We’ve seen many great LEGO renditions of ED-209 from RoboCop in a variety of scales, but none this small. Grantmasters has managed to make both the hulking robot as well as RoboCop himself using only a handful of pieces. We don’t have an official count but it looks to be under a dozen of LEGO’s smallest pieces.
If you’re still in the mood for microscale ‘bots, check out this equally small AT-ST.
LEGO’s crowd-sourced Ideas platform is on a roll this year, with sets and news coming in rapid succession. Early this year we reviewed the 21305 Maze, and learned that the Apollo 11 Saturn V and Adventure Time characters will become sets. At the beginning of this month, LEGO announced the Old Fishing Store, and we reviewed the 21307 Caterham Seven 620R at its launch a few weeks ago. Now, 21306 The Beatles Yellow Submarine is available on The LEGO Shop. The set will retail for $59.99 USD and contains 550 pieces.
UPDATE: 21306 LEGO Beatles Yellow Submarine is out now!
Click to read our full hands-on review
This Nightmare Before Christmas LEGO creation by Cesar Soares looks like it came straight out of Tim Burton’s head. Mimicking the opening of the movie, this vignette is done in mostly black and white and it packs a lot of detail into a seemingly simple design. It’s got Mjolnir cobblestones, an eerie lamppost, and even pumpkin heads impaled on the fence spikes!
But of course, the real stars of this build are the perfectly proportioned figures: Jack Skellington and the Mayor of Halloween Town (aka, the original good cop/bad cop). The Mayor even comes with his “Mayor-mobile.” The proportions on this hearse are spookily good. If you’ve seen the movie before you’ll remember the car’s Dr. Seuss-like loudspeaker and the black cat hood ornament (which lets out a yowl siren when you crank the tail).
Well, I think it is time to bust out my old VHS collection so I can watch this movie.
It’s about a week till the general release of the latest Marvel superhero movie Doctor Strange. The plot of the movie still is a mystery, so the LEGO set 76060 Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum is a perfect chance to get a hint at what may unfold on the big screen. This medium-sized set was released in August and was marked as a limited offer both in the US and Canada. The set contains 358 pieces and 3 minifigures, for the price of $29.99.
While Tom Bombadil is an overlooked character in the Lord of the Ring films, this LEGO rendition of his home is too good to let slip by without mention. legostrator has given us a colorful woodland scene, with the character in question front and center. The house itself is quite wonderful and full of color.
The combination of finger hinges and minifig hands gives a nice texture to the roof, while the different methods for the siding on the house make it visually interesting. Barrels in the corners are easy to miss! I particularly love the spindly tree to the right of the house. The lady’s dress is lovely, too!
This LEGO portrait of Frankenstein’s monster by David Alexander Smith employs a nifty negative-space technique to create a classic movie-poster feel. The lurching lines lend an air of misshapen monstrosity to the face, and the monotone palette imitates the harsh lighting of ancient horror flicks.
A few weeks ago we featured a lovely, fully posable LEGO Judy Hopps from Zootopia by talented Russian builder Sheo. I was hoping he’d also build Nick Wilde and some of the other charming characters from the movie, and my wish has now been granted. Nick’s expression is excellent, and the subtle sculpting of Nick’s shirt — a combination of System pieces and Technic panels — is particularly marvelous.
Here are Nick and Judy together, showing their relative scale.
If you like this one, check out this other LEGO Nick Wilde by Jordan Schwartz.
The X-Wing has been the subject of several great LEGO builds and official sets over the years. Add to the line-up this minifigure-scaled version built by Inthert, which is not just highly detailed on the exterior paneling. Hiding underneath this paneling are various wires, hoses, and other detail bits throughout the fuselage, cockpit, and one engine and laser in a sectioned view.
Built in black and very, very dark grey, Haeundaddy, whose Kaneda’s bike from Akira we featured a couple days ago, has created a version of the UCS Batpod that will definitely please the Dark Knight. The Batpod is Batman’s escape vehicle integrated into the Tumbler — highly manoeuvrable, but leaves Batman somewhat exposed without the Tumbler’s armour.
Haeundaddy has included the important weaponry with dual front-mounted cannons, machine guns and grappling hooks. The Batpod is all about manoeuvrability so check out that steering mechanism, apparently all under the control of Batman’s broad shoulders. That’s real power steering!
It looks like Paul Reiser (aka Carter Burke from Aliens) has been releasing facehuggers into the homes of innocent people again! No, this grainy photo isn’t a still from the next film in the Alien franchise, but it could be! Seriously, mordatre‘s LEGO facehugger is terrifyingly good. The sleek Bionicle pieces combine perfectly to create a realistic and dynamic alien exoskeleton. I love the posable tail and legs. But if this thing could move on its own, I don’t think I’d ever be able to sleep again.
Here’s a better (?) look at the nasty creature.
It’s tough to build a good-looking ship using only one color. It’s tougher still to build one that stands up against the original source material. Swan Dutchman‘s Harrower-class Dreadnought from the Star Wars universe does both. At nearly two and a half feet long, this LEGO battleship took over 5700 bricks and 5 months to build. It’s got the perfect amount of greebly-goodness, tons of miniature firepower, and a sleek style worthy of the Old Republic Empire.
As a person who has spent more than enough time on a ship, I’ve seen seas in every color of the rainbow. That is, every color except white. White is something new. I guess that’s just one more reason why W. Navarre’s LEGO version of The Flying Dutchman from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series is so captivating. The ship’s ragged remnants of canvas are beautifully done in white, and the chains standing in for mast lines give the craft a vulgar and churlish appeal. If you’re wondering what the clear bits hanging off the sides are, those represent scuppers, holes in the side that drain water from the deck. In the films, they always seem to be dripping something, as the boat spends a lot of time underwater. The best details, though, have to be the teeth of the beast carving that makes up the ship’s intimidating snout. Where’s my jar of dirt?
