At LEGO World in Utrecht last autumn, Ruben Ras presented a large Doctor Who diorama titled “Daleks in the Bricktorian Era.” Ruben recently posted close-up pictures of some of the sections, including this excellent scrapyard with an enormous steam engine. The blue TARDIS and engine dominate the scene, but there are lots of great details, like the wooden details on the stone platform, the small crane, and the bird atop the tower.
While many hardcore builders like me cringe when we have to wade through atrociously cute photos of stormtroopers in unlikely situations while trying to get our LEGO fix on Flickr, there are photographers who take what is essentially LEGO product photography — just minifigs or out-of-the-box sets — to a whole new level. Vesa Lehtimäki has been posting stunning photos of LEGO Star Wars figs and sets for a few years, and has even released a book, LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy published by DK.
One of my favorite scenes from the book features an off-screen moment in which Boba Fett delivers a carbonite-encased Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt. With just a few minifigs and stellar lighting, Vesa brings the scene to life.
…but we all know Dave won’t stop. RichardBoard conquered us with just a single picture of his recent build recreating the scene of probably the most tense confrontation between a human and artificial intelligence, from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Although this vignette is much smaller than the original spaceship from the movie, Richard did an amazing job lighting it, making all the small transparent plates look awesome. HAL 9000’s red eye being blurred in the background gives the whole shot a truly cinematic look. But Dave’s spacesuit is the only thing that looks a little bit odd; that’s due to a tiny Classic Space logo on his forearm, which, in fact, is an amazing way of combining too universes — LEGO and Stanley Kubrick’s — in one picture.
Sometimes a LEGO model is so incredible you stop and wonder if the builder is using the same catalog of bricks as the rest of us, because the finished model doesn’t even look like LEGO.
The immense scale of the model is hard to comprehend on its own, but when viewed next to the builder, it becomes obvious that at close to four feet in length and nearly as tall, this is no mere weekend project.
And for those curious how Hoang has constructed such an elegant hull from angular bricks, you can check out this work-in-progress photo to see some of the interior construction.
It seems serendipity has struck again. As I started reading H.P. Lovecraft: the Collected Fiction, Leonid An comes up with this awesome microscale build titled “The servant of Cthulhu”.
To fully appreciated the great scale in this scene, check out this intimidating shot which also shows of the build of that little ship, which cleverly uses short minifig capes for sails.
While I’m not one for the current popular trend of taking pictures of LEGO in the outdoors, this build by Dödke deserves some attention. The stork’s design is instantly recognisable, and the shallow, rock-lined water pool adds a lot to the build.
Unfortunately, this also comes with some sad news as the builder states that this stork, Kele, was named after an animal that was killed. Luckily, it’s now immortalised in the brick!
While it will probably evoke fond memories of a certain musical movie extravaganza that turns 15 this month, this spectacular recreation of Paris’ famous Moulin Rouge music hall by
domino39 brickpirate is pretty faithful to the original building — except for a few deliberately placed incongruities! Check out the close-up shots below to see if you can spot such anomalies as a Nineteenth century Ghostbuster and hoverboard rider, to name but a few. Then marvel at all of the fine details in this diorama, from the worn down street cobbles to the many examples of brick-built signage (including some rather cleverly put-together neon lights). C’est incroyable!
This collection of stylish personal conveyances are Norwegian builder Lego Fjotten‘s first (and apparently accidental) foray into the work of LEGO Steampunk, but I think it’s fair to say he’s off to a good start. While each vehicle sports a very unique design, note the way the builder re-uses certain design elements to make them feel like they are part of a set. Also the coloring and detail on the display bases nicely accentuates the models, and even hints at some kind of desert setting. My favorite of the bunch has to be the “high wheeler” with it’s very cleverly constructed mono-wheel.
I will confess that in middle school I was obsessed with insects, kept many varieties of them, and wanted to be an entomologist when I grew up. Yet now I absolutely can’t stand bugs at all! Funny how things change. Anyway, back in those days I really wanted to create anatomically correct 3D models of my favorite bugs in art class, but somehow never managed to figure out how. So these two recent brick-built insect creations were a very satisfying discovery. If the parts had been available back then, I would probably have just gone down this route myself!
Ant by BricksRaven
Grasshopper by Mr Unknown
Long before Elektra and Black Widow, there was Princess Diana of Themyscira, better known as Wonder Woman. She was created in the 40s and started out fighting Axis military forces, before taking on gods from Greek mythology. A television icon in the late 70s, she’s finally getting her own movie in 2017. And why not? She’s awesome! So is this poseable figurine from Victor. The model uses a mix of Technic parts, System bricks, and Bionicle armor to create layers of texture which strike a perfect balance of toughness and femininity. The builder has chosen to arm her with a sword and shield instead of the better-known Lasso of Truth, but he has included a scale model of her Invisible Jet.
Antonio Cerretti has brought a marvel of the ancient world to the brick with this stunning Roman temple and courtyard. When many of us LEGO fans saw the Roman soldiers in the collectible minifigures lines, we envisioned a scene like this with legionaries standing in formation before their eagle, perhaps just returned from a campaign in Gaul or Africa. But although I’ve seen a few impressive Roman armies so far, it’s Antonio’s masterful recreation of Roman architecture that sets this model apart. The pure white marble columns and reliefs are beautiful, and the sheer scale of the temple and courtyard is amazing — over five feet in length and featuring around 130 minifigures.
Following up from the fantastic LEGO Duckburg scene we featured previously, here’s a chance to see everyone’s favorite Disney duck in his other lesser known guise: Donald Duck, Mech Pilot. Japanese builder Moko has built a cracking duck robot with brilliantly goofy-looking (if you’ll excuse the pun) feet and beak. But the killer detail has to be that horn…
And if you liked Mecha-Donald, then you’re going to LOVE this epic face-off…
