Mushu is almost certainly my favorite Disney character, and this hilarious sculpture by Mike Nieves (Retinence) is perfect. I’m amazed that Mike was able to effectively pull off such a spindly creature while maintaining enough structural integrity for it stand.
Tim Johnson over at the wonderful blog New Elementary has just published an interesting inside look at the development process of Peter Reid’s Classic Space Exo Suit Cuusoo set. Although the actual design of the suit has yet to be revealed, the logo for the new set has been announced. Reading Tim’s write-up of the extent to which fans have been involved in the development of this particular set has given me great hope that the outcome will live up to the fan community’s very high expectations. The fan involvement for this set reminds me a good deal of my time helping design the original Minecraft set, and it’s heartening to see another Cuusoo project take this route, instead of taking the project to Billund and developing it solely with official product designers, as has been the case with all of the other Cuusoo projects.
Combine the Exo Suit with the forthcoming Benny’s Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP set from the LEGO Movie, and it’s looking to be a very good year for Classic Space aficionados.
Read the original post on New Elementary in its entirety here.
For your second tasty morsel of steampunkery today, feast upon Eric Druon’s (BaronSat) armored skyboat. It employs a brick-built hull, and the age-old technique of employing exposed studs as rivets looks particularly good on this machine.
Who doesn’t love a sleek steampunk flying machine, resplendent with leather wings and giant wooden propellers? This snappy gyrocopter by Dwalin Forkbeard is a fine example of just such a craft, and needs only a pastoral floating rock berth to be the quintessential go-to of steampunkery.
Your minifigs might or might not be under the influence of certain substances if they encounter this castle, but just ignore that and admire the lovely bricks in Simon Schweyer’s rainbow fortress.
The first official images have surfaced of the second wave of Mixels, LEGO’s new popular cute miniature creatures line. The first wave consisted of three colored factions of red, yellow, and black, representing Fire, Electricity, and Stone, respectively. This new lineup comprises orange, brown, and blue as creatures of Undersea, Monsters, and Air (or at least, that’s my best guess as to what their themes are). At any rate, they’re just as ferociously adorable as ever. While they’re all lovable, my favorite has to be Jawg, because it reminds me of Harry Potter’s growling Monster Book of Monsters. I also love the helmets used as eye-sockets on Slumbo.
(Click for bigger images)
While this pirate model by Dylan Mievis (sparkytron) is top-notch all around, it’s the face and beard that really sell it. There are good parts usages, and then there are ones that are crazy and perfect, and using the large constraction fig head from Chima’s Laval for a pirate face is absolutely in the brilliant category. 
Huge warships made of brick are always cool, and this 1:37 scale WWII Flower Class Corvette by John V is no exception. The authentic naval camouflage is something I’ve not seen previously on a large LEGO warship, and it looks fantastic.
Sometimes simple is better. This microscale model of Mass Effect’s SR-2 Normandy spaceship by Sydag doesn’t use many parts, but it captures the source brilliantly and is instantly recognizable.
Micah B.’s (Arkov) beastly villain is a fantastic creature. Titled the Mortal-Foe, it’s a great example of how good posing and careful parts usage can make a model come alive. There aren’t many more parts on display here than in the typical Bionicle/Hero-Factory set, and yet Micah’s fey being displays a great deal more personality and life (and death) than most official sets.
It’s been a year or two since I last saw a LEGO version of the Seattle Space Needle, but Erwin te Kortschot’s is worth the wait. Erwin’s version is edged with clean lines, and the disk at the top is about as smoothly pretty as LEGO can make.
Adam Dodge traverses the intersection of awesome LEGO model and useful real-world object with this pair of Doctor Who-inspired bookends. I suspect many a Whovian will be drooling over Adam’s excellent creation.
