The amount of detail that goes into Luke Watkins Hutchinson’s (– Derfel Cadarn –) castle creations is always among the highest I’ve seen of any castle builder. He also uses very eye-catching colors that border realism and fantasy. His latest creation is a perfect example of his signature style.
This is my envisioning of the arena for Iron Builder, a series of competitions that pit the most skilled and competitive builders against each other in a month-long face-off to build with a mystery piece. I was inspired to make this arena after witnessing a spectacular show by the Mayos vs Ericksons round. This creation will be for sale in this year’s Creations for Charity for someone who wants to own a creation that tells the legendary battles of some of the greatest Lego builders.
A new fan-written Lego book called Beautiful LEGO recently hit the shelves. It’s author, Mike Doyle, is no stranger to the Lego community, having built the masterpiece seen on its cover. This is a book that shows pictures from most genres of Lego building and includes only scant text, serving the role of a coffee table book highlighting the inspiring creations by fans.
Here is my summary of the highlights of the book, which are elaborated in the review video below.
Pros:
Cons:
This is a highly recommended Lego book for any builder or fan. For new builders, this will serve as a compilation of inspiring models at your fingertips, and for experienced builders, this is a perfect way to show friends what you do. A book like this doesn’t need words to explain itself, the creations will do all the talking and delight all who’s curious to open its covers. Despite a major flaw of overlooking trains and military builds, Mike still does a great job of covering most aspects of the diverse styles and themes. His professional re-editing of the backgrounds of many photos gives the book a consistent style. You can buy it now from Amazon.
I’ve seen some pretty impressive renditions of Helm’s Deep in Lego, but this gigantic layout by Goel Kim and Big J captures the scale of the epic battlescene like no other. The diorama took 6 months to build and over a year to plan. Check out more pictures on MOCpages and Flickr or you might miss a detail like this.
Michael Thomas built the adorable BMO (Beemo) from Adventure Time that features a fully functional Raspberry Pi computer. You can see a video showing its features on YouTube.
The fifth annual Creations for Charity is now accepting donations of Lego creations from anyone wanting to help raise money to buy Lego for underprivileged children. From now until November 15th, anyone can donate a Lego creation for sale in the fundraiser. All you have to do is fill out a form and be prepared to ship the creation directly to the buyer. For the budget builders, you can still choose to be reimbursed for the cost of making your creation, and as usual there are unique gifts to reward your help. It is always my pleasure to invite you to participate in the Lego community’s tradition of giving back!
Here are last year’s donations to four cities in the US and in Chile and Croatia. To learn more about Creations for Charity, watch the promo video or visit creationsforhcharity.org.
This futuristic military gunship by Tyler (Legohaulic) is quite an eye-catcher. It has attention-grabbing details in both the complementary colors and the individualized components that feature some uncommonly used parts like tipper beds and hockey shooters. No matter which part your eyes drift to, there’s always something interesting to see.
This scene by Luke Watkins Hutchinson (Derfel Cadarn) seems like a slice of someone’s nightmare. Check out the use of the judge’s hairpiece on the face of the ghoul.
75017 Duel on Geonosis is one of the sets from the summer wave of Lego Star Wars. The set contains 390 pieces and retails for $39.99, which you can buy from Amazon.
Here is my summary of the highlights of the set, which are elaborated in the review video below.
Pros:
Cons:
This is a well rounded set that has good parts, minifigs, play features, and an acceptable price per part ratio. It probably won’t look good sitting on a shelf and is more meant to be played with or parted into your collection. Luckily Amazon has a small discount on the set at the moment.
This life-sized Lego Dalek by Elephant-Knight is built in the Blacktron 2 color scheme. This ambitious project began at the start of the year and is ready for BrickCon in October. Just be careful not to get too close or you could end up on the floor like the builder’s unfortunate brother.
I’ve seen several olive green sci-fi creations, but this is the first time I’ve seen an olive green house built by Tim Inman. Contrasted with the dark red foliage, it makes for quite a cozy place to live.
