Whether he’s hurling barrels at Jumpman, riding a rhino through the jungle, or power-sliding around a tight corner in his go-kart, Donkey Kong is one impressive ape. And vincentkiew‘s LEGO Kong has all the charm and style of the iconic gorilla. Just look at those opposable digits! There’s also some tremendous Nice Parts Usage (NPU) in the necktie, mouth, and banana peels.
What I love most about this gallant old tall ship by Sebeus I is that it’s still distinctly in the style of the classic LEGO Pirate ships I remember from the early 90s. Of course, this one is both much larger and much better detailed, but it still incorporates the large hull elements and distinctive flags along the sides for cannon ports. The custom paper sails add a great look, too.
Where this ship really shines, though, is in the stern, which is low and sleek and expertly sculpted. The ship manages to capture the deck’s curvature in a way the old sets never could. It looks just perfect to fetch some breadfruit plantings from the tropics.
Feast your eyes on this crustacean-themed restaurant and hostel called the Osaka Crab, built by Ian Hoy. This modular building can be split to reveal the restaurant within the ground and first floors [that’s first and second floors for you Americans – Ed] and then a couple of bedrooms on the next floor up for those who have eaten too much crab and can’t make it home. A lot of character has been packed into the building both inside and out – as you can see from the fantastic red, brick-built crab.
See more of this crabby creation
Volker Brodkorb uses some of the finest techniques for a proper presentation of a new LEGO creation. Not only did he publish some eye-catching pictures of the spacecraft, but also called it a prototype and furnished illustrations with a pretty captivating background story about the COSMO Engineering Corporation and their latest spacecraft. Now I’m simply irritated I can’t read more about COSMO and see more of their vessels! But at least we have this beautiful HyperStar runner featuring some fairly simple, yet so smooth curves.
Marius Herrmann has built several excellent LEGO Titans from Titanfall 2, including Ion and Northstar, along with Ronin. Now, he shows some love for the campaign’s protagonist, the lovable Marauder Corps death machine that is BT-7274. BT’s lightweight frame was captured accurately using orange, white, and custom spraypainted military green bricks. His model is detailed down to an array of individual rockets ready to fire from the shoulder-mounted missile pods.
I always love builds that use a specific part to great effect. Case in point is Takamichi Irie‘s utilization of the wings from an Ant Man LEGO set on his macro scale hornet. The shaping of the segmented body and precise colour blocking is expertly done. Not to mention the lovely combination of technic parts and robot arms for the legs.
The model appears to have a fair amount of articulation, allowing for some realistic poses. Couple that with some nicely presented photographs and these shots almost appear to be out of an entomology journal.
Can you picture this mech wandering across a post-apocalyptic wasteland scavenging for parts and power? Bregma Nicle has built a scavenger mech called Bad Diesel who packs plenty of attitude and more than a little intimidation into his bulky frame. I love the breathing apparatus and his ridiculously oversized weapon system. There are a host of scavenged parts that help to emphasise his hunter-gatherer nature, for example the “lobster sighting device” on the weapon or the round light tiles from the racing buggy sets as goggles.
You can see more of his scavenged equipment on show with his weapons system dismounted and on display. Bad Diesel has plenty of pose-ability despite those thunderous thighs and heavy armour.
I have a thing for space corridors. I can’t explain it, I can’t define it — I just have a thing for space corridors. Turns out, I’m not the only one! Tim Goddard has created an H-shaped corridor section inspired by Jeremy Williams’ Alpha Zero Niner and built as part of a collaboration to be revealed in a couple of months. Tim has captured all the elements of a good space corridor: plenty of details, cool greebling, great depth of field, creative lighting and a Classic Space minifig.
The use of pearl gold and light gray LEGO bricks to depict machinery and greebly technical elements is the hallmark (and something of a cliché) of the Steampunk genre. You don’t often see this color scheme deployed in modern or futuristic themes, and that’s what makes this excellent mech creation by Marco Marozzi so eyecatching. The gold armour plating makes a formidable protective shell for a frame bursting with greebles and functional-looking details. The shoulder-mounted guns provide plenty of firepower, but it’s the squat stance and those creepy-looking manipulator arms which give this beast a dose of real character.
Delving deeper into the artistic aspect of LEGO building, Timofey Tkachev follows up his previous build of a blood fountain with a strong image of spring rain, which has a very impressionist feel to it. The composition makes for a very powerful image, with contrast between colours and textures drawing the eye to the man holding his umbrella over the kneeling girl. The best part has to be the difference between the rain drops above and below the stone platform, which makes the rainfall look very dynamic. While the rockwork could be less repetitive, I think it blends in with the textured background well, making for a very consistent creation.
Heikki Mattila continues to inspire with another brilliant interior, this time with an emphasis on mirrors. These aren’t official LEGO pieces, but are instead a reflective material that has been cut to size. Even if you’re a purist, you can probably agree that they add a nice dimension to the build that otherwise would not have existed.
As for the actual LEGO parts, this is a great example of how a few builds, combined with great lighting and photography, can create an amazing scene. The two little oddities here are the picture frame (which could have been a simple wooden affair) and the gold helmet visors being used as bowls.
Disney’s Frozen left us with a couple of heavy earworms still playing in the very background of our minds, but CK HO doesn’t let our favourite winter characters go. Recreated in the style of BrickHeadz, Elsa and Anna (featuring Olaf and Swen) do not look as excited as the versions by YOS Lego we featured previously, but this time they include not only bananas, but also some croissants.
