Tag Archives: Sci Fi

Hovercars don’t have to be bright to be beautiful

Visions of the future have been promising hovering cars since the 1960s and we are still waiting. But with LEGO creations like this hovercar by GolPlaysWithLego we can imagine ourselves whooshing down the floating freeways of tomorrow in style. Rather than build a flashy, bright-colored hovercar inspired by the video game franchise Wipeout, this one is made using monochrome shades of spaceship gray, and it looks great. The way the windshield part fits so smoothly into that arch, it’s like it was made just for that purpose.

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Scouting forward into landscapes of unknown terrain

Fascinating builder Kobalt brings his latest LEGO creation to the table, and it seems to jump straight from the cover of a 1960s sci-fi novel. The slim, lightly curved legs of the Atomic Bug support a large bulbous body constructed predominantly in olive green. This speaks to me of treading over rubble in some alternate universe’s cold war. Red highlights and pinstripes adorn this strider, while the touches of yellow bring out some rather clean greebling towards the rear. This craft has been well looked after. A series of snug searchlights are found under the cockpit canopy as well as some nifty aerials, made from a couple of varied lengths of flex cable. I couldn’t personally think of a better part for those large transmitter-receivers.

On turning this craft around, we are presented with what I can only assume is a power source. Built primarily in white, it stands out nicely from the rest of the body. The white 4×4 multifaceted cylinder hemisphere as the cap on the end allows the continuity to be smoothly ended. This reminds me of a futuristic energy core containment system, presumably for its atomic fuel. From this reversed angle we can also see more of the yellow hints, peeking out from the top. The girder piece gives such a great industrial feel and though it’s almost all hidden, the glimpses you get from the varied angles is all it needs.

Mech made for the catwalk with a frame that just works

Mecha seem to be coming out of the woodwork left, right, and centre at the moment, and the warrior mech Howlite by GolPlaysWithLego instills a sense of gladness in me. This slim line bipedal mech holds all the familiarity and function of a humanoid hardsuit, only this time, driven by a Trandoshan (aka Bossk from Star Wars). The chest has been ingeniously constructed with a curved windshield forming a smooth collar for the transparent canopy to sit.

The balance between greebling and practicality within this mech is admirable. Not one section of this build is over done, yet it holds some impeccable parts use. The combined use of the new truncated cone piece, alongside a couple robot arms, ice cream cones, and a phone handset makes this pelvis section stunning. Its somewhat skeletal design and colour scheme gives utilitarianism a well needed facelift.

Nothing square about this slim spaceship

LEGO Spaceships come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes delicate, sometimes brutal, sometimes massive, sometimes tiny. Frequently featured spaceship builder Shannon Sproule often surprises us with his unique style, and this search and rescue vessel does it again. Most of the repair ship is barely wider than a standard 2 stud brick, but the slender and tall profile is bristling with grappling arms, hangar bays, and lots of sloped parts to add a little flair. One of my favorite parts is the game die used along the underside. If you are a purist though, don’t look too closely at that bent antenna on the top (wink).

I’m picking up an anomaly in Lab 2 – or it’s picking me up

Soil contamination can spell disaster when you are growing crops to feed hungry colonists, and it looks like trouble may be growing in this dimly lit laboratory. But the more I look at this lovely scene by Jon Blackford, I find myself wondering, is the lavender-colored plant with the tentacle the anomaly? Or are they supposed to look like that, and it’s the rest of the plants in this bed that are wrong.

One of my favorite features of this scene, aside from the lighting, which really sets the mood, is the rear wall of the lab, with pipes to deliver water, or whatever it is that these plants need to thrive, and the drains along the base, for easy clean-up. And don’t miss the subtle detail of the cheese slopes along the lower edge of the scene.

Space elephant shines in silver brick

All hail the mighty space elephant! Created by Demetrius Gaouette, this sci-fi war beast is decked out in dazzling silver armor. The use of silver elements is what sets this elephant apart as something from the future. I’m a big fan of the lack of curvature to the elephant’s ears and legs, allowing the viewer to focus on other design aspects like the armor and troops. Next time Blacktron goes to war, they’d definitely want a dozen of these in battle.

Demetrius’ model is a digital render, with some parts not yet commercially available in certain colors illustrated.

One fancy bike for a fancy rider

It looks like the classic chopper is never going out of style, as demonstrated by this futuristic looking bike with swooping handlebars by Eero Okkonen. I love the way that the wings on the rider’s boots are picked up as a detail on the back of the bike. One missable detail is the red bumper part used to support the rider as he’s leaning into those sharp turns.

I don’t know about you, but I am also getting a definite Akira vibe with those big red angled parts at the front and back of the bike. And speaking of red parts, the macaroni pipes give those boots quite the look.

If you like this model, be sure to check out some other creations by Eero recently featured here on TBB.

Wicked-cool gunship will shred its enemies

There is little doubt that this gunship by Mark Stafford is one deadly ship, from its sleek black radar-eating surface to the whisper-quiet propulsion engines, forward blasters, and armor-piercing rail guns. Speaking of rail guns, Mark has found a very surprising use for the segmented garage door part.

This gunship also features some very well designed mechanical greebly parts along the spine, which complement the sleek black sculpted lines.

Buck Rogers and the 25th Century Thunderfighter

The 1970s brought us so many great sci-fi television shows in the wake of the original Star Trek series, from Battlestar Galactica to Space 1999. There was even a reboot of Buck Rogers, which served as the inspiration for this classic starfighter by Luis Peña. Based upon designs from famous Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie, this model features some excellent sculpting and color striping which closely matches its on-screen counterpart.

Circling the wheel in space

If like me you’ve been following Tim Goddard’s Instagram feed, you’ll have seen him teasing a fleet of colourful microscale LEGO spaceships over the past few weeks. Well the big reveal is finally here: I give you the Perhelion Point space station and attendant spacecraft. Constructed as a series of scaled disks that rotate around a central core, it looks wonderful hanging atmospherically in orbit.

Up close you’ll find some neat building techniques, like the modified plates with pin holes, which are matched with turntable disks to form the station’s super-structure. Naturally, there are multiple landing ports and shuttles to liven things up too. Continue reading →

Stylish sci-fi racer approaches the starting line

When it comes to building a great LEGO model, one thing that really shows off a builder’s skill is the ability to create something that can easily be mistaken for something other than plastic interlocking bricks. This sci-fi racing car by Vince_Toulouse is a perfect blend of smoothly curved details and unique parts, like the troll arms used for the main engine exhaust ports, or the mermaid tails housing the headlights. But by far, my favorite feature is the two-color striping throughout the car, which provides the perfect polish.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

That famous opening line from Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities is as good an introduction as any to Paddy Bricksplitter’s microscale diorama of the same name. The juxtaposition of the glistening white utopian towers and the smoke belching grime of the dystopian factory below creates some wonderful drama. There are nods, as he acknowledges, to the cyberpunk anime Battle of Alita as well as science fiction classics such as Things to Come and Metropolis. In the end, its Paddy’s own style that steals the show, relying on clever repeats of simple LEGO elements and atmospheric lighting to show the contradicting sides of his future city.