This year the LEGO City is getting a new hospital building — a gorgeous 60204 Hospital set. A long-rumored set has been finally revealed today. Let’s have a closer look at the new medical center opened for the citizens of the LEGO city.
Click here for more images of the set
People packs are meant to complement City sets to add more life and scenes with characters and activities. The first 60134 Fun in the Park – City People Pack released in 2016 was quite a hit with the introduction of a long-awaited baby minifigure, and last year’s version, Fun at the Beach, featured lots of beach activities. This year’s pack, 60202 People Pack – Outdoor Adventures, features a new set of minifigures doing everyday things with an outdoor adventure theme, such as camping, hiking, and rafting. There are a few new interesting elements to watch out for including a baby carrier and a bald eagle. Consisting of 164 parts, we’re expecting it to cost $39.99 USD, as the previous version did.
Click to see the rest of the fun outdoor themes
Medieval houses are a popular motif in LEGO fan creations, but that comes at a price – even though the quality is generally very high among these builds, there is less and less room for originality. Obviously, this build by César Soares is something more.
The Green Fish Inn does not look like a place where most people would want to spend their time in real life if presented with a choice, but it does look cool. The textures and exotic colours look great, most notably the recently returned legendary dark turquoise used as some strange mold all across the building. The roof is great, with a few patched holes and a nice mix of tiles and slopes that make for some subtle details. Both the island and trans-black lake add a great deal to the atmosphere of the scene.
The National Gallery of Art itself is a wonderful piece of architecture all on its own. Builder wrtyler constructed a brick-built replica of the West Building that’s more than worthy of an official LEGO Architecture set and then some. It’s amazing what a little lighting can do to bring life into a simple structure.
The actual West Building has at least 3 acres of skylights covering its roof. According to wrtyler, it was a challenge to replicate that roof with LEGO transparent tiles while having the right structure in place to hold it up. At least 500 transparent cheese wedge pieces were used in total for both wings to give the intended effect.
We singled out Jeff Friesen’s Cityscapes as our 2017 Creation of the Year. If you’ve missed it then, these are still very much worth a look, and even if you’ve seen them, they’re so mesmerising that you may find something you missed earlier on. It’s almost soothing and appealing to let your eyes wander around these intricate builds.
We could not resist reaching out to have a deeper discussion with Jeff to understand the mind of an artist that could create something so different and unique with the very same bricks all of us see and build with every day.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, e.g. where are you based, your LEGO history, and your work (LEGO/Photography and real life if it is different)?
I’m an award-winning photographer based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, which is on Vancouver Island. I have vivid memories of playing with LEGO from the age of 3 (that was in the early 1970s). I had a shoebox full of white and red bricks in the classic sizes, mostly 2 x 4s. Those bricks were used to make everything from aeroplanes to cities to double-decker car ferries for Matchbox racers. Recently, I was wondering why the brick selection was only red and white. After doing some research it appears the bricks must have been a hand-me-down set from the 1960s. Back then LEGO used to have basic building sets in just red and white.
The late 1970s brought with it the dual treasures of minifigures and Space LEGO. I essentially lived in a Space LEGO drama for a few years. Blue, trans-yellow, and grey were the primary colours of that era. As a child, the actual LEGO building is just the beginning of the fun, and then you get to play with what you’ve made. As an adult, I’ve replaced the play phase with photography.
It’s amazing how LEGO has been there through every stage of life, and now my daughter’s life.
Click here to continue reading our interview with Jeff Friesen
The success of the last year’s LEGO NinjaGo 70620 NINJAGO City exclusive set has proved that LEGO fans – both young and adult – are ready for huge and elaborate LEGO sets expanding the boundaries of the regular line-ups. Even though The LEGO Ninjago Movie premiered last September, the second direct-to-consumer set is just to be released this Summer. LEGO Ninjago 70657 NINJAGO City Docks has been recently listed in certain online stores, and now we’re having the first look at the next addition to the amazing City of Ninjago. unfortunately, there’s still no information about the pieces count or the price of the set, but we expect it to be around $250/250€.
Click here to see more pictures of the new Ninjago set!
Amongst all the LEGO Castle sets, 6074-1 Black Falcon’s Fortress is a firm fan favourite. Originally released in 1986, it saw a re-release in 2002. If you missed out on those versions, why not take inspiration from Mark of Falworth and build your own take on this classic fortification? Of course, Mark’s castle is significantly larger and more complex than the official set, featuring lots of sideways-building techniques to create arrow slits and wall texturing.
Click to see more pictures of this fabulous Castle, including its detailed interior
While I do love me some Speed Champions, I do really enjoy seeing fan creations using techniques that trim off most of the visible studs to give a car a sleek and smooth look. This Lamborghini Countach by Simon Przepiorka is one of those tiny wonders that make my jaw drop. I’ve always been a fan of the Countach and this is one of the best representations that I’ve seen at this scale thus far.
Click to see more details of Simon’s LEGO Countach
Roller coasters are the craze of the season. While we are holding breath until the release of the new rumoured giant roller coaster Creator exclusive set, pictures of the one of the highlights of the Summer wave of Creator sets are already here. The new 31084 Pirate Rollercoaster is a very nice-looking addition to the Creator Fair sub-theme and it seems to have just the right vibes to be well-received by Pirate fans.
Click here to see alternative builds of the set…
Studio Ghibli’s animated movies are a constant source of inspiration to LEGO builders, and Kiki’s Delivery Service is no exception. Here’s the film’s feline duo, Jiji and Lily, re-created in the brick by car_mp. The curves of the cats’ bodies are nicely done, particularly the studs-out section depicting Lily’s neck fur. But as with other cartoon-themed creations, it’s the addition of the large Mixel eye tiles which injects a bunch of character and fun.
You never know what you’re going to get when you ask the right questions. Recently, we had the chance to speak with Douglas Khoo about his work. Douglas is a talented builder who seldom showcases his builds online, but does what he does for the love of it. If the builder’s name rings a bell, that’s because he was part of the crew that was invited to create and build an exhibit for the UNESCO’s Piece of Peace exhibition that will travel the world.
Douglas created this magnificent collage of LEGO Star Wars ships with a silent tribute to the Dark Side. This montage only took Douglas about two hours to complete, and if you did not already notice, it’s inspired by a similar piece by artist Louis C. Hébert from the Bleublancrouge advertising agency from the Star Wars Identities Exhibition over at the Montreal Science Centre, back in 2012. The difference though is Douglas makes use of the negative space a lot more to give the Star Wars ships a showcase of their own and individuality. If you still don’t see Vader there, squint your eyes, take a step back and look again!
When asked about how big a fan he was, Douglas’s answer was – you’ve got to be kidding me. That’s when we were introduced to a showcase of his other masterpieces which all center around the beloved Star Wars theme. With each of these builds, Douglas adds his own twists of interpretation and re-imagination to the scene.
Continue reading to see Douglas’s re-imagined LEGO Star Wars creations
We continue our adventures on Isla Nublar with the latest LEGO sets from Jurassic World, looking today at 75933 T. Rex Transport. The set includes 609 pieces, three minifigs, a Tyrannosaurs rex dinosaur, and a baby dinosaur.
Read our complete review of 75933 T. Rex Transport from Jurassic World