Films and the cinema provide a lot of great inspiration for LEGO builders all over the world. You’ll find LEGO models inspired by everything from Mad Max to Toy Story here.
If there’s one thing I love more than a beautiful LEGO model, it’s a collection of beautiful LEGO models. Inspired by the Harry Potter vignettes we featured earlier in the year, John Klapheke wanted to build a series of something he was fairly knowledgeable about. The mission John set for himself was to create six vignettes for each of the Indiana Jones movies, each set on a 12×12-stud base.
At first, he was pretty adamant about keeping the entire scene confined to those dimensions. Later, with the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull creations, he relented and let some detail spill over (and sometimes through) the sides of the base. John says “aiming for consistency” was the unique challenge of a project of two dozen separate, yet interconnected creations.
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Though they aren’t easy to build, Transformers have always been a popularsubject for LEGO creations. Today, César Soares adds his excellent rendition of Bumblebee to the lineup, which upon close inspection, includes many interesting part usages, including minifigure utensils as the fingers of the robot, and minifigure handcuffs piece on Bumblebee’s face. The build makes use of many small parts to appear very complex, almost overcomplicated, just like the source material.
The only thing missing is an explosion in the background and a few lens flares.
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In anticipation of the latest screen adaptation of Stephen King’s classic coulrophobia-inducing book IT, builder Tim Lydy has crafted this wonderfully creepy bust of Pennywise the dancing clown. Guess I won’t be sleeping tonight! I also love the added touch of the brick-built origami sailboat.
I think Tim might be a bit of an IT fan, as this isn’t the first time he’s rendered these characters in LEGO. Check out his “adorable” Brickheadz versions too. We all float down here.(shudder)
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The new 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon has been one of the worst-kept secrets in LEGO’s history, with numerous teasers and leaks over the past several months. However, while the set’s existence may not be a surprise, we finally have all of the official details straight from LEGO HQ. The new UCS Falcon will include 10 minifigs, and clocks in at a whopping 7,541 pieces, comparable to the massive 7,500-piece LEGO Falcon built by Swiss LEGO fan Hannes Tscharner. This makes the new Falcon the largest LEGO set ever released. The set will hit stores on October 1st for $799.99, and will be available early for VIP members beginning Sept. 14.
LEGO is sending The Brothers Brick an early copy of the set to review, so check back soon for our full review of this enormous new set.
Back in 2007, I attended BrickFest PDX in Portland, Oregon, where LEGO Master Builder Erik Varszegi unveiled the original 10179 UCS Millennium Falcon. The original UCS Falcon was built from 5,197 pieces. So, where do those extra 2,500 pieces go? First, the exterior is considerably more detailed, with a lot more tiles taking the place of plates, along with many more rounded pieces that weren’t available in 2007, including a new 4×4 quarter circle tile.
Second, confirming the speculation among LEGO Star Wars fans, the set also has several interior sections.
And finally, another reason the part count is higher is that several details can be swapped out to turn the Classic Trilogy Falcon into the Episode VII/Episode VIII Falcon, with a square sensor dish and different details on the front of the mandibles.
The designer video with set designer Hans and graphic designer Maddy showcases many of the set’s play features and design details, and is definitely worth a watch.
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Blare Media has finally revealed the full trailer for it’s brick-themed mocumentary Brick MADNESS. The film pits an underdog “Brix” builder against an arrogant long-time champion in a battle to build his way to not only fame, but redemption. The PG-13 rated film premieres on September 8th.
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They say that Disney movies touch the heart, but Studio Ghibli films touch the soul. None more so than the Miyazaki classic Spirited Away. I’ve modelled the works of this legendary Japanese animator in LEGO before, but on the 15th anniversary of its US release I figured it was time to take a deeper dive into this particular masterpiece:
Spirited Away remains unrivalled for its blend of the spiritual, realistic, fantastic, and human. In balancing all of those realms, Miyazaki was the master. No surprise then that this movie won the Oscar for best animated film and remains Japan’s highest grossing movie to date.
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Pixar fans — or parents of Pixar fans — will no doubt recognise Karl Fredrickson’s beautiful colourful house from the heartwarming animated movie Up! (…if you haven’t see the movie I thoroughly recommend it). Jonas Kramm loved the movie and loved the image of the flying house getting carried away only by balloons. However his supply of colourful bricks was limited so he went with a scaled-down version of the famous airborne cottage, and it looks superb!
I love the azure trim around the eaves and the well-constructed railing around the front porch. Jonas has even managed to capture the detail of the sidings at this scale, and employed some great techniques to recreate that chaotic cluster of balloons. Oh, and if we happen to get separated, don’t forget to use the wilderness explorer call: “CA-CA! RAWRRR!”
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The list of largest LEGO sets ever produced is dominated by Star Wars and Architecture sets, with the likes of the Ultimate Collector’s Series Millennium Falcon and the Taj Mahal topping the charts. Now, though, LEGO’s home-brewed Ninjago theme is proving to be a serious contender. Having already brought us two sets over the 2,000 piece mark (the Temple of Airjitzu and Destiny’s Bounty), Ninjago’s latest entry has an incredible 4,867 pieces, skyrocketing 70620 Ninjago City to the third-largest LEGO set ever created.
From left, Senior Editor Chris Malloy and Founder and Editor-in-Chief Andrew Becraft with 70620 Ninjago City
The primary locale in The LEGO Ninjago Movie, which opens September 22, Ninjago City is an Eastern-inspired cyberpunk city, brimming with action and loaded with hidden details. 70620 Ninjago City will be available to VIP members in the LEGO Shop Online and in LEGO stores Aug. 16 for $299.99 USD, and will be available to everyone Sept. 1.
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Would you like to know what happens if a prince strolls into an all-princess party? Yep, you guessed it! Princesses Moana, Mulan and Merida all stand glazed and wide eyed, armed and ready to battle each other for his hand in marriage! While I may tease YOS Bricks about one attention grabbing feature of these models, he’s been at this theme for quite a while now — since we last featured his versions of Elsa and Anna — and there is certain charming consistency about them that appeals.
The builder’s Flickr stream is definitely worth checking out to see similar takes on Jasmine, Belle, Tiana, Cinderella and Ariel. As an added treat, many of the princesses are also shown wearing multiple outfits. But in each case, the brick-built recreations of their costumes and hair styles are almost perfect.
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As if the forthcoming NINJAGO Movie wasn’t already exciting enough, LEGO has been blowing us away with all the related sets and minifigs — none more so than the completely jaw-dropping 4867-piece 70620 NINJAGO City. Well now LEGO has released a video in which the set’s designers give us an in-depth, bottom-up, overview of this amazing modular set and its many, many, many, many cool little details!
The set is available September 1st and will retail for USD$299 / £259.99. And look out for a thorough review of it right here on The Brothers Brick in the very near future!
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Swiss builder Hannes Tscharner has created a LEGO version of a scene from Star Wars: Rogue One depicting an Imperial Star Destroyer hovering menacingly over Jedha City like the proverbial Sword of Damoclese, and the result is truly breathtaking. The rockwork is simple yet quite effective, while the construction of the actual star destroyer is full of details including a docking bay, laser cannons represented by binocular parts, and tons of aesthetically pleasing greebles. Jedha City is instantly recognizable in the distance, with its single towering structure.
The rear shot (which is also beautifully edited) reveals full engine detail and wedge plates used to achieve some complex angles.
Don’t forget to check out the behind the scenes shot, which reveals the ingenuitive use of a computer monitor as a light source for the scene.
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The Prometheus movie wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but that doesn’t stop it providing inspiration for good LEGO models. Grant Masters has created a wonderfully eerie scene of curious astronauts about to get themselves into a whole world of trouble. The build itself is relatively simple (although I do like that backdrop of arch pieces), however the use of dry ice and LED lighting, coupled with good photography, creates a striking image.
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