Gial Ackbar is the Rebellion’s most famous admiral. Or as builder Djokson says, he’s the “screaming fish man from that one space movie”. Large aquatic eyes lend Ackbar an innate adorableness, and this version by does a fantastic job of rendering Ackbar’s stupified expression with the help of an upturned Hero Factory mask for the long forehead. I also love the simplicity of the uniform, which perfectly distils the Rebel coat using just a few elements.
Disney’s 1928 short Steamboat Willie is considered to be the first appearance of Mickey Mouse, and now Dick Cheung brings us this lovely – and completely monochromatic – representation of the famous 89-year-old mouse in the current LEGO Brickheadz style.
Mickey is seen with his hands on the ship’s wheel as he appears in the opening roll of almost every Disney production these days. I do like the accommodating base as a decorative piece; I could almost imagine it on top of a mantelpiece or a work desk as a nice memorabilia of the good ol’ days of animation.
Who doesn’t love a good book? Brother Steven appears to enjoy a healthy tome or two as he has created these lovely brick-bound beauties for the ABS Builder Challenge. Featuring a trilogy of tempting treatises, Steven has chosen my three favorite LEGO colors to represent these classy antique publications. I love the hints of gold laid into the spines of the hardbacks to indicate high-quality binding and printing. Simple idea, perfectly executed, very effective and ingenious.
There’s a definite futuristic spin on this pirate ship created by Bricksam, but the only thing cooler than pirates are sci-fi pirates. The skull & cross-bones figurehead on the bow of the ship suggests that this ship does not come in peace, and the Jolly Roger flying over the stern confirms her intent. No sails are required on this particular ship, but there is some lovely hull shaping and lots of details. The colour blocking with dark green, black and more traditional brown for the main deck gives a real ‘scavenger ship’ feel to this vessel.
The view from behind shows the ragged Jolly Roger and the main deck more clearly. Those glowing rear engines mean that this ship does not need water or wind to power her plundering travels.
It’s quite the experience to encounter white-gloved, five-star service in a hotel. This beautiful hotel from pinioncorp looks like it should have plenty of bellhops, a personalized front desk, and a staff who anticipates your every need. The front of the building is stately, with classic lines and lovely architecture:
In contrast, the rear of the hotel features an urban paradise, with a gorgeous balcony and a fountain full of flowers and vines. This gives the guests a truly lovely place to relax after exploring the city all day.
You’re welcome to add your own joke about George Lucas meddling with the Original Trilogy as he cranked out the Prequel Trilogy, but I love Star Wars again so I’ll leave that to the unrepentant cynics. The last LEGO creation we featured by Kit Bricksto brought the wonderful planets of the Star Wars universe to the garden. The builder continues his strong streak with this utterly unique diorama featuring tiny scenes from The Empire Strikes Back on a brick-built film strip set against a larger Hoth hangar scene in a TV. The potted background ties this latest build to Kit’s previous build.
The plot continues to thicken – and United Airline’s hole continues to deepen – over last Sunday’s incident aboard a plane in Chicago. And now the satirical commentary is starting to emerge. But no current event is really newsworthy until it’s been parodied using LEGO bricks, and our friends over at BrickMania have wasted no time in designing a custom minifigure to make this possible:
To quote the product description on their website: “Today’s travelers are ready for any adventure that comes their way. They have no fear of being stranded by weather, undersized seats, ridiculous baggage fees, TSA pat downs, or even re-accommodation by bullyboy airline employees. Grab your boarding pass and fly the unfriendly skies with Brickmania’s Frequent Flyer – Re-Accommodated Edition – Minifigure!”
Now is the perfect time to pick up your Frequent Flyer Re-Accomodated minifig, not only because of all that money you saved dumping United stock, but more importantly because BrickMania is donating a portion of the proceeds from this product to Traveller’s Aid International.
It feels like years since we’ve featured brightly colored zombie-fighting vehicles, so I’m rather pleased by this “apocafied” garbage truck built by Guy Smiley. Not only do all the great post-apocalyptic add-ons work wonderfully — the slatted front windscreen, the spikes, gun turret, and roof rack with sun shade — the underlying truck is excellent, particularly the trash can lift mechanism.
Guy says he built this for a zombie-themed contest, so I hope we see more excellent vehicles like this in the coming weeks, though Guy has certainly set the bar high for other builders!
Every generation of kids has its cartoon with jokes that are far funnier to the adults in the room, and growing up that was Ren & Stimpy for me. Julius von Brunk has given us this spot-on rendition of Stimpson J. Cat, affectionately known as Stimpy. It has it all: the round red body, the tiny ears, and the giant blue nose. His eyes gaze off into the distance, with the tongue hanging out for everyone to see. Julius does a fantastic job capturing the things that make Stimpy so recognizable, with his roundness and simplicity.
The T-47 airspeeder, adapted for cold weather use on Hoth, is the most memorable Rebel vehicle introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, and has been a staple of the LEGO Star Wars theme. Commonly called the Snowspeeder, this hardy little two-man craft first appeared in LEGO form in 1999, with more than a dozen variations since across a variety of scales. The latest iteration is also the largest, and the Ultimate Collector’s Series 75144 Snowspeeder packs a massive 1,703 pieces. As we announced last month, it costs $199.99 USD and is set to premiere on May the 4th (aka Star Wars Day).
Like other recent UCS sets, the Snowspeeder includes a stand, information placard, and two minifigure pilots. The displayed ship comes in at 16 inches long, 12″ wide, and 9″ tall (41 x 30 x 23 cm).
Let’s see how the Snowspeeder stacks up.
Click to read the full hands-on review
I confess, I have not watched Black Sails. I know, I’m sorry! I plan on fixing that. But I don’t need any context to appreciate this lovely diorama based on the show by Mpyromaxos, depicting a busy scene with arson, theft, and property damage – which I understand is all pretty normal for pirates. There’s a lot of great detail to take in, and some easter eggs too. How many characters do you recognize?
Most people know Rowan Atkinson from his most famous character Mr. Bean, who we’ve featured before driving his car. For a lot of us though, his greatest comic character was the infamous Edmund Blackadder. And now Letranger Absurde has made this acerbic anti-hero the subject of his latest brilliant character build – from his goofy conical hat to the tips of his pointy boots.
