LEGO builder yu chris created this gorgeous replica of Darth Vader’s iconic samurai-inspired mask, which gleams with shades of black just like the original. But it’s not just a mask — turning it around reveals three clever chibi-style scenes from Anakin’s life. The tiny little Death Star hangar filled with parading stormtroopers is definitely my favorite bit, but the relief sculptures in the backgrounds of the other two scenes are each fantastic in their own right.
Moby Dick is one of those novels that requires real commitment to get through, with its lengthy diversions and deep symbolism, but rewards careful reading and sticks with you for decades afterward. It also makes for great LEGO inspiration, as Ryan Rubino’s white whale battling a giant squid from back in 2009 certainly proves. Letranger Absurde enters the fray with Captain Ahab entangled by the line from his own harpoon, hauled to his doom in the dark deeps of the sea. The sperm whale itself steals the spotlight in this build, with what appears to be a surfboard for a tongue, but don’t miss the excellent sea floor, complete with conch shell, brain coral, and even a treasure chest.
Cole Blaq is perhaps most well known for his LEGO graffiti and visceral LEGO art, but we’ve featured him more often for his outstanding mecha-building skills. This time it’s a four legged tank. Considering the dark orange color scheme, I like to imagine he could utilize this monster in a Mars-like environment. It’s very catchy choice of color. Cole’s amazing photography skills may make you think this is a computer generated image, but if you zoom in at full resolution, you can spy him taking the shot!
I admit it; I’m a little late to the Fallout party, having started with Fallout 4. It didn’t take much progress through the game until I realized I’ve been missing out on a series worthy of its hype.
Builder Dead Frog Inc. constructed an elusive stat-augmenting Vault Boy bobblehead from the game. His character as the symbol of Vault-Tec is captured rather well with LEGO elements. Speaking of Vault-Tec, don’t miss the great use of the LEGO shuriken sprue piece as Vault-Tec’s logo on the bobblehead base.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I believe Preston needs me to help yet another settlement.
I do very much enjoy castle walls with character, and this gatehouse by David Zambito fits the bill. The wall is textured, and the landscaping has a great organic look to it. It gives a nice sense of time: this wall has been here a long time and seen things, and so many stories have passed through it.
David has some nice examples of landscaping (check out this cobblestone road!) in his flickr gallery, and I invite you to take a peek!
ER0L presents an awesome spin on Batman’s Tumbler, changing the black (and sometimes very dark gray) color scheme to something more fitting of Gotham’s police. The red and blue lights and the white paneling in the center work impressively well with the Tumbler. Ignoring the great police stylizing for a bit, the base Tumbler model is one of the most detailed in this scale I’ve seen built with LEGO pieces, and even opens to fit two police minifigures side by side in the cab.
You know you’ve seen a great spaceship model when it inspires you to try to build your own, and this model by Leonardo Lopez does that for me.
The design of the Tizona is excellent. With four huge thrusters, this thing looks like it can go really fast, and the two main canons fit the design beautifully. The cockpit is also very creative and fits a minifig inside, but what strikes me the most is the unconventional shape and amazing colors.
Jon Hall has built an amazing replica of a great dieselpunk dogfighter design by Jake Parker, and it has me soaring through the air with joy.
This build is so detailed, the colors are perfect, the wing shapes are amazing, and even the details with decals are superb. As a fan of planes — real or fictional — this model hits all the right spots. Congratulations Jon, you made made me badly yearn to swoosh this plane.
Proving that even in the scariest of swamps one can find a place to call home, TBB mainstay Vitreolum has recreated the gorgeous shack dwelling of the sorceress Tia Dalma from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Contrasting the dark branches with bright green plants and swampy water really makes this creation pop. Jack Sparrow might be frightened by its overgrown appearance, but everyone else is in wonder of its whimsy and character.
Hot on the heels of the Division Bell album cover comes another amazing LEGO classic rock album cover. This time builder David Zambito created Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album (nicknamed “Zoso” or just “IV” by fans). The album is widely considered to be Zeppelin’s best (the final song is “Stairway to Heaven” after all), and looks phenomenal in brick.
Take a look at the original cover art and judge for yourself whether or not Zambito nailed the conversion into LEGO. The background looks like peeling tree bark and the hunched posture of the old man is spot on. Even better, the build appears to be about the size of a vinyl cardboard sleeve.
Building in microscale is difficult and I have full respect for those that can pull it off well. This little gate by Halhi141 captured the scale and subject quite well. I like the flats and details for the castle wall. That can be difficult enough on larger models, let alone models of this size. The trees and pathway are wonderful.
When building vessels with LEGO, you either go big or stick to regular boat hull parts. But this time FiliusRucilo presents something brand new — a modular ship.
Behind this simple exterior hides a three-part structure plus a detachable deckhouse. This concept, introduced in modular buildings, provides huge opportunities for customization of each part. In the description, the builder suggests removing the middle part to fit the ship into small dioramas. In the same way the ship can be extended to become a long barge.
