Admittedly, I’ve never seen a Yigg before now, and can’t confirm that they exist outside of the LEGO hobby. But I do know an excellent Bionicle creation when I see one, and I trust Jarek Książczyk (jerac) when it comes to questions of cryptozoology. With an array of bright colors and a trisected mandible, the Yigg looks to be a mighty beast of the land… or sea… or maybe skies?
I’ve been a little busy recently, but when I saw this LEGO angel from Gauntlet. Out beyond that, the wings really help lift this design, and I appreciate the parts used in the wing construction here. They add a significant amount of detail, and are a worthy inclusion by Jerac. Ready to face any evil, this angel wields a crystal sword and I love seeing transparent pieces being utilised in varied and different ways. What gripped me in this build is how the hood completely hides the face, adding an otherwise haunting undertone to the build, and creating a little mystery in this impressive sculpture.
The marriage of Star Wars and LEGO has made them so intrinsically connected that making your own version of the iconic X-wing starfighter can be a crowning achievement for some builders. Or maybe more like a litmus test for your building skills? Either way, Builder Jerac clearly understood the assignment while working on his 1250+ piece version of the T-70, first revealed in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It may have taken him 22 tries to get it exactly right, but I’m sure Poe would be proud to fly this beauty.
The Rebels in Episode IV of Star Wars were really a rag-tag bunch of freedom fighters, and their equipment was largely hand-me-down dilapidated old tech. LEGO builder Abe Fortier is showing us a side that we don’t often see though, of the Rebels scrapping out a ship that’s no longer spaceworthy. Abe pulled the Y-wing design from Star Wars ship-master Jerac, but gave it a cool twist with disassembled sections and of course, a portion of the Massassi outpost on Yavin 4 that the Rebels turned into a base.
I know it’s not what Jarek Książczyk intended, but the “Countess of Dis” sounds like a character from Lovecraftian reboot of Sesame Street. “One! Two! Three! Three elder gods! Ha ha ha!” Just don’t cross her even more sinister cousin, the Countess of Dat. But questionable mythology aside, you should take a moment and appreciate the amazing build here. I’m particularly impressed with the way the three main colors unify the build. The dragon wing along the figure’s back has just a touch of red in the dual-molded plastic, echoed in the cloth cape and the banners on the staff. The gold finials on the staff complement the chest armor and skirting, with great part usage like that carriage wheel front and center, and the weapon in the bodice. The black organic curves draw the eye and are matched by the folds in the skirt. Quality stuff.
But is this a build worthy of worship? Well, a bonus supplicant created by Jarek sure seems to think so. I’m not sure exactly what is being offered here, but the use of a gold-chrome hemishere makes it seem like a rare treat indeed. Green Jell-O, maybe? (Who are we to question the desires of the ancient ones?)
If these beings have you wanting to look at other eerie creations, check out more featured builds in our Lovecraft tag!
I’ve met a few people who prefer staying at hotels to being in their own house and bed, but they seem to be a strange minority. I mean, who really wants to sleep in a bed where the night before some strangers did something not fit to be described in an upright publication, rather than their own comfortable and familiar bed back home? Eww! Anyways, my own stays at hotels have never been as bad as the terrified LEGO minifigure’s night in this build by Jarek Książczyk. If I saw an eerily-lit giant hand outside the window of my Marriott room, I’d be huddled on the bed, too.
Jarek has captured everything one would expect to see in a hotel room, down to the horrid vertically striped beige wall paper, but then you see that there’s a piano in the corner. What hotel has a piano in the rooms? None that I know of. So perhaps this isn’t a hotel after all, but the minifigure’s own comfortable and familiar bed…in which case I might go stay in a hotel. Even soiled bed linens would be better than that hand. Then again, maybe it was just a nightmare. Things do look much brighter in the morning light.
There are very few things that are more “Classic 80’s” than the WALKMAN. When it came out, it was the birth of compact tech that allowed you to easily bring your music with you anywhere. We take it for granted today, but it was fairly novel at the time. Along with it came a new era of music. Digital recording allowed for electronic effects, which has shaped the majority of popular music today. LEGO builder Jarek Książczyk (Jerac) pays homage to one of the icons that started it all, with this excellent scale model of the Sony WALKMAN.
What makes this retro build most awesome is the fact that the player opens up to hold a “cassette.” Additionally, he snuck in some electronics to make it seem like it actually is functional.
While you’re here, check out some of Jerac’s other great builds, including Mando’s Razor Crest!
By this point, I’m pretty sure everyone and their mother has watched The Mandalorian (except my own mother, who only watches PBS). It’s a popular show, and for a good reason: it takes the western-cowboy movie vibes of A New Hope and runs with it, letting us see a grittier side of everybody’s favorite space fairy tale kingdom. It’s got a cute little Yoda-species kid, a more fleshed-out version of the mysterious Mandalorian Boba Fett, and plenty of epic gunfights. As a result, the spaceship that hauls around Mando (a.k.a. Din Djarin), the Razor Crest, has become almost as recognizable as the TIE Fighter or the X-Wing. And just like those venerable ships, the Razor Crest has received the epic treatment from Jarek Książczyk (Jerac), a master Star Wars LEGO builder.
Click to see more of this beautiful bounty hunting craft
I’ve mentioned before in these pages that I have a background in Roman stuff, particularly language and literature, but also some history and architecture. In fact, I compiled and annotated a Latin reader on Roman military texts for my Master’s degree. So imagine my delight when I saw this functional Roman ballista by Jerac. These things were used all over the Republic and Empire, including Caesar’s siege of Alesia. There’s no gimmickry here; just like the real deal, the force to launch the bolts comes from coiled cords, not the bow. And the whole thing is LEGO, which makes it even cooler. The Technic gear and axle connector don’t look out of place as parts of the mechanical structure, and, in fact, I believe the lip on the bushing catches on the gear to ratchet the tension. Then flip up those rods, and voilà! You have just destroyed a tower. The wooden planks and the soldiery, along with the suggestion of landscaping, are just icing on the cake to dress it up a bit; the real beauty of the build is the technological achievement.
Love Ancient Rome? Check out some more Roman-themed builds, like the whole city of Rome, an ambush, and a forum.
When it comes to hilarious AI sidekicks in video games, it’s hard to beat the exuberant, boisterous, stair-challenged inverted triangle designated CL4P-TP, or better known as Claptrap. And what could be better than one Claptrap? If you asked Jerac that question, the answer would be three Claptraps.
Jerac has captured the distinctive look of these mono-wheeled robots very well, from the spindly arms to the oversized guns. And speaking of wheels, they are attached using the 1×1 modified plate with handle as if the part was made just for this purpose.
There are some builders out there whose names are synonymous with quality, often in a highly specialized niche within the larger LEGO fan community. Jerac is one such builder, whose Star Wars creations are famous for their exceptional level of detail, down to the minutest of greebles, and their near-perfect scaling. His latest creation is a stripped-down Y-wing bomber with all of its parts showing, as was typical in the fleet of the Rebellion. I love the shaping of the cockpit, as well as all of the technical details on the back part of the craft. It is a difficult task to get the rear maneuvering rings looking good, but this version of the Y-wing has lovely round rings and even the little details that should be there. Can a minifigure-scale Y-wing be done better in LEGO? Perhaps, but I have not seen it.
Jerac’s builds are often a master-class in LEGO greebling techniques, with piece usages both expected and unexpected. By now, things like ingots and bars are old hat in spaceships, and even binoculars are expected; but the use of some of the binoculars here is a new one for me, at least: placed recessed into the ship so that only the lenses stick out, as Jerac has done here towards the back of the fuselage. The stretcher holder makes for some great cables or piping, and the use of minifig arms looks good, too, at the very back of the fuselage. And there are more handcuffs than I can count. All in all, this is one terrific spaceship, ready to drop some bombs on Imperial targets.
It’s been more than 10 years since Jarek shared the first version of his LEGO A-wing, a sleek starfighter first seen in Return of the Jedi. It’s always interesting to see how builders approach the same subject matter years apart, with improved building skills as well as access to new LEGO pieces. Jarek says that his updated A-wing has better proportions than the 2008 version, with properly brick-built missile launchers.
See more photos of Jarek’s A-wing along with new variants
