These book-ends by Bart De Dobbelaer would make the perfect ends for any sci-fi book collection. In fact, Bart has me thinking that book-ends might be a fun new format to try building.
Bart has done his usual great jobs on these. The technical bits on the bottom have just the right amount of details to look interesting and clean at the same time. The contrast with the brightly colored organic tentacle shapes adds motion as visual interest for a scene that keeps me looking.
Justin Pratt (legotanks) makes excellent little delivery trucks as well as tanks. At BrickCon last year, I gave him a couple of engraved “The Brothers Brick” bricks on condition that he build us a delivery van. Justin recently finished it, and posted it online last night (after displaying it at Emerald City Comicon this weekend).
That’s “me” behind the wheel, but you may see someone I’m hauling along behind. Per his request, my co-founder Josh is along for the ride in a little red wagon.
Justin’s truck joins what’s turning out to be our delivery fleet, led by the truck Nathan Proudlove brought to BrickCon 2009 (where we successfully fought off a zombie horde).
Of course your first thought would be, “A Bug’s Life,” but beyond that, this little creature by Riccardo Zangelmi is a beautifully delicate creation. It is elegant in its minmal use of elements. I can imagine a series of vignettes based on the adventures of Tom the Ant. I wonder if it’s inspired by Tom Sawyer?
Now here’s a gorgeous bit of medieval architecture by Paul Vermeesch. Paul says this lovely seaside monastery was inspired by his deft modding of Bombur’s hair into a tonsure. The white and medium-dark flesh tones of the building give a wonderfully refreshing feeling that’s different than the gritty, disheveled look so many castle builders aim for, and the stone-work on the cliff is a mastery of the technique. Paul even took a shot of his concept sketch for the diorama, showing us a bit of his thought-process.
As though making a very nice looking cutaway street scene with an underground Metro (subway for our US readers) train wasn’t enough, serial genius Esben Kolind has gone several better. His Metro train and station uses NXT, technic and a load of smarts to feature sliding doors which open when the train hits the station. But wait there’s more. Not content with just having the train doors open, the station doors open at the same time, preventing minifig suicide, and impressing the pants off onlookers. And to lift (excuse the pun) his game, Esben also adds a working elevator.
Lasse and Anne Mette Vestergård displayed their Ancient Greek Lego layout at LEGO World in Copenhagen last month. This diorama is not only impressive for its size but also the architectural details of the Greek buildings that are seldom depicted in Lego. Check out more detail shots on Lasse’s Flickr.
76007 Malibu Mansion Attack is the largest of the current round of sets for the upcoming Iron Man 3 movie, which releases May 3rd. Since this set is based on a movie that’s not out yet, this review may contain mild spoilers for the film. The set consists of a piece of Tony Stark’s seaside palace, and the Mandarin’s attack helicopter. With only 364 pieces and a US price of $39.99, I suspect we’ll see a larger set down the road.
The box art matches the other Marvel Super Heroes sets we’ve already seen, including last year’s Avengers sets, this time simply using the Iron Man 3 logo. Inside are 3 numbered bags, a large and a small instruction booklet, a sticker sheet, and an Iron Man 3 mini-comic in LEGO style. The first numbered baggie and small instruction book builds the Mandarin’s helicopter, as well as Mandarin and his accomplice. The helicopter is a pretty fantastic build, and I enjoyed it a lot more than most of the LEGO helicopters of similar size I’ve built. For several years now, LEGO has been getting increasingly more bold with their use of studs-out building, which is a terrific thing. This helicopter is a great example, being pretty much 
ringed-about with slopes pointing out. Of course, no set is complete without flick-fire missiles, and this heli should be able to take on even Iron Man, since it’s equipped with four. I did find it odd that both of the black lightsabre handles in the rotors point the same fixed direction, so that when they’re spun, one is always pointed “backwards.” Both minifigs here are pretty cool. The Mandarin has dark green robes with olive pants. Oddly, he has a double-sided face with two mouth expressions, but neither are visible underneath the bushy black beard. The accomplice has a glow in the dark head, and one side has blood vessels prominently outlined. I’m not sure exactly what’s that’s supposed to represent, but I have no doubt it will be clear once I’ve seen the movie.
Bag two isn’t terribly interesting on its own. It builds a piece of the mansion, as well as Tony Stark, Iron Man, Pepper Potts, and that robot. Now, if you’re wondering why there’s both a Tony Stark and an Iron Man, since they’re ostensibly one and the same, well, I think there are two answers. First, Tony’s mansion needs to include a non-suited-up Stark, but you also can’t have an Iron Man set without Iron Man. And secondly, according to the box art and the comic, that’s not Tony Stark in the Iron Man suit, that’s Pepper Potts. She’s apparently piloting the suit in that scene from the trailer where Mandarin blows Stark’s place sky-high. The suit also includes a plain-white head for use in it’s “off” mode, so you can have all your other 
minifigs complete to play with too. Also, it’s worth noting that this is a different Iron Man minifig than has been in any of the previous sets. This is presumably the upgraded armor, with a lot more gold, including pearly gold hands.
Bag three of course merely finishes out the mansion. The mansion is really quite nice. The designers have done a great job of capturing the look of the mansion without needing to get terribly large. The mansion includes a 
little kitchen area, and then some techy-goodness for Tony Stark to dabble with. There’s a little flinger bit, but I can’t figure out exactly what it’s suppose to do. I guess it’s just part of the mansion falling to pieces as Mandarin blows holes in it. Then there’s a window that pops out, which works quite nicely. And finally there’s a turn-table with cool displays on it for Stark to stand on and pretend he’s Tom Cruise in Minority Report. Sadly, all the displays are stickers, which I didn’t apply. In fact, the only printed pieces in the entire set are minifigs. I didn’t notice any new parts, and the only piece that was new to me was the 6×6 round plate, though Bricklink shows that’s been in a few other sets already. I’ve included a shot of the inventory pages, for those who are curious.
Overall, I think this is a very nice set. 
The part selection is a good mix between larger structural elements and small bits, and the five minifigs are a big draw. The helicopter is cool, and the mansion looks nice, and incorporates a lot of playability. The one thing I’d have liked is perhaps a little more of a roof to the mansion, or maybe a very small piece of cliff underneath it, to give the building more context. This is a good set for the price.
Nate Decastro seems to have a way with speeders. I just spotted this most recent creation on Flickr. I love the baby blue with the dark gray mechanical bits, and the touch of tan on the upholstery. As it turns out, there are quite a few other interesting speeders in his photostream.
Scott Peterson’s (aka scott34567) skills are now complete with these incredibly detailed, screen accurate Star Wars Lightsabers.
Each Lightsaber is 1:1.
Continue to his photo set and see his wide selection of lightsabers, some brick built and some CAD, but all expertly designed.
There are some structures you’d think just wouldn’t translate well into LEGO, and Superman’s frigid Fortress of Solitude, with its towering icicles seems like it’s one of those things. But then a talented individual, in this case Chris Melby, comes along and builds a jaw-dropping version in LEGO. This cathedral of ice is simply gorgeous. I particularly love that Chris laid it out in the shape of the iconic Superman diamond.
Alice isn’t the only SEALUG member bringing something epic to Emerald City Comicon this weekend in Seattle. David Frank (Frasland) is part of a big group of local builders collaborating on a large-scale Hobbiton. David’s section includes a field and two tiers of Hobbit holes.
I can’t wait to see this come together tomorrow! (And we’ll make sure someone takes great pictures to feature here later.)
Joe Klang (-derjoe-) has been busy building a city. Here’s a shot. It’s no secret I like realistic street scenes, so it’s no surprise I love this shot.
Patrick Bosman is building a city too:
