Tag Archives: Space

From giant space carriers to starfighters, moon bases to moon buggies, whether you love LEGO models inspired by real-world space programs or science-fiction, you’re in the right place.

SHIPtember comes around sooner every year... In, er, August?!

Now see here, ktorrek. We’ve seen your latest Seriously Huge Investment in Parts (SHIP), and we’re seriously impressed. Even more so to hear that it’s your 17th (!) such LEGO build; heck, we even featured one of the first ones some 11 years ago. But your calendar is a month out! SHIPtember – the annual build-a-spaceship-longer-than-100-studs challenge – doesn’t start for another week and a half yet. We were still mentally preparing ourselves for brick-built behemoth season! TBB Towers has been thrown into disarray by that clean colour-blocking and those awesome triple fins! Let’s file this one under SHIPtember: Early Access…

In all seriousness, we always look forward to SHIP season here at TBB – and ktorrek’s build is a great way to start. If you’re looking forward to it too, why not see what we’ve featured from previous editions of SHIPtember?

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Learn how to build spaceships like a true master AFOL [Instructions]

There are some LEGO builders who, every time they present a new build to the world, have us scratching our heads wondering how on earth they’ve made those pieces fit together like that. For no one is that more true than Nick Trotta, whose spaceships feature frankly mind-bending ways of connecting things together. Have you ever wanted to see how he does it? Well, he’s just released instructions for one of his models, so you can do just that! This spaceship was featured here way back in 2018, and it still looks just as good now as it did then. You can build your own using the instructions over on his website!

And while you’re here – why not take a look through some of his other builds that have graced our Nick Trotta archives since the Resonance made its first appearance?

Alien juicer is sure to add something special to your morning routine

Everyone knows that fresh-squeezed juice is good for you, but I’m not sure if this LEGO appliance by James Zhan is a very smart choice. Who knows what kind of side effects you might endure by sampling a beverage extracted from an alien plant? Health benefits aside, there can be no doubt that this modern machine looks like it would fit right in beside a Kitchen Aid or a Cuisinart. The black motor at the back looks like it could turn any alien flora into a smoothie in no time.

Start your shift at this awesome alien refinery

Sometimes, the best LEGO builds are the most down-to-earth (or down-to-another planet). Check out this refinery by qian yj. Sure, it’s in outer space, but there’s a mundane familiarity in the way the alien workers are just doing their jobs. I love the cool, industrial grays and whites paired with subtle blue or red highlights. Anyone who’s ever worked the daily grind can relate, no matter what planet you’re from. I don’t know what the aliens are refining, exactly, but I hope they get their lunch break soon.

Creature Contraptions building a better future in LEGO

2024 has been a delightful year for the Space theme, with it showing up in surprising forms across a range of LEGO themes. Ian Hou (DOGOD Brick Design) keeps the Space party going with a whimsical scene where old and new space minifigs pilot fish-ships and bug-gies to a chameleon-inspired space station. In the spirit of joyful collaboration, the model even incorporates a modified portion of the LEGO Friends Mars Space Base for the chameleon’s control module. According to the builder, the scene depicts a facility where the “dragon” restores life-giving soil. The central building is so colorful and fun, but my inner-kid’s favorite element has to be the adorable beetle buggies.

For more of Ian Hou’s playful animal-inspired builds, check out our DOGOD Brick Design archives.

Massive LEGO spaceship is over 5 feet long

Canadian LEGO builder Jean-Philippe Leroux has built a massive LEGO spaceship with a suitably impressive name! The Empress took over 24,000 parts to build and weighs over 43 pounds. If you like sci-fi bits and bobs, The Empress has it in spades; so let’s look at the engines back to front. For sports fans its got minifig skis and snowboards. For the handy-folk there’s saws. After the robot arms, there’s stud shooters and the old 1×8 bar. Finally, towards the front, there are robot binoculars and zipline handles. And that’s just the engines!

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Celestial love finds poetry in motion

What is love but an irresistible attraction between two heavenly bodies? Legonerdphotos brings the metaphor to life in LEGO with an anthropomorphized sun and moon locked in each other’s orbit. Like a high-concept PIXAR project, the builder manages to turn an abstract idea into deeply relatable characters. Who would have guessed that a cold grey meteor and a trans orange tridax pod could convey such emotion? The figure designs are a perfect mix of alien and intimate, especially the tendril arms that hold each other so lovingly. The photography is stellar, perfectly staged, using compositing to achieve the slight glow around each figure’s head.

Dancing of the Spheres is legonerdphotos’ interpretation of the theme “Gravitational Energy” for the BioCup. We’ve seen blessed with some truly out of this world creations in this year’s lineup. I can’t wait to see what legonerdphotos and the other advancing builders come up with in Round 2.

Taking Bionicle to the red planet

The Bio-Cup is underway, a contest utilizing the sometimes-awkward parts of the Bionicle theme! And it’s kicking off in a big way – the theme for the first round of this annual LEGO contest is “Space”. With such a broad topic, some builders have gone to some really far-flung galaxies, but Mohamed Marei has elected to hop over to our neighbouring planet in his Mars rover. I’m seeing a lot of call-backs to previous LEGO themes here. Of course, that includes some of the older Bionicle pieces used here, or the Technic figure and helmet. But that space-suit reminds me of some of the minifigure space-suits from the 1990s, and the rover is decked out in a similar livery to the Mars Mission sets from the mid-2000s. To be fair, orange is very on-brand for Mars!

Pigs! In! Briiiiiiiiiicks!

Perhaps it’s the mysterious Algorithm™ at work, but my social feeds lately have been on something of a Muppets revival, and I am so here for it. If you feel the same, I defy you to look at Jon-Paul Hansen, AKA j-p-30‘s, LEGO depiction of the Pigs in Space skit without saying the tagline. The set is very well recreated, with – among others – letter tiles used to represent some of the buttons and controls. The crew of Captain Link Hogthrob, First Mate Piggy and Dr Julius Strangepork look as good as their names sound ridiculous.

And if the interior wasn’t enough, j-p-30 has gone the whole hog (geddit? OK, I can hear Statler and Waldorf telling me to leave) and modelled the exterior of the USS Swinetrek too! If I’m not mistaken, this does make use of some light bluish grey paint on the big cone pieces, but the end result is a dead ringer for the show model.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this builder tackle Jim Henson’s lovable characters, either – have a look in our archives to see some of the others.

A n electrifying “fusion” of LEGO and non-LEGO

It’s always interesting to see non-LEGO objects incorporated into LEGO builds. When it’s done effectively, the results really sizzle. Take this Galaxy Squad-themed fusion reactor by Gaurav Thakur, which uses a working plasma ball as the centerpiece.

The inspired combination of LEGO and non-LEGO works so well I wouldn’t even have noticed the plasma ball at first. But when you switch it on, it definitely elicits a “whoa!” As a still image isn’t really enough to experience this creation in action, be sure to check out the video of the Lunar Tokamak in action. I know it’s just on my screen, but are my hairs standing on end?

A Star Destroyer floating ominously...

With one season of Andor out and another season somewhere on the horizon, it’s a good time to revisit the beautiful shots of Rogue One. This LEGO model by Codyaner perfectly captures the fearsome presence of the imperial hammer hanging over Jedha. Codyaner has done a great job of capturing the weathered, rocky nature of the walls and stone surrounding the city by stepping through light tan, dark tan, reddish brown, and dark brown bricks for the surrounding landscape. There’s such a huge variety of slopes in the rock that it would be impossible to list them all. I’ll shout out four here: the 2×4 wedge, the claw piece used for many a roof, and the shell and slope combo used on the right hand side. This city may be ill-fated, but if you look closely enough you’ll see the sparks of a rebellion burning in those city streets!

In space, no one can hear you make swooshing noises

Sometimes, you can hear a LEGO model even when all you’ve got is an image. Take this spaceship by Al-Tair here, which inspires a reaction somewhere along the lines of KSHEWWWWWW PEW-PEW-PEW! For anyone who doesn’t speak spaceship onomatopoeia, that’s the sound that automatically springs to mind as you imagine yourself swooshing the model around, firing those deadly-looking wing cannons. Bonus points for the use of one of my favorite cockpit pieces (we all have those, right?): the newer trans-blue helicopter screen from the City theme.

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