LEGO’s 90th anniversary sets have pushed the fandom’s collective nostalgia into hyperspace, prompting all kinds of throwback builds. This tiny spacecraft by Pascal is a perfect example of old-school styling and modern construction. The blue and gray color scheme recalls the classic sets of yesteryear, but the studless construction and greebling details put this squarely in the “modern marvel” category.
Builder Paul Hetherington is totally feeling some classic sci-fi vibes with this bridge scene. Given the four spooky spacemen on the viewscreen, the crew of this intrepid starship must be shaking in their space boots! As is typical with his designs, I’m in love with Paul’s use of repeated patterns throughout the ship’s command center. It’s just trapezoids for days along the walls and in the ceiling! And all of them in pearl metallic gray, contrasting well with the blue, light gray, and yellow throughout the rest of the scene. My mind immediately goes to a mash-up of classic Star Trek and LEGO Classic Space, which I’m sure is the intent. And right in the center is a beautiful LEGO-inspired art piece by Robin Thompson, depicting the long forgotten crew returned for revenge!
From this angle, you can get a better view of all the switches and dials available to the starship’s crew. I particularly enjoy the use this two-wide windscreen, my favorite LEGO part! And the lighting along the floors and pillars fits right in with the sci-fi aesthetic.
Yet another planet meets its fate by this great cosmic devourer! Margit presents us with an incredible, and terrifying, kaiju for the Bio-cup challenge. Nothing escapes the nine eyes of the creature as it brings the latest prey to its gaping maw. Three sets of pincers ensure a firm grip on celestial objects, perhaps splitting them open to feast on the cores. Row upon row of razor-sharp teeth stands ready to mash solid planets to bits. This monster is something else to behold! There’s a brilliant use of LEGO rubber tires for the outer layer of the creature’s body. The tires are turned inside out, allowing the treads to hold onto the build’s internal structure. This gives the creature a smooth, organic appearance, perfect for an eldritch terror from the deepest and most primordial reaches of the universe. The next time you look through a telescope, hope you don’t see this horror lurking in the silent expanse of space.
It’s always cool when a someone builds something that looks so organic, so alive, out of LEGO. This alien spaceship by Titolian doesn’t disappoint! There are some unique curves on this build, making great use of the tentacle and horn pieces. The long tentacles, or maybe bones, break up the ship’s sections through visual lines. The cockpit of the spaceship reminds me of a predator warrior mask from the Predator franchise with that broad canopy and orange piping details. Some of my favorite parts of the ship are the circular thrusters on the wings. I just really like how they’re almost detached, as if they’re suspended by emitters in the surrounding tentacle structures. These sorts of design choices are interesting, because they push builders in their creativity to suspend but also support the elements.
Don’t adjust your screens; that is not a LEGO minifigure someone left in a microwave to see what would happen. You’re looking at a Ted Andes creation of an up-sized remote control space rover built for a plush Lenny. Despite being a seasoned writer for The Brothers Brick, I didn’t know these LEGO plushies were a thing until like two minutes ago. I’m apparently the wrong demographic, but they’ve been all the rage with youngins for a few years now. Look, I never said I was attuned to what the kiddos are into; I don’t even know what kind of bourbon they like. Anyway, while you’re trying to figure out how a TBB volunteer can be given the pink slip, check out these other works by Ted Andes whom, it turns out, is a master at making unusual parts seem pretty cool.
Don’t tell anyone but if I had a plushie Lenny I’d probably give him an occasional squeeze for good luck.
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.
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!
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…
