Lisqr has discovered a rare albino Saber Toothed Tiger! I like the studs out effect on this. It really gives it the feeling of fur. Also the dark background, little bit of landscape and subdued lighting reminds me of a museum display. The whole build really flows well together.
Oddly perhaps, one of the things I enjoyed most about the Maschinen Krieger models I built myself a couple years ago was not the hardsuits and vehicles themselves but the little bases I made to display them. Matthew Oh takes this to a whole new level with the highly detailed ruins with which he surrounds his SAFS “Wolverine” hardsuit.
Many LEGO builders take our inspiration for Ma.K models from the creations of plastic modelers both working with the original kits and scratch-building in the Ma.K universe inspired by nothing more than their imagination. The cross-section profile of Matthew’s LEGO diorama beautifully matches the aesthetic of what plastic modelers do, while retaining enough visible studs to ensure it’s abundantly evident that the model is built from LEGO. Oh, and that roof!
With Halloween around the corner, I figured it was time we spooked up the place… French builder Pistash has built Billy the puppet from the Saw horror series, which celebrates it’s 10th birthday this Halloween.
He’s managed to really capture the creepiness of a the Billy puppet – not an easy feat with LEGO.
I think I’m going to eat some candy and watch happy cartoons now…. this build freaks me out.
Ian Spacek seems to be on a roll in the ongoing 2014 MOCOlympics contest. In a round focused on board games, he chose to recreate Clue, a classic family game that has been around since the 40’s.
I love the way Ian has captured all the woody tones of the original board, as well as packing the build with many beautiful details such as the floor patterns, furniture and props. Check out MOCPages for loads of close-up photos and a chance to compare Ian’s interpretation with the original.
If you’ve been paying attention to what’s marketable in pulp culture these days, the video game Destiny has pretty popular. It has also become a pretty common excuse: “Sorry, can’t build, playing Destiny”. Jake (Jayfourke) has solved this problem by building Destiny with this fantastic ship:
Even if it wasn’t from a game, the ship design is gorgeous. I love the simple colour stripes, and really great angles that Jake was able to recreate. Though my favorite part, and what impressed me most was those iconic triangular intakes:
This thing looks like it was built for swooshing.
I’m not really a car expert, but apparently neither is Rifflestein. His lastest build is not based on a particular car, but more of a “F1 racer vibe”:
And the kicker? It is built entirely from the Mini Cooper set.
And check out the ever so elegant back:
LEGO has sent The Brothers Brick a copy of the Crafting Box, one of the larger sets from the new minifig-scale Minecraft line. The set includes 518 pieces, and will be $49.99 USD. LEGO hasn’t given us an exact release date, but it should be available in stores around the beginning of November.
Now, I know many LEGO fans roll their eyes at the fact that LEGO picked up the Minecraft license at all, but I love it. I’m a huge Minecraft fan, and I have a bit of history with combining LEGO and Minecraft. I created the first minifig-scale Minecraft creation back in 2011, and was one of three fans involved in the development of the first official LEGO Minecraft set, 21102 Minecraft Microworld. During the development phase of that set, we started off trying to create a minifig-scale set. We quickly realized, however, that it would be very hard to do justice to Minecraft at that scale within the price range that the LEGO Ideas (née Cuusoo) program was targeting, namely $30-$40 USD. The current lineup of six minifig-scale sets is a valiant — but flawed — attempt at doing what the original set could not.
The recovering industries of post-war Europe produced a number of fascinating micro-cars to operate in the narrow streets of countries like Germany, Italy, and France. Chief among these was the Isetta, a gorgeous little bubble-car that ming1903 has faithfully recreated in LEGO.
I’d challenge builders out there to create a LEGO Isetta that fits a minifig and has a functional pop-open front, but this version beautifully replicates the shape of the real-life car.
It has been over 3 years since Tyler (Legohaulic) and I collaborated on a large display. In our newest work, we present a theme inspired by the colorful and imaginative video game Bastion. This is a 7’x7′ display of a floating world shattered into fragments, whose citizens are now rebuilding their lost home. Check out the detail shots on Tyler‘s and my Flickr photostream.
Whenever TT Games releases a new computer game, people who made significant contributions to the game in question are presented with launch bricks. We had two of these to give away several years ago, but they are normally not available to people outside the company. However, through the help of TT games designer Carl Greatrix, a launch brick from the latest Hobbit Game, with a Bard The Bowman minifigure, has been given to Fairy Bricks, which is a UK charity that donates LEGO sets to hospitals and hospices.
Fairy Bricks is now auctioning this brick via eBay; an extremely rare opportunity to get your hands on this exclusive item. I’m sometimes shocked by the amounts of money that are being paid for LEGO collectables, but with the proceeds going to a good cause in this case, I’ll say start your bidding!
It’s been barely a year since No Starch Press released Beautiful LEGO, a coffee table book packed with carefully curated images of LEGO creations, conceived and organized by New Jersey graphic designer and LEGO builder Mike Doyle.
Unlike many of their other LEGO themed titles, which are targeted squarely at the AFOL community, the book had the potential to appeal to almost anyone with a passing interest in LEGO (ie. almost anyone on the planet). It soon started showing up on the shelves of regular book stores, and has since become one of their best sellers. So the rumors of a sequel came as no surprise…
Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark replays that winning formula, with some interesting twists. The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s weightier: this version is about 50 pages longer and sports a proper hard cover. Some folks will be pleased to hear about that change, although as a coffee table book, I kinda find this one harder to handle.
Mike has also cut back heavily on builder interviews (just 4 this time round, compared to 9 in the first book). I’m sure some AFOLs will see that as a loss, but I think it makes sense for a work like this to focus on the images first and foremost. For those curious to learn more about specific builders, every image is labeled, and the Contributor index contains all the necessary URLs.
Then there’s the subtitle, “Dark”. With this book, Mike applied what he calls a “thematic filter” to the curation process, targeting specific classes of build. It’s a bold move, but gives this sequel a much stronger identity than merely “hello, here are some more great builds”. Admittedly “dark” is a rather broad theme with many possible interpretations, but I think it still pays off. The builds range from the serious, the creepy, the political, the darkly humorous, and even just darkly colored.
As for the individual builds and images, Mike delivers again with another 300 pages of gorgiously photographed creations, from over a hundred different builders, that will be appreciated by both AFOL and non-AFOL alike. Everything is organized into chapters such as “Creepy Crawlers”, “Skin and Bones” or “Future Shock”. And a wide variety of building styles and categories are covered.
To achieve a harmonious effect, some of the models were specially reworked or reshot by their creators, and Mike also re-tuned some of the images too (for example, applying neutral backgrounds). The overall effect is definitely moodier than the first book – and that means it’s literally darker. The builds in this tome also skew to the more complex/detailed end of the scale than in the first one. So you’re gonna want to read this one under a decent light!
For the sequel, Mike also chose to include a small selection of digital creations. This is definitely a controversial decision, which Mike acknowledges and explains in his Preface. But the digital creations are clearly annotated as such, wherever they appear.
Like its predecessor, Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark is a beautiful object, that shines a flattering (low wattage) spotlight on the LEGO building community, and in a way that makes that world accessible to the general public. I’d recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoyed the first book. And I really hope this becomes a series of books. If it does, I cannot wait to see what theme Mike decides to cover next!
Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark goes on sale everywhere November 20th, and will retail for USD $39.95.
In recent years, “Castle” building has begun to encompass more and more non-military scenes, which is a pleasant change of pace. Well-tended gardens, so prevalent on the estates of the wealthy during the middle-ages, however, are still relatively rare. That’s why it was a nice surprise to see this lovely garden diorama by Joshua.
