Some creations rely on complicated techniques and difficult shapes to impress the viewer, while others make the connection by emotion. The strength of Tinkerbell in a lantern waiting for Peter by Jae Won Lee lies in the expressive posing of Tinkerbell in the center. The lantern’s details reward closer inspection, like the golden decorations or the seams between 1x6x5 window panels to look like wire mesh.
Military vehicle master Andrew Somers has broken from his usual realistic style and built a neat futuristic space truck that wouldn’t look out of place among Last Days on Mars concept art by Christian Pearce. Along with the usual working suspension and steering, the build features working grabber crane, and lots of eye catching mechanical detailing. I love the use of the stickered space logo tile on the side of the cab as it provides a dash of color and a bit of realistic context to the build.
Just as LEGO did with The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie, there’s a wave of collectible minifigures dedicated to the characters in September’s The LEGO Ninjago Movie. Revealed only a last month, 71019 The LEGO Ninjago Movie Collectible Minifigures will be hitting stores August 1 ahead of the movie, and feature 20 characters who, nicely enough, are not all ninjas. But much like the world of Ninjago itself, these characters, who range from a sushi chef to a teen pop fan, abide in a stereotyping mashup of all things Asian. The figures will retail for $3.99 each, and are concealed in blind packs just like previous series.
Brickheadz builds never fail to impress me — just when you think there’s only so many ways you can represent characters, along comes another that blows your mind yet again. Julius Caeser’s embodiment built by John Cheng together with the backdrop is almost a perfect tabletop display for an inspiring corporate dictator.
No general is complete without his loyal soldier, which is a great companion build to conquer Rome.
With a £150,000 price tag, it’s clear the Nissan GT-R Nismo is not a car for driving to the supermarket and back quickly when you run out of milk. The fact that renowned LEGO car builder Firas Abu-Jaber built a LEGO version and said it was his favourite car, makes it even more apparent that this is a special vehicle. The name Nismo is just a contraction of Nissan Motorsport, and this supercar is all about speed, control, and performance on the track. Firas’ LEGO version is brilliantly accurate with some skilled building techniques used to get the shaping and the coloured components spot-on.
See more of this super-fast LEGO supercar
“You can search far and wide, you can drink the whole town dry, but you’ll never find a beer so brown as that found in the Green Dragon.” So goes the tribute as sung by Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took in Lord of the Rings about the Green Dragon Inn in the Shire, adoringly built here in LEGO by Patrick Balbo.
Based on the inn seen in Peter Jackson’s movies, the Green Dragon is a perfect example of Hobbit architecture with its rounded doors and long, low-slung design. The builder has incorporated all sorts of nice details, from the curved layout of the building to the tree made from stud shooters. The scene is lively and quite welcoming with all sorts of Shire folk mulling about outside. No doubt I would like to stop here and try this brown beer for myself!
Even if you’re not a Snapchat user, you’ve probably been exposed to the latest Internet sensation that is the Snapchat dancing hotdog. The popular mobile chat tool recent added this seemingly harmless augmented reality feature, only for it to instantly balloon into possibly the biggest meme of 2017. Of course, not wanting to miss this latest pop culture bandwagon, I have crafted a LEGO version of this adorable sausage for your enjoyment and/or annoyance. Because let’s be frank, the weiner takes it all – and I’m on a roll!
Ever wondered what LEGO enthusiasts do with those neon-pink, azure blue, flaming orange, dark red, and medium lavender bricks? Well, Robert4168 has layered his to recreate the undulating seafloor, and then plated all those colorful pieces with transparent elements to give it a watery feel. Sprinkled with coral, seaweed, and wonderful anemonies and dotted with an abundance of thriving marine life. This colorful underwater sanctuary is as serene as a personal home aquarium, with the fish nibbling at the top of the water. You can almost hear the bubbles.
As a clarification, I should mention that this is not a bust of a revolutionary, but of one who busts revolutionaries: Inspector Javert from the musical Les Miserables. The builder, W. Navarre, has been making Les Miserables-themed LEGO creations since the start of this year, with this bust being one of the best so far, and the first that was not a minifig-scaled vignette or diorama.
The build is quite experimental, with many complicated techniques to achieve all sorts of shapes and textures, as is expected of Mr. Navarre. This does come at a cost, because experimental means some things work and others do not. So it is that the hat and the collar work really well, just as the mouth and sideburns, but the head seems to me to be somewhat short and the nose a bit too blocky.
Introduced to the Halo universe in Halo 4, the Mantis shook up the vehicle gameplay with a mech carrying immense firepower and capacity for celebratory crouching. ZiO Chao presents a LEGO version of this UNSC powerhouse in incredible detail. His accurate model is fully poseable, with flexible legs, cockpit, and armaments.
The minifigure-scaled mech comfortably seats a Spartan minifigure at the controls.
See more photos, including some progress shots, on ZiO Chao’s Flickr.
What started as a virtual model of the Lambda class T-4a shuttle expanded and grew over thirteen years into the towering creation you see before you. Polish LEGO builder Maciej Szymański has recreated the Imperial base on the forest moon of Endor from the conclusion of the Original Trilogy in Return of the Jedi.
Maciej tells The Brothers Brick that the flat, top part of the landing platform alone is built from roughly 10,000 LEGO pieces (not including detailing, greebling, railings, and lights).
See more photos and read all about this huge LEGO Star Wars diorama
Nothing beats a Transformer with that old, classic look! Autobot Inferno has been built masterfully by Hoyin Lau, and he’s ready to transform and roll out! What screams out Transformers Generation 1 to me is the construct of the head and the deep blue eyes.
What makes the icing on the cake for any Transformers build is the capability to morph into its alternate mode, and you’ve got to check out that screamin’ red Fire Engine. Take my money!
Click to see more of this awesome Transformer