Blake Baer (Blake’s Baericks) created this scene for the ongoing MOCathalon. I am sure most people are like Blake (and myself), in that Spaceman Spiff is their favourite Calvin & Hobbes character. Well Blake not only did the intrepid space explorer justice, he also did a wonderful job of creating a beautiful alien landscape full of exotic flora.
Be sure to check out this full size image to to see all the amazing details.
The 2013 MocAthalon is churning out some imaginative entries, like this future-sport diorama from Jon Blackford, a.k.a. Heiwa71 called “Zero-G Classic Spaceball”. Constructed for the category “No Gravity”, this impressive model features Classic Sports boilerplate like cheerleaders, goals, fans and even a machine to generate the “jump-ball”. The only thing curiously missing is a score-board, but perhaps Classic Spacemen have evolved past the need to keep score. The game appears to be a mix between soccer, basketball and the game Triad from the old Battlestar Galactica series played in either red or blue diapers. MOCpages has additional photos for your viewing pleasure.
Or, at least, it has the number “11” on the side… Unless those are Ls. Regardless, this ship by Nate Daly makes an impression. It’s his first attempt at build a space ship in the coveted 100+ stud class, and I think he’s done a great job.
There are plenty of nice details throughout, and the color blocking is well done. My favorite thing about it, though, is the crew. Many builders, when building a ship this long, declare it to be a battleship, or drednaught, or something else with a huge crew. Not Nate, though, he calls it a frigate, and gives it a tiny crew. Bravo, Nate.
There are a lot of cute little Tachikomas floating around lately, but this isn’t one of them. This mighty legged-tank by Dylan Denton is a bit more serious, and it’s got the looks to prove it. Based on a mech in the anime series Sound of the Sky, the Takemikazuchi looks deadly as it goes for a stroll through the snow.
Our TBB cover photo “inbox” is yielding a number of gems we’ve missed. Dutch builder Stijn Oom has built a cargo ship in a style dear to my heart, with fantastic asymmetry and excellent color blocking — particularly the white stripes that span most of the length of the vessel.
![3H-5 [Alasie] - Cargo Transport Vessel](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.brothers-brick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8516713148_e894659323.jpg)
Stijn says this is his first micro-space ship, so I’m hoping we can look forward to many more in the future.
We may be well into March now, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t still in love with fantastic rovers. Case in point, here’s one we missed previously: Robert H’s (Robiwan Kenobi) Helium Transport Rover. Like all the best microscale models, it belies its size, and abounds with ingenious techniques. The micro-mech that accompanies it is also a marvel of miniature engineering, employing some cool joint techniques that even I haven’t seen before.
EDIT: Oops, looks like we didn’t actually miss this one the first time around. We blogged its differently-colored twin here.
Sylvain Ballivet (iomedes !…) relies on shapes to create a dropship that looks functional. Each distinct white segment of the hull fits smoothly with the next to create the beautiful contours of this ship. The model was based on concept art by Syd Mead.
LEGOLIZE IT MAN proves once again that he is a master at building robots with a brilliant amount of detail. ROLF is a superb mish-mash of 3A and Ma.K with a nice sprinkling of Aliens. One factor that really stands out for me is the amount of visible anti-studs, something that I try and stay away from, but in this case it totally works. The sticker work and overall presentation really reinforces the cool factor as well…and it must be pointed out that chair use where they aren’t actually chairs always earns bonus points.
Edit:
Well it appears I should have waited a bit to post, because Legolize has now made ROLF a girlfriend…everyone, meet JANNE.
Pierre E Fieschi scores big time with his SOURCE ‘RAMFIST’ DESTROYER. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Pelé as captain with that colour scheme. The unique hull design adds a good dose of freshness to the build, and as per the norm, Pierre’s presentation is absolutely top notch.
Brian Kescenovitz (aka mondayn00dle) is back at it, building more of the best Mecha around. This time he’s got this aggressive grey beast called the Weaver. It even fits a figure completely inside–which, come to think of it, may make it a large exo-suit. At what point does an exo-suit become a mech? Whatever you care to classify is as, though, there’s no question that it’s of the species awesome.
LEGO magnets are cool, but most people just use them for connecting trains or picking up crates. Not so for Simon Liu, the ever-innovative Canadian builder. This mass transit suspension bridge is actually held aloft by magnetism, providing a cushy platform for the mag-lev train that rides on it over an earth-quake riddled fault-line. Be sure to watch the video of Simon disassembling it to show the magnets’ effects. Besides having an uuber cool concept, though, Simon has nailed the style of this futuristic bridge, giving it an edgy, techy architectural look. Also, I’m pretty sure Simon is crazy, because he’s competing concurrently in both the Iron Builder competition and the MocAthalon contest, and this creation counts for both.
