Happy Easter, folks. Here’s a cheery Easter Bunny for you, courtesy of flickr user Brickbucki. This is a great sculpture, though I can’t help but think the rabbit looks slightly crazed. But I guess that’s what comes from having to paint and hide millions of eggs.
Russian fan Mister Fedin (Fianat) has created this stunning bit of steampunkery, heavily influenced by the much-hyped Bioshock Infinite game which launched just yesterday. This flying city block may have a rather traditional steampunk color-scheme, but Fedin has used it to great effect. I particularly love how this wonderful architectural menagerie includes elements influenced by LEGO’s own modular city buildings, yet with some lovely twists. I also simply must mention the lovely photography and choice of backdrop here: it really makes this model shine. Don’t ever underestimate how much a bit of good photography can improve your model’s presentation.
“What’s this fine looking man doing on the front page of The Brothers Brick?” you say. “He doesn’t look like Lego!” Well, no, Bruce Lowell isn’t made of Lego, though we do suspect liquified ABS runs in his veins. His accoutrements are, however, made of Lego. Look closely, and you’ll see that the tie, tie clip, boutonniere, cuff links, belt, and even pocket square are all one-hundred percent brick. Bruce has pioneered an excellent way to show off your inner geek and look dashing doing it.
The Iron Throne, that notoriously uncomfortable chair at the heart of the turmoil in Westeros in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, has been wonderfully recreated in Lego by Jacob Nion. And of course, to accompany it is the beloved, if ill-fated, Ned Stark, Hand of the King. Jacob is following the styling of the HBO television series A Game of Thrones in his interpretation of the throne and of Stark, and nicely enough, Ned Stark is easy to recreate in Lego form thanks to actor Sean Bean already having been made in Lego in the character of Boromir.
Legohippie has made this terrific replica of the quintessential emblem of American schools, the Bluebird International school bus. This iconic yellow behemoth is the method of transportation for millions of children every day, and I’ve not seen a better LEGO version than this one.
I’ve seen a lot of unusual things built out of LEGO, but I do believe this is the first time I’ve seen a scientific diagram. TheBrickAvenger made this lovely illustration demonstrating the way the greenhouse effect works, and I must say, I’d probably have paid more attention in science classes if all the illustrations were done in this manner!
There are a lot of cute little Tachikomas floating around lately, but this isn’t one of them. This mighty legged-tank by Dylan Denton is a bit more serious, and it’s got the looks to prove it. Based on a mech in the anime series Sound of the Sky, the Takemikazuchi looks deadly as it goes for a stroll through the snow.
We may be well into March now, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t still in love with fantastic rovers. Case in point, here’s one we missed previously: Robert H’s (Robiwan Kenobi) Helium Transport Rover. Like all the best microscale models, it belies its size, and abounds with ingenious techniques. The micro-mech that accompanies it is also a marvel of miniature engineering, employing some cool joint techniques that even I haven’t seen before.
EDIT: Oops, looks like we didn’t actually miss this one the first time around. We blogged its differently-colored twin here.
Brian Kescenovitz (aka mondayn00dle) is back at it, building more of the best Mecha around. This time he’s got this aggressive grey beast called the Weaver. It even fits a figure completely inside–which, come to think of it, may make it a large exo-suit. At what point does an exo-suit become a mech? Whatever you care to classify is as, though, there’s no question that it’s of the species awesome.
76006 Extremis Sea Port Battle is the last of the Iron Man 3 sets I’ll be reviewing. Be sure to also read my reviews of the Malibu Mansion Attack and the Ultimate Showdown sets, if you’ve missed them. The Extremis Sea Port Battle consists of an Extremis speedboat driven by badman Aldrich Killian, and Iron Man and War Machine to fight him. This set is what you’d expect from an MSRP $19.99 USD set: one large vehicle, and three minifigures, for a total of 195 pieces. The box contains two numbered bags, the instructions, a sticker sheet, and the same LEGO-style comic as the other two Iron Man 3 sets. The first bag builds the minifigs, and the bottom half of the boat, and the second finishes the boat and adds the buoy.
The boat is fairly large at almost 27 studs long, and looks pretty snazzy with its dark green and yellow color-scheme. It’s one of the cooler LEGO speedboats I’ve seen in a while, and I really appreciated the little touches the designer added like the swept-back windshield. I do always find it odd when a LEGO model calls for numerous plates where a single larger one would do. In this case, the bottom deck of the boat is held together with a row of four tan 1×10 plates. Perhaps that’s to make it look 
more like planking, or perhaps a 4×10 plate would have put the set over-budget. Either way, there are no complaints from me; I’d rather have the smaller plates. There are two flick-fire missiles in the aft compartment of the boat. Unlike most flick-fire missiles which I find cumbersome to flick with your finger and ineffective for range, these fire via a small lever mechanism which works remarkably well, and blends in well with the design of the boat. The foredeck also pops off, allowing for a minifig to hide in there. Really, though, a sleek speedboat is its own play-feature in my book, and you don’t need too many gizmos added to it to make it fun. The bottom of the boat is, of course, covered in boat-tiles to make carpet-sailing an easy adventure. Next up is the buoy, which explodes when you press one side. It’s built sort of like a minifig-flinger, but I’m not certain it’s meant to be used like that. Spare parts were slightly nicer than usual, with an extra light-grey lightsabre handle, and some other typical pieces.
The Iron Man minifig here is in the same Mark 42 Armor that’s in the Malibu Mansion Attack set. War Machine is definitely the coolest of the minifigs in this lot, especially since we haven’t yet had a version of him, despite his role in Iron Man 2. Naturally, the helmet is the same as Iron Man’s, just with a different color scheme, and the shoulder cannon looks nice, even if a little simple. Despite being covered by the neck-bracket for the shoulder cannon most of the time, War Machine does have a detailed printing on the back of the torso. The two-tone silver printing on this minifig really looks gorgeous. Aldrich Killian is sporting a simple tan suit with front and rear prints, and the two-sided glow-in-the-dark head is almost, but not quite, identical to that of the Extremis Soldier in the Malibu Mansion Attack set.
All in all, this is a solid set. There’s nothing outstanding here, except for the exclusive War Machine minifig, but the speedboat is a satisfying build and looks good when it’s done. For those not wild about keeping the set built, here’s a look at the inventory pages. I’d say the set is a pretty fair source of pieces, with lots of easily useable pieces, and an abundance of slopes of all sizes.
Finally, since some of you seemed particularly interested in what’s happening with Iron Man on the box art of the Malibu Mansion Attack set, I’ve scanned part of the comic that’s included in all three sets, which expounds on that scene a little more. Here there be spoilers.
LEGO magnets are cool, but most people just use them for connecting trains or picking up crates. Not so for Simon Liu, the ever-innovative Canadian builder. This mass transit suspension bridge is actually held aloft by magnetism, providing a cushy platform for the mag-lev train that rides on it over an earth-quake riddled fault-line. Be sure to watch the video of Simon disassembling it to show the magnets’ effects. Besides having an uuber cool concept, though, Simon has nailed the style of this futuristic bridge, giving it an edgy, techy architectural look. Also, I’m pretty sure Simon is crazy, because he’s competing concurrently in both the Iron Builder competition and the MocAthalon contest, and this creation counts for both.
