This week Classic Castle announced the winners of their huge annual contest! The quality of the entries grows every year, but this year they seemed to really blossom. Quite a few of these have been featured already. But here they are, all in one spot, for your viewing pleasure.
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Tapestry: |
Vignette: |
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Chivalry: |
Haunted Castle: |
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Seige: |
Secret Hideout: |
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Crime and Punishment: |
Custom Figure: |
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Misc: |
Castle: |
Congratulations to all the winners!
Takeshi Itou is one of the most incredible Castle builders out there. Every one of his creations is incredible. Its been quite awhile since his last one, but it has definitely been worth the wait.
This City Hall with linking bridges is very striking and I love all of the various Tudor houses.
(Via E-Klocki)
Huw Millington expands his 10193 Medieval Market Village set to include a full town square layout. The construction isn’t overly complex, but the effect is gorgeous. You can build your own with a baseplate and some additional plates to simulate the water, grass, and paved stones. Everything else is included in the set!
It’s been more than two years since Nathan Todd posted the first installment in his “Entrance to the Caves” story — illustrated in LEGO, of course.
“The Forgotten Beacon” was well worth the wait:
The mountain has an interior full of caves, and Nathan says that the beacon uses a new curved tower technique.
Check out lots more pictures on Nathan’s website.
UPDATE: Nearly all of the LEGO sets featured in this post are now available, including LEGO Space Police, Castle, and Agents 2.0.
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LEGO fans don’t normally get an official look at third-quarter LEGO set releases until Toy Fair New York in mid-February. However, CTV technology journalist Kris Abel visited the Canadian Toy & Hobby Fair in Toronto this past weekend, posting a full run-down of the late 2009 LEGO releases.
We’ve confirmed with The LEGO Group that this is official. Although Kris Abel reports that many of the sets and box art are still prototypes, his photos of the sets themselves are pretty good. In keeping with our new policy, then, here goes…
First up,
5972 Container Heist opens up to reveal a massive cannon:
If you can’t see the photos, click the links at the bottom of this post.
5974 Galactic Enforcer has classic (dare I say Classic?) lines:
The alien criminals in the LEGO Space Police sets have several new, unique pieces:
In LEGO Star Wars news, Endor gets a bunker (8038), the Y-Wing gets a facelift (8037), the Neimoidians get their own shuttle (with Nute Gunray minifig?), and 7749 Echo Base includes a first-ever LEGO tauntaun:
LEGO Power Miners sport a larger rock monster and a very large drilling platform:
The LEGO Indiana Jones assortment includes a boat chase, a pair of fighters, and a new Elsa Schneider minifig:
On the LEGO Castle front, the trolls get their castle and the undead make their return in 7079 Drawbridge Defense:
Finally, LEGO has announced MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, with a new color sensor.
You can read all of Kris Abel’s coverage on his blog:
We’ll expect even more complete coverage at Toy Fair New York in a few weeks from the usual suspects. In the meantime, share your thoughts in the comments.
Michal Herbolt cleans up with his lazy Gong Farmer…
While Callum tames the most dangerous beasts on earth for his crack cavalry units. Beause you know ain’t nothing more frightful than an full on Bovine charge!
It’s been a while since we’ve featured a floating rock, so SlyOwl‘s ship — the FRS Shakespeare — came as a very pleasant surprise. The fact that it flies around catching lightning makes it that much cooler.
Following our suggestions over the last few days, reader -greenglo- sent us a reminder that we’d missed his awesome Colossal Castle Contest VI entry titled “Everfrost Mountain Brewery”:
There are lots of great details to check out on Flickr, including detailed shots of the great green Ogre with light-up eye, but the 2-second video is what caught my attention:
Belatedly, via Gizmodo.
And a quick production note: Josh is an administrator at Classic-Castle.com, and therefore a judge for this contest. In general, he’s avoided potential conflict of interest by not blogging CCC6 entries. The rest of us here at TBB should’ve done a better job of covering for him, but a few great Castle creations have fallen through the cracks.
This is a rather old one, by Kevin Huxhold. I’ve never seen it before so I’m blogging it! Why? Because I can! And it’s really cool….
Matt Wagner‘s latest virtual LEGO creation places an unlikely character in a church:
Amusing subject matter aside, Matt’s design for the pipe organ is excellent.
Aaron Andrews rocks the lower reaches of the earth with his mini-mining machine. He says that he was planning something bigger, but I think this diminutive drill is spot on.
Echoing the works of M.C. Escher, as well as German Expressionism, Sly Owl‘s lopsided, sinking, crooked, all around messed-up castle is colorful and appealing in its craziness:
Also check out the other side of the diorama, featured a wonderful house that uses minifig flippers as roofing shingles:
Also a bonus, here’s a vignette of a poor soul getting sucked away by a twister:
