Winter is coming! Well, unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere of course. I’m thinking about those cold, frosty mornings; wearing hats and scarves; Chris McVeigh’s annual Christmas decoration builds; and snow. de-marco has been building a lovely collection of minifigure-scale vehicles, and we thought a snowcat tracked vehicle would be perfect for the coming season.
The instructional video can be seen below and de-marco has created a list of parts required to build your own snowcat.
Have you ever watched a movie about a “bad guy”, but by the end of the movie, despite the terrible things he has done, you almost want him to get away? That is exactly how I feel while looking at this World War 2 scene by ~J2J~ depicting the final stand of a German tanker as American troops close in. The builder does an excellent job of telling a story with one small scene by coordinating small details throughout. The fire, smoke, a dead German soldier in the background — all allow us to accurately infer the sequence of events that likely led to this moment, making the scene quite dramatic and emotion evoking.
It’s time to go on a journey around the World with Denmark-based builder Lasse Vestergård, who has built a huge scenic sculpture complete with handy globe to help keep you on the right track. Around the central globe are two circular stages each showing scenes from different countries. There are 26 countries in total, including Denmark, Greenland, UK, Italy, Spain, Israel, Australia and lots more in between. Each country has a few minifigures that represent part of the history, heritage and culture. There are lots of fun minifigures to spot, such as a mermaid in Denmark, footballer in Germany, Leprechaun in Ireland, Medusa in Greece, Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus in Israel, Shakespeare in the UK, and so on.
See more details of this geographic sculpture
There is a lot going on in this modular-style street scene by Agata Pakita. Apparently we are back in the 1930s, judging by the outfits and car on show. The lower floors of the buildings house an arts and crafts store, a tailor, and a mysterious woman who reads tarot cards and predicts your fate. The colourful architecture is a lovely combination of LEGO’s more muted palette of medium dark flesh, light grey, dark red, and tan. I love the curvaceous greenhouse on the roof of the building, where an older lady and her cat relax away from the bustling street.
See more photos of this beautiful modular building
We all like a good deal, and here we get two minifigure-scale buggies for one — both inspired by LEGO City Buggy 60145. This first black off-road, racing buggy is by talented Latvian builder, de-marco who has a veritable traffic-jam of awesome cars in his photostream. The builder’s decision to use different sized wheels is a definite winner, but the addition of the red suspension is my favourite part. This little black buggy is a stylish affair, even if the poor driver can’t quite get a hold of that steering wheel.
De-marco’s creation was a response to this initial buggy built by Сергей Антохин. Sergey also changed the construction of the roll bars and, like de-marco, altered the wheels to use bigger, wider rear tyres.
So three buggies; de-marco’s black racing buggy with red suspension, Sergey’s little red racer with improved handling, and the original LEGO model (below). Which do you prefer?
You may have to look a little longer to get your bearings with this clever creation by Milan Sekiz. It’s certainly a unique perspective of a simple sunny autumnal day when a minifigure has a spot of good fortune.
We’ve always known that the LEGO minifigure is awesome, but who’d have guessed it was divinely created? Thanks to Ki Young Lee, who has reinterpreted into LEGO form Michelangelo’s painting The Creation of Adam, which graces the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, we can at last see how the minifigure came into existance.
Adam Savage and the crew of Tested have been dabbling in the world of LEGO lately, including visiting BrickCon and building Jason Allemann’s Sysiphus Kinetic Sculpture. Their latest LEGO hijinks, though, are sure to leave you appalled — they’ve designed a “real-life” interpretation of a LEGO Minifigure as a cosplay costume. If you’ve ever wondered what a happy yellow minifig head might look like if he was made of flesh and blood, wonder no longer. It is disturbing, and looks fresh out of Area 51.
Ever wanted a giant LEGO minifigure? French artist Mat Green, who specializes in welding, decided to put his considerable metal-working skills to use crafting these remarkably accurate renditions of a LEGO minifigure and a LEGO skeleton. Mat tells us it took him two months to craft the minifigure, whom he’s named Hugo. Hugo weighs 110 pounds and stands over four feet tall. The coolest thing about Hugo though, is that he’s just as poseable as his plastic siblings. Mat then created Pablo, whom he says is a Mexican punk rocker skeleton. Pablo weighs 130 pounds, and comes with a removable Mohawk.
It’s no secret that I’m not much of a customizer myself. But, like most LEGO fans on either side of that customizing fence, I can still enjoy a beautiful bit of customizing when I see it. And Terry Jeffries’ customs are nothing if not beautifully and exceedingly well executed. Clean paint lines and smooth transitions between original LEGO plastic and added-on bits are hallmarks of good customization, and it’s hard to find any mistakes with either in Jeffries’ work.
This golden neo-Samurai warrior is just plain gorgeous, bringing together sci-fi and feudalism with just a dash of steampunk. This and the left model below remind me vaguely of the titular character in Desert Punk.
Space news typically makes me giddy. When LEGO is in the mix, it’s all the better. On September 2 the Russian Soyuz rocket launched a new crew to the International Space Station for Expedition 44. This new crew will join astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, who are spending one full year on-board the ISS as we study the effects of long-term space travel in preparation for future deep-space missions.
Image courtesy of the European Space Agency and CollectSpace
Expedition 44 includes veteran cosmonaut Sergei Volkov (Russia), Aidyn Aimbetov (National Space Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan), and Andreas Mogensen (European Space Agency). Why are we telling you all of this? Andres Mogensen is Denmark’s first ever astronaut and has brought LEGO with him aboard the ISS to mark the occasion. Along with the crew and supplies for their mission, 20 minifigures flew aboard.
Image courtesy of the European Space Agency and CollectSpace
According to Mogensen, “ESA and LEGO Education have partnered together for this mission, and among other things, we are running a competition for Danish schoolchildren to tell a story about my mission using Legos.” Mogensen recently completed a fantastic AMA on Reddit, if you wish to read more.
For more information on the mission and Expedition 44, check out Collect Space, the European Space Agency, NASA, and follow Andreas Mogensen on Twitter.