It’s just a little over a month until the première of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. Is there a better way to get ready for the new adventures other than to treat yourself with one (or maybe two, or three, or nineteen) of the nineteen new themed sets? It seems like anyone will be able to find a set that suits their taste, but there is only one that got a lot more attention than the others — 70841 Benny’s Space Squad. The set can be described as a “Classic Space battle pack”; sounds like an adult LEGO fan’s dream, doesn’t it? Let’s get the set assembled and take a closer look at the new minifigures…
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Adult fans of LEGO sometimes have skills that go beyond building masterpieces with bricks. Once in a while, we discover great gems that showcase a different talent combined with the love for LEGO, like the amazing handcrafted wooden LEGO we recently featured. Not too long ago, while scouring the web for great creations to feature here at The Brothers Brick, I came across something that didn’t strike me as worth exploring at first glance. But something compelled me to take a closer look, and I’m glad I did! The effort behind the creation of what I uncovered is astounding! Over 400 pages of programming and 2 years in the making, LEGO enthusiast Johan Alexanderson coded a full-blown game in honor of the LEGO Classic Space theme in retro-classic gaming styles from the 80s.
Johan Alexanderson (who also goes by the online handle LegoJalex) will be familiar to readers of The Brothers Brick — we’ve showcased more than a few of his excellent builds in the past (including his E.T Phone Home movie classic), and we featured an exclusive interview with him about his his LEGO creations. This article continues from where our last interview ended, when Johan mentioned a programming project to be revealed later. Before we speak to him again on his 2-year journey creating “Classic Space Adventures,” let’s take a quick look at the game itself.
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Turning his attention from his recent Blacktron builds, builder CK-MCMLXXXI has joined the right side of the law with his new Space Police 2 build. The Starmaster mkII has a brilliant spacey shape. It’s a simple dart form made from complicated LEGO slab arrangements, which hint at all manner of vents and inner workings. It’s complemented by smart printed piece usage, the Doctor Who K9 tile being a really neat touch (just behind the cockpit on the starboard–right–side). All spaceships deserve a lovely rear: check out those thrusters!
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I think it can be a fun practice when someone takes an official LEGO set and puts an entirely new (or old) twist on it. This Classic Space version of 10251 Brick Bank released in 2015 built by Justin Winn is just the kind of thing I’m talking about. Its façade is easily recognizable as the bank, but has all the classic colors and vibe of the retro-space and M-Tron themes. I’d love to see this idea applied to the entire modular series!
Justin’s Classic Space Brick Bank has a full interior, with a vault and plenty of old-style computer terminals.
This isn’t the first time Justin has “spacified” an existing LEGO set! Check out his customization of the 10196 Grand Carousel!
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A couple weeks ago we started featuring curated LEGO auctions featured on Catawiki. Current auctions include some rather rare LEGO sets from the 70’s and 80’s, along with custom models by LEGO artists.
One of the most nostalgic LEGO sets from the Classic Space era is 928 Galaxy Explorer. A copy of the set complete with box and instructions in great condition is up for auction right now.
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As a child, there was a special excitement connected to the release of a new colour of Classic Space astronaut; so when Peter Reid persuaded LEGO to include green spacemen in his LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit set, my heart skipped a beat. These same minifigures have inspired Kloou to build an epic retro sci-fi styled control tower. Arguing that the green spacemen have been denied a full range of sets he thought it only fair to build this amazing base in suitable green livery.
He’s done them proud, with the UFO tower sporting the traditional space symbol in 3D, some seriously cool radar arrays and multiple landing pads for a whole host of space scooters. What more could a spaceman ask for?
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Neo Classic Space has existed for some time as a modern interpretation of the nostalgic grey and blue theme from the early official LEGO space sets of the late 70s into the 80s. But builder AFOL anonis stepping up the game with the sleek space cruiser. The SHIP (easily clocking in the 100-stud length for a SHIPtember entry) retains the styling of its smaller cousins, with an arrowhead shape, side-mounted blasters, and spoiler, while simultaneously smoothing out the hard edges.
I particularly love the shaping from the rear, where it gives off faint vibes of a Super Star Destroyer in classic space livery.
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The newest Star Wars movie, Solo, actually showed that the origins of the Millennium Falcon had her covered in a sleek blue and white paint job. I’d like to think that if you go back a few more years, her factory finish looked a lot like this awesomely LEGO Classic Space redux from BeO Johansson. A classy makeover of the original Ultimate Collector’s Series Millennium Falcon (not the new version we reviewed), the blue and trans-yellow color scheme is packed full of nostalgia, helped with some fun nods to the old space sets from the 70s and 80s, such as the rear wing.
Although this version of the UCS Falcon doesn’t feature an interior (unlike the new version we reviewed), the cockpit, the builder has done some nifty upgrades to the cockpit, outfitting it with period-appropriate telemetry, AKA old-school computer elements. Continue reading →
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If you take the time to reflect on LEGO news in 2014, you might remember the hotly anticipated LEGO Ideas release of Peter Reid’s Classic Space-themed set 21109 Exo Suit. Builder [E]ddy Plu took his shrink ray and cranked out this pint-sized version of a modern classic, and the icing on the cake is that it seats a microfigure from the discontinued LEGO games series. These particular figures originally appeared in the game 3842 Lunar Command. His build is instantly recognizable and incredibly cute.
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Over the past few years, Rob Damiano has been building up a believable world around his Classic Space-inspired Nova Team. We have featured his work before and were pleasantly surprised to see this lovely Nova Team star-fighter. In a nod to the Classic Space ship numbering system, Rob named his star-fighter the LL-824 Paladin, and it is clad in the iconic blue, gray and trans yellow colors. It looks incredibly fun and swooshable. However, what really makes Rob’s work stand out is his photography, which utilizes a mix of practical effects and digital editing. While the Paladin is great, the setting and lighting help bring it life. It is reminiscent of the lively scenes found in LEGO product catalogs of the 1980s and 1990s, which also happen to be one of Rob’s sources of inspiration.
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Can you feel the nostalgia oozing out of this gorgeous little trophy-scale homage to LEGO Classic Space? The diorama by Paul Lee is a perfect micro replicant of a Galaxy Explorer, Rocket Launcher and Moonbase as they would appear in a 1980s LEGO catalogue. Special attention has been paid to getting the moon craters as close as possible to the classic baseplates. This build is simple and elegant with a lovely warm after-glow of sentimentality.
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Pinball machines bring out the kid in all of us, hanging out in an arcade losing quarters and setting high scores. And the Classic Space era of LEGO sets appeals to so many of us who got our first LEGO sets back in the 70’s through 90’s. The Brothers Brick contributor Bre Burns hits it out of the nostalgia ballpark with a fully functional LEGO pinball machine called “Benny’s Spaceship Adventure.” She spent several months perfecting the design with over 15,000 LEGO bricks, including LEGO Mindstorms NXT programmable bricks to make sounds and count your high score.
Bre has kindly shared loads of details about her LEGO masterpiece, which stands over two and a half feet tall, exclusively with The Brothers Brick. Let’s pull back that ball launcher, flick those flippers, and learn more about this amazing LEGO creation!
But first, let’s take a look at the pinball machine in action as Bre shares its working features and tells us a little bit about the design process in our latest TBB video.
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