In addition to 21028 New York City (which I reviewed here a couple of weeks ago), LEGO has also just released 21027 Berlin and 21026 Venice as part of a trio of new city skyline sets.
In contrast to the $60 price tag for NYC, both Berlin and Venice retail for $29.99, and I’ll be reviewing these two smaller sets together today.
Read the full review after the jump!
At least, he will try. Just imagine torokimasa‘s adorable LEGO Kylo Ren throwing a tantrum and vandalizing First Order equipment! While the technique the builder used for the lightsaber blades would have been lazy for any other lightsaber, I think it works great to emulate the unstable blade effect on Ren’s crossguard saber.
I was determined to stay away from the Star Wars stuff for a while following the glut of excellent models prompted by the release of The Force Awakens. Yet these figures from Luc Byard are simply too cool not to post…
Immediately recognizable, the Princess and her beau have never looked cuter. The shaping is excellent, avoiding some of the blockiness which can come with chibi builds, and the attention to detail is impressive whilst staying with the chibi-aesthetic – those blasters in particular are spot-on.
Luc has also had a crack at Darth Vader in this building style. It’s good, but for me it hasn’t quite hit the sweet spot between recognisable, fun, and cute which really set the Han and Leia figures apart. I hope Luc keeps going though, more figures in this style would make me very happy indeed.
Australian builder Shannon Sproule has created a LEGO model of one of the seemingly less graceful birds of prey – the vulture. Shannon says he based this build on the griffon vulture, and with an average wing span of 2.5m (8 ft) in real life, these birds are impressive creatures.
The position of the outstretched feet, ducked head and ‘flaps down’ wing position has really captured the body positioning of a typical griffon vulture landing. While the vulture appears to be coming in to land near some carrion, the birds-eye view spares us from the sight of a decaying animal… just use your imagination.
Back when MTV was still a thing, a prophetic documentarian named Mike Judge introduced Generation Y with a new set of role models, in the form of two hopeless morons named Beavis and Butthead. Fans of the show will no doubt recognize Beavis’ sugar-induced alter ego Cornholio, hilariously recreated here in LEGO by TBB favorite Jimmy Fortel. Heh heh, heh… ARE YOU THREATENING ME?
Jimmy Fortel has built a beautiful microscale model of the Pantheon in Paris. The color scheme makes this look like part of the official LEGO Architecture series – and I’m sure this great little build wouldn’t be out of place in the line-up.
I really like the clean lines and deceptive simplicity of this creation, in particular the use of round 1×1 plates beneath the roof line, adding a nice touch of texture. The pillars at the main entrance are very good, and it took me a while to work out how they were built – the bottom of the pillars are round 1×1 bricks set into the model’s base. This is one of those models which surprises you with how long it can hold your attention, despite its small size.
Inspired by the blade construction in the recently featured replica of Darth Vader’s lightsaber, and by my three viewings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I constructed a LEGO prop replica of Kylo Ren’s crossguard lightsaber. Measuring 41″ long (30″ blade), and built in four days (4-5 hours building time), the LEGO saber can be swung and slashed around without breaking.
The unstable, crackling blade effect was important for me to capture, as it is a unique detail to Kylo Ren’s lightsaber as much as the haphazard hilt construction and the crossguard. The best way I thought to achieve the blade effect was the texture of 1×2 grill tiles in translucent red.
Ren’s lightsaber would make a fine addition to my collection!
It’s the first day of the new year, which means that the January 2016 assortment of LEGO sets is now officially available. Highlights include more LEGO Star Wars sets from The Force Awakens, the brand new NEXO Knights theme, new Creator sets, and more.
75139 Battle on Takodana includes 5 minifigs and 409 pieces at $59.99. We’ll have a review of this new Force Awakens set shortly.
75827 Firehouse Headquarters includes 9 minifigs and 4634 pieces at $349.99. Read our in-depth review of the new LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters here on The Brothers Brick.
Click through to see more January 2016 LEGO sets
Let me introduce you to Rosaline as pictured by Sheo. You can imagine what a difficult character hides behind such a complicated mosaic of plates and slopes. Needless to say there is some disproportion in the sizes of eyes and lips, but this is what makes Rosaline eloquent. Some of the commentators have pointed out that slits between pieces resemble wrinkles — and I tend to agree, they really do. If only we could learn a bit of Rosaline’s background…
Happy new year! We hope January 1st finds you lying in a giant champagne stain, with a pounding headache and bits of confetti stuck in your hair. And that your New Years resolution will be to never do anything like that again …well, until next December 31st. And as it’s a fresh new month, we have an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny super creepy-crawly new cover photo for you, courtesy of David Hensel.
Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then acquaint yourself with the submission guidelines and submit your photo today!
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Happy New Year! LEGO sent us 75827 Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters, and I am pleased to end the year by giving you this review. This set, available January 1, 2016, has 4,634 pieces and retails for $349.99. It features the Firehouse and eight minifigures and four small ghost figures, including Slimer.
Read the full review after the jump!
Sometimes it’s scary and/or heart-wrenching going into a new year and another big step in time. And then sometimes we’re just thrilled to be done with it and move on. Chris maddison recently shared one rather hilarious perspective on the new year. I’ve got to admit, I laughed way too hard at these delightfully detailed numbers. Happy new year!
