Sometimes, the leviathan is small. In this magnificent tiny vignette by Grantmasters, a lone ship rides a ferocious ocean. It’s a safe bet that it’s the Pequod, since it’s hunting a white whale. As usual, Grant’s build is rife with excellent parts usages, from the little known Belville figure feet making most of the whale’s body, to the beard for a tail, or the axe blades for water.
The Douglas DC-3 is among the most iconic aircraft in the world, with a distinctive shape that’s instantly recognizable. Unfortunately for LEGO builders, that shape is also rather difficult to produce with LEGO bricks. However, that hasn’t dissuaded Vaionaut, who turned his skillful hands to this classic and produced a masterpiece. He started with an earlier design by Obuh Samateus and significantly overhauled it for accuracy and stability. Apart from the excellent shaping of the compound curves in the aircraft’s fuselage, the small touches, such as the brick-built German flag on the tail and the chrome non-custom chrome cowling on the engines, really make this model sing. The small service truck is easy to miss, but it’s a fantastic accompaniment also.
With the ringing in of 2019, we’re also getting the release of Series 6 of the LEGO Star Wars Microfighters. When the series was first introduced, each Microfighter pack came with a single build, and most, if not all were vehicles, as the theme’s title implies. 75228 Escape Pod vs Dewback Microfighters comes with two builds in a single pack, which we first saw introduced in 2018. But now for the very first time, a Microfighters set features a creature instead of a vehicle. It’s also the first time the Dewback is in a brick-built form as opposed to a molded figure, and it created a bit of a buzz with LEGO Star Wars fans. The set comes with 177 pieces and retails for $19.99 USD. Let’s take a look and see how it stacks up.
The Escape Pod and Dewback are among the first scenes on Tatooine we see in Star Wars: A New Hope. C-3PO and R2-D2 first arrive from their escape pod fresh off the Tantive IV with the plans of the Death Star hidden in R2-D2’s memory banks. Sand Troopers scour the desert hunting down the pod’s contents, confirming that the pods were not empty vessels as first suspected but instead finding traces of droids in the area.
Embracing custom LEGO pieces can have dramatic results. In builder Inthert’s case, the decision to swap out standard grey bricks for custom chrome elements (taking a cue from the UCS Naboo Starfighter) on the upgrade of his 2017 version of the N1 Naboo starfighter is a shining triumph. Not only does this new version of the classic Star Wars ship capture the sleek lines of the original, something we saw from him recently in his TIE-Proteus model, its burnished finish echoes the art deco motifs of the Old Republic. I’m put in mind of the allure of vintage sports cars, whose glistening engines can’t help but entice even the non-motor enthusiast.
Now that Santa’s big night has come and gone, the man has earned some rest and relaxation. What better place to unwind after a very busy holiday season than this lovely chalet by Jack R., perfect for relaxing with a steaming cup of hot chocolate after a day of skiing or snowboarding. Above the door, the stained glass look, made with transparent orange plates behind turntable bases, adds a touch of warmth to the scene.
Next to a nice stack of firewood outside, a couple of Santa’s sled team also enjoy a nice rest. Jack demonstrates a great use of battle droid torsos as the reindeer heads.
Masterful builder Jarek has turned his hand away from building incredible Star Wars models to something a little closer to home in our world, but still nearly as fast. This snazzy Formula 1 Ferrari has remarkably accurate lines, something that’s exceedingly difficult to accomplish in LEGO at this scale. In fact, LEGO’s official designers in Billund have tried their hands at this very car, which appeared in 75889 Ferrari Ultimate Garage. He’s captured the spindly nature of these heavily glorified go-karts, and even sitting still this thing looks fast.
Especially impressive, though, is that Jarek hasn’t overlooked the small details, like the exposed chassis and suspension at the car’s rear.
Blizzard’s Overwatch brand is now an official LEGO theme and it seems to be inspiring even more fans to create their favourite characters from their favourite bricks. This time it is Joffre with his interpretation of the insane Junkrat character.
The build perfectly captures the character, from various explosives to his iconic leg prosthetic and his crazy face — the latter probably being the best part. All sorts of colours in the hair capture the singed ‘do, while the raised eyebrows and his tongue sticking out show what a fun-loving guy he is. The pants also give a surprising amount of detail in their exotic colour scheme, which is a big plus to the overall build.
Nancy Grace Roman, the astronomer and “the mother of the Hubble” passed away on December 26 at the age of 93. She worked on the Hubble Space Telescope in the early stages and was honored in the LEGO Ideas Women of NASA set in 2017. She was also the first woman executive at NASA and also one of the first chief astronomers. She will dearly be missed by the lives she’s touched and inspired all over the world, and her legacy will be long remembered. On behalf of the LEGO community and the team at The Brothers Brick, we bid you farewell. Nancy, you are now one truly with the stars and you will always shine with brightness in the sky, leading the way for aspiring youth to light the path to even greater things. Rest in peace, Nancy.
Today we’re getting our first official, high-quality look at LEGO’s newest line of Collectible Minifigures, featuring characters from The LEGO Movie 2, thanks to LEGO’s Chinese and Taiwanese first-quarter catalogs. This series, 71023 The LEGO Movie 2 Collectible Minifigures will feature 20 characters from the new film, some of which are cross-licensed with The Wizard of Oz. The Wicked Witch of the West and her Flying Monkeys made an appearance in The LEGO Batman Movie with sets such as The Ultimate Batmobile, and it looks like the rest of the gang is showing up in The LEGO Movie 2. Most other sets for The LEGO Movie 2 are already available. The film comes out Febuary 8.
Simultaneously, German retailer B&B published their listing for the new series, providing us with a few extra details, such as the case image.
Hong Kong builder, mamax711 brings us his rendition of Robin Hood’s home. It’s an excellent fit for the medieval rogue, right down to the organic-looking shape of the building, the patchwork, and plant growth. Robin’s home would be well-hidden in a dark forest. I love the non-traditional angles of the walls and roof-lines and would love to see the interior framework holding everything together. Since this is Robin Hood’s house, I am guessing it will have to remain a secret.
For Christophe Pujaletplaa, a LEGO city is a living thing that grows and evolves like a real city. Having begun in 2010 when he rediscovered his childhood love for the plastic bricks, Christophe continues to expand and update his tiny LEGO metropolis, which he’s dubbed Microville. Only, it’s not so small anymore, rounding out at nearly 50 large LEGO baseplates, or more than 7 meters squared.
Even when Christophe started in 2010, he had lofty goals, already planning for a much larger microscale LEGO city than most of us have ever attempted. When he began, he used whatever bricks he had in his collection, and augmented them with cups of red bricks from his local LEGO store.
Click to continue reading about Microville
The next best thing that came out of the Star Wars prequels, next to having Darth Maul and his dual lightsaber scenes (for me at least) were these STAP (Single Trooper Aerial Platform) Droids. I’ve always thought they were quite functional and neat looking while being able to navigate smoothly through jungle terrain. This build by SP Design is quite a delightful reminder that this particular pair of vehicle/character could be a set issued under the constraction theme, similar to the Scout Trooper & Speeder Bike. I’d probably get a bulk load of them just to have an army. It’s also been a while since I’ve watched the prequels and maybe time to do so again.