This Medusa-like character is eerie and sinister while at the same time beautiful and terrifying. One can only wonder what would inspire Timofey Tkachev to build such an unsettling mythical creature. The curvature on the female form and its detailing through the careful parts usages for the eyes and lips amplifies the realism. What draws the viewer to the scene subconsciously is the impressive effort of tessellation with steering wheels that complements the scene.
Cute and deadly: Djokson’s Petunia the Pummeler Pixie ticks both boxes. This little creation reveals some inspirational part usage, particularly in the way it reimagines the old banded cones, often used as wind socks in LEGO airport sets, as the pixie’s striped stockings. Piling on more kawaii details in the form of a sweet LEGO Friends bow on her top and a Clikits heart in her pigtails completes the wonderfully destructive candy aesthetic.
A fantastic piece of fantasy just popped up in the form of the home of the white lotus priestess by jaapxaap. Jaapxaap’s use of a wide variety of angles and bright colors help create a building that feels both wonderfully organic and magical. I wouldn’t have thought of doing a purple roof, but it works really well here and compliments the orange and brown hues of the surrounding terrain. A number of fun little details can be spotted in this build, including wild looking toadstools, a brilliant brick-built stork, and plenty examples of the priestess’ signature flower. You will even find a small porch with a telescope, perfect for any astrologer.
Likely to be the last and final revelation from the LEGO lineup of Exclusives at Comic-Con for 2018 is the Apocalypseburg Unikitty from the upcoming LEGO Movie 2. Featuring two unique interchangeable expressions including Rage Kitty and Angry Kitty. This will a unique treat for Unikitty fans.
I have a bit of a soft spot for builders that really build a bit of everything. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with building only spaceships, or trains, or architecture, I enjoy building in many themes/styles. I’m not always great at it, but I like being versatile, and it’s cool to see the work of others who do it really well. Micah Beideman is one of them. You may recognize the name from another recent and completely different creation we covered.
The unique sci-fi city is a mass of intriguing buildings. The architecture is designed with a clever use of a very wide range of parts, including several minifig accessories. It’s definitely one you have to zoom in on to really see and appreciate every detail. The most impressive aspect is the layering of tightly bound treads that make up the floating, stair-step groundwork for the city.
Since LEGO began the Collectible Minifigures theme in 2010, there have been quite a few special series based on licensed properties, from the Simpsons to Team Great Britain to The LEGO Movie. But it’s hard to imagine LEGO could have chosen a theme for their next minifigure line more likely to inspire fans’ devotion than the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts, except perhaps the juggernaut that is Star Wars (and it’s unlikely to become a minifigure line anytime soon). The new theme based on the ultra-popular books and films about magicians and muggles features the greatest number of unique minifigures yet, with a full 22 to collect. Kept under wraps until an announcement just a few weeks ago, 71022 Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts Collectible Minifigures are set to launch globally August 1, and they will be priced at $3.99 USD each.
Click to read our full, hands-on review
Little more than a week ago, I had the pleasure of attending Bricktastic, in Manchester, England. It is a somewhat different kind of event than ones I’ve attended before: not organised by a regular LEGO Users Group or with a commercial goal, but run by and on behalf of Fairy Bricks. This is a UK Charity that donates LEGO to children in hospitals.
Bricktastic was a two-day public event, that attracted LEGO builders from all over the UK, as well as sizeable contingent from Ireland and small numbers of builders from other countries, including Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands. UK professional LEGO building company Bright Bricks are one of the sponsors of the event and they brought along a collection of “Mythical Beasts” including a stunning seven-headed hydra built using roughly 200,000 bricks, that greeted visitors near the entrance and surely was one of the highlights of the show. During set-up I got to whack some bits of the hydra into place with a mallet, which is certainly not a sentence I ever expected to write.
A 200,000 brick model of a hydra built by Bright Bricks
Bricktastic ticked all the boxes. The quality of the models on display was fantastic. Noteworthy is also that the exhibition room, at Manchester Central, was very nice: it was carpeted and surrounded by curtains. Because of this, the atmosphere was a lot cosier and quieter than is common in exhibition halls. Such a detail may seem unimportant, but imagine spending two days in a bare concrete box with harsh strip lighting and hundreds of excited children. That’s what you normally get an an exhibition hall. The public were wonderful. We didn’t even need barriers to protect the displays, which meant that everybody got a good view of the models and which made it easier to talk to people. The children could get creative themselves using large play areas. Fairy Bricks arranged the hotel for the exhibitors and organised a social program for both the Friday and Saturday evenings. Everyone seemed to have a great time and the proceedings went to a good cause. What more could you want?
See a few highlights and our extensive gallery
Dinosaurs are the name of the game today at TBB, so let’s take a trip to Western Europe and turn our clocks back to the Cretaceous period, because we’re going on a prehistoric safari to find Polacanthus! Polacanthus is Greek for “many thorns.” Vlad Lisin’s version of the herbivorous dinosaur lives up to its name because it looks quite sharp indeed. A mix of LEGO system and constraction elements are used to achieve a wonderfully organic looking dino. Polancanthus’ head is particularly stunning, thanks in part to a realistic-looking mouth achieved through the use of a battle droid torso and Ninjago snake skull helmet. This behemoth looks prepared to graze through some serious vegetation.
As you explore prehistoric past, don’t miss the fearsome Carnotaurus by Nathan Haseth.
The DC Comics exclusive minifigure for San Diego Comic-Con 2018 has been revealed to be Black Lightning, based off of the new CW show of the same name. The exclusive follows up the Comic-Con Atom minifigure from Legends of Tomorrow released two years ago.
Click to take a closer look at Black Lightning
Recreating the organic body shape of a creature using LEGO isn’t all that easy, but some builders do it very well. One of those builders is Nathan Haseth. His most recent creation, a Carnotaurus replica, is an excellent example of achieving nice curves out of a medium that isn’t all that curvy.
You may recognize the style of this dino from a recent article where we featured several dinosaurs. Nathan has a whole line-up of really cool dinos from the Cretaceous period (with some also appearing in the Jurassic World universe). The others include a Triceratops, Parasaurolophus and Ankylosaurus.
With Ogel’s mind-controlled army growing by the day, Alpha Team’s chances are looking more and more slim. To make matters worse, Rockmonster 2000 has sided with Ogel to provide him with a mutant dragonfish! Armed with harpoons and an awesomely dated early 2000s slick design, there is nothing that can stop their evil plan to take over the world!
The build is actually an entry for a Bionicle building competition–as if there were not enough early 2000s style in this creation already–which you can see if you look closely at the parts used. The current round of the competition asks for contestants to build a Bionicle creation capturing a particular theme, and Rockmonster 2000 has done an incredible job with his, since there’s no mistaking the Alpha Team in this one. There are various Bionicle parts, like a kanohi mask, and constraction elements like large claws used across it, sprinkled with just enough System bricks to flow perfectly. Alpha Team is a very nostalgic theme for me personally, but I think we can all agree that this creation is great even without its gloriously ridiculous background!
Sometimes, the scale of official LEGO Star Wars sets presents a challenge for builders who want to create elaborate scenes to incorporate them into. Microfighters can help in this situation unless you are not a fan of the cute and chunky vehicles in proportion to their minifig pilots. One solution is to do what Brick Ninja did, and re-design the official sets to better match mini-fig scale.
This custom version of Han Solo’s stolen M-86 speeder may have fewer play features and a bit less detail, but it matches the dimensions of the movie vehicle perfectly, and still fits Han and Q’ira side by side.
See Moloch’s landspeeder and compare these to the official LEGO sets