About Alexander

Alexander Alekseev is an active member of the Russian LUG since 2007. Linguist by education, he believes that LEGO pieces are the most effective mean of self-expression and communication between people.

Posts by Alexander

LEGO Ninjago 70602 Jay’s Elemental Dragon [Review]

This spring the sky is the battlefield between good and evil. Skybound, the theme of the new Ninjago sets, brings the action high above the ground. Our team has already reviewed Zeppelin Raid, Misfortune’s Keep and Tiger Widow Island, which introduced our readers to all the evil characters. Now it’s time to take a look at what good ninjas have to respond with. 70602 Jay’s Elemental Dragon is a medium-sized set of 350 pieces, which includes 2 minifigures and a monkey, and its retail price of $29.99 seems appropriate.

Pieces are distributed between 3 bags: the first one contains parts for the flyer and the body of the dragon, the second bag allows building of the dragon’s head, while the third one contains the largest parts which form a pair of wings and a tail. Surprisingly enough, the instructions are provided in two rather thin booklets, though one medium-sized book would be more convenient to use and to store. Last but not least is a sticker sheet with 14 stickers on it.

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LEGO Creator App brings stop-motion studio to your mobile device [News]

Creator App

After the Creator Islands mobile game released back in Fall 2014, here comes a new themed app — the Creator App. This time it’s not just a game, but a number of digital activities for kids. The app features a monthly building contest (the current one is about racing accesories), a number of videos with building secrets and ideas, and a stop-motion studio, which allows the creation of simple videos up to 75 frames (~20 seconds) in length. Assuming the interface is extremely simple and freindly, the app might become the first stop-motion animation experience for many children.

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The LEGO Creator App is availiable for both iOS and Android.

The art of masking out a good building solution

LEGO Bionicle pieces are among the most hard-to-use parts, but it doesn’t mean they’re useless. They usually end up as table scraps after another huge project, so you definitely need a fresh look to find an application for them — just like Dead Frog inc. did. Bionicle masks are a vast range of pieces available in dozens of colors, and thanks to their curvy shapes they fit amazingly well as armoured parts of mechs.

Meanwhile Olga Rodionova takes advantage of the complex coloring of mask pieces to give a pair of Protector Masks of Ice a second life as incredibly beautiful insect wings. This is the best illustration of the idea that the more useless the piece seems to be, the more amazing it looks when used properly.

The new Ferrari SF16-H is alluring like never before

Ferrari produces some of the best sports cars in the world. And Noah_L builds some of the best LEGO scale models of Ferrari cars. The latest SF16-H, which is actually a Formula 1 car built for the 2016-2017 season, looks amazingly good and is loaded with clever building techniques. What I find the most satisfying is the balance between tiled areas and rare exposed studs. These studs, being hard to cover up, give the vehicle a nice retro look, as if it was one of the legendary Model Team sets from the ’90s.

If you’re new to Noah’s collection of cars, I’d strongly recommend you check his Flickr stream and take a look at the huge progress he has made. Can you believe that only 3 years ago his cars looked like this? That’s what happens when your skills align with your passion.

German National Football Team Collectible Minifigures officially revealed [News]

In the run-up to the 2016 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) European Championship, which is to be held in France this Summer, LEGO has officially revealed the new series of collectible minifigures: the German national football team.

Among 16 LEGO minifigures are the head coach Joachim Löw and the goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. The whole list is the following:

Manuel Neuer (1)
Shkodran Mustafi (2)
Mesut Özil (3)
Benedikt Höwedes (4)
Mats Hummels (5)
Sami Khedira (6)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (7)
André Schürrle (9)
Thomas Müller (13)
Jérôme Boateng (17)
Toni Kroos (18)
Mario Götze (19)
Christoph Kramer (20)
Marco Reus (21)
Max Kruse (23)
Joachim Löw (Trainer)

The series will be available beginning May 14 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland only, for the retail price of 2.99 Euro.

[Via Zusammengebaut.]

Every speeder looks better in Classic Space style

Don’t know how to give your new speeder a cool and trendy look? Grab some light grey, blue and yellow pieces because everything looks better in Classic Space style. Billyburg proves this simple axiom once more with a top-class makeover of the legendary Star Wars X-31 Landspeeder. This model is awesome in many ways, but I especially love to see the curved windscreen piece, which has already become an inevitable part of this particular vehicle.

Modular boats: The new word in shipbuilding

When building vessels with LEGO, you either go big or stick to regular boat hull parts. But this time FiliusRucilo presents something brand new — a modular ship.

Behind this simple exterior hides a three-part structure plus a detachable deckhouse. This concept, introduced in modular buildings, provides huge opportunities for customization of each part. In the description, the builder suggests removing the middle part to fit the ship into small dioramas. In the same way the ship can be extended to become a long barge.

The austere beauty of pure geometry

Although LEGO bricks and plates are regular symmetrical figures, rarely do we come across creations based on perfect geometry. Hanging Gardens by Letranger Absurde is a modest architectural masterpiece built around harmony and symmetry. Because of the fact that the model was photographed at 45 degrees angle and all the surfaces are carefully tiled, it looks totally like a level from the Monument Valley video game. Bonus points are for falling water: the building technique is brilliant, especially the use of Mixels tooth bricks as water foam.

When one world is not enough, you just need an escape route

Sometimes life can become routine and monotonous, giving no rest or calm. But Angelo_S. reminds us that when everything around is dull and cold and gray, there’s always an escape.

This work is a beautiful metaphor combining two opposed worlds in one shot. A skillfully executed microscale vignette seen through the gateway looks twice as alluring due to the forced perspective effect.

Weather forecast for tonight: dark

A snow-white plain background is taken by many builders as an essential part of presentation. However, Ryan McBryde uses artistic light to create the dismal mood of a dark night hour for his weather station tower.

Coupled with a good perspective, such a lightning scheme makes this fairly straightforward model look especially impressive. Of course, the sand green bricks and rocky tower base have no small share in creating the menacing atmosphere in this picture. Moreover, we have no idea what is inside the tower, so perhaps we’ll wait until dawn before revealing all the secrets of this creepy place…

Yamaha Tachikoma tank is music to my ears

French builder F@bz doesn’t remain aloof from the current month-long Tachikoma theme and delivers an exceptional mech model to the party.

Futuristic and a little bit weird, this Tachikoma tank’s got a lot of noteworthy building and design solutions. I’m speaking not only about mind-blowing use of motorcycle fairing pieces as leg armor (by the way, these parts appeared only in a couple of Junior sets in 2004-2006), but also about a Yamaha logo on the side of the tank. Not only does it look unusual and realistic, but also immediately gives the model an intriguing background story: Imagine a future where a global manufacturer of musical instruments and marine engines becomes a leading mech brand. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

Incom YB-81 bomber is armed to the teeth

.Tromas is particularly talented at designing compact minifig-scale starships. He’s back again with an awesome model of YB-81 bomber. Its main weapon might not look to impressive, but don’t be fooled. In fact, this small craft is packed with all kinds of gun barrels and bombs. There are dual laser cannons, a bomb bay, a modular concussion missile pod… you name it.

The bomber’s rear also deserves your appreciation. Those nozzles and the spot-on use of irregular pieces here and there make this starfighter into a lovely model.