Flickr. You can also see this tank in person at Brickworld Chicago or BrickFair DC.
This LEGO castle by Tirrell Brown is just terrific! It’s got the perfect combination of stonework, woodwork, and landscaping. I particularly love the blocky crenellation along the walls and the super-close spacing on those rounded windows in the two wooden towers. I wish I could shrink down to minifig size and explore all the nooks and crannies of this beauty.
It seems I can’t go a single day without either seeing an Overwatch commercial or hearing a friend gush about how it’s the only game I should be playing right now. So it shouldn’t be surprising that LEGO builds inspired by this first-person shooter are popping up like crazy. In addition to the massively, massive Rocket Hammer and D.Va’s hot pink Mech we’ve already highlighted, here are some fantastic LEGO Overwatch characters.
First up, Tim Schwalfenberg pieced together a LEGO Tracer, the female character who, according to the internet, can control the speed of her own passage through time. Pretty handy, that. I recognized Tim’s build right away as the English-accented character who says “The cavalry’s here” in those too-often shown Overwatch commercials.
Next up, Dead Frog inc. built a LEGO Zenyatta, the floating character with the power to heal others. While I didn’t recognize this character (Seriously, I promise to play the game at some point), I did appreciate this character’s clean lines and cross-legged pose. Both builders captured the game’s style and built highly-poseable figs resulting in two LEGO models that look like they were built as part of one set. I’m excited to see which other characters pop up online in the future.
