Castle is an evergreen theme: always there, always lovely, always relevant. This beautiful castle gate caught my eye with its bright colors and clean build. The highlight of this build from Milan Skeiz are the minifigures (including the archers), which have custom crocheted coats! He’s made quite an elegant attempt at a boat build; I would have never guessed he’d never built a LEGO boat before. His take on the sail and mast is unique; I’d love to see one in real life like that!
The good folks of KC Bricklab have come a long way since they started the Kansas City-based LEGO club five years ago. Their most recent exploit is an incredible journey through the half live-action, half-animated feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The 1988 Robert Zemeckis film is filled with hairy escapades, quick humor, and more than a bit of weirdness, and at 8 by 16 feet, KC Bricklab’s display brings it all to life.
The display was a collaborative effort by 19 members of KC Bricklab, and contains the zany mainstreet of Toontown, the huge Acme factory warehouse, and a bit of psychedelic forest among other scenes.
KC Bricklab began planning the build in December of 2016, and had it completed in time for display at Chicago’s Brickworld LEGO convention in June. Although the club meets monthly, most of the planning was done virtually, and the finished display for the convention was the first time the builders got to see the full layout assembled.
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Perennial TBB favorite Moko has given us a great blessing: Greek god Zeus in BIONICLE. Somehow I suspect the real Zeus would be jealous as this model is more fabulous than he is. There are a lot of things to comment on here, so let’s dive in.
The shields are perfectly sized and shaped to give Zeus the buff body that everyone, human or otherwise, seems to favor. The use of the gold mask as the shoulder gives great shaping – and check out those biceps! Appropriately, he is haloed by blades, adding to his intimidating stance. I particularly love his hair. That’s not a color you see often, if at all, and it makes this model stand out.
Newlywed LEGO fans have been putting LEGO toppers on their wedding cakes for ages, but to date these have been either minifigs or miniland scale figures. But now Ben Fong has switched things up with this adorable BrickHeadz style bride and groom. The builder does not mention who’s nuptials these were built for, but they also come with a matching brick-built jewelry box complete with miniature LEGO engagement ring. I particularly like the groom’s slightly comical expression, and the use of those increasingly ubiquitous balloon pieces for the bride’s veil.
Mecha are a very popular subject among LEGO builders, but even after all these years, there are still very unique ones that pop up every now and then, most often due to new exotic pieces being released. Such is the case with this sleek racing mecha called the Running Flamingo, built by Bob DeQuatre, utilizing the relatively new balloon building pieces as armour plating.
The build is an interesting balance of elegance and bulk, which the builder weaves into a cohesive whole. All the technical details are so realistic (as far as science fiction goes) that I can almost hear the pistons sliding and gears turning.
When I visited, I never got to see the top half of the Golden Gate Bridge due to the ever-present San Francisco fog. But now I feel like I don’t need to because Zio Chao has created an excellent “photograph” of the beautiful bridge. The builder uses forced perspective to his advantage to create a striking 2D image that really looks three dimensional. And let’s not overlook the little sailboat in the corner, which only adds to the effect as it sails into the bay.
What really makes the illusion work is that only one of the supports on each gate is connected, while the other one just floats a bit further back. This gives the effect that the road is actually going through the supports and not across them.
Following up his creation of a decaying wall, Jonathan Svenning brings us a medieval sawmill in a beautiful natural setting. The style is quite different from the previous build, with the fewer textures and a larger piece of scenery, and there is a lot to look at throughout the build. The main building utilizes many colours to mix into a realistic weathered texture.
What sells it for me though, is the landscaping. Jonathan has used a unique technique of angled plates for meandering water, as well as some interesting solutions for trees, particularly the sand green ones in front of the buildings.
If you find that the boot of your car (or trunk, for those across the pond) is not quite big enough to transport your LEGO collection, then this heavy hauler should do the trick. André Pinto has built a LEGO Peterbuilt 352 110 Cabover in its original paint scheme of blue and white with just enough glinting chrome to catch the eye of those truck admirers out there.
André’s model might not use much fuel, but the cab can tip just like the real vehicle to show off the chassis and lots more chrome, especially those exhaust pipes.
Each LEGO builder has their own niche within the hobby, and TBB’s own Elspeth De Montes has found hers in an affinity for LEGO colors. She’s taken up collecting certain elements in as many colors as she can find, and she’s designed this lovely little garden, cleverly incorporating a few varieties of them more organic-looking elements in their full spectrums. Some, like the ferns, have only appeared in three shades so far, while others, like the 1×1 flowers come in a great number.
Brick Brickolson has created a beautiful monstrosity in “Captain Bashface”, a mutant Mr. Potato Head pirate look-alike. The asymetry in this build is superb, with no two limbs matching with the main body itself being lopsided. While all the eyes, tentacles, and robot arms are great, my favourite part is that simple but effective belt buckle and the belt build itself. It draws the eye to that wonderful, grotesque mouth.
It’s always exciting to see a great builder branch off into new themes. ZCerberus, best known for his giant fantasy castles, is making a new and impressive name for himself in the expanding world of Neo-Classic Space (NCS) with a number of creations we blogged earlier this year including his NCS fighter, dropship and rover. This time he’s recreated the classic 1979 LEGO Gaxlaxy Explorer, but with a very new and updated look.
This new and improved version stays faithful to the basic look of the original Galaxy Explorer, but packs in all kinds of fun details and design elements. The supersized engines and extra weaponry look great, while the blue/light-gray/trans-yellow color scheme is just as appealing as it was nearly 40 years ago. No doubt, this is a Galaxy Explorer for the 21st Century and beyond.
The phrase “go big or go home” fits Benjamin Cheh Ming Hann‘s mech build perfectly. It ain’t worth building if it’s not impressive. His advanced Mecha Soldat JE06 Jebat stands nearly 2 feet tall and weighs over 3 pounds …that’s a BIG mech! Jebat is named after a legendary warrior from Benjamin’s hometown of Malacca, Malaysia, where he grew up. This impressive mech contains over 3,000 parts, and took Benjamin nearly 5 months to build it, revealing his masterful creation at Japan Brickfest.
