Ever wondered what a steampunk SWAT team bust would look like? Well, I think it might look a little something like this charmingly titled diorama by Logan (captaininfinity), “The Grand Arrest of Professor Filius Bertram.” It’s not every day we get a cool steampunk diorama that includes an airship, a tank, and a legged vehicle, all of which come together with the help of copious quantities of earth-toned elements.
Paul T. goes old-school with this brick-built organic tank. The well-known Ankylosaurus may be an herbivore, but with armor plating and built in weapon in its tail, it’s spoiling for a fight. Paul’s clever creation incorporates the new inverted 2×2 dome brilliantly to comprise the armor plating. This is just the sort of awesome creation we want to see at our ChronCon display at Brickcon, where we even have a category for Fiercest Fighting Dinosaur!
Microscale and space colonies are a match made in the heavens. Karf Oohlu’s Colony Base Omega may be fighting for life on a foreign world, but it does so with panache. This slick modular sci-fi outpost looks fresh off the mothership and ready to get some terra formed.
In a city that never sleeps, only one superhero knows how to get things done. That superhero is Unibat! Or is it Battikitty? Well, whatever you call this adorable hybrid by Melanie F., it’s awesome. Built to the same scale as her other giant Unikitty versions (Seasick Unikitty is my favorite), Melanie’s Unikitty army is well poised for Unikitty dominance.
Here, Melanie poses with her original Unikitty for scale.
Pascal’s wolf-headed minifig hardsuit is the perfect use for those Chima heads. Looking especially vicious with the Exo-Force shoulder patch, these would look perfect pouring from a drop ship.
In 1997, a container ship off the coast of Cornwall, UK, was hit by a freak wave and 62 shipping containers washed overboard, the BBC reports. One of these containers held 4.8 million LEGO pieces. Evidently the container ruptured, because even 17 years later beach-goers still routinely find dozens of LEGO pieces strewn about the beach. Many are battered beyond use, but some are still found in quite good condition.
LEGO treasure hunters will take keen interest that, according to the BBC report, the following items were lost:
Toy kits – Divers, Aquazone, Aquanauts, Police, FrightKnights, WildWest, RoboForce TimeCruisers, Outback, Pirates
Spear guns (red and yellow) – 13,000 items
Black octopus – 4,200
Yellow life preserver – 26,600
Diver flippers (in pairs: black, blue, red) – 418,000
Dragons (black and green) – 33,941
Brown ship rigging net – 26,400
Daisy flowers (in fours – white, red, yellow) – 353,264
Scuba and breathing apparatus (grey) – 97,500
Total of 4,756,940 Lego pieces lost overboard in a single container
Estimated 3,178,807 may be light enough to have floated
One can’t help but note the irony that so many of the lost pieces are nautical themed. Any minifig Robinson Crusoes in the Cornwall vicinity will be well equipped after searching the local beaches.
Every year LEGO does free giveaways of various exclusive items at the San Diego Comic-Con (July 24-27), and one of the items they’re giving away this year is a fantastic 24 page Batman/Justice League retro-design comic drawn by Brothers Brick alumnus Paul Lee, an excellent builder by night and highly talented comic artist by day. This edition compiles the comics that have been appearing in the LEGO Club Magazine all year. Paul and Rachel Lareau, the comic’s writer, will be at the LEGO booth Saturday from 5-6pm to sign copies.
LEGO has unveiled a massive UCS-scale version of the Tumbler from The Dark Knight. The vehicle will measure over 15 inches long and 9 inches wide, has a full interior cockpit, and includes a nameplate, and Batman and Joker minifigs. Although LEGO has produced several versions of the Joker previously, this will be the first appearance of Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight. UCS Tumbler (76023) will be available in September for $199 USD, and includes 1,869 pieces. You can see more images of the set here, or listen to the one of LEGO’s designers talking about the set here.
Well, OK, just in theory. But this amazing NXT-controlled LEGO robot by Hknssn can build its own tower, and since the robot rides up the tower with each new piece it places, there’s theoretically no limit to how high it can build as long as it continues to be fed pieces.
Behold the mighty Steampunk chicken walker, a foe to be reckoned with – unless you’re a monocled Ewok in a top hat, I’m guessing. Crossing Star Wars with Steampunk is nothing new, but I like Don Solo’s take on this classic vehicle, which being spindly and awkward, was perfectly primed for an old-fashioned makeover. Don built this in anticipation of FBTB’s LEGO Star Wars Steam Wars Returns contest, which is currently ongoing.
The traditional LEGO vignette (on a 6×6 or 8×8 base) seems to be less in vogue these days than it was a few years ago, but this slightly larger vignette by Matthew Oh has such a great sense of motion that it instantly caught my eye. Depicting the Biblical miraculous destruction of the ancient walled city of Jericho, this vignette makes excellent use of implied motion to draw the viewer in.
LEGO has just released an announcement video for the forthcoming LEGO Ideas (née Cuusoo) set, 21109 Exo Suit, based on Peter Reid’s terrific design submission. This is one of the more imaginative videos LEGO has done for an announcement, and it fits perfectly into Peter’s Space universe that he lays out in his book, LEGO Space: Building the Future. See our previous coverage of this set here and here. There appears to still be no word on the price or part count, though it is set to be released in August.
