It’s a question for the ages: which yellow cartoon character do you side with? Wise-cracking SpongeBob Squarepants, the most anthropomorphic sponge to live under the sea? One of Gru’s Minions, an adorable comedy sideshow who manages to steal the limelight? Or Pikachu, the elusive and beloved Pokemon? Takamichi irie decided to build all three, so you can see how the LEGO versions stack up. Cast your votes in the comments!
Some talented folks over at Forest Fire Films decided to recreate the Suicide Squad teaser trailer in LEGO, and it’s great — though if the early reviews are anything to go by, it may even be better than the actual film! Jared Leto’s deranged Joker is even more creepy as a minifigure, but it’s doubtful we’ll ever see any official LEGO Super Heroes sets based on the film, which opens today.
Kids, the key to a really great photo-realistic mosaic is to build big, using simple colors. Oh, and make sure you choose an extremely cool character. Let me tell you, nobody is cooler than Sir Michael Caine. If you only know him as Alfred in the Nolan Batman trilogy, or as Austin Powers’ “fahjah,” you are missing out on one of the hippest cats in the history of British cinema. David Hughes has captured an iconic photograph from 1965, 5 years before Caine finally quit smoking.
My office at work looks across Lake Washington toward Seattle, and I spent much of the morning and afternoon distracted by F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets of the US Navy Blue Angels acrobatic team as they roared past my window. When I saw the predominantly blue and yellow color scheme of this excellent X-shaped fighter plane by Thomas W., I was immediately reminded of the Blue Angels. But with the double gull wings and large propellor, the real-world US Navy fighter that Thomas’s design truly evokes is the Vought F4U Corsair from World War II — one of my favorite aircraft of all time. The yellow stripe on the leading edge of the wings is lovely, and the white accents give the whole plane a more modern look for some reason.
Semi trucks are quite fascinating, really. These modern day work horses are integral to global infrastructure. We share the road with them every day. They’re huge!
Chris Rozek gives us this fantastic truck and trailer, in bright red.
Great, isn’t it? Let’s take another look:
This tiny hauler is an excellent example of a micro-esque scale vehicle. It’s very well done and deceptive with scale, until you have something to compare it to.
Finally! After seeing others build Batman a LEGO batcave and Joker a LEGO funhouse, someone finally built Catwoman a secret home to call her very own. That someone is Jenn Lee and her kitty-friendly creation is purrfect! After all, what Catwoman lair would be complete without a 70s-style Catwoman costume, an entire wardrobe of sparkly capes, wigs, and handbags, and, of course, a boiling pit of lava to dispose of your enemies? I’m not sure if Batman and Robin were invited or decided to pop by unannounced for a visit, but either way, it seems they’ve overstayed their welcome.
LEGO’s Advent Calendars are back for 2016, bringing 24 mini models each in Star Wars, City and Friends themes for you to build in the weeks before Christmas. This year you’ll find a snow-covered white Chewbacca and an Imperial snowman in the Star Wars Advent Calendar, Santa with the cutest Husky “reindeer” you’ve ever seen in the City Advent Calendar, and a cozy old-fashioned holiday party in the Friends Advent Calendar.
The Star Wars Advent Calendar will retail for $39.99 USD, while the City and Friends calendars will sell for $29.99 USD each. All three are now available on Amazon and the LEGO Shop Online.
If you want to wait and reveal each model as you open its door on the advent calendar, then you can just look at the boxes. But if you want to check out all the mini models for each calendar, click at the bottom to read the full post.
Click to see the mini models for each calendar
Rarely does one think of smooth curves when discussing Lego. While the 2×4 red brick may be the most famous piece, its the new age parts that are turning the corner on what Lego can become. Utilizing parts from the Bionicle and Constraction lines, designer Tremah has sculpted Lego for the future in the form AD.AM, an awe inspiring robotic being. Sleek, form fitted, and futuristic white coloring, AD.AM is surely ready to become the prime example of what Lego bots have and will become. The future is now people!
Sometimes really excellent LEGO creations emerge as tablescraps — those little bits that emerge almost unconsciously as you lazily put LEGO pieces together to see what works. Letranger Absurde found he’d created a miniature mushroom cloud recently, and then built an entire minifig-scale bunker around it so that he could feature the atomic explosion in the background via forced perspective. Not content to throw a couple of minifigs inside a block of gray bricks, he’s added some excellent details, like the filing cabinet and the newspaper on the wall.
While my first inclination was to wish these celebratory minifigs congratulations on their achievement, but upon further reflection I’m not sure what new age in the world of LEGO they may have ushered in…
If you don’t quite trust that Letranger actually built the whole scene as one LEGO creation (without adding in the background with Photoshop), you wouldn’t be alone. To combat such spurious accusations, as well as any doubt that he might not have enough brick separators, he’s posted this behind-the-scenes photo that shows the full setup.
Sometimes you don’t realize you’ve been following a very talented builder. Over this past year, six different TBB contributors have blogged mecha by Marco Marozzi, but I really didn’t take notice myself until I just looked through his photostream on Flickr and thought, “Oh, that was by Marco too? And that? And that?” With a broad variety of styles, from spindly to stompy, Marco shows he can build beyond the boilerplate of bipedal Gundam-style “mobile suits.” With judicious use of stickers, excellent color blocking around the central core, and believable greebling on the arms and legs, Marco’s latest mecha is a near-future industrial marvel, whose purpose may not be entirely peaceful…
LEGO released a whole wave of sets in North America on August 1st, including sets from Super Heroes, Ninjago, LEGO City Volcano and Technic. Today we’ll be taking a look at one of the new Marvel Super Heroes sets, which includes two brand new entries to the LEGO Superhero cast, Ghost Rider and Hobgoblin. 76058 Spider-Man: Ghost Rider Team-up has 217 pieces, and retails for $19.99 USD.
As Pokemon Go fever continues to grip the planet, we will try to stop running in small circles and peer above our phones from time to time, to bring you the best new Pokemon-themed LEGO creations. And our catch of the day features Aerodactyl, Chatot and Snorlax (yes!) by Chilean builder Sergio Rojas:
Oh, and if you explore Sergio’s Flickr stream, you might just stumble upon a few additional monsters!