Posts by Theo Spencer

This enormous Wild West diorama will bring out your inner cowboy

LEGO’s Western theme may have only lasted a couple of years, but the sets available in that short span could build you a pretty comprehensive Wild West. In the spirit of that, Evan Crouch has collaborated with fellow builders Matt Hudson and Donnie Greenfield to bring us this huge diorama! It’s all there, laid out down one main street in typical spaghetti-western style (among some stunning landscape, I might add). There’s a bank, a sheriff’s office, a Native American camp, settlers, a train station – pretty much the only thing missing is Fort Legoredo itself!

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Ring Station: does what it says on the tin

This LEGO space station from OA KD is giving off some very 2001: A Space Odyssey vibes, don’t you think? It’s a delightful mix of greebles in a ring that gives this station its name. At first glance it looks like there are LEDs used to light it up, but that’s actually down to the clever lighting. The light just out of shot is reflecting off the transparent bricks in the station (and in the trails of the nearest spaceship), passing very convincingly for a nearby star. I think it’s this that gives it that Kubrick sci-fi flavour. That and the masterful construction, of course!

Have you seen this whale’s baleen?

Whenever a LEGO set hits the shelves with new parts or recolours, you can be sure that Thomas Jenkins will make short work of them! The idea behind this whale was to show off the black Technic panels in last year’s Porsche Formula E car. These parts have of course been great for Technic builders, but they pop up almost as often in creature creations like this one. Thomas hasn’t contented himself with making great use of these pieces though. Take a look at the mouth (or baleen, to be specific). This is a cloth piece from 75113 Rey. Two awesome parts uses in one awesome build? Now that’s just showing off!

A churning river of LEGO influences

Do you know what I love? LEGO builds with a real atmosphere. Builds a bit like Markus Ronge‘s here, in fact. There’s loads of action and dynamism conveyed through the bricks. The trans-clear rods used for streaks of rain combine with the curved slopes of the churning river to make it very clear we’re in the middle of a big old rainstorm. Possibly in a city like Paris in the early 20th century, if I had to guess. Stylistically it reminds me of a combination of anime and Franco-Belgian bande dessinee comics, framed in a very Wes Anderson way. The rat riding out of the sewers even reminds of Ratatouille a bit. There’s something for everyone here!

Do you feel the need for teal?

Every now and then, a LEGO cyberpunk build will pop up that is invariably linked to the New Hashima Brickworld collaboration. And judging by how often they pop up, it’s going to be a massive collaboration. There’s no danger of it lacking colour though – not when Simon Liu is armed with his collection of teal bricks! It’s a neat futuristic take on the humble construction crane, even if it is built with tongue placed slightly in cheek. This is a build for something called MARCHtember. Simon’s description has the low-down on the ‘rules’, but I’m particularly drawn in by this one: “it needs to have teal as a significant colour in the build“. Now that’s a LEGO month I can get behind.

Travel through space and time with this diorama of Uzbekistan

The LEGO fan community spans the whole globe, and I love traveling vicariously through builds like this one from the well-traveled Lasse Vestergård. This creation allows us to travel to Uzbekistan – admittedly not a place that was high on my destination hit list. But isn’t it beautiful? It depicts the historic city of Bukhara. The blue decorations of the Mir-i-Arab madrasah make use of a lot of flower pieces, depicting the well-preserved paintwork of the real building. And if you thought there were a lot of flowers here, try and work out how many 1×2 plates and 1×1 studs are used in the Kalyan Minaret next to it! My guess is, er, a lot. It’s a tried-and-tested method of making round towers, but the considerable height makes it look like brickwork here, to great effect.

Don’t STAP me now!

When it comes to making LEGO Star Wars builds, one of my favourite things to make is the smaller, one-man craft. Partly because it’s less parts-intensive (and therefore usually cheaper!), but also because of the challenge. Making an accurate model while retaining a modicum of structural integrity is not always easy. And on top of that, they need to fit a minifigure pilot! Or a battle droid, in this case. This is where parts like the wands from Harry Potter sets come in handy. Once I picked up a couple of those and the candle-stick pieces to form the cannons of these Single Trooper Aerial Platforms (STAPs), the rest of the build flowed quickly from there. It’s funny how one or two pieces can dictate the entirety of a build, even small ones.

Upgrade-o to the ‘Bago

When the future eventually gets here, I have to imagine the car modding community will go nuts. They already do mad match-ups with cars and engines that have no business being in the same package. Unfortunately, the future isn’t here yet, but that hasn’t stopped LEGO builder Isaac Wilder from adding some crazy machinery to the humble Winnebago. No way this thing is holding up traffic on the highway with that massive rocket on the back. It’s an authentic upgrade as well, rather than being a completely new build. We featured the original caravan nearly two years ago!

Wall-E and friends have never looked cuter in LEGO

For a creature with relatively few humanoid features, Wall-E is a wonderfully expressive character. The same can be true for his robotic co-stars though, such as EVE and M-O. Lego_nuts has a talent for creating expressive characters, so perhaps it’s no surprise that they’ve treated us to the trio in LEGO form! The three are perfectly crafted, from the protagonist’s more angular, mechanical shapes to EVE’s curvaceous form. The wonder in Wall-E’s eyes at his new green friend is palpable!

The brick-built background is also impressive – an extra detail I always love to see. They’ve done something similar with the scrap heap at Wall-E’s feet in this imitation of the original movie poster. Along with some judicious lighting and editing, this looks absolutely gorgeous!

Lose yourself in this immersive brick-built workshop

Hasn’t everyone wished for a workshop like Victor van den Berg‘s at some point? I know I have. Unfortunately I still live in a one-bedroom apartment that is becoming rapidly overrun with interlocking plastic bricks. So for now, I’ll have to live vicariously through Victor’s absorbing build. The lighting is super atmospheric, and gives off a vibe of countless quiet evenings spent working on little projects here and there.

Check out all the amazing details in this immersive workshop scene

You have no clutch power here, Gandalf the Dark-bluish Grey

The Lord of the Rings seems to be making a comeback lately, and I’m all for it. Among other things, it means we get awesome tributes like this one from Marcin Otreba. Like all good builds, I find it quite thought-provoking. The thought in question is – isn’t it odd that Gandalf is most famously represented in his grey garb? He doesn’t even spend a whole movie’s worth in that outfit. (Yes, I know, The Hobbit, but over a decade separates that trilogy from The Lord of the Rings movies.) Even as Gandalf the White, he still gets called Mithrandir – which means “the Grey Pilgrim” in Sindarin. I know being called the White Wizard might be awkward after Saruman did, you know, all that evil stuff. But come on, Gandalf had to slay a whole Balrog to get there!

Marcin isn’t the only one to have been paying a visit to Middle Earth lately – plenty of others have joined this little fellowship of “>LOTR LEGO builders.

You wanna pizza me, huh?!

I’ll level with you, dear reader: I saw this build by Ivan Martynov and I had no idea what to make of it. It looks like a pizza chef’s fever dream. Which, as it turns out, is not far from the truth! It’s apparently inspired by a newly-popular video game called Pizza Tower. I can’t comment on whether Ivan’s build is accurate, but it sure is a tour de force in clever parts usage. Chain links are doubled up for the pizza crust. White lifebelts make up the apron straps. And a couple of eggs are used for the eyes. This is the best one if you ask me – a real eye-popper!