Tag Archives: Spaceships

An organic spaceship fresh off the vine

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.

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Phoning in a solar sailor

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.

Classic Space isn’t just for, well, space, anymore!

LEGO’s iconic Classic Space style has been reinterpreted in many forms over the years, typically rounded up in what fans call Neo-Classic Space (NCS) and we’ve seen everything from spaceships to tanks wearing that beloved blue, grey, and transparent-yellow color scheme. But there’s always room for breaking the mold a bit more while still adhering to the basic style. Enter Rubblemaker and the Manta Ray, an NCS vessel that can go places no Classic Spaceship has gone before: underwater! Bearing a strikingly unique shape and just the perfect amount of greebles, this cool design now has me wanting to do a crossover mashup with Aquazone.

Of course, it can’t really be Classic “Space” unless there’s some space involved, and the Manta Ray is only too happy to oblige, as it’s versatile enough to traverse the cold depths of outer space as easily as the ocean.

One stellar ship on patrol

The latest custom spaceship by Builder Caleb Ricks is a blend between classic shuttles and futuristic spacecraft. Creatively connected pieces build a practically seamless model straight from Caleb’s imagination but clearly inspired by a particular Christopher Nolan film. The USSC Interstellar is a patrol ship charged with keeping watch over various regions of space. This vessel from the United States Space Core scopes the cosmos for activity amongst the plethora of planets, stars, and nebulae that it encounters on its patrols.

Prepare for liftoff

Fly into the sun with this LEGO Sunriser

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!

LEGO Ideas 40533 Cosmic Cardboard Adventures – A Boxy Gift with Purchase [Review]

Last February, LEGO Ideas ran a contest to find an “Out of this world!” space build to be turned into a gift-with-purchase. Now, just over a year later, the winning concept from Ivan Guerrero arrives in stores starting May 16th. You can claim a copy of LEGO Ideas 40533 Cosmic Cardboard Adventures with a qualifying purchase of US $160 | CAN $160 | UK £160. This 203 piece set features an imaginative spacecraft that really leans into the concept of “boxy”. But is this an idea worth pursuing? Come along as we take an early look!

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Click to head to the unboxing of this boxy beauty

Revisiting the classic TIE Fighter from Star Wars

TIE Fighters are one of the most iconic spaceships in pop culture today, and one of the most fun to see built with LEGO. Faku Saku returns to the classic ship with this redesign of an earlier TIE Fighter model he did a few years back. Redesigned and built from the ground up, the wings on this fighter stand out with some exquisite details. Right from the gate, we can see Faku kept the grille tiles for the solar panel detailing on the outside of the wings. Tiles and wedges nicely fill in the inside of the wings. The points where the wings attach to the ship’s body feature greater screen accuracy than the original model. And the outside of the wings? They have a cleaner and stronger appearance than most builds I’ve seen for a Tie Fighter!

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Massive 100000+ piece MCRN Donnager Hangar

Spaceships and LEGO are partners to the end. Fans have been dreaming up their own versions of their favorite ships, fictional or real, since before LEGO picked up Star Wars. Builder Mocking_brick combines their love of The Expanse with LEGO to create massive, minifigure scale ships from the series. Though these spacecraft are already immense on their own, Mocking_brick felt like pushing the limits of the building program, Stud.io, by making gigantic scenes as backdrops for their creations. This scene exceeds 100000 pieces all on its own, showing off the hangar bay of the MCRN Donnager prior to its destruction. Housed inside this minifigure-scale creation are the damaged Knight shuttle (which held the survivors of the Canterbury ice freighter) and the MCRN Tachi (which would become the legitimate salvage, the Rocinante).

While James Holden and his rag-tag crew of rebels caused issues for the Martian crew of the Donnager, their seized shuttle sat in the hangar with the formidable frigate that would become the Rocinante. After digitally building these ships to minifigure scale, Mocking_brick created separate renderings for the different parts of the background. The background was fleshed out first, as it was a repetitive but satisfying element for the builder to develop.

After building out both walls and partnering them with the Tachi, Mocking_brick moved on to the base and the maintenance rig. Already at 63,000 pieces, this next section added another 40,000 pieces and tested the limits of the Stud.io program and their computer.

This builder has an unmatched dedication to this fandom and I, for one, am here for it. I mean, the attention to detail that Mocking_brick puts into their ships goes above and beyond anything I’ve seen. I can’t wait to see what else they manage to finish. Given the size of their creations, it makes sense that they jump around projects for a little while. Patience is a virtue, though, and these builds are worth the wait.

Hats off to this harsh landing

This hair-raising crash may have ruined Arodi Anderson’s ship but he’s survived to take revenge on those that wronged him. This scene by builder Mix the Brix makes use of some clever techniques to build a realistic desert scene on an alien world. Emerging from the wrecked starcraft, the pilot knows there’s no point looking back as the smoke rises into the barren skies above the dune sea. He’s more concerned about who shot him down.

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This speedster lifts and separates

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.

LEGO Disney·Pixar Lightyear 76832 XL-15 Spaceship [Review]

What happens when the director of a highly anticipated film about a Space Ranger also happens to be a fan of LEGO Classic Space? You end up with a gorgeous spaceship with a sleek new yellow canopy that writer, director, and adult fan of LEGO Angus MacLane wanted for his own builds. The LEGO Disney·Pixar Lightyear 76832 XL-15 Spaceship is hands-down the star set of this new movie tie-in line. We got a chance to familiarize ourselves with this 497-piece set a few months before the movie hits theaters. Buzz Lightyear’s XL-15 Spaceship is available now from the LEGO Shop online and retails for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £44.99.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Let’s go to infinity and beyond!

Exploring the cloudy canopies of Algastarr

This LEGO build by Peter Stella shows us something wondrous aboard a stylish frigate. The ship we see here is a new version from a previous build of Peter’s that hadn’t met the builder’s expectations. Trimming the nose and the top of the engine block, this ship’s structure stands out with it’s new geometry. The colors really pop too! Check out that sand-blue inverted slope in the first blue stripe. I favor those teal blocks just below the stripe–such a cool color to see on a spacefaring vessel. However, the ship isn’t the only cool thing in this build; let’s talk about the planet. The floating islands are beautifully constructed using simple techniques that really shine. I particularly like the shaping of the leaves on the trees, and the use of an Indiana Jones whip on the small one in the bottom right corner.

Want to see more about this build, and what went into it? Peter has a great YouTube video detailing the ship, the islands, and how they’re all constructed.