And now Pigs in Space starring the ever handsome Link Hogwash, the illustrious first mate Miss Piggy, and scientist Dr Jullius Strangepork. Our story begins when German builder Andreas Weissenburg follows up his LEGO versions of muppets The Electric Mayhem, Waldorf and Statler, and the Swedish Chef with this fully built-out set of the USS Swinetrek and its incompetent crew. Andreas has even recreated the cheap viewscreen ‘effect’ featuring the mysterious space villain Dearth Nadir.
The Master Chef himself, known to most as Simply Bricking It, has been on a roll lately, creating awesome build after awesome build. His disheveled desert scene is quite eye-catching and utilizes some uncommon LEGO pieces and colors. The scene immediately made me think of the builder’s “Blacktronalds” build (that helped him earn the title of Master Chef) as both feature dual-pillared, tan-colored structures with splashes of rare LEGO colors in the same unique style.
The military use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, popularly known as drones, goes back to WW2. As long ago as the Vietnam War, the USAF used versions of the Firebee UAV for dangerous reconnaissance missions over the North. In recent years, military drones have been used for surveillance as well as for controversial targeted killings, typically with relatively slow and high-flying machines against adversaries that don’t have meaningful air defences. These machines are not yet a viable replacement for a full blown jet fighter. The Peregrine, built by Stijn van der Laan (Red Spacecat), offers a glimpse of what a future unmanned combat aircraft may look like, if done up in a particularly snazzy colour scheme.
The way the wings and canard foreplanes are angled makes the model look super sleek and I love how the wedges used to build the engine nacelles and the forward fuselage interlock. More angles can be seen in Stijn’s flickr Album.
I watch a lot of movies. Hell, I even review them occasionally as part of my job. Unfortunately, I still miss a few important titles. The Princess Bride was one such movie, until a few days ago when I found myself with a copy of it and a couple of free hours. It seems serendipitous then, that W. Navarre has created a LEGO version of the infamous “Machine” from the torture scenes in the movie:
Be sure to check out the builder’s photostream for detailed shots as well as a full build of the Pit of Despair. And if you need more Princess Bride, I highly suggest a video by CineFix that studies the differences between the movie and the real life book.
Finnish builder Eero Okkonen does it again with this latest addition to his collection of Discworld characters. With donut in hand, Sergeant Colon looks like the Roman equivalent of a modern American cop (famous for their infinite love for this kind of pastry). Chain mail armor and caligae boots are perfectly captured in such a small scale, and those chubby cheeks look fantastic! Corporal Nobbs on the other hand is instantly recognizable with his big nose and cigarette. Despite the smaller scale, Eero’s attention to detail results in another two magnificent micro-sculptures.
While LEGO creations seem to get the most recognition when they’re insanely huge, I prefer smaller creations, especially mechs. Don’t get me wrong, Gundam-esque / skyscraper robot suits will always be cool, but I like my mechs just big enough to fit minifigs, so they could feasibly slip into a City scale town. In that vein, Hoon Kim brings us these twin mechs. To fully appreciate these builds, be sure to check out one of the cockpit shots to see how snug those pilots are.
I’m a bit taken aback by this car, called “Soapbox” by builder Vince Toulouse. Although known to be a talented builder (check out past builds featured on The Brothers Brick), this one is most definitely my favourite.
From the tubular main body, to the spindly pinions and the elongated exhaust pipes, it’s flawless on a macro level. As you zoom in you notice great little touches like the plume hood ornament, and the interior is just as pretty.
Fans of LEGO Classic Space (a term that refers to Space set that were released before 1987) will love this collection of space vehicles by billyburg. The Lunar Exploration Geological Outpost set includes a larger Galaxy Patroller space ship, a six-wheeled Lunar Utility Vehicle, a Lunar Surface Skimmer for mapping the lunar surface and those all important utility bots for making sandwiches and beeping adorably.
My passion for LEGO and gaming has resulted in quite an expansive arsenal of gaming weapons, and now I present the most massive of them all: the classic dual-tube rocket launcher from the Halo series in full 1:1 scale. I chose to build the most recent iteration featured in Halo 5: Guardians. It came down to small details when I chose this iteration: the orange highlights, the classic lettering of the “SPNKr” moniker, and the bulky grip section were all my favorite.
At 50.5 inches in length and weighing in at 24 pounds, it’s made from approximately 6,000 LEGO pieces, and initially I thought there would be no working features at all! However, there is one: you can open the launch frame and remove the launch tubes, just like how a Spartan would reload it in the game. Watch this demonstrated in this video:
Click to read how it was created
This alien spaceship by A Plastic Infinity reminds me of a scarab for some reason, but no matter what the builder intended it to be, one part I’m sure of: it’s pretty cool. Too often alien spacecraft look a bit too human-designed, and it’s always refreshing to see a ship that’s a bit more other-worldly.
Swan Dutchman built a Koopa Troopa from the Super Mario Bros games so adorable you almost feel bad for his fate at the hands of those pesky plumbers. Not only do the cartoony proportions of the head, shell, and boots in Swan’s build match up well with Koopa Troopas in recent Mario games, a variety of poses are also achieved with some Bionicle arms and legs. And if you enjoyed his Koopa Troopa, be sure to check out Swan’s other LEGO Nintendo characters, Wiggler and Kirby.
Nostalgic for the “gabber” electronic dance music scene of 1990’s Netherlands, Dutch builder Chris van Vliet built this amazing three-dimensional LEGO recreation the Masters of Hardcore logo (a record label and series of EDM festivals). The sculpture – which resembles the giant goat skull that used to grace the stage at these events – is comprised almost entirely of LEGO bricks kept from that era, and has even been beautifully black-lit.
Chris also gives us a couple of extra treats in the form of detailed work in progress photos showing how the entire creation came together, and a short video of two brick-built gabber fans in action! And not satisfied with recreating just one gabber-era logo, Chris even produced this sculpture of the Thunderdome “Thunder Wizzard” logo, which when you compare it to the original is clearly spot on!
