Tag Archives: Elements

A LEGO builder in his element

If there’s anyone I trust to build a spirit consisting of the five elemental forces, it’s got to be Eero Okkonen. I mean, after all, the dude writes for a LEGO blog called New Elementary, so he’s got to be an expert! And, in typical “Eero” fashion, earth, wind, fire, water, and void aren’t the only elements excellently displayed here. That bending trunk of Bionicle bits looks so organic, especially in contrast to the stone corners of the nearby lantern. And I absolutely love the plating used for the warrior’s kusazuri, as well as the shaping of their hair. It seems very similar to the design for “Wind” within the kami, strands snaking down onto armored shoulders. The largely grayscale nature of the build helps to make all the colors pop out, even more, drawing the eye to the orange of the spirit, the pink flowers of the tree, and the gold worn by the warrior.

Kami of the Five Elements

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Ice Planet just got cooler with this life-size handheld computer

LEGO designer Chris Perron recently sat down to build a life-size replica of a LEGO element, and settled on one of his favorite themes, Ice Planet 2002 (a love I share with him). Instead of building a simple upscaled version of the theme’s iconic 1×2 tile, though, Chris reimagined it as a handheld tablet for exploring the frozen world. It’s bulky and rugged so that intrepid ice adventurers can handle it through gloves, and Chris converted all the knobs, lights, and screens to three-dimensional elements. And I couldn’t be more in love with the result. Forget about flower bouquets, this is the life-size stuff I want from LEGO.

Ice Planet Console

And Chris didn’t take the easy route and just make the back a flat, featureless expanse of white. It’s got a rugged pattern that seems exactly like what you’d see on a device made to withstand being dropped onto the ice. The 2002 in the middle is just the icing on the nostalgia cake.

Ice Planet Console

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What’s that element? Plate with a triangular shaped bar [Feature]

LEGO Train-heads, yes, you’re probably beaming ear-to-ear with pride that you are well aware and know the use of this particular piece. For the rest of you who’s wondering, it’s not too late to extend this little mystery a little longer, take a guess on HOW exactly it’s used in train sets? Still pondering and wondering? Let’s cut to the chase, you’re here to get answers. Read right on to find out.

Click to find the answers you’re looking for

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Just a pile of parts? These giant LEGO pieces are the perfect illusion

Did you do a double take? Same here! If you’re still confused, zoom in. This is the most exceptional upscale of LEGO pieces I have ever seen. Prolific builder Inthert has pulled off a bit of genius with this latest creation. While every element is expertly crafted, a few stand out as top notch. Minifigure parts, for example, are one of the hardest things to build, but including one was a must. Yet among many piles of unsorted brick are not one but two torsos, and one’s even holding a lightsaber. These torsos are identifiable from both distance and up close, and Luke’s even incorporates string to finish the illusion. Moving on, there’s a cheeky tribute to the “brittle reddish-brown” epidemic, which couldn’t be more spot-on. (Rest in pieces, 1×3 plate!) But my most favorite detail has to be the black airtanks with the flexible hose “neck bracket” wrapped around a brick stud.

Scale It Up!

Something else to marvel: there is not a single exposed real top stud among the brick-built copycats. Now, if you’ve been bitten by the upscale bug, you can see more enlarged LEGO elements in our archives. You can also check out more builds from Inthert.

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Which LEGO sets have the most part count of a single element? [Feature]

LEGO enthusiasts love uncovering every tiny detail and bit of trivia that they can get their hands on. One of the questions that resurfaced recently was to identify the set that has had the highest number of the same parts — parts that are repeated not just in element design, but also in color. We found this thread on Facebook (login required) where the question was raised, which led to a Brickset discussion, and thanks to dvdweyer, we have an answer. He’s extracted the Rebrickable database for the most up to date status — at least until the next “biggest LEGO set ever” takes over one of the spots in this list.

We’ve then used the extracted details to form an infographic and added additional statistics to highlight the percentage of elements in comparison to the whole set. Here are the Top 13 sets visualised with the highest part count.

See more LEGO parts trivia after the jump

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