The Construct-o-Mech is one of the most iconic parts of The LEGO Movie and LEGO 7 just took that idea to the next level. The color scheme is perfect and the stickers add lots of detail. The articulation is great, using small ball joints for most of the build. And with the slick frame and wheels it also looks quite mobile too.
LEGO’s natural predisposition towards bricks and its otherwise blocky nature means that most builders have to work to subvert the norm to create more natural shapes. But sometimes the best path is to embrace its bulky nature and create blocky builds where appropriate. This tan mech by legoricola is a shining example and pulls off so much.
I actually didn’t believe this was a true LEGO mech that could fit a minifigure but I was proven wrong. The fact that this build is such a small scale but looks so large and armoured is a true feat indeed.
For more than five decades, the Sikorsky Sea King has been one of great workhorses of the helicopter world. After returning from the Moon, Neal Armstrong, ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins were plucked from the ocean by a Sea King. US Presidents are routinely flown to and from the White House aboard ‘Marine One’, which is usually a Sea King fitted with a VIP interior.
Originally, however, the Sea King was intended as a submarine hunter and the excellent 1/40 scale model built by Maksymilian Majchrzak ( [MAKS] ) represents one of these, as used by the US Navy aboard aircraft carriers in the seventies and eighties. From the sponsons to the five bladed rotors, it’s as close to real thing as you can get using LEGO parts and it looks about perfect from every angle.
The Balrog is a difficult creature to create with LEGO as it’s a being of fire, smoke and shadow. And none of those elements lend themselves to the perfectly engineered plastic brick. Luckily Aaron Newman was up to the task and has created not only an impressive rendition of the Balrog, but a striking LEGO creature in its own right.
While I almost always suggest checking out the builder’s photostream for more angles, it’s even more important here so you can see more of the beast. We previously featured another Balrog, and while it did do the fire and flames better than this one, it’s visually more noisey and complex.
A praying mantis may not be the first choice when it comes to creating robots and mechs out of LEGO, but when the result is this good, it really should be. Created by Mitsuru Nikaido, this build is elegant in its ability to look both mechanical and natural at the same time. A sign of a very talented builder with a great idea.
We recently blogged some great builds from Mitsuru, which you should check out if you haven’t already:
The height of Devonian-futurism
Don’t let this mecha dragonfly bug you
It’s hard to believe that dogs like pugs are descended from wolves, but DNA doesn’t lie. I love my little domesticated canines, but I deeply admire the wild ones that keep ecosystems healthy. legostrator follows up on his excellent LEGO elephants with this lonely wolf looking pensive in the moonlight. The wolf with its mix of LEGO colors and textures accurately captures the look of a wolf’s fur, but be sure to take a closer look at the excellent winter landscaping and denuded tree as well.
“All the specialized parts have taken the creativity out of LEGO building…” If you know someone who regularly trots out this sort of baloney then just show them this model. In one of the finest pieces of creative parts usage I’ve seen all year, this microscale Golden Gate Bridge by liqsr uses hot dog sausages as suspension cables. That’s right, hot dog sausages — possibly the single most “specialized” part LEGO has ever produced. I’m now trying to come up with more sausage-related puns, but none of them quite cut the mustard. Just look at the bridge and be amazed instead…
This dragon model by Eero Okkomen has made me question how a LEGO creation can have so much personality. It proves an image can tell a story without an accompanying explanation — you don’t need to be told, you just know to fear and respect the summoned serpent.
I’ve always thought the Ninjago Morro Dragon set is a mine for amazing pieces, but I would have never in a thousand years have used the wings like this — awesome. And that face — so much expression with so few pieces. The smoke coming from the nostrils is just brilliant, and so are the electric moustaches. Overall, this model is an art piece, and I wouldn’t mind displaying it in my living room, like an ukiyo-e style sculpture.
Kelvin Low says he raided his son’s Duplo collection to find parts for his latest mech. I suggest he continues this sourcing strategy if it’s going to deliver results like this. Duplo truck door panels and a pair of rowboats provide this powered suit with distinctive armor-plating — creating both a sense of heft and a peculiar cuteness. It’s not often we see the different lines of the LEGO family combined with such effectiveness. Beyond the imaginative parts usage, there are also nicely-built functional-looking greebly bits in the legs, and I’m enjoying the glimpses of internal machinery through the curved gaps in the outer shell. Great stuff.
You’d imagine a LEGO gym model would be stuffed full of minifigs in exercise poses. Not so this scene from Mrbones Bricks — the place is completely empty except for the lonely janitor. The gym’s interior is nicely built — don’t miss the hanging punchbag, the lockers, and the electrical conduit and fuseboxes on the wall. However, it’s the composition of the photo which turns this into a striking image. The expanse of empty floor awaiting the janitor’s attention creates a real sense of emptiness and quiet.
As I wrote in introducing ArzLan’s LEGO Petra, I spent the summer of 1994 on an archaeological dig in Jordan, and visited Petra for one memorable weekend. Both Petra and Jordan as a whole remain one of the highlights of my life. Letranger Absurde has built a lovely microscale version of Al-Khazneh, the “Treasury” (actually an empty tomb), that greets each visitor to Petra as they emerge from the winding gorge called the Siq.
My one critique of this excellent LEGO model is that the sandstone geology of Petra is nearly as spectacular as the many structures carved into the rock face. Although building a detailed tomb using varying shades of tan and red might not have been achievable, plain brown LEGO for the surrounding rocks seems like a lost opportunity.
Al-Khazneh is, of course best known as the entrance to the fictional, trap-filled obstacle course leading to the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The facade is the most spectacular thing about the tomb — the interior is just an empty square chamber, though the acoustics are great for singing.
I suppose derjoe has just created another public space like a museum, library or cafe. But this is the first time that I’ve seen public toilets used as the theme for a LEGO ‘playset’. The builder has cleverly captured some of the common findings in a male public toilet block, such as urinals (and some pee ewwww), wash basin, toilet brushes, toilet rolls, and cisterns complete with their seats left up!
The playset is hinged and opens out to allow the paper towel dispenser and waste bin to be revealed. Thankfully the stalls all have their door closed in this view and the brown frog is not visible, although I find the fact that the toilet paper is placed the wrong way much more upsetting.
Overall, a quirky, fun build and I really like the colour scheme used, although it does not reflect the average public toilet here here in the UK. Also, for us females, a long queue of minifigures patiently waiting while the male toilets are empty would seem about right.