Tag Archives: Coronavirus

It’s a brickdemic!

Recently while playing around with the new triple clip bars and the Ninjago aeroblade centers I made a dodecahedron, intending some microscale scifi purpose for it. However, everyone I showed it to immediately pointed out the resemblance to a certain pathogen, so I decided to run with it and create a LEGO Covid-19 virus. I inverted the clips from my original inward-facing orientation to create the distinctive spike proteins and then used radar dishes to fill in the virus’s membrane envelope. For a quick 20-minute build, I’m pretty happy with the results, even if it is a bit creepy.

The virus

Here’s a look at the underlying structure of the dodecahedron if you want to build one yourself. The basic structure uses just two element types.

Covid 19 Breakdown

Is it gone?

It’s that time of the year for “new year, new me” declarations, and leaving certain things in the previous year which just ended. Builder Michael Jasper decided to build those sentiments as a small LEGO diorama.

When I think about it, New Years Day hangovers aren’t even that bad. Neither are New Year’s resolutions that no one will keep for more than a week. But that is every year. Things are already different at the start of 2022. Are LEGO Stores in the U.K. increasing the prices of Pick-a-Brick cups by almost 25%? Yeah that’s not exactly a good way to start the year. Newer lockdowns and restrictions? It’s a bit much but we’ve gotten used to them by now. We were all hoping this year will be better than the last, and the one before.

Nevertheless, COVID-19 persisted.

Hospitality on hold

LEGO builder Alex Eylar captures the mood of many with his latest creation Lonely Chef. Alex says he’s missing restaurants during the current lockdown, but in this melancholy composition he also manages to communicate the quiet despair felt by many in the hospitality industry. I’ve spent my entire working life in the bar and drinks trade, and right now it feels like I’m watching the whole industry slide off a cliff in slow-motion. On a less gloomy note, this is a wonderful LEGO model — clean lines and a simple colour scheme, nicely-lit, and well-photographed. I’m looking forward to when such creations depict a moment from our history, rather than from our present.

Lonely Chef

When you gotta go, you gotta go

While it’s best to stay indoors, sometimes you just need to go outside. Particularly when you need to “go” outside. This slice of modern LEGO life from Crises_crs is just cute enough to not be super-depressing.

Protect yourself

There’s just the right hint of disrepair to the scene. The mix of exposed studs and 1×1 round tiles has the grass looking a little ragged. The pavement has a similar mix, leaving it just a little cracked. But both the dog and owner look pretty happy in their protective gear, all things considered. You have to wonder where they found that toilet paper, though. My local shops have been out of stock for a while.

The very model of insanity

When considering the possible end of civilisation, it’s important to consider worst-case scenarios. However, I have to admit I’m baffled so many people appear to have decided the very worst thing that might happen in the coming weeks is that they run out of toilet paper. Gregory Coquelz appears to share my bemusement as he’s put together a LEGO version of an intrepid prepper — securing enough toilet rolls to see them through the coming sh__-storm (see what we did there?). Our heroic shopper has certainly stuffed his trolley to bursting point with the precious resource, although personally I might have grabbed at least a little food as well. Of course, the stockpiling of LEGO to get through any quarantine period would be a different matter entirely — an eminently sensible idea if you ask me.

LEGO coronavirus covid-19 toilet paper