Despite mixed reviews of what happened to Tolkien’s beloved stories, the trilogy of Hobbit movies still served up some eye-popping visions of Middle Earth. One of the best, to my mind, was of Laketown — the city of wooden huts built over the Long Lake in a doomed attempt at protection from dragonfire. Marcel V. must have liked the movie version too, as he’s built a wonderful slice of it in LEGO bricks. Trans-clear tiles as icy water creates an appropriately chilly atmosphere, and the house on stilts is good enough to make me wish Marcel had built more of the town. And don’t miss the imaginative parts usage — minifigure ice skates as ladder rungs, and skeleton and minifigure limbs to create the twist of smoke rising into the frigid air.
Category Archives: LEGO
LEGO interior prompts nostalgia for Modernism
Clean brickwork and good macro photography make this modernist LEGO interior by Brick Of Infamy really stand out. There’s a lot here to love — from the excellent giant angle-poise lamp, the smart-looking chair, through to the way the desk is integrated into the wonderful bookcase. And last, but not least, don’t overlook the clever use of grey toothed monorail tracks to lend texture to the background wall. This is a deceptively simple-looking scene, which probably took much longer to build than you think!
He-Man gets whitewashed
By The Power Of Whiteskull! Grantmasters has the Power! Or he certainly appears to, based on his latest piece of LEGO microscale building. The skull sword hilt is put to excellent use here, and its textured elements give an impressive sense of depth and scale to the tiny castle’s entrance. However, don’t miss the use of skeleton legs, wheels, and a good old-fashioned LEGO maxifigure’s arm in the creation of the rest of the keep’s towers.
Pirates of the Caribbean BrickHeadz revealed, BrickHeadz available now [News]
LEGO’s new line of BrickHeadz characters are available now for LEGO VIP Program members on the LEGO Shop online. These sets will be available to the general public beginning Wednesday, March 1. LEGO’s VIP Program is free to join, and you can sign up online, so you can still order your BrickHeadz today even if you’re not already a VIP member. You can check out our reviews of The LEGO Batman Movie sets and Marvel Avengers sets if you’re not sure which one you want to buy first.
Also revealed today are two new characters from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Included in the instruction books and on the boxes for 41595 Belle and 41596 Beast are images for none other than Captain Jack Sparrow (41593) and a new character: Captain Armando Salazar (41594).
Click here to see the BrickHeadz for sale now!
And they call it Bella Notte
Just look at the puppy dog eyes on display in Nick Della Mora‘s LEGO rendition of the unforgettable spaghetti-eating scene from Disney’s Lady and the Tramp. Using relatively few bricks, Nick has managed to perfectly evoke this famous moment, and capture the charm and personality of the central characters. Check out the perfect recreation of Tramp’s ears! All that’s missing here is a LEGO version of Tony the Chef, serenading the canine couple with “Bella Notte”.
Sometimes love is black and white
Valentine’s Day was yesterday, but we couldn’t pass on highlighting this amazing LEGO portrait of a silhouetted couple built by Letranger Absurde. Look closely, because while those black shapes with smoothly curving edges may look simple, they’re actually a complicated conglomeration of plates and slopes facing all directions. The creation is also much larger than it appears at first glance, standing around two feet tall.
And don’t miss our recent interview with the builder, where we discuss his inspiration and unique style.
Spacecraft or mecha? Why don’t we have both?
It’s always interesting to see minifigure-scale vehicles that can transform and look great in both modes, like James Zhan’s spaceship/mecha hybrid. I enjoy the angles throughout the fuselage and minimal greebling on the prongs, focusing on a beautiful overall profile.
Much like a Vulture Droid from Star Wars, the prongs on James’s ship fold downward as the legs of a mecha. The well-hidden arms and feet fold out, making mecha mode look just as interesting as flight mode.
Marvelous miniature mantis
Early civilizations considered the Praying Mantis to have supernatural powers. I couldn’t tell you if this mantis by takamichi irie has any powers, but it does have samurai swords and LEGO claws to serve as its raptorial forelegs! I love how the builder has used minifig hands to represent the hairs on the mid and hind legs. Takamichi has done well to capture the shape of the mighty mantis at this scale.
You shall call me Snowball, because my fur is pretty and white
In the second episode of Rick and Morty (or as I like to call it “Back to the Future on acid”) Morty’s dog Snuffles is fitted with a device that boosts his intelligence, a move that (not surprisingly) escalates to Snuffles leading an army of dogs wearing robotic exoskeletons to enslave humanity. Ultimately the dogs are banished to their own world, which is envisioned here in LEGO by none other than Richard Van As, one of the show’s animators:
A bit of LEGO love
It’s Valentine’s today, and what better way to celebrate than with a bit of LEGO love, in the form of a an over-eager minifigure Cupid shooting heart tiles at random passersby?
The custom prints in this model are terrific, from the emotive expressions on the figures to the little hearts tiles. Interestingly, the Fabuland and Rebrick torsos are original.
Remember kids, brush your LEGO teeth at least twice a day
I can only assume that Chris Maddison takes excellent care of his LEGO teeth because these chompers appear quite healthy! Just look at those pearly whites (modified 2×3 pentagonal tiles). Firm-looking rosy gums and not a cavity in sight! (I bet money he even flosses.)
The best part about these LEGO teeth is that they even chatter like the wind-up plastic toy Chris’s design was based on. Check out the video below to see for yourself.
Undulating wave of LEGO colors is completely mezmerizing [Video]
Berthil van Beek loves making some of the coolest LEGO machines around. Just a few week ago we highlighted his awesome LEGO ball maze that accelerates balls to 1,000 rpm, and he’s already back having spent more than 100 hours designing another breathtaking creation. This time, it’s an undulating wave of LEGO colors featuring 38 distinct swatches from LEGO’s palette (a palette that’s changing over the years).
Like Berthil’s ball maze, this mechanism is designed to fit with the Great Ball Contraption standard, fitting end-to-end with other fans’ creations for continual movement of LEGO’s tiny soccer balls and basketballs. Berthill tells us he was inspired to create the rainbow wave machine after seeing the vibrant rainbow of colors in the official image of LEGO’s Creator XXXL Box, which he also used a source for many of the colored bricks.
The Rainbow Wave Great Ball Contraption uses about 1,150 pieces and is powered by a single motor, with each of the colored pistons sitting on an 8-tooth gear. Each piston’s gear is exactly 1 tooth offset from its neighbors, and this means the balls travel in a perfectly level line as they move across the waving surface. Berthil says this mechanism took a lot of testing and redesigning to perfect, in particular because digital prototyping with LEGO rendering programs isn’t feasible for complicated moving machinery.