Fans of Bravest Warriors rejoice! After vanishing for two and half years, this wacky space animation from the mind that created Adventure Time is now back from the dead, with a third season beginning today on Cartoon Hangover. And because LEGO makes everything 9000% sexier, here is a building guide for Catbug to get you in the mood.
(Click here for enlarged version)
Unless you’re just tragically unhip or have been living under a rock, on Mars, then you’ll no doubt have heard of the critically acclaimed, Emmy winning, noodly limbed, gender stereotype breaking, cult followed, totally mathematical, pop culture phenomenon that is Adventure Time.
It’s now been 10 years since the original pilot aired, and with almost 250 episodes under its belt (including a new 8-part special Islands coming next month) the show remains as popular as ever, thanks to its groundbreaking style, the diversity of its characters, and massive merchandising empire. And now it is finally a LEGO set, 21308 Adventure Time. Not bad for a cartoon inspired by D&D and videogames!
Read our full review of this set
You may not be familiar with the 1998 animated television series Cowboy Bebop but that will not stop you admiring this spaceship built by Haeum Daddy. Cowboy Bebop was set in the year 2071, and follows the lives of a crew of bounty hunting cowboys travelling on their spaceship Bebop. This LEGO version of protagonist Spike Spiegel’s racing craft the Swordfish II is like an Ultimate Collector Series edition with all the greebled details and a stand. The smooth aerodynamic lines of the wings and the front of the ship are maintained with the use of curved slops and wedges …this ship is fast and swooshable.
The power all comes from the incredibly detailed engine and exhaust portion of the ship; definitely worth a closer look. So many great dark grey LEGO parts have been packed into this area that the bulbous shape of the animated ship is emulated despite being formed from lots of smaller pieces.
The Southern Air Temple was a location in the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and the childhood home of the main protaganist in the series, Aang. Micah Beideman has built a LEGO version of the Southern Air Temple, capturing the impressive collection of blue roofed buildings and the tall tower dominating the centre of the white temple. The lower buildings have been built at a nice depth and varying heights to give the model a real ‘temple in the sky’ feel with their steep winding paths. I also like the use of the transparent 1×2 bricks, built up to form the clouds that encircle the temple.
What is a Catbus? Well, it’s a cat that’s a bus of course! This particular Catbus has been crafted by CK Tsang and is an excellent depiction of Catbus at this scale. Catbus is a character from the classic anime movie My Neighbor Totoro by legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. The wide grinning smile and bright ‘headlight’ eyes are perfectly captured in this build. Don’t worry about the lack of a door, as one of those windows will elongate should you want to climb aboard for a ride.
I am not a follower of RWBY but this build, by Ordo, is apparently a homage to the show. While I can’t comment on the accuracy of the build to the show, I can say that this scene is top-notch in and of itself.
The trailing blood drops against the white snow and the contrast of the dead tree are very striking. The mystery of the red figure and the creepiness of the creature all make for a very memorable scene. I’m not going to get this one out of my head for awhile.
Korean builder Haeundaddy has designed and built probably the best LEGO version of Shotaro Kaneda’s bike from Akira that I have seen. This larger scale bike is shapely, detailed and full of the smooth lines that characterise this famous red bike. The specially designed base is a nice touch as a model of this calibre needs something a little special to rest upon.
The details are fantastic, from the sports seat to the handlebar area, and Haeundaddy has taken the time to capture his work with some excellent photography.
Click through to see more of this excellent anime bike
More than ten years ago, we featured a LEGO model inspired by the Pejite gunship from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Well, here’s another one. Proving once again that inspiration is a close cousin of creative innovation, Nate Rehm-Daly takes us even further from the original source material. Now, instead of being dark red, it’s a combination of blue and neutral tones. And the sleek anime space style has been replaced by something more akin to dieselpulp. But the result stands on its own. That canopy combination is outstanding, and the poseable blue parts are sweet play features. I’d love to see a swarm of these dive down from the clouds.
This pair of Anime-inspired flyers by halfbeak were originally created for a contest over in the Flickr speeder bike group. Their design is fiendishly simple yet refreshingly unconventional, and is made possible by clever use of some older LEGO parts including Alpha Team canopies, Exoforce figures, and a variety of repurposed and recut LEGO stickers.
I like the forward-leaning posture of the riders – it conveys a sense that these speeders were built solely for racing, to compared to the more relaxed seating position of a typical LEGO speeder bike.
We’ve featured a lot of Gundam mecha over the years, but this is the first time we’ve seen a mech from the anime Big O. A humongous, lumbering titan, Big O wields vengeance upon his enemies, and it’s no surprise that builder Moko, whose builds frequently grace this site, has excellently captured the mech’s hulking frame in brick form with this amazing minifig-scale version. Big O even features his O Thunder guns hidden in his arms.
We’ve featured dozens of LEGO Gundam models over the years, but this one by JAN LEGO just might be my favorite yet. From the grills on the side of Gundam’s head to the heat vents on the chest, this LEGO Gundam has every detail you’d expect from Bandai’s “Perfect” series of challenging plastic models. Though the builder didn’t share exact dimensions, it’s also a huge model, judging from the photos — I’m guessing at least two feet tall.
Click through to see more photos of this huge LEGO Gundam model
I am a big Avatar: The Last Airbender fan. Of the three glorious seasons, it’s the final Agni Kai between Zuko and Azula that sticks with me the most. I feel it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of animation I’ve seen, and the music gives me chills. NeverEnoughLEGO built a mini-land scale version of Zuko and Azula, locked in their final battle.
Click through to see more photos of this LEGO Avatar: The Last Airbender model
