I’m not exactly sure what Anthony Wilson was going for with this undeniably expressive piece of LEGO art, but if his plan was to instill terror, I’d say he nailed it. Just look at those eyes. The self-removed heart, exhibited neatly in a glass case, doesn’t comfort me at all about this fellow’s intentions. He looks like he’s in a bad mood and wants to tell you all about it. No doubt Pale Man will fit in nicely with my other nightmares about giant spiders and man-eating bears.
(1) Keep your Gizmo away from bright lights, (2) don’t let him get wet, and of course (3) never feed him after midnight …no matter how much he begs. If you can stick to these rules, then you might be ready to build your very own 1980’s furball. Or it might just be safer to admire John Toulouse‘s adorable LEGO Mogwai (complete with a stylish wooden box). Yeah, that’s probably your safest bet.
There seems to be a persisting presence of bird builds in the LEGO community, more so than other animals. Now Paul Lee joins the fun with his recreation of a Hyacinth Macaw. It is one of my favourite kinds of parrots personally, but I never expected it to be the bird of choice for nearly anyone else. While the legs are simplistic (still realistic), the facial detail and feather texture more than make up for it.
The struggle of man and beast against nature is depicted movingly in this captivating scene by Australian builder aido k. The imagery here is sublime thanks to the exquisite posing: the man, desperately clutching his cloak to provide some relief from the biting wind, pulls his reluctant steed through the blizzard in hopes of reaching warmth and comfort before his dwindling supplies are finally exhausted. The scene is full of subtle details (such as the grass bending in the wind) which enhance its sense of realism, no doubt felt by all who look upon these two weary travellers.
If you haven’t seen Disney’s charming Moana, you may not recognize Hei Hei, the Pacific Island princess’s dim-witted and comical but seaworthy companion. I love how LEGO 7 has captured the quizzical head tilt of the foolhardy rooster. The colorful design staged against the pale blue looks exquisite. Take note of the minifig flippers for the plucky poultry’s wattle and the dark green round corner elements as tender chicken wings, although I am sure Maui would probably still say he needs fattening up.
A wide mouthful of sharp dragon teeth is probably the last thing any LEGO knight wants to see. But this dragon bust by Aaron Newman looks pretty cool all the same. Personally I love a good LEGO dragon, and this one delivers on all fronts. The “generic” dragon head shape is hard to achieve in bricks, but is created perfectly here. I’d normally advise builders to avoid giving their dragons teeth — it’s tough to get them looking good. But Aaron has pulled it off nicely. In addition, the colour scheme works well, with pastel shades complementing the main white, giving a “realistic” Frost Drake look.
The bust is a scaled-up version of Aaron’s older minifig scale dragon, Fyaska the Unladylike. Here’s a comparison between the minifig and large versions…
Two heads + two tails + a castle on its back = one excellent Oriental dragon. The Tokyo Tag Team brings us this cracking LEGO creation — all teeth and claws and roof shingles. The castle itself is a great little build, with the dark green roof providing a smart contrast to the orange scales on the dragon.
The twin heads are well-built, with some good angled brickwork to provide the shaping. I particularly like those dark grey whiskers up front — a nice touch which adds an appropriately Eastern mythological feel.
There’s only one spider in the world I’d actually want to have in my house: this giant LEGO spider by Grant Davis. Grant uses some great techniques in this build. For example, the cherry elements in between the hinges on the legs are used to achieve tiny bands of red, while minifig caps are used to capture the round articulating joints.
However, the presentation is what really makes this build shine. The spider dangles in front of a green background, belying its large scale. Grant continues to put out killer builds for the Iron Builder competition, so be sure to check out the other three we’ve highlighted already: a fan, Whack-A-Mole machine, and lotus flower.
Aaron Newman is continuing the long tradition of turning characters and creatures from Warhammer and 40K into LEGO builds. The creature getting the treatment today is the bird-like Lord of Change. There’s a lot to like here, but the small details that make up the avian face as well as the small gold details dotted around the build do it for me.
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated with creepy crawlies, but dragonflies were always a favorite. I love how they’d appear to defy gravity as they hovered above the rippling water. Takamichi Irie has recreated this iconic insect with a ‘handful’ of minifig parts (note all the minifigure hands used as connectors on the wings), some flex tube and a sprinkling of blue and black elements. With some sharp photography and clever use of lighting, it even appears to be hovering; all that is missing is the water.
Alien: Covenant hits theaters in the U.S. this week, which is the only thing me and my wife have talked about for weeks (we’d be a tad more excited if Ridley Scott had nothing to do with it, but that’s a whole other discussion). It’s been a long, long time since we’ve had a decent Alien movie. Over here at TBB headquarters we were stoked to see all the recent Alien-themed builds as the release date grew nearer, but absolutely no one could have anticipated this perfectly timed creation by Manufactura Jarema.
This is the Alien franchise presented in all its face-hugging, chest-bursting and hole-punching glory, but with the delightfully adorable twist that can only come from a Brickheadz character. Could the violent implantation of a parasitic alien and its gruesome exit from a human body be any cuter? We certainly think not.
Now that the mathematical cartoon show Adventure Time is up to 260-something episodes, I must admit I’ve fallen waaaay behind, so I was pleased that this splendid collection of AT vignettes by Tim Lydy were based on stuff I actually remember watching! Here we see Finn battling a brick-built version of The Lich over a great rendition of the Well of Power. Meanwhile Jake eats a sandwich, naturally, BECAUSE HE’S A DOG. Tim makes great use of the LEGO Dimensions Finn and Jake minifigs in these scenes, and the inclusion of a certain gastropodic Easter egg in each one also makes me very happy.
