If you were at BrickCon this year, you probably saw this colorful creation by Adam Dodge. Adam’s LEGO rainbow island features a collection of monochromatic landscapes, buildings, and minifigs that would impress Roy G. Biv himself. The chunks of bright colors and smooth transitions in this creation are very artistic. And the overall effect is super dynamic. Be sure to zoom in and check out all the details of Adam’s build including one minifig that is up to no good.
I do love a good bike with a classic look, and the late-50s/early 60s BMW R60 is a fine example. This LEGO version by Taiwanese builder Maxime Cheng shows off all the great lines of this old-school German bike. My favorite details are the twin bicycle seats, though Maxime’s done a fantastic job with the detail work on the engine also.
And I love this image of the work-in-progress model next to its reference image.
LEGO is a good medium for recreating board games, and over the years we’ve covered brick-built versions of everything from Clue, to Settlers of Catan, and everything in between. Not to mention a plethora of LEGO chess sets, both historical and themed. Now jtheels has recreated one of my personal favorites, Othello. Not only is the LEGO version completely playable and accurate in every detail, the builder has even used it to recreate the original game’s box art!
The artistic builder who goes by Why not? presents an untitled work depicting a painter creating his own world of tranquility amidst a menacing cityscape. Is this a stark vision of the future or a grim reminder of the past? Either way the message is strong!
We’ve grown used to seeing precarious cottages and luxurious modern architecture from talented Portuguese builder César Soares, but a large-scale spaceship was not something I expected to see in his photostream — even during SHIPtember. César has built a near-future interstellar colonization ship full of believable details — all pulled together with a great schematic that points them out.
See more photos of this great LEGO spaceship
This SHIPtember Avari-class carrier by Pierre E Fieschi is incredible. Without resorting to a wacky shape or an extreme color palette, Pierre has managed to create a stunningly detailed and realistic-looking sci-fi vessel. It’s got an awesome military green paint job, an open hangar bay, and a cargo bay filled with futuristic semi-truck containers. However, some of our readers may be horrified to learn that this build features a large amount of Mega Bloks and 3D printed parts.
Now before you start flipping tables, just hear me out. Some of these Mega Blok pieces are downright snazzy! The wedge tiles, in particular, contribute to this ship’s clean lines and dynamic design. While I’m not suggesting everyone run out and buy Mega Blok, I do think some healthy competition between name brands can’t hurt.
We’ve seen a ton of brick-built board games over the years, including an earlier LEGO Hnefatafl board, but we are nowhere near getting tired of these LEGO-fied games. At first glance, Simon Pickard‘s version of Viking chess doesn’t even look like it is made out of LEGO. The pieces are stylish and practical-looking and the board itself is quite ingenious, using both studs-on-top and studs-not-on-top (aka SNOT) techniques to create a smooth, gridded playing surface. I imagine many board game connoisseurs would be proud to have this creation sitting on their gaming table.
This LEGO Jurassic Park tour car by Seattle area builders Taylor Walker and Brandon Walker is instantly recognizable, thanks in part to its brick-built paint job (minus the Jurassic Park graphics). Their detailed model of the modified ’92 Ford Explorer XLT was first constructed digitally, and it’s great to see their digital model finally come to life with real bricks.
It’s that time of year again, when MaKtoberfest brings a parade of LEGO creations inspired by the distinctive near-future aesthetic of Maschinen Krieger sci-fi. The curved organic style of MaK is difficult to pull off in bricks, but this biped walker by Pico van Grootveld properly hits the mark.
This has all the requisite curves and awkward angles for a good MaK creation, and I love the little touches like the stickered plates at ankle and thigh. But what makes the model for me is the addition of the smiley face — exactly what you’d imagine the walker’s pilot adding in a moment of bleak humour. The presentation is excellent too, depicting this creation as a scale model kit (a format which provides much of the inspiration for MaK builders).
LEGO builder Andrew JN, whose excellent death of Obi-Wan Kenobi we featured a year ago, brings us this great rendition of one of the most tense scenes in all of Star Wars: the chilling first meeting of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Andrew says he worked hard to balance the lighting, so that the model captures the dark, foreboding aura of the scene, while still highlighting his fantastic work with the bricks. The great design of the carbon-freezing chamber is worth noting, built with unevenly stacked plates to form a semicircle.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the best Batman games. While the Batmobile didn’t have a starring role in Arkham Knight, it did have a fantastic version of the famous car. Paying homage and giving us the best LEGO recreation of it so far is Eric Druon.
One thing to be noted here is the scale here. This model is (by my count) fourteen studs wide. While it may not seem to big from that metric alone, the Batmobile from 76045: Kryptonite Interception is twelve studs at its widest.
It’s a talent to build a good LEGO model of a character so that it looks like its source, but it’s even harder to imbue chunks of hard plastic with cuteness and personality. LEGO builder delayice has given these Stitch and Pikachu sculptures an extra helping of adorableness, though. Can’t you just feel Stitch’s lovable but mischievous mind working behind that grin?
