Last month’s TBB header photo winner Andrea Lattanzio has been posting images of awesome LEGO models in awesome LEGO garages for a while, and his latest is a beautiful 1932 Ford roadster with a really excellent engine hoist. Andrea has used this backdrop before, but if you haven’t spent time yet poring over all the accessories and other details, you owe it to yourself to do so now.
It’s “back to school” season across the US. My two trudged back there today. So this little scene by delayice seemed appropriate. But hey, where are all the SmartBoards and laptops and phones?!
The epic poetry of Homer’s Iliad seems ripe for LEGO inspiration, but we don’t see a lot of Homeric LEGO. Simon Schweyer corrects this with a triptych of scenes from this great work of Classical literature.
First, Paris seduces and abducts Helen of Troy, setting in motion the vengeful war led by Helen’s husband Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon. A beautiful Spartan temple dominates the scene, complete with gilded statuary in the pediment.
Next, Simon depicts the 10-year siege of Troy itself, with a disconcerted Helen atop a surprisingly detailed white wall. My favorite detail is the rubble-filled interior section of the wall.
Finally, the Greeks send the Trojans a gift horse, into whose mouth they really should have looked. Again, my eye was drawn past the wooden horse in the foreground to the temple’s pediment, with some excellent red, gold, and white mosaic work.
I’m not sure what’s going on this year, but we’re certainly seeing a lot of very large LEGO SHIPs in August (SHIPgust? Augtember?). Tim Schwalfenberg takes his inspiration from the venerable Homeworld PC game, with a super-detailed battlecruiser that’s easily one of my favorite SHIPs in several years. And at 140 studs long, Tim didn’t spare any length to achieve the shape and color blocking needed to achieve the distinctive look of the source material.
I’m always a fan of the multi-view graphic:
I’d never seen Roman Holiday until I watched it several years ago with my late grandparents. Now I can understand why it’s so many people’s favorite movie. Waka has built Miniland versions of Princess Ann and Joe Bradley on their iconic Vespa, enjoying a ride around the Eternal City. I love Gregory Peck’s tie and Audrey Hepburn’s new haircut.
All the range in LEGO castles these days is the worn, weathered, somewhat ruinous look that should be familiar by now to readers of this blog. W. Navarre himself has built in that style, but the large keep he recently built looks somewhat more defensible than those ramshackle hovels. One notable decision was to build the central tower studs out, then tile the whole thing from top to bottom. W. Navarre does manage to work in substantial detail to avoid the loathed “Big Gray Wall” syndrome.
Eero Okkonen built this dreamy scene for the Finnish LEGO club Palikkatakomo‘s summer building contest, themed “Finding, Discovering.” Featuring a lovely twisted tower and an underwater walker, the scene defies categorization into the conventions of “steampunk” or “dieselpunk.” Then again, the hats worn by the divers are rather hilariously twee.
You can read more of the backstory for this scene on Eero’s blog, Cyclopic Bricks.
Orangutans are my favorite of the extant great apes. These beautiful, critically endangered creatures live gentle, often solitary lives in the forests of Sumatra and Borneo. New Flickr member AnActionfigure is quickly demonstrating mastery of animal figures in LEGO — this LEGO orangutan was the first model AnActionfigure posted, and his/her photostream is already full of beautiful creatures. Not only is this LEGO ape wonderfully sculpted mostly from basic bricks, the little pops of color from the plant and this male orang’s beard add some great visual interest.
Korean builder Amida Na has created a series of fantasy characters with individual backstories that he calls Tales of Samsara. As an avid character builder myself, I’m always fascinated to see innovative scales, styles and techniques being used for these kinds of builds – and these are just brilliant!
Because there’s no such thing as too many Star Wars builds, Cecilie Fritzvold has created these neat minifig-scale replicas of two locations from the least worst of the prequel movies. (Check out her photostream for alternative angles).
Dex’s Diner
The Jedi Archives
While my esteemed colleague may have been impressed by Letranger Absurde‘s hourglass, I feel no guilt in posting another one of Letranger’s remarkable LEGO creations just a day later. This amazing undead dragon incorporates numerous LEGO bone and horn pieces, proving that in some cases LEGO pieces are indeed best used as originally intended. The graveyard backdrop with a gloomy tree is also wonderful, once you can peel your eyes away from the dracolich.
