Japanese mecha builder Moko has been charming the world with his LEGO creations for more than a decade, but this latest character takes a darker turn. Moko’s “Hell Warrior” is an evil cyborg that uses mostly black Bionicle and Hero Factory (or “Constraction”) pieces, accentuated by an undead, half-hidden face built from several Krana masks. The overall effect is truly diabolical.
日本語を読める方はどうぞモコさんのブログを読んでください。
It should come as a surprise to no one that I am an expert bassist. And by expert I mean I can play that one riff from “7 Nation Army”. Over and over again. For like nine hours at a time if you request it, and I sincerely hope that you do someday. An array of cool petals would only make the experience that much sweeter because variety is the spice of life, after all. As enriching as that would be for all of us, despite my best intentions, I don’t think I could look as cool as Zinnia Superfuzz while doing it. She’s a new creation by Eero Okkonen and everything from her stance to her rocking flower power clothing and awesome yellow bass says she’s going to take expert to a whole new level that would put me to shame, I’m sure.
Still, if you care to be dazzled, I am also fairly proficient at that one intro riff from “Smoke on the Water.” Just putting that out there.
One great thing about Paddy Bricksplitter’s LEGO creations is that they always have a lot of character. Take Hobson, here, for example. Described as a faithful robotic butler to the idle rich, you still get the feeling that maybe this servant is a little disdainful of the beverage choices being made. Or maybe it’s just Hobson’s choice. Regardless of any pompous attitude, Hobson is all class, though. Check out the gold chain, pneumatic T cufflinks, and bucket handles as both eyebrows and shoe accents. Hobson’s outfit is also stylishly constructed, creatively using parts like the 4x4x16 tapered curve, Hero Factory armor, and vehicle tires.
The city of Minas Tirith in the realm of Gondor is one of the most iconic locations from Tolkien’s beloved The Lord of the Rings books, and was brought to life perfectly in the film adaptations. Builder Nicola Bozzolan has crafted the capital stronghold in LEGO, and it looks amazing. Using over 7,000 pieces, Nicola spent more than 60 hours making the White Tower nestle just perfectly among the mountains, with its seven-tiered system of defensive walls.
Spreading out on the Pelennor Fields, the curved city is rendered excellently in microscale. High at the top of the central spire of rock is the palace of the kings of Gondor. The emblematic white tree of Gondor is in the central courtyard, with its ancient sweeping branches represented by a LEGO feather.
Abandoned factories seem to divide people into two camps: those who for some reason find them beautiful, and those who think such structures should be demolished as quickly as possible. Such locations attract all sorts of people, from graffiti artists to homeless people and edgy teenagers looking for adventure. Dutch LEGO builder and photographer Niek Geurts probably isn’t homeless, and I doubt he is an edgy teenager. Judging by his photography website, he seems to be inspired by abandoned industrial architecture, and his recent LEGO recreation of an abandoned factory is filled with all the functional details one would expect in a factory.
The scene has just about everything you could ask for. There is a little guard house, a railroad access, all sorts of hoses and air vents on the roof and other must-haves for any factory, abandoned or not. There are a few characteristics of abandoned buildings as well; broken windows, graffiti (wonderfully brick-built examples here!), cracked pavement and uncontrollable vegetation sprouting everywhere, including a bit of moss on the roof. The two bikes on the left side of the diorama are either stolen and discarded or the property of whoever is filming clickbait YouTube videos inside…
Builder Angka has shared a quartet of LEGO Ferrari models with all the style of their real-world counterparts. Just take in the lovely lines achieved in these 8-stud-wide builds. The combination of cheese slopes and curved slopes convey a real sense of aerodynamic shaping. Though structurally similar, each build has unique design elements that are worth looking for. It’s left as an exercise for the reader to spot them all…but I’d be remiss if I didn’t explicitly call out that amazing rubber band usage as window trim.
Ferrari 328 GTS Nero
Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet
Ferrari 348 TS
Ferrari 328 GTS
If you’d like to try building these models for yourself, Angka has provided an exploded view of the GTS to get you started. The design really takes advantage of modular sectioning; hopefully it will inspire others to make their own modifications to these already awesome cars. Of course, if you’d rather go “stock” you might consider LEGO Speed Champions 75890 Ferrari F40 Competizione…
If this hellish looking monster built by Marcin Otreba reminds you of the fire demon who faced off against everyone’s favorite wizard Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, that would be for good reason. Featured in the video game Middle Earth: Shadow of War, Tar Goroth is one of the minions of darkness in Middle Earth. Unlike its better-known cousin, this Balrog has to walk. Maybe that explains why he looks so mad.
The use of several transparent orange elements peeking out between the cracks in its ebony skin makes this monstrosity instantly recognizable, along with those downward-pointing horns. Also, it strikes me as very fitting that so many of these 1×4 wing with pin hole elements from the official Lord of the Rings theme were used throughout the model.
I’m not a watch guy. I mean, I have a watch, and I wear it every day, everywhere I go. It is even an analog watch, not one of those new-age digital ones (and don’t get me started on smart watches!). But I don’t go in for fancy watches. If I did, I would probably daydream about a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. I don’t make enough money to even begin to think about daydreaming about buying one, however. One of these timepieces new starts at over $12,000 (depending on your metal of choice), though Paul Newman’s 1968 Daytona sold a few years back for a record $17.8 million. Builder ZetoVince (George Panteleon) has solved the problem of price by building a Rolex Daytona out of LEGO bricks instead of buying it. And what a watch! The scale is deceptive, but this is a massive build; the face of the watch is almost 7 inches across (or 17 cm). With this on your wrist, you are sure to impress your colleagues.
The yellow and light bluish grey do a good job of filling in for yellow gold and Oystersteel, one of the colorways of the Daytona (this one starts at just under $17,000, in case you were curious). The Technic gear rack, with its teeth and assorted pin holes, looks fairly comparable to the numbers and little hash marks around the outer rim of the real watch. Second only to the gear rack in inspired parts usage is the yellow flipper at the 12:00 mark that mimics the golden crown of the Rolex logo. The only thing that could have improved the watch is a black face, rather than just black dials; or else grey dials (okay, I confess, I have been doing some Rolex shopping while writing this article. Maybe I am a watch guy…). But what sets this build apart from any other is that box. Who has a giant watch box sitting around? Or perhaps it was built just for this LEGO creation, which is some serious dedication. Either way, it is time (get it?) to go buy a watch.
LEGO Castle is a building style dominated, perhaps understandably, by LEGO castles. It’s good to see the less militaristic side of medieval life depicted in the bricks — particularly when it’s as well done as this Manor House and farm scene by Peter Ilmrud. The main building is excellent — stone walls evoked with lots of texture, a nicely-built thatched roof, and the typical “Mock Tudor” woodwork enlivened with sand green window frames. The surrounding farm is wonderfully detailed with a field of corn, a carrot and pumpkin patch, a paddock for the horses, and a filthy-looking pig sty.
A lower-angle image gives a nice close-up view of some of the finer details, including the attention paid to the different types of paving and path, the tiled roof of the outbuilding, and those wonderful crops…
Some things from Star Wars have been built so often in LEGO form that my eyes start to glaze over as I look at them. X-wing fighters, for example, or TIE fighters. It takes something extraordinary about them now to merit a mention (I did recently write up an AT-ST and a Y-wing, other examples of frequently-built vehicles, so it does happen!). Other things, most often scenes, have hardly been built at all. Detention Block AA23 of the first Death Star, including the trash compactor, has certainly been built before, but this version by markus19840420 is the best I have seen. The immersive nature of the shots, with a cinematic feel, is perfect for the scene.
Click to see where they are taking this..thing
Sometimes you got to take a break from cracking rib cages and crushing skulls to stop and marvel at the beautiful miracle of life. That is the scene that Eero Okkonen has presented us today with a piece he calls “Munburr, the proud father”. With armor still on and the left side of his face covered in what might be blood or warpaint, this murderous dwarven beserker takes pride in the tender little life he had helped bring into this world. While a proud papa, Munburr, like many new dads, appears rather perplexed at the bundle of joy in his gauntlet covered arms. His expression seems to say, “If you can’t kill it and you can’t eat it, then what the heck can you do with it?” They’ll figure it out over time as the baby will likely grow up to be a murderous dwarven beserker just like his dad and they’ll go off on dwarven beserker adventures together, the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon and all that. Isn’t the Circle of Life grand?
1984’s BattleTech brought the mech designs of Japanese anime crashing into Western table-top gaming. Two years later, MechWarrior expanded the universe into a wider role-playing game. These two games were responsible for introducing a whole generation to the glorious concept of giant mechanical walkers shooting at one another. Kale Frost has put together a cracking LEGO version of the Timber Wolf mech — the series’ signature design. The details are spot-on with the upper body slewing to the left on spindly legs whilst missiles burst into the air from the shoulder-mounted pods. All systems nominal.
