For some reason this reminds me of Pickle Rick from Rick and Morty, but I’ve gotta hand it to Kevin H. for a great usage of one large LEGO part that stands out. The yellow kayak now transformed into a mad banana going postal for some unknown reasons. I’d like to think bananas tend to have their rotten days as well. Perhaps a slip of the mind, or maybe it’s just not very a-peeling to think about not being able to live to a ripe old age.
Chinese New Year is fast upon us, and this year’s celebrated zodiac animal is the rat. What if another rodent got in on the game, though? Last week’s proposal was the Year of the Guinea Pig. This week, CK Ho suggests the Year of the Hamster. Specifically, this adorable duo represents characters from the hit children’s manga and TV show, Hamtaro. The little red pouches they’re holding likely represent the red packets given out to children during the holiday. That and the kumquat trees are especially festive.
I’ve never watched the show but enjoy the sculpting of each character. Sausages used as eyebrows allow them to clearly emote, with one looking happy while the other seems a bit nervous. What’s there to worry about when both of you have packets?
For more LEGO Chinese New Year fun, be sure to check out our reviews of the Chinese New Year Temple Fair and Lion Dance sets.
Ahoy there! The Peregrinus Shipyard is looking for boat builders to assemble seafaring vessels. Chief among these builders is Gabriel Thomson, the maker of this fantastic creation.
The shipyard is built on one thing: detail. From the roof design to the water depth, everything about the Peregrinus Shipyard is extremely eye-pleasing. I’m especially impressed by the brickwork in the walls of the drydocks. Click to see more of the shipyards
Most adult builders looked at the little goblin figures from LEGO’s Elves theme with some distaste. I suspect this was due to the bright colors and limited elements that make them up. I know I felt that way. They are difficult to fit into a build, even a fantasy one, because they are too cartoonish to be taken seriously. Given the right setting, though, perhaps they could be useful. Take, for instance, this build by John Snyder. Bright colors, like lime green grass and a purple wagon roof, tie the goblins and their garish hues into the overall build. The layout itself is unique, with large brick-built tomes bookending the multi-level scene. Plus, as always with a Snyder build, there are play functions. The small dwarf-elf (or dwelf, as the cover implies) is in trouble, about to fall through a trapdoor into the subterranean lair of the goblins. Could anything be worse than being captured by those almost-useless rainbow-colored creatures?
Have your co-workers or classmates been goofing off or gone on vacation too long and you’re ready to play some pranks on them when they return? How about replacing all their desk tools with LEGO versions, like these nifty replicas by Chungpo Cheng? With a glue stick, hole punch, and pen, Chungpo has all the things a teacher or accountant could want (don’t ask what an accountant uses a glue stick for).
And in case that’s not enough, try out these scissors, eraser, pencil sharpener, and retractable box cutter. Although each build is simple technically, they all look the part perfectly. There are even pencil shavings in the sharpener box!
When talented stars collide, masterpieces arise. I hate to be so cliche, but it is what it is. This artwork is the result of a collaborative effort between Grant Davis, Eli Willsea, and Micah Biedeman. It was the product of hanging out in Grant’s home last year, 3 weeks worth of cumulative effort, and somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 LEGO bricks (who’s got time to count when you’re oozing with inspiration and art?). Both Grant and Eli should need no introduction, as neither are new to the world of making large scale builds and focusing on a single aspect of wonder. In 2018, they walked away with The Brothers Brick Creation of the Year award, and now they’re back with another stunning creation.
If you like LEGO and chunky transforming robots, there is definitely more to these first-responders by Sam.C (S2 Toys Studios) than meets the eye. (See what I did there?) Both Autobots feature angled faces and anime-inspired helmet details that look like they transformed right out of a comic book, or 1980s-something Saturday morning cartoon.
Aside from the amazing pose-ability and blocky limbs, my favorite hard-to-spot part is the light gray 1×1 round plate with ball joint (most commonly found in yellow as the hands of the brick-built LEGO System figures) used here for the perfect connection in many of the bots’ joints.
Some LEGO builds look like they are made from tiny studded pieces of plastic. That’s appropriate, because that is what they are. However, some builds are done so sleekly that nary a stud is showing, save for representation of a specific detail. These builds cause the viewer to do a double take, and this author has been known to utter a muffled “holy bleep, that’s LEGO” from time to time when seeing them. This truck by Dennis Bosman is one such build. It’s a refrigerated Volvo F12 truck, branded for the Stie’s Termo Transport company from Norway. It is way too big for minifigs (it’s 1:13 scale, as opposed to roughly 1:25-1:42 for minifigs, depending on the relevant dimensions), and scaling it that way allowed Bosman to include mind-boggling details. The cab lifts open to reveal a fully equipped engine, the cab is plushly furnished, the trailers are studded both inside and out, and even the refrigeration units on the trailers have motors inside them.
Click to see this truck in greater detail
Chinese New Year is little more than a week away and, according to the Chinese zodiac, we are entering the Year of the Rat. When it comes to heavenly rodents, Ian Hoy has another cute critter in mind. Of course, I’m talking about the guinea pig! This little guy is beautifully sculpted with angled and curved slopes to capture the adorable chunkiness of domestic itty-bitty piggies. The facial expression is priceless. As for that bit of yellow in his hands, if you thought it might be a morsel of cheese, you would be sadly mistaken. It’s actually yuanbao, a gold ingot that was used as a form of currency in China from the Qin Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty. I wouldn’t mind dropping a few yuanbao myself if it meant this little fellow could join the colorful cast of zodiac animals.
Useful or not, some folks have a special talent, a gift, if you will, that is unique to them. Maybe they were even born with it and don’t know of their uncanny abilities until it happens. Some folks can wiggle their ears, some have really bendy thumbs. My talent; I write sensitive poetry about the man from Nantucket. I should recite some for you sometime. Okay Yaramanoglu built this stylized Admiral Akbar and his talent is to alert anyone within earshot that something is a trap. Whether it be a mousetrap, bear trap, or in this case, a deadly game of cat and mouse sprung by a ruling Empire against a Rebel Alliance, Admiral Ackbar is the gravelly voice of authority. Identifying traps probably earned him the admiral position. In every case so far, however, he’s been quite adept at identifying traps after they have sprung, not before. Some foreknowledge could prove helpful in many cases, Admiral.
If you ever have problems sleeping, perhaps instead of counting sheep, maybe, build sheep? Well, if nothing else works, maybe you can give it a go? You can thank Tiago Catarino for providing the pieces needed and video instructions to go along and guide you into a mundane repetitive task. You may want to grab a few extra eye elements or pick some other fancy ones for variety and fun. Let us know what count you got to before dozing off. Meh! Meh!
Video with pieces required and step by step guide here:
https://youtu.be/M9D33ijFWA4
Before the internet was blessed with our Lord and Savior Baby Yoda, we were something of a cat worshiping culture. And though we’ve perhaps mostly moved on, there are still adherents to the old ways out there, paying tribute to the former deities of the web, like this Tiger by Herbert Lee (Tigers are the best kind of cats too). I’ve always thought that tiger paws looked big and blocky, and now I get to see them made out of plastic blocks. The use of black horn/tail pieces used here is impressive, both in obvious places, like the tigers claws, and less obvious, like the stripes transversing the white and orange pieces that sculpt the body. Two other impressive details are the minifigure hands as eyes and tooth plates to form an unmistakable cat snout. It makes me believe those pieces were designed for this model.
