Tag Archives: Dune

MOCs of the LEGO Masters: Desert delights

Some builders have a problem with sand, how it’s coarse and irritating and gets everywhere. Not Joe Cherwink. Sandy settings are this builder’s LEGO oasis, from the mummy-cursed sandstorms of the Sahara, to the majestic Shai-Hulud. Joe is joined by fellow pop culture aficionado Anthony in the new season of LEGO Masters where, hopefully, the studio is stocked with plenty of brick yellow pieces.

Joe also has a knack for motorizing his creations, like this Just Deserts medley that is packed to the sandy gills with nerdy desert tributes. Comb through it yourself or let the builder walk you through all of the references.

This is part of our series on MOCs of the Masters where we preview the work of the newest batch of LEGO Master contestants. Have a look at creations from other builders in the lineup.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

From Sand Elves to Frank Herbert’s DUNE, these desert dwelling minifigs are an oasis of creativity [Minifig Monday]

Believe it or not, Tatooine is not the only desert world to inspire amazing minifigures. There’s also Jakku. And Jedha. And Geonosis. And Pasaana. And… You know what? We’re not looking at any desert worls where Jedi have set foot today. Instead, for this week’s Minifig Monday we’re looking at original designs from the worlds of fantasy, literature, history, and military sci-fi.

Leading us into the desert today is Jacob Manahan, whose Akhanii desert elves are an imagined ancient kingdom from which civilization flowed. Jacob selects a nice assortment of printed body parts with folds of cloth and timeless jewelry (and I see Horizon‘s Aloy split across two different figures). Those blue eyes suggest the presnce of a certain spice on this world…

Speaking of Spice, builders Parker (lego.frenzy) and Woudt (_standaartwoudt_) recently collaborated on a series of fig builds based interpreting the characters of Frank Herbert’s Dune, without leaning the official figures from the excellent Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter. Parker’s series leads with this ensemble. I love the choice of the Haunted Mansion employee for Paul’s sullen face. The Sardukar soldier is epic and menacing. Parker even slips in a brilliant mini-build with that innovative Sandworm maw made from light nougat shields clipped in a ring.

Quench your thirst for hot desert minifigures after the break

Check out this massive Dune sandworm built by a LEGO Masters winner

With months of work now complete, LEGO Masters US Season 2 winner Mark Erickson has debuted an absolute monster of a build. This massive construction is taken right from the film series Dune, featuring a massive sandworm (or Shai-Hulud) staring down members of the Fremen and protagonist Paul Atreides huddled around the rocks. A studs-not-on-top technique brings the sand sea of Arrakis to life, and the massive worm is kept upright thanks to an inner skeleton made of Technic.

Explore more of this great creation below!

Long live the fighters!

There’s a lot to love in this dramatic depiction of Paul Muad’Dib’s final speech before the battle of Arrakeen. Builder Gus (aka Faëbricks) captures the moment just before Paul launches the family atomics to destroy the Shield Wall so well you can almost hear Hans Zimmer’s throbbing soundtrack. But aside from the faithfulness to the movie moment, two things stand out. The first is the stunning arrangement of the rock pieces, which jut out at impossible-looking angles to make a truly natural-looking cliff for Paul to stand on. The second is the perfectly round base, achieved by stacking rows and rows of plates on their sides, each one just slightly tilted, until they reach full circle. Forget desert power—it’s the power to create angles like this with LEGO bricks that’s really impressive.

Pensive Paul Atreides contemplates the future of the Dune-iverse in this LEGO mosaic

Using only seven colors of LEGO 1×1 round plate, mosaic master Ethen T captures the very essence of Timothée Chalamet’s turn as Muad’Dib. With filt-plug equipped and the background of Arrakis displayed in orange and yellow, this singular image goes a long way toward conveying the emotion of Dune: Part Two. And the way that Ethen manages to create the collar of the stillsuit using only grayscale is impressive at this scale and in this medium.

This dimunitive Dune ‘thopter is thoroughly thrilling

With an impressive minifigure complement and plenty of wing-flapping, landing gear-extending action, this year’s 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter was an early contender for my favorite LEGO set of 2024. Still, for some, its higher-than-average price per element might be as hard to swallow as the Water of Life, so we’re fortunate we have GolPlaysWithLego to create this iconic aircraft at a smaller scale.

One of the biggest challenges in rendering the ornithopter at any scale is making those long, spindly wings. Heck, the official set had to create a whole new piece to solve that problem. In this case (in an inspired choice worthy of the Kwisatz Haderach) the wings are ingeniously made from garage door panels. Here’s a rear view, where you can see the boarding ramp and landing gear recreated with beautiful fidelity. It just goes to show that when it comes to desert power, bigger isn’t always better.

LEGO Dune navigator floating in a tank of spice

The Guild navigator is one of the most interesting and mysterious characters from the Dune novels. Mutated beyond human form by massive ammounts of spice, they float in huge tanks filled with spice gas. Tino Poutiainen has captured the navigator in LEGO using a variety of curved creature parts for spindly arms and legs, while the grossly oversized head is covered in bulging domes and blue-within-blue eyes. But my favorite part is the hot-dog bun used for the navigator’s mouth. The tank is flanked by two guildsmen who were inspired by the costume designs from the recent movie.

Shai-Hulud? More like Shai-hello there!

Few sci-fi creatures have presented a perennial challenge to LEGO builders like Dune‘s sandworm. We’ve already covered a few LEGO sandworms over the years, but given the number of techniques that can be used to represent these otherworldly lifeforms, we’ll probably be covering them well into the year 10,191. In hachiroku24‘s version, the worm’s body is mostly overlapping 1×2 rectangular and round tiles, a simple yet effective solution. It’s a scene that probably just got cut from the recent movie — lovers Paul Atreides and Chani enjoy the ultimate date night: Preparing to ride the mighty Shai-Hulud together. We’re sure nothing could ever drive them apart, right?

LEGO Icons 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter [REVIEW]

Science fiction is one of the best inspirations for custom LEGO creations, from franchises like Star Wars, Alien, Starship Troopers, Bladerunner, and many more. And there have been plenty of official sets inspired by the genre as well. But outside of Star Wars and LEGO space-related themes, there have not been very many official sets (LEGO Ideas 21340: Tales of the Space Age being a rare exception). But this changed at the start of this month. With the premiere of Dune part 2 in theaters on March 1st, one of the most iconic vehicles from the movie is finally brought to fantastic LEGO life with the release of LEGO Icons 10327 Atreides Royal Ornithopter. The set comes with 1,369 pieces, includes 8 minifigures, and is available now from LEGO.com and other retailers for US $164.99 | CAN $214.99 | UK £149.99.

Find out what’s in the box below! Don’t worry, it’s not the Reverend Mother’s…

LEGO reveals LEGO Icons 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter, available for preorder now [News]

LEGO today revealed a large-scale tie-in set for the upcoming Dune: Part Two directed by Denis Villeneuve, based on the classic sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert. The movie — starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and a cast of thousands — is currently scheduled for release in theaters on March 15, 2024, but LEGO Icons 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter will launch on February 1st, 2024. The set includes 1,369 pieces with 8 minifigures, and is already available for preorder from the LEGO Shop online now at US $164.99 | CAN $214.99 | UK £149.99.

Read on for the full details, including play features and minifigure selection. Make sure to check out the full gallery at the end of the article.

Click through to see the full details about LEGO Icons 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter

The bricks must flow...

I first read Dune in the deserts of Egypt, on the night train from Cairo to Luxor, and since then I’ve loved every rendition of the Dune saga I’ve ever consumed, starting with the full book series by Frank Herbert, of course, but also every adaptation, from David Lynch’s weird 1984 film and the 2000s Syfy TV series to the recent Denis Villeneuve masterpiece, but even the concept designs by Chris Ross for the aborted Alejandro Jodorowsky version in the 1970s. It’s almost like there’s a Dune multiverse in which every incarnation is awesome. Angus MacLane seems to share my passion, with this Classic Space homage featuring a Spicing Guild navigator floating in his tank accompanied by his entourage.

Using black Classic Space minifigures and a giant classic smiley head inside the tank is so freakin’ weird that it fits perfectly into that hypothetical Dune multiverse. Especially for minifigs wearing uniforms, many LEGO builders choose to vary their minifigs’ faces. But it’s the very uniformity of these minifigs that makes the whole scene weirder, magnified by the massive head in the tank.

An unlikely pairing in the wilderness

General Tavarre provides us with a scene that I didn’t know I needed in this LEGO scene, what if a Sandworm of Dune appeared on the barren wilderness of Earth, the home of Mortal Engines.

Combining Dune and a Traction City from the Mortal Engines novel series, it creates a wonderful scene as the City trundles onward to it’s demise in the Maw of the Sandworm. What I enjoy in this little vignette is both the colour palette with it’s earthen tones and secondly that it near exclusively uses the smallest pieces affording some great detail from the cobbled together look of the Traction City to the teeth of the gaping maw that is the Sandworm.

Scenes like this are always worthwhile taking the time to enjoy the LEGO connections, they give me the inspiration to see what I can create next!