Artisan Bricks brings back fond memories of happy times when nobody cared about graphic cards in their game consoles and the joy of wining was so sweet and simple. This very neat copy of a pocket Tetris game is a very simple built, but I really love the colourful shapes built with 1×1 plates, which look exactly like those back in 90’s.
This stunning scale copy of Mercedes-Benz Actros 4163 by YU KEE LIU is a very smart mixture of System and Technic parts. It’s no secret, brick-built cockpits are much heavier than those built with light Technic panels. Despite the weight of the body, this truck is fully remotely controlled and even features a number of motorised mechanisms attached to the trailer.
This weekend Seattle Center Exhibition Hall will be swarming with some of the best LEGO builders from all four corners of the globe as BrickCon 2017 welcomes guests for its 16th time!
CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS for the public exhibition, if you haven’t That way you won’t have to stay in line as long when you get there. And when you’re done enjoying all the creations and have blown your wad at the vendor stalls, remember that the Seattle Center is at your disposal for fun and frolicking.
The public exhibition runs from 10-4 Saturday, 10-3 Sunday. BrickCon is the home convention of the Brothers Brick, so most of us will there for the festivities (we’re the dweebs in the green shirts!). Will the lemur be there too? Who can say ;-)
There are dozens of reasons to love both old and modern LEGO City sets, but still not all adult fans are happy with huge molded pieces that aircraft models are built of. Jussi Koskinen presents a very elegant alternative to bulky fuselages. No surprise it took him about three months to finish this brilliant ATR 72-500, which features a very smartly designed body.
Skilfully designed and executed interior holds 28 passengers, 2 pilots and even a flight attendant — enough room for all your City travellers!
LEGOLIZE IT MAN enters this year’s SHIPtember building challenge with a stunning spacecraft promoting one of the world’s famous home furniture producers. It’s hard to say whether the assembling process was as hard and exhausting as it is of a some Swedish kitchen table, but at least there are no spare screws lying around.
Red, who is at his best creating characters with uncommon Bionicle and Hero Factory pieces, presents a very charismatic figure of a space smuggler. Large insectile eyes and a pair of antennae is all you need to create a very vivid image of an anthropomorphic fly. One moment you put it in some bright armour and give it a gun, the next it is already smuggling goods!
If your haven’t travelled to Italy this Summer, Luca Di Lazzaro is bringing a piece of Italy to you. This stunning diorama is full of Mediterranean sun thanks to a brilliant choice of colours — tan, dark orange, reddish brown, and some touches of dark green and sand green. However, the unique irregular shaping of this tiny street is what makes the build look totally Italian. No wonder why that tourist minifigure looks so lost and delighted!
It doesn’t matter how unique and powerful your weapon is, you armour must always shine bright. And there is no colour brighter than gold. Japanese builder Moko continues experimenting with LEGO pieces of chrome colours. Just like the last time, he skilfully decorates his new mech with shiny chrome-gold rings — along with a ton of chrome-gold tiles. What is especially remarkable is brilliant implication of old chrome pieces like Sun Disks and Dragon Heads.
An extremely neat piece of Hong Kong by Vincent Lai is actually much more sophisticated than it may seem at the first glance. Three different architectural styles — the “legged” version that stands on the pavement; cantilevered one at the corner; and the typical set-back type with smaller windows — represent the evolution of the city throughout the second half of the last century. Moreover, the diorama tells several stories of ordinary citizens. For instance, an old lady picks up unwanted paper boxes and cartons in exchange of little money, while one of thousands of light trucks, buzzing around the city, is parking outside for loading. And, of course, bonus points are for the retro road sign piece, which is out of production for 20 years already.
According to their most recent press release, the LEGO Group’s revenue for the first half of 2017 is 5 percent down compared with the same period in 2016. Other key figures like operating profit as well as net profit are down too — 6 and 3 percent respectively. The board of management blames increased costs associated with investments in production capacity and organisational capabilities for causing mixed performance across various market regions. For instance, revenue has declined in the United States and in parts of Europe. On a brighter note, in growing markets such as China, revenue grew by double digits.
Commenting on the financial report, LEGO Group Chairman Jørgen Vig Knudstorp claimed that the company has already taken steps to change the situation for the better. The Group aims to bring the LEGO building experience to more children all over the world, and for this purpose the management is looking forward to resetting the company and revising and restructuring various internal processes.
Pressing the reset button includes some decisive moves which pursue a goal of simplifying the company’s elaborate global structure built during the past five years. “This means we will build a smaller and less complex organisation than we have today” said Knudstorp. As a result, the LEGO Group believes it would need to cut its total global workforce by around eight percent. This would impact about 1,400 positions. Currently the LEGO Group employs about 18,200 people.
One of the key goals of resetting the business is the development of innovative new toys. Knudstorp explains “We will find more opportunities to engage with kids and parents, including innovative ways to blend physical building and digital experiences, such as our successful LEGO Life social platform and LEGO Boost building and coding set”.
The full press release can be found on the LEGO Newsroom page.
The possibility of mimicking literally any material or texture with plastic LEGO bricks never ceases to amaze me. This extremely appetising chocolate cake by Kai NRG/Geneva features just a handful of curved slopes in reddish brown colour and is fairly simple, but the decorations are a little confectionery masterpiece. Elegantly shaped elephant tail/trunk pieces, which the sweet cream on top of the cake is made of, look almost edible.
According to a popular “scientific” theory mentioned by Mark Russell, the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage. So why travel heavily laden with suitcases when all you need is the second set of underwear and an interstellar road map? Inthert has built a lovely compact spacecraft — what a perfect pod for carefree travellers!
Bonus shot comes directly from the maintenance bay. Under the outer cover of the ship hides a couple of small neat ion engines:
