Tag Archives: Cyberpunk

Beware the dangerous depths of Layers City

With sets like 70620 Ninjago City and 70657 Ninjago City Docks, The LEGO Ninjago Movie brought a cyber-punk aesthetic to official LEGO sets, which in cool factor is only eclipsed by the post-apocalyptic aesthetic of the new LEGO sets from The LEGO Movie 2. While LEGO fans have certainly been building cyberpunk creations for many years, even more builders have embraced this aesthetic, inspiring numerous custom LEGO models, including our own Ninjago City collaborative display at BrickCon, featuring over 60 custom city blocks. Sebastian Bachórzewski is an incredibly talented builder who builds in everything from medieval to post-apoc style. His latest large-scale model is “Layers City,” featuring a slice cut from a teeming metropolis full of colorful characters.

Take a closer look at Layers City

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Do you feel lucky cyberpunk? Well, do you?

William Gibson’s seminal sci-fi novel Neuromancer helped set the cyberpunk standard for urban cityscapes with its depiction of The Sprawl — a vast built-up area stretching the full length of the Eastern Seaboard of the US. Whilst Didier Burtin doesn’t mention Neuromancer with regards his latest model, this microscale LEGO creation immediately made me think of Gibson’s work. The architecture and the presence of some small-scale aerial vehicles also brings to mind Syd Mead’s vision of the cities of the future from Blade Runner. Whatever your particular favourite flavour of cyberpunk, you’re sure to find something you like in this model…

The city is gloriously detailed, rewarding a closer look with a wealth of textured detail, the product of smart parts choices and interesting combinations. Too often futuristic LEGO cities offer a homogenous architecture, but this offers a rich variety of building style, looking like it evolved over time in a messy clash of planning, business, and everyday living — much as a real world city does.

The model is all the more impressive for its tight footprint. All the glorious details in the images above are found within a small square of construction — a great advertisement for the effectiveness of microscale building in being able to conjure up epic vistas…

Surviving the apocalypse is all about a well-provisioned outpost

When it comes to post-apocalyptic LEGO creations, there is a vast selection of sub-genres that builders are inspired by, from cyber-punk, to wasteland survival, to monster/zombie/alien-infested worlds… and so many more. This scene by LegoFin. is set in a world where massive flooding and pollution have forced survivors to carve out a life among the crumbling remains of cities.

Aside from some very well-textured and very broken walls, I especially like the use of black bars throughout the structure for re-bar. This creates an even greater sense of danger and hostility in the environment. One missable detail is that the entire outpost is supported by a few small supports precariously balanced over the water. Then there’s all those utilitarian details like the radio tower, weather vane, and solar panels that complete the scene very nicely.

The LEGO pistol of choice for Cyberpunk 2077 high tech lowlives

CD PROJEKT RED’s upcoming RPG Cyberpunk 2077 is one of my most anticipated video games. I carefully examined the screenshots revealed on the official site and found a good close-up of one of the handguns in the game. It was clear and showed all the details I needed to make a LEGO replica of it, so I created my build of the Militech 9mm Pistol to show my excitement for Cyberpunk 2077.

The LEGO Militech 9mm Pistol features a moving trigger, removable magazine, and sliding bolt. These functions are demonstrated in this video, which also compares the LEGO pistol to the reference screenshots I used to build it.

Future LA has never looked cuter

“Cute” isn’t a word you’d normally associate with the dystopian cyberpunk future envisioned in Blade Runner. However, that’s what comes to mind with automaton120‘s futuristic microscale LEGO street scene. The backdrop nicely evokes the neon-soaked architecture of cyberpunk-LA, but the stars of the show here are the vehicles. That police spinner is a cracking little model, and the others really capture the feel of the cars and trucks in the movie. The presentation of the model could have been better, maybe clipping the ugly sheet backdrop out of the image, and some image processing could have added lens flare to the signage and vehicle lights etc. But not every builder likes to add post-production effects, so that’s nit-picking at an otherwise cool LEGO creation.

Regular readers will know we like us a LEGO Police Spinner here on TBB. Syd Mead’s classic design is a rite-of-passage build for any self-respecting sci-fi builder. We’ve featured a few brilliant examples in our time — including this stunning rain-soaked Blade Runner scene from Tyler — but we don’t see a lot of microscale versions, so this creation was too cute to pass up.

Police chase in District 18

With the LEGO speeder bike contest not only well underway but even close to conclusion, we see some of the highest quality entries being submitted. It seems to be a trend that builders put disproportional amounts of effort into their speeders’ scenes. Andreas Lenander is far ahead on this front with his District 18 – San Tokyo scene.

There are heaps of details throughout this multi-layered diorama and each level contains its own pocket of a larger unwritten story. I love all the classic cyberpunk elements, from hoses, dirty water, neon lights and more to the thematic mixing of historical Japanese, contemporary and far-future science fiction. While the speeder bikes are obviously the main part of the build as far as the contest goes, my favourite parts are all the light-up features throughout the scene.

Cyberpunk’s not dead!

MemeLUG member LegoFin has spent the past six months exclusively building cyberpunk creations, all culminating in a large diorama. The builder has been posting teasers for the project for a while now and has finally revealed the first of three layers.

One might call the picture too dark, but I see it as atmospheric.

See more of this cool LEGO cyberpunk diorama

Nasty green water, gangsters, crime in the streets! Sounds cool doesn’t it? Because it sure looks like it.

Cyperpunk is one of my favorite themes to build in LEGO, so naturally I love this cyberpunk diorama by Letranger Absurde, and I have no doubt you will too. Although the diorama is not as run-down and dilapidated as we are used to seeing in the genre, it serves as a perfect example of the distinction between cyberpunk and cyberpoc, the latter of which is much more ugly looking. The build is packed with tons of interesting details, including a guitar player who has set out a hat for donations, a sushi stand on the docks, and an unfortunate fellow who’s being pulled into the storm drain by a monster.

The colorful pollution in the water was accomplished using Ninjago dragon wings, a truly ingenious usage of the part.

Click here to see more pictures of this amazing cyberpunk diorama

I think this think tank’s pink is perfect

Since a spate of builds inspired by the live-action Ghost In The Shell earlier this year, things have felt relatively quiet on the LEGO Cyberpunk front. German builder Ordo aims to noise things up again with this fantastic pink-accented “Candykoma” Think Tank. This beastie is fun and super-cute, but also looks like it packs a punch. I particularly like the functional-looking greebles in and around the “shoulder” joints.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie 70620 Ninjago City, 3rd largest set of all time, now available for LEGO VIP members [News]

Following fast on the heels of our hands-on review of 70620 Ninjago City, the third-largest LEGO set of all time is now available to order from the LEGO Shop online. The set includes 4,867 pieces and 19 minifigures (by our count), and retails for $299.99 in the United States.

The set will be available more broadly starting on September 1st, but is currently available only to LEGO VIP Program members. Of course, you can just sign up for a VIP membership for free, so that means the set is available to everyone now, assuming you’re ready and able to cough up the three hundred bucks for it. We think it’s totally worth it.

70620 Ninjago City joins 10258 London Bus, LEGO Boost, and the rest of the LEGO Ninjago Movie sets released on August 1st.

Portapoc

If there’s one clear sign the Cyberpocalypse is upon us, it’s that indoor plumbing has ceased to exist, and we are forced to use communal toilets on the street, or (though a little more civilized) public porta potties for our sanitary needs. Thus, my most recent build for the ABS builder Challenge features exactly that: a communal porta potty smack-dab in the middle of the shantytown. How much would I have to pay you to use it?

The roof of the main black building was my main inspiration for building this scene. I was able to come up with a cool roof technique using the seed part for the challenge: the handheld minifig fan, which enabled me to use the part a total of 24 times in this build.

Officer responding, really quickly

Near-future police vehicles have a high standard to live up to. Sid Mead’s classic design for the Blade Runner Police Spinner remains a heavy influence on LEGO Cyberpunk builders. This police gyro-car by Angka Utama reminds me of a cross between the spinner and Kaneda’s bike from Akira — and that’s meant as a compliment. I love the simple lines and sharp colours on display here, and those chunky tyres would surely keep any responding officer glued to the mean streets.