I swear I can feel a strong smell of ginger while I’m looking at the latest confectionery masterpiece by Koen. The key to success here is that this gingerbread cottage is actually the second version; the first one was baked and served a little more than a year ago. Compare both and you’ll easily notice how much the Friends sets have added to the official LEGO color palette just in this past year. Excuse me for now, I have to go and ask for the recipe.
thisisnothingatall brings us this eerie humanoid nomad. The creator doesn’t provide a backstory, but it’s easy to imagine eons of history in this sculpture. It reminds me a bit of Tali, one of the more intriguing characters in Mass Effect.
I’m loving this neat microspace build by Chris Perron. The careful selection of pearl gold parts adds some excellent texture and detail at this scale, and the light blue cockpit sets it off brilliantly. All in all this is just a classy little build.
Our virtual LEGO Advent Calendar series continues on Day 3 with a new mini-kit from Star Wars and Friends.
We’ll be unveiling the mini-kits or minifigs from each Advent Calendar around this time every day, and we won’t ruin the surprise — you’ll need to click through to reveal the LEGO behind the tiny doors.
Click to see the Day 3 mini-kits!
The highly anticipated new Star Wars movie opens in just two weeks – as if anyone actually needs reminding of that any more. So what better excuse to whip you all into a frenzy, dear readers, than by having a Star Wars themed TBB cover photo all month! And this previously featured AT-AT habitat by markus19840420 seemed like the perfect choice:
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This microscale cathedral by David Hensel is a lovely piece of work. A handsome splash of dark green in the roofing breaks up the light grey, as do the various pieces David has used to add texture. The corrugated tubes and telescopes are nice touches, but it’s the use of Mixel joints as flying buttresses that’s attracting all the attention over on Flickr.
I’m less convinced by the loose tiles David has employed for the ground around the building. It’s making me think of those photographs of lonely churches standing amidst the ruins of bombed-out towns during WW2. Unless that was the look David was aiming for, I think I’d have preferred some kind of “properly built” surroundings.
Never trust a model you can’t pick up and turn upside-down – that’s my motto. However, the rest of this is so well put together I’m going to let it slide. Nice work.
Toronto native Melanie F. brings us this awesome recreation of her city’s beautiful and vibrant waterfront row houses. Melanie’s a fan of Unikitty, and she’s found exceptionally clever uses for several of Unikitty’s pieces here, with the horns as lovely little microscale trees and the tails as picture-perfect rolling waves. The lime green ice cream scoops are also brilliantly put to use as topiaries.
The best part? She’s built the homes in minifig scale, too!
Because we here at The Brothers Brick have a time machine, we feel that there’s nothing particularly odd about starting our coverage of the new LEGO Advent Calendars a day late.
Each day until Christmas Eve, we’ll be revealing the mini-kits and minifigs from that day’s LEGO Star Wars and Friends Advent Calendars. Why not LEGO City? Because meh. To keep the secret alive, we’ll be posting pretty late in the day here on the US West Coast (GMT -8:00), and we’ll put that day’s reveal after the jump.
This isn’t really a review — we’ll save our thoughts until the end — more of a virtual Advent Calendar we can all enjoy together. So, follow along, and let us know what you think about each kit in the comments.
Click to see the Day 1 & 2 mini-kits!
Like our recent post of a classic space mecha dinosaur, this one mashes up quite a few things. Courtesy of Greed (승훈 이) we have a Pikachu that has taken to dressing up like Superman. Maybe this takes inspiration from the “cosplay Pikachu” mechanic from the new Pokémon games. Regardless, mixing up three franchises that I’m a huge fan of is a definite win for me.
In the future imagined by Polish builder Jerac, the younger generation cruise around in yellow hovercrafts while the ‘dad-taxi’ family car looks a little bit cooler than your average Toyota.
Firstly, we have the Aeris, the 4-person family car for collecting the groceries and taking the kids to the movies. Even Jerac has to admit that this is “slightly more luxurious” than the average family car (they must be from the nicer side of the City). Honestly, I’m not trying to sell you this car, but take a look at the rear – the building techniques used are fantastic!
Next, we have the Athame, a hovercraft aimed at the cool kids who yearn for a sportier, faster, more eye-catching ride. This hovercraft has the added adrenaline rush of a transparent floor – definitely not for the feint-hearted. I love the shaping of the front, very nice curves.
Sadly, the exuberance of youth means that the Athame is sometimes exposed to more ‘aggressive driving manoeuvres’ and the resulting vehicle breakdown requires a futuristic rescue truck. Here we have the Cobbergoot Hoverlift-3. The Hovlift-3 has a great extendable lift at the back, to cater for even the largest of future hovercrafts, and collapses neatly to allow a more streamlined look when not it use.
Despite being a (relative) ‘youth’, I think I will stick with the luxurious Aeris as my future car. That transparent floor on the Athame is just too much excitement for me…
“The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli is one of those paintings that you study in Art History, poring over the symbolism and innovative Renaissance techniques until the painting becomes one with the millions of reproductions you’ve seen all your life, losing any interest or meaning it may have had. (Clearly, I much prefer “Primavera”…) So, I’m always pleased to run across a refreshing new take on a classic work of art. Polish builder Bartłomiej Sekuła has built a three-dimensional version of the painting reminiscent of a tableau vivant, with minifigs representing each of the figures in the original work.
That’s actually pretty cool on its own, but Bartłomiej goes one step further with a parody version of this iconic scene.
Whether you’re a fan of the television series or the books, everyone can agree that the next installment of Game of Thrones is simply too far away. Season 6 won’t be here until April 2016 and George R. R. Martin’s final two novels, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, may never be here. So while you’re jonesing for your next fix, check out these sweet Game of Thones-inspired LEGO builds.
Midas Touch‘s microscale Castle Black is perfect. The Wall, a colossal structure built from ice that protects the Seven Kingdoms from white walkers (or “the others” if you read the books), is instantly recognizable, as is the elevator which carries the Night’s Watch to its top.
Speaking of the top of the wall, nameless_member has built an equally impressive scene from Game of Thrones using forced perspective. This haunting scene of John Snow overlooking the lands beyond the wall uses very few parts, but packs a heavy punch.
