When Tim Goddard sees a new LEGO piece, a new droid can’t be far behind. Tim’s put the recent 1×2 round brick with center bars to use as the torso in this adorable bot that’s full of life. The bend in the abdomen helps convey a sense of motion, while the dark turquoise and pearl gold create the perfect pops of color against the mostly gray robot body.
Today LEGO has revealed two brand new sets that pay tribute to classic themes from yesteryear. 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle is a 4,514-piece stronghold featuring a working drawbridge, a dungeon, secret passages, and more. The 22 included minifigures pit the Lion Knights against Black Falcons and Forestmen factions. It will retail for US $399.99 | CAN $449.99 | UK £344.99 when it debuts on August 8 (but VIP Early Access members can pick it up on August 3). Leaping into the future, 10497 Galaxy Explorer gives us a modern take on the fan-favorite spaceship that originally debuted in 1979. Keeping the classic space color scheme, this 1,254-piece set includes four classic spacemen, a robot, and classic play features like a rover than can deploy from the rear of the craft. It will retail for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99 and drops August 1.
See more images of the two sets below, and also check out more LEGO News on TBB.
One of my all-time favorite games doesn’t have a name but its variations are known by many. The “telephone” game, in its many forms, gravitates around the idea of altering a phrase, image, or item slightly as it’s passed around to each participant. While most of us played it as kids, some adult fans of LEGO like to play a version of their own that is often out of this world. Builder Eli Willsea created the STG-2 Sailer as the 4th iteration in the latest telephone series. The small, rockhopper-style craft somewhat reminds me of the starter ship in No Man’s Sky (NMS) with its compact body and raised back portion. More NMS parallels arise with the solar sail sections with boosters firing off behind them. The sails creatively use the balloon sections from Friends sets and Sweet Mayhem’s Systar Starship along with some golden rigging for deployment and retraction. The coloration and parts usage give this ship lots of curves and angles that really catch the eye, an essential part of good spaceship building. Greeble, or detail, all you want but if your ship doesn’t visually swoop it’ll probably end up resembling a flying, mechanical potato. Thankfully, Eli knows how to avoid the spud fate and instead made a fantastic little puddle jumper that the next builder will have fun emulating.
I’m not sure which is funnier; the fact that this LEGO alien seems to be built using like a dozen Hulk fists or his head seems to be made from a corncob. Either way, Dan Ko is at it again with another entry for Iron Builder. This corny alien is chock full of hilarious personality. If you have been following Iron Builder or The Brothers Brick in general this is propably not even the weirdest thing you’ve seen today. That’s what we do; bring you the wild and weird so you don’t have to.
We might be facing shipping delays here but Stijn van der Laan shows us what the future of high class shipping can look like. This LEGO interplanetary freighter is absolutely stunning and the modular cargo load pairs perfectly. The simple white and grey colors with orange highlights contrasts nicely with the bright cargo and worker vessel. The subtle shaping adds some great texture and depth to the fairly simple overall shaping of the freighter. This is an absolute masterclass of microspace.
Click here for more details on the cargo!
I was in Brussels Zaventem airport the other day, where I came across an enormous red and white rocket in the departure lounge, standing an impressive 6 metres tall. Stefan Johansson must have been through the same airport, as he has built the very same spaceship at an equally impressive scale! Of course, this isn’t just any old rocket. This is the craft that Belgium’s most famous son — at least in comic book form — used to travel to and explore the moon. The rocket is one of the most recognisable pieces of Tintin iconography, and as such has seen a fair few LEGO versions, but at 1.4m (4 feet, 7 inches) tall, Stefan’s is easily the biggest brick-built one I’ve seen!
Click here to see the details of this colossal build!
Few LEGO builders do other-worldly creations quite like Bart de Dobbelear. His latest creation is a super bit of sci-fi workmanship, inspired by a digital piece from another artist. At first glance, I wondered if there had been some photoshop trickery at play to achieve the repetition of the rings, but on closer inspection, they are indeed four distinct rings. (I really should know better than not to expect such attention to detail from Mr de Dobbelaer!) The greebling is superb, but the real skill lies in the restrained use of pieces. In doing so, the build can show off its tremendous physical depth while keeping the look of the rings consistent. Moreover, they look simultaneously ancient and futuristic. Quite what the rings are for is unclear, and Bart says as much in his description. However, he does mention a few “mysterious disappearances”, with caution being warranted at night…
… So you’d better have your wits about you, as he has treated us to a night-time version of the build as well! The blue light wire is something Bart has used to great effect before, and understandably so – it really elevates the build to something truly alien. If we don’t hear from this TBB favourite for a while, it may well be because he got too close to the rings on Llyria Y9…
Fully equipped for galactic warfare, comes this awesome creation by Wiseman_Lego. The design is reminiscent of a mech called a Jegan, which is featured in a variety of Mobile Suit Gundam series. This model has a muscular, tough-looking form, thanks to the application of rounded and angled parts. A triangular road sign acts as a centerpiece at the chest with a hint of orange on either side creating contrast against the blue and grey colour scheme.
The machine is able to house a pilot which is impressive considering the mech’s slender shape. On the back and around the legs are a variety of thrusters to allow for fast travel in space. This build is a perfect tribute to classic mecha designs while still being able to have a unique and interesting appearance.
One of the key design elements of the Star Wars universe is its ‘lived-in universe’ feel. A consequence of that is that some of the ships can sometimes look a bit drab in their greys and blacks. Joey Klusnick has seen fit to remedy that with a ship designed to fit in the Star Wars galaxy, but with a colourful twist! The bright yellowish-orange paintwork, alongside the purple canopy, really makes this little spacecraft pop. There are some design cues taken from elsewhere in the galaxy far, far away. The unique, asymmetrical shape reminds me a bit of a B-wing, while the smaller engine ports follow the same Incom design used on the X-wing or U-wing. There is just about enough grey and battle damage (created with stickers) to keep that signature used feel. It even comes with a few play features – the cannons on the end can rotate on their axis, and the Astromech’s port actually opens rather than being an empty 2×4 hole!
Eric Druon lovingly recreates the Cosmo-Liner spacecraft from the 1978 anime Captain Future. The ship is really cool, from both a design and LEGO model perspective, bringing to mind visions of a deep-sea diving vessel. The viewport of the ship is hexagonal as if it’s destined to be made of LEGO! This calls for the use of the transparent blue canopy from the 2000 Artic LEGO toy line. The color palette of the ship is simple and quite clean, letting the canopy shine as the focal point. Looking at the design, I can’t help but think the original designers were inspired by TIE fighters. Star Wars premiered a year before the anime aired, leaving room enough for the artists to be inspired by that hit movie. Regardless of the ship’s origin, this build is inspiring in its own right!
Fun fact, the anime was based on the pulp sci-fi character Captain Future. The character’s original adventures were published in the eponymous pulp magazine from 1940 to 1944. The anime was imported into many countries and was particularly successful in France. It was in France that the character’s name changed to Capitaine Flam.
This LEGO spaceship is bending space itself! Or maybe that is just the brick bending technique that David Roberts used on this fantastic curvy racer. These massive engines look great with their colorful markings and smooth shaping. Brick bending is a difficult technique to work with at such a small scale and David pulled it off beautifully. I can imagine an entire racing series with this catamaran-styled ship full of high-speed action and incredible maneuverability. Always nice to see an uncommon technique used to great effect! If you want to check out what else can be achieved with brick bending take a look at the creations of Jeff Sanders, the brick bending specialist.
The cool thing about designing spaceships is that space travel is more or less in its infancy here on Earth so we can still dream up all sorts of wild and wacky designs. Take this LEGO “Comet” Speedster concept built by Marco De Bon for example. It is chock full of neat build techniques and complex angles. The forward dishes are Ninjago Spinners making the model tricky to balance according to the builder. Speedster implies speed but I imagine the forward mandibles can lift a payload magnetically while the aft section sports four Brick Separators, hence the lifts and separates reference in the title. I definitely wasn’t thinking of a retro bra ad when I thought up the title so don’t get that idea in your heads.
