Thorsten Bonsch, our favorite prolific German builder of Lord of the Rings LEGO scenes, concludes his 5-year epic journey there and back again with this thorough rendition of that famous Hobbit hole, Bag End.
It seems fitting that Thorsten saved his most accurate, winding creation for last as he packs every tiny detail into the cozy Bagginses residence of the Shire.
You can keep your Blacktrons, Futurons and Classic Spaces; the space theme that stole my heart growing up was LEGO’s Life on Mars theme. These days, it’s perhaps most notable as a source for the retired sand-red and sand-purple colours. But the set design wasn’t half bad either if you ask me, or Duncan Lindbo, for that matter. He’s seen fit to revamp 7311 Red Planet Cruiser for Mechtober. (It’s like October, but for building mecha.) And it looks great! A one-legged mech is an unusual concept, and Duncan has made some nice upgrades. The best one is the discs on either side, turned into what look like sensors or transmitting equipment, rather than… Whatever they were before. Wings, maybe. As much as I do like the Life on Mars line, I have to admit they only ever looked this good in my imagination!
Builder Josh Parkinson has become quite the LEGO master of juxtaposing the near and far. I was wowed by his technique in the Doctor Strange vignette he made last year. And his powers of forced perspective have only grown since then, as is evident in this beautiful North Pole scene. Josh continues to astound with his ability to make minifigure habitats, six of them in total making up the two interiors seen here. But I’m also quite impressed with his snow layering on the roofs, trees, and distant hills. When combined with the backlighting at the build’s horizon, the whole scene pops, giving “the luster of midday to objects below.”
As a San Antonian born and bred, I can say with absolute certainty that some Texans would absolutely make their state pride their identity, even in deep space. And Umbra-Manis has brilliantly captured that sense of pride with this SHIPtember digital creation, the RTSS Chiltepin. This ship would be worthy of our attention even without the Texas flags. Look at all the interesting textures, from the use of Artoo legs and hinge-less hinge bricks along the upper portion of the hull to the use of the underside of jumper plates on the cargo containers. And those recessed circular portions along the top are fantastic. But the inclusion of the flags, and the space-based Republic of Texas backstory, does so much storytelling that makes this a next-level creation. It’s easy to imagine a crew mess stocked with Big Red, Blue Bell ice cream, and Whataburger. I wonder how it refuels, though. Are there Buc-ee’s in space?
I’m a big Star Wars: The Phantom Menace apologist. There, I said it! Come at me, readers. So too, it seems, is LEGO builder Alper Isler. Their photostream is peppered with Episode I builds, the latest of which is this fantastic Armoured Assault Tank (AAT). What good taste! I thought battle droids were really cool when they were first introduced. They’re basically the Galaxy’s most over-the-top collection of remote control toys. Sure, they were reduced to comic relief quite quickly, but cruising around in these things? You’d still better hope the droids run out of battery before they get to you.
The word “LEGO” tends to inspire thoughts of the traditional bricks that have been a staple of playtime for generations. But this spindly bubble-bot by Djokson is here to remind us of just how far the LEGO system has come. With nary a traditional brick to be found, this collection of gears and tubes is assembled into a robot that’s teaming with personality while being short on traditional studs.
Natural forms abound in this outdoor LEGO scene by Mark van der Maarel. Birch trees topped with dark green foliage stand in the foreground of a massive stone archway, overgrown in places with creeping vines. A brilliant medium blue stream babbles through the scene, highlighted in round while plates and slopes to give the water a level of unease. But one figure stands alone, quite out of place with its environs. A visitor, clad in white, ponders the beauty of a brave butterfly. With no indication of how this extraterrestrial nomad arrived or what its intentions are, the viewer is left to fill in the gaps on their own. And its that mystery which makes this work truly outstanding in my eyes!
SHIPtember is officially over with but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying these seriously huge LEGO ships that we’ve seen lately. Take Maxx Davidson’s Aeronautilus, for example. The rules laid out by the LEGO Gods a millennia ago state that a Seriously Huge Investment in Parts must have at least 100 studs on one side but it says nothing about which side. This otherworldly SHIP is 104 studs high and 108 studs on the diagonal plane. Its construct is so alien in appearance, that one can barely imagine the beings that may have constructed it. Maxx, as far as I know, is an Earthly being but you get what I mean. My favorite part, besides its odd color scheme, is the smaller ships being launched from strange hatches throughout the hull. I imagine this is how a botfly works. Kinda gives you the warm and fuzzies, doesn’t it?
Here at The Brothers Brick, we know that whenever we feature a LEGO creation by KevFett2011 the TBB headquarters hot tub bill gets paid. You just keyword Star Wars or The Mandalorian and suddenly we’re making it rain over here! Or something. I don’t know how the internet works, really. “Stick to the colorful metaphors, Lino, and let us worry about the rest”, they said. We’re all a bunch of Star Wars nerds, so we’d feature this stuff regardless of the nitty-gritty. For those not as nerd-core as we are, Paz Viszla was the big, stocky Mandalorian who seemed invincible but ultimately succumbed to the might of Moff Gideon’s Praetorian Guards. Kev captured that scene nicely with this diorama. Nerding out over fantastic Star Wars scenes is pretty much what Kev does. Check out our KevFett2011 archives to see what I mean. And for the love of god, someone please build us a MrBeast diorama. This ocelot fur coat isn’t going to pay for itself!
Whatever your take on their purpose, it has to be said that religious buildings like churches or cathedrals can be quite amazing places. There’s the spiritual aspect of course, but even on a purely material level, often they’re just downright pretty. That’s definitely the case with Casey McCoy‘s vignette. It’s a captivating scene depicting a priest in a moment of quiet contemplation. The whole thing is beautiful, but so are some of the building techniques! The cheese-slope stained glass windows are what draw the eye, and what give this scene its distinctive atmosphere. But cheese slopes are also used in the floor tiling to great effect. The candles are also great, made of Technic pins and lever handles.
You may be wondering how the Casey has managed to manipulate the figure into that quite un-minifigure like pose. The answer is with rubberbands, care and a lot of patience! A white rubberband also doubles as his clerical collar, which is a nice touch. There’s a good view of it here – a gorgeous snapshot that almost makes you hear the echoing silence of an empty church.
As the spending season kicks into high gear at the start of October, LEGO has turned out quite the interested “Gift with Purchase” to help keep us entertained. Unlike any other GWP I’ve encountered, 40596 Magic Maze is a gravity-powered ball maze seated on a 24×24 stud square. Read on to get my thoughts on quite a novel concept. 40596 Magic Maze consists of 332 pieces and is available until October 9th from LEGO stores or their website with qualifying purchases of US $150 | CAN $200 | UK £130.
LEGO builder Pico van Grootveld toasts the end of SHIPtember (a month of creating spacecraft that are 100 studs or longer) with an agave-inspired hauler clad in an appropriate shade of green. Including features like a warp drive, anti-asteroid lasers, and fuel extension vats, this 139-stud starship is the preferred method for hauling limes, salt, and spirits from one side of the solar system to the other. The shaping here is beautiful, with well-crafted stabilizing fins along the sides and a technical-looking front hatch for quick loading and unloading. It’s just the thing for those late night runs to the triple sec nebula!
