I have a thing for space corridors. I can’t explain it, I can’t define it — I just have a thing for space corridors. Turns out, I’m not the only one! Tim Goddard has created an H-shaped corridor section inspired by Jeremy Williams’ Alpha Zero Niner and built as part of a collaboration to be revealed in a couple of months. Tim has captured all the elements of a good space corridor: plenty of details, cool greebling, great depth of field, creative lighting and a Classic Space minifig.
It’s the great-granddaddy of rogue AIs — HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Built from a small selection of LEGO bricks by Jason Allemann, this model perfectly captures the unblinking stare of the famous fictional computer. I can’t look at this without hearing the iconic voice in my head, only this time there’s a disagreement over access to the bricks — “I’m sorry Dave, I can’t let you build that”.
And don’t miss the computer’s ID number — 0937, a number which keeps cropping up in LEGO creations for some reason. Who knows, perhaps it has some mysterious and deeper significance, like a digital version of 2001‘s monolith?
Mecha legend Mladen Pejic has built an interesting pair of quad-legged rovers in Blactron I & II livery, using an ingenious technique to create spherical rollers as opposed to wheels. The resulting ‘legs’ give the rovers a wonderful sense of character and allow all manners of dynamic posing.
Of the two, my favourite has to be the Trespasser shown above…mainly because of the surprising cockpit.
See more LEGO mecha from this legendary builder
Some spaceships are made for carrying cargo, others for deep space exploration. But there is no doubt that Leonard ZX is a ship designed for the offensive manoeuvres of war. Flavio has designed the starship Leonard ZX with speed and agility at the fore, with a sleek nose leading to a powerful, edgy hull. I love the colour blocking of red and white and the use of tails to give the sharp angles on the outside of the hull.
Just behind the white cockpit area is the ingeniously placed red hockey helmet, proving that health and safety is paramount, even in a war fighting machine.
Shown at Bricks Cascade 2017 and winner of Interstellar Bella trophy, Jonathan Walker‘s breathtaking Shadowcaster is a masterpiece. At 133ish studs in length, the leaf-like beauty is massive. Inspired by a train station in France by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, Jonathan spent a lot of time building curves, stressing LEGO in ways it shouldn’t be stressed; the results are extraordinary. Each 4 stud section is attached by a single stud to the spine and they are all held in place by the curve of sand green on the edges. I love the colors he has used and the multi-directional engines mounted underneath. A spectacular spaceship to demonstrate the limitless potential of our beloved plastic brick.
Australian builder Shannon Sproule has once again created a stunningly unique sci-fi model. Shannon has a real knack for being able to use a minimalist parts palette to great effect in his builds. The repeated pattern of the white tiles on the side of this craft is what initially catches the eye, but the various hits of colour throughout really make the model pop.
Not only is the ORCA nice to look at, but it also would be incredibly fun to play with. With a hidden missile port in the nose and modular equipment hardpoints on the lateral pylons, she is just begging to be swooshed.
Shannon built this for the ongoing Real World +200 contest in the Flickr Starfighters group. In fact my Orcinus class gunboat that we featured last week was built for the same contest. And yes, I did get a chuckle out of the fact that Shannon and I chose to name our ships after the same whale.
Everybody likes a good Classic Space model, and this crystal mining diorama by Brick Knight has all the right details. From the characteristic grey-blue colour scheme with yellow and black stripes, to antennas and recreations of vintage sets, all placed on a tan landscape, just like the box arts of the 1980s. The cracks filled with green minerals break up the landscape very well, but the main focus is obviously in the sci-fi elements like space stations, spaceships and most notably the round portals. The builder explains the diorama as an uninhabited planet where the Classic Space explorers discovered a new energy source and are mining it for its engineering uses.
Click to see more of this space outpost
Immersed in and inspired by a broad range of innovative source materials in sci-fi — from novels and short stories to TV and video games — builders of LEGO space creations have no boundaries to their creativity. Tromas proves this by not only building a chunky, believable starfighter but also giving it a chunky, believable name with a chunky, believable backstory. This gunboat sports a massive quad cannon toward the rear, with lovely orange stripes on a white hull. The reclined cockpit configuration has a viewport built from a transparent hexagonal wing piece integrated among wedge plates. But what really draws the eye are all the little technical details around the edge — not your usual gray greebles, but hyper-realistic black and gold thrust nozzles, white sensor arrays, spots of sand green, and more.
The rear includes no less detail, with primary engines that match the color scheme of the small directional nozzles.
Check out more pictures of this great spaceship after the jump
There’s a definite futuristic spin on this pirate ship created by Bricksam, but the only thing cooler than pirates are sci-fi pirates. The skull & cross-bones figurehead on the bow of the ship suggests that this ship does not come in peace, and the Jolly Roger flying over the stern confirms her intent. No sails are required on this particular ship, but there is some lovely hull shaping and lots of details. The colour blocking with dark green, black and more traditional brown for the main deck gives a real ‘scavenger ship’ feel to this vessel.
The view from behind shows the ragged Jolly Roger and the main deck more clearly. Those glowing rear engines mean that this ship does not need water or wind to power her plundering travels.
Our first look at the forthcoming LEGO Ideas Saturn V model prompted a bit of discussion amongst the staffers here at The Brothers Brick. A comparison of the portion of the set revealed thus far with schematics of the original rocket suggests the model is going to stand 3 feet tall. That set me thinking — what size would the astronauts be at this scale? Well, once you have a thought like that in your head, what else can you do but get building?
This started with the little figures and went on from there. Once the Saturn V set is released, I plan on building a launch tower to stand alongside it, with these little guys trooping across the gantry to board their ride. We choose to go to the teensy-weensy moon.
I understand that this somewhat technically and conceptually simple sculpture of Toy Story‘s Buzz Lightyear may not appear terribly innovative, especially having been built by one of the most renowned LEGO builders in the community, Tyler Clites. But context is the key here, as this was made as a live build at a festival, in 10 hours with no planning. I have rushed builds myself before, but never at this level. I think it’s safe to say that not many people are capable of making a creation this impressive in so little time, at least not at the scale of Tyler’s Buzz Lightyear.
A lot of the LEGO spaceships we feature here are large capital ships or nimble starfighters. David Roberts brings us an interesting change of pace with a heavy-duty maintenance pod — the sort of workhorse utility vehicle which keeps the solar system running. The striping and the brick-built ID number are excellent, but what caught my eye were the manipulator arms, the thruster design, and the cockpit design. A shout out for the landing skids too — a nice little practical touch in a building genre often obsessed with style over realism.
