Posts by Theo Spencer

Bobbo the Babbler built from bricks

One of the challenges of moving to Finland for me has been picking up the language – I am finding it rather difficult to get my head around it. One of the suggestions that has been put to me is to watch children’s TV shows, and after seeing this build by Mikael Montelius (Gonkius), I may have found one to do just that! This adorable character is called Bobbo, and is one of six characters in the educational show Babblarna (‘the Babblers’). It’s originally a Swedish show, but does apparently have versions in Finnish, as well as English, German and Norwegian. Bobbo here is a high-energy character with an occasionally fiery temper. He also likes to dance, and Mikael has captured him mid-boogie! The red windscreen pieces are the perfect choice to capture his circular shape, and the half-circle tile used for his tooth, along with the eye tiles, gives him oodles of character.

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Smooth seas don’t make good builders

I’m sure we’d all like to have LEGO collections full of pristine bricks. The reality though is that they are not infallible, and sometimes we’ll come across a broken LEGO element and think it is good for no more than the trash. But as Josh (Sergeant Chipmunk) demonstrates with this underwater scene, broken bits of LEGO do still have a use! In this case, a selection of flex tubes that have seen better days are used to represent a broken mast in a sunken ship. The rest of the scene is equally is good – the shaping of the ship’s hull is great, and the rockwork poking through the bow makes it clear it has been beneath the waves for a long time. Those waves, incidentally, are made up of tiles and clips that allow for a wavy shape that, while fragile, gives a good impression of a sea in gentle motion.

The oldest trick in the book: a distraction

There’s a lot to love about this medieval build from Lego Fjotten. Purely speaking in LEGO terms, the two trees are wonderfully shaped, while the real eye-catcher must be the road and bridge. It uses the ‘Mjolnir’ sledgehammer piece, painstakingly lined up for a brick road look. It might have been a slightly tedious process, but the effect is well worth it! What really elevates this build, however, is the story it tells. A trio of Black Falcon knights have stopped to enjoy a sing-along with some buskers, and it looks like they’re having a whale of a time! But these buskers may well be in league with the two ruffians on the other bank – who are using this distraction to pilfer the Falcons’ gold and stash it under the bridge. I love how the story develops as you move left to right through the build!

“Careful with my ship, Wrecker...”

Continuing his line of midi-scale LEGO Star Wars ships, FlyInSpace has built an Omicron-class attack shuttle. Specifically, it’s the Havoc Marauder – the flagship and mobile base of Clone Force 99, the Bad Batch, which LEGO also released as an official set, 75314 Bad Batch Attack Shuttle. There is nothing Bad about this fan-built model though! A singular wedge element is used upside down for the angular cockpit, and it’s the perfect piece for it. There’s some great texturing in the wings and body of the ship as well, with ski poles, ingots and roller skates used to give some added detail at this small scale. The edges of the solar panel wings are very well done with clips and bars (albeit with some fragile-looking connections). Perhaps that’s why Wrecker needs to be so careful with it!

Parading a parachute in the park

Sometimes, all it takes is one LEGO element to spark an entire creation into life. Ted Andes provides us with a brilliant example of this, with a charming scene of a walk in the park that was borne of a desire to use the orange parachute in a creation. Said parachute finds a new purpose as the dog-walker’s dress, but that is not where the clever parts use stops! Dark red wing pieces are used for her hair, and a slew of minifigure whips are used as a very convincing low fence. Also of note is the butterfly, which is made of, er, a butterfly piece – albeit one intended for use on minifigures. Ted certainly manages to make using such unusual pieces look like a walk in the park!

From the desert comes an awesome build

The Book of Boba Fett gave us plenty of memorable moments, especially when it tied in with other Star Wars properties. The event that generated the most buzz was almost certainly Cad Bane making his long-awaited live-action debut, an event which has been immortalized in LEGO by Steven Howard. The shaping is great and every little detail has been captured, from the bandolier and wrist pads to Bane’s menacing red eyes. His perfectly poised fingers are represented by saucepans, albeit in a colour that only exists in the digital realm. Despite its digital format, the creation still manages to look dynamic – look at how his overcoat billows in the gentle Tatooine breeze!

What ne’er-do-wells will we find down this dark alley?

I’d love to know the secrets of this alleyway scene by Geneva Durand. The setting itself looks very moody – a dark alley on a rainy day, with only a solitary lantern for light. And then there are the characters… We can only see the back of one, suggesting we’re eavesdropping on this particular conversation. The other does look quite pleased with himself though. What could be in that envelope? Is he delivering good news that they don’t want prying eyes to see? Or is it something more nefarious – an ultimatum, or a ransom payment? There’s real tension in the air thanks to the excellent photo composition, but let’s not take away from the equally excellent model!

The stone walls are made of tiles inset using brackets, each attached to a hinge plate. This means each ‘brick’ can have its own subtle angle, emulating the haphazard look these old walls often have. The cobbled street, made using round tiles, only serves to accentuate this. The hinge plates on the timber buttresses are functional first and foremost, but also serve a decorative purpose in an area that could otherwise look fairly uninteresting. Geneva has provided an interesting behind-the-scenes shot showing just how the alleyway comes together.

Han Solo himself would be proud of this gorgeous landspeeder

While Solo: A Star Wars Story may not have been a roaring success as far as Star Wars movies go, it did give us some interesting new ship designs and, by extension, some pretty decent LEGO sets. Han Solo’s M-68 Landspeeder was one of them, and Sebastian Arts (Aliencat!) has seen fit to upscale it and give the smuggler’s ride the Ultimate Collector Series treatment, with exquisite levels of detail!

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Artillery for the not-so-Grand Army of the Republic

The problem with having a Grand Army of the Republic is that you need somewhere equally grand to store it. Even a TX-130 Sabre Tank would probably not fit in your average Joe or Josephine’s garage. Tim Goddard has the solution: make them tiny! Tim is a pro when it comes to small-scale Star Wars building, and those skills are evident here. Efficient parts choice is everything when it comes to microscale to ensure the builds remain recognisable. The minifigure socket wrenches are inspired choices for the side cannons, and the subtle angle of the pontoons is also accurate to the source material. The angular cockpit is represented by a single sloped brick with a jumper plate. These might be simple parts, but they are the perfect solution in this scenario!

A Super Smash hit of a build

When it comes to large-scale LEGO character builds, few do it better than Eero Okkonen. This time he has outdone even himself with this scene taken from Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game, which he says is his biggest scene build so far. The terrain and background are excellent, and very well shaped, but naturally, the stars of the show are Palutena and Wario. Palutena’s dynamic pose looks excellent in Eero’s signature style, with perfectly lifelike features. The gold trimmings look great, fashioned out of a smorgasbord of pieces that includes wings, wheel rims, and a saxophone.

With that said, I think Wario is the real highlight of the build and frankly would have been worthy of a feature on his own! He is wonderfully expressive, his angular facial features perfectly captured and set against his – *ahem* – rotund figure. The exaggerated pointed finger is faithful to his “Down Tilt” move, although it can be replaced with the more conventional white-gloved hand. I can almost hear his distinctive Wa-Ho in the distance…

Check out more of Eero’s collection of colourful characters here!

Music to the ears and eyes

I don’t know about you, but if someone said the phrase “the Muse of Song” to me, I would have assumed they were talking about a pseudo-prog-rock band from England. Kitkat1414, who is clearly much more learned than me, has instead taken inspiration from this phrase of Greek literature to create a stunner of a build entitled “the Sweet Sound of Blossom”. The sculpting here is terrific (particularly the piano – look at the pedals!), but it’s the use of colour that stands out to me. Building solid blocks of white is a bold choice as it can be difficult to pick out details, but the green and blue hues of the surrounding foliage give enough contrast to the build without being too overbearing. What does draw the eye are the muse’s dark red hair and her dress made from teal (which as we all know, is the best LEGO colour). These serve to pull the viewer into Euterpe herself, while the focus is gradually drawn away by the creeping vines and plants. In fact, the whole composition of this piece just hits all the right notes! (I’m here all week, try the fish…)

The fastest pizza delivery driver in the West

Don’t you hate it when you order a delicious takeaway pizza, but it takes way longer to arrive than it said it would? I doubt you’d have this problem with Versteinert‘s pizza delivery hot rod! This is his latest entry into the Rogue Olympics, where builders are limited to creations with 101 LEGO bricks. As you’d expect, with such a limitation on part numbers, you have to get creative with your part choice. The main body of this breadvan-style vehicle is a DOTS bag tag, the engine features (among other things) ingot and lipstick elements, and a saxophone doubles as a side exhaust. Talk about tuning your engine!

(I’ll get my coat…)