Posts by Theo Spencer

Neo-Classic Space is so old-hat

Classic Space has had a well-established revival among AFOLs in the form of Neo-Classic Space. Recently though, another vintage LEGO space theme has been having its own revival – Ice Planet 2002. Dale Harris has come up with an excellent idea for the story behind this resurrection! Rather than referring to it as Ice Planet 2022 (too obvious), he has coined the term Ice Planet Badlands. It’s described as a ‘post-apocalyptic Ice Planet’, which sounds frankly awesome. This Surefoot TR3 rover is part of this proposed future, with the classic blue, white and neon orange colours paired with some more utilitarian rusty metal. Perhaps the intrepid minifigure explorers got stranded on the Ice Planet, and have had to use their increasingly out-dated vehicles to try and find a way home. I cannot wait to see more!

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You don’t need a massive base to fight the Empire

It can be hard to capture the majesty of some of the larger Star Wars locations at a scale that matches LEGO’s own sets. We have seen a few variations on the Masasi temple on Yavin IV at minifigure scale, but they all only feature a small section of the enormous rebel base. Anders Horvath has found the solution: downsize! This tiny temple appears to have been scaled around an X-wing polybag. In fact, make that several X-wing polybags! The benefit of microscale is that creating a rebel fleet is much less parts-intensive. The temple detail doesn’t suffer at this small scale though. There’s still plenty of texture in the ruins, as well as the paraphernalia that comes with running a rag-tag organization of misfits in the fight against evil.

I’m no botanist, but I know a pretty build when I see one

He might be better known as a Star Wars builder, but I’ve really been enjoying Amado Canlas Pinlac‘s floral builds of late. The quality is super consistent and super high – they’ve even been exhibited at the LEGO House in Billund! The latest addition to the garden is this Amazon Exotic Flora. I’ve no idea if this is an accurate representation of the real thing, or if it is even a real plant at all! All I know is, it’s beautiful, and I would love one on my mantelpiece…

A crusade to distant worlds

While knights in armour might often be associated with big grey castles, they did venture much further east in the (often ill-fated) crusades. Andreas Lenander has applied this scenario to LEGO’s own Black Falcon knights. Despite the sun and those hot-looking outfits, they look quite content to be living here! To be fair, it’s much more colourful than their typical monochrome abodes. This style of architecture does require some different techniques than you might expect in typical castles. I’m drawn to the domed roofs on the two larger buildings, each made using half a planet — specifically, I believe it’s Endor and Bespin. Talk about an out-of-this-world idea!

Much like snowflakes, no two LEGO coral reefs are the same

Of all the excellent vignettes that the LEGO community pumps out (and there are loads – just look through our archives), my favourite setting has to be the seafloor, particularly coral reefs. Just as it allows sealife to flourish, the bright colours and quasi-alien lifeforms give builders a chance to flex their creative muscles. Case in point: Tom de Kesel‘s latest effort. Although the treasure-hunting submersible is undoubtedly the protagonist, the eye is inevitably drawn to the colourful coral. With carrots, bananas and cherries in there, it almost looks more like a fruit salad! I’ll highlight the Speed Champions hubcap used as a propellor on the sub as well. Given these pieces only have one viable connection point I’m always impressed when I see clever uses for them!

Even reptiles are cute when they’re asking for belly rubs

Occasionally we come across builds on this site that gives us audible reactions, such as a gasp or going ‘wow’. Every now and then though that reaction will be an ‘awww’, as is the case with this adorable gecko by Jesse Åhlgren. Its organic shape makes great use of Bionicle and Hero Factory parts, such as the Rahkshi back covers for the belly.

Reptiles do give me the creeps a bit but there’s just something about geckos that makes them really cute. Perhaps it’s their almost comically-oversized toe pads, recreated here with ball joints. For this build I think it’s the tongue sticking out though. It’s a simple addition – just one part – but it gives this little lizard oodles of character. And if you’re not convinced that geckos are cute, then just look at this last picture of it asking for a tickle!

“You wouldn’t steal a car...” (so just build one instead)

With car builds, I’m always most impressed when a builder can use their LEGO bricks to recreate the most immediately recognisable cars. For instance, take this BMW E36 Coupe by Fuku Saku. He has perfectly captured the iconic front grille that adorned such Bimmers in the 90s. The overall shape has been neatly captured as well, with subtly angled headlights to reflect the real thing’s curves. I’m not sure the front splitter and the massive rear wing were stock though, even on the M3. This has clearly been modified… But by whoM?

It’s none other than a Jack Stone figure! In fact this one is a bank robber, and E36s aren’t cheap these days, so perhaps this motor is an ill-gotten gain. These figures were featured in Juniors and Jack Stone sets in the early noughties. These are some of the earliest LEGO figures I had, incidentally. It’s fairly unusual to see them used in fan creations, so it’s nice to see a whole car scaled (and, judging by the red paintwork, styled) around one!

A hop, skip and spring-loaded jump

The expansion of Caleb Flutur‘s LEGO steampunk insect menagerie continues apace. This time, he has cooked us up a cracking grasshopper. This might be my favourite of his mechanical bugs so far! The gold highlights look great, without being too overbearing; ditto for the reddish-brown ‘wooden’ parts. The black sausages are a fine – if fragile – solution for the antennae. The elements that jump out to me, though, are the shock absorber and spring elements used for the hind legs. It’s such a good fit, yet somehow it doesn’t seem like an obvious choice of a part. It makes it look like this thing really could spring up at you!

Putting the art into arthropod

You may have recently noticed a dramatic increase in the number of crab creations in the LEGO community. Rising with this increase has been the use of the pun ‘feeling crabby’ – which, to be fair, is a good one. Heck, we’ve even used it twice (yes, twice) on this very website, and those weren’t even written by resident pun-meister Lino. DanielBrickSon has rather forced our pincered hand into using it a third time. In our defense, how else would you describe this piece of artwork? It’s named the Hana Crabba, and I can’t tell if that face is camouflaged to ward off predators or if this is some sort of ancient crustacean deity. Either way, it doesn’t look best pleased to have been turned into a beautiful piece of brick artwork. How ungrateful!

General Ko-nobi! You are a bold one.

Dan Ko has been bold enough to create a bust of everyone’s favourite rheumatic cyborg. Much like Darth Maul, General Grievous is one of those villains that just oozes evil but was perhaps under-used on the big screen. Nevertheless, Dan has perfectly captured the essence of Grievous. The combination of the reptilian eyes with those wedge slopes is so perfect! The lightsabers that he famously collects (General Grievous, that is, not Dan) around the base are also a nice touch. Even villains need a hobby, I suppose. I guess it’s more exciting than collecting stamps.

An ambush that will bring the house down

This creation from SpaceBrick looks like it’s about to fall apart. And I mean that in the best possible sense! It’s a snapshot of a delightfully ramshackle mediaeval inn. The variation of pieces in the walls gives it a nicely weathered look, and both the roof and the bridge have some great uneven layering of tiles and plates. Note the hammers used as big stone bricks in that bridge as well! Speaking of notes – SpaceBrick says this is an “ambush in a mediaeval town”. I’m not sure if it’s the knight or the bard who is about to be ambushed. I think I know who my money’s on in a lute versus sword fight…

Thank you, Ma’am. For everything.

The United Kingdom was rocked on Thursday by the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, after a remarkable 70-year reign. Figures from across the globe have paid tribute to her, from President Macron to Paddington Bear (to whom the title of this post is attributed). The LEGO community is also paying its respects. Possibly the most poignant homage we’ve seen is this one from Pistash. It shows one of the many elegant hats Her Majesty was famed for wearing. It isn’t the most elaborate build in and of itself, but as Paddington’s words show, sometimes the simplest tributes are the most fitting.

Rest in peace, Your Majesty.