Tag Archives: Speeder

Star racing across the universe

Cast your mind back to 2006 and you might remember the obscure anime, Oban Star Racers. Charlie Mann has recreated the Whizzing Arrow from the show, which served as the main character’s racer. The large engines have smooth rounded forms with the ability to splay out in sections for when the boost function is engaged. The orange dome on the side acts as a gunner turret to fight off aggressive opponents. I tried to build this vehicle when I was young but gave up, so it’s great to see that Charlie has succeeded in constructing a model accurate to the original design.

Whizzing Arrow Collage

Spacey-Racey Swoosh Champions

When you love spaceships, it’s impossible not to like racecars. And vice versa. They two go hand in hand like… Cheerios and milk. PaulvilleMOCs combined the best of both worlds in this colourful racer. The racecar influence, as well as the respective sponsor decals, stems from usage of odd car elements from an old promotional LEGO set released in Cheerios boxes.

Cheerios Spacecraft Space

PaulvilleMOCs originally built this racer as a parts experiment for our good friends at New Elementary. Check out his article where he explores these strange promotional sets which barely pass as LEGO, proving that even the weirdest of the weird can be used in LEGO creations!

Something Something Squid Game

I’m a big fan of science fiction builds that are more useful than military. BetaNotus has found that sweet spot with their creation Cuttlefish Speeder. This adorable aid for “the fisherman of the future” makes great use of Technic panels to create a streamlined shape, with tan telescope accessories making for an intriguing front grille.  The touch of creepy from the Hidden Side 1×1 round eye tiles completes the look, making you wonder if this isn’t also a biomechanical treat. If so, that fisherman might want to feed it more…it’s looking cranky.

Cuttlefish Speeder

I know Cuttlefish and Octopuses aren’t the same thing, but if you’re looking for more tentacle-y goodness, check out our Octopus archives!

Thinking outside the box with a friendly landspeeder

My friends and I buy each other small LEGO sets that do not compute with the space-y things we build. We buy LEGO Friends, Trolls World Tour, DOTS, and the like. It’s all a joke of course, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t try to build from them. I (Mansur “Waffles” Soeleman) received LEGO Friends: Andrea’s Bunny Cube from fellow builder Gubi, and I knew I had to use the big cube pods in a build. Previously I used a Ninjago arcade pod in a Classic Space build, and the medium blue of this bunny cube wasn’t going to be that off-putting. I just had to hide the bunny face…

PD-102 Landspeeder

The Friends cube offers plenty of connection points both inside and out. Having one facing up and one facing down provided a good start, as one of them would be the cockpit. Hiding the hinges at the side is always a challenge, but it was nothing that greebling couldn’t fix. The addition of side engines also hid the irregularities of the cubes. One thing that seemed cooler in my head was the inclusion of the cloth pieces representing the “bunny’s ears”. They add more colour despite their texture and shape clashing with the mechanical nature of the landspeeder. After the struggle of attaching the engines from the top section which hides the printed bunny face, I could finally relax and go all out with the underside greebling…

TL:DR; Even the strangest of LEGO pieces can serve as the foundation for a good build. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Cat squadron, standing by!

Sometimes you and your buddies see something nice that you want to build in LEGO. It could be anything, inspiration is all around us. I (Mansur “Waffles” Soeleman) have a close circle of fellow builders that we like to call “vehicle dudes” and “teal squadron.” Consisting of Caleb Ricks, Gubi, Thomas Jenkins, Pande (Malen Garek), Tim Goddard, Tom Loftus (Inthert) and more, we get on a group call on Friday evenings and build. During this time, we discuss things that happen in the world of LEGO, Star Wars, and everything in between. It is during one of these remote group build sessions that we discovered artist Spacegooose and their colourful starfighter drawings.

Cat Squadron - Spacegooose Collab

It was their similarity to Star Wars ships that drew us into building them. Their varying styles and functions have enough similarity to belong to one group, and so our builds became a small collaboration. With blessings from the artist who eagerly awaits their designs in LEGO form, we decided to include our own artistic spin as well as matching the original artwork.

Click for detailed pictures and descriptions of each spaceship

Fabulous Fabulandspeeder

I wish this was an actual LEGO set. I would forgive LEGO for making Luke’s Landspeeder as often as a Spider-Man movie gets shoved down our throats. This makes me wish that LEGO brought back its old Fabuland theme, instead of my own favourite Bionicle. And so does Fabuland super-fan Stewart Lamb Cromar.

‘Fabulandspeeder’ (1/4)

Fabuland was a theme in the late 70s into the 80s, which started as a step between DUPLO and classic LEGO. It released a year after the first modern minifigure, as well as the first space and castle sets. The goal was to build a universe of friendly, funny, animal-headed characters that appeal to both boys and girls. The design of the sets were simplified and consisted of mostly primary colours – red, yellow, and blue.

‘Fabulandspeeder’ (2/4)

Similarly, Stu built his Fabulandspeeder with the default “Fabuland colour scheme” but with all the detailed goodness that Star Wars builds offer. He also used genuine Fabuland parts, including a loose house door he procured second-hand, as the original piece is built into a big panel.

Check out some more Fabuland-themed builds here!

The chase is on! It’s speeder bike versus speeder bike!

What’s better than one speeder bike? Two speeder bikes so that they can race against each other! -Disty- built a dynamic duo of hovering bikes with distinct styles and colours to match their pilots. They may be vengeful arch-enemies hellbent on destroying each other or just racing rivals here for the thrill of the chase. With the opposing styles and colour schemes, these two speeder bikes remind me of the old Technic battle bots from the late 90s.

Shinrai Technologies 'Orca' - Sport Bike

The tropical-themed Shinrai Technologies ‘Orca’ is a green mean speed machine piloted by a surfer dude. I love its lime green paint job that compliments azure waters and bright sands it flies above. Disty uses very clever parts usage with Hero Factory armour plates and robot minifigure legs as the secondary booster engines. I particularly like the usage of the transparent blue Bionicle eye/brain stalk as the headlight. It reminds me of the wheels of Legends of Chima Speedorz and even some Roboriders.

Rascal Motors 'DBL 790' - Urban Cruiser

The black and red Rascal Motors ‘DBL 790’ rules the night with furious speed. Despite the large Hero Factory spikes jutting out at all angles, this speeder bike retains aerodynamics to brave even the most congested cyberpunk air traffic. I love its angled look and greebly details; it looks like some creepy-crawly monster of the dark.

Over the water and past the finish line

Thirsty? Get a drink from this racer’s wake! Builder aido k created this fantastic racer to fly across the sea and leave his competitors behind.
Sport Racing

I’m enjoying looking at this racer as much as the driver is flying it! With so few parts, aido k managed to pull off a ton of angles and little details. I love the round pieces on the bottom that seem to be what is keeping the racer alight. But the coolest detail would have to be the way the fin is dipping into the water just enough to cause a bit of spray.

I’d jump at the chance to see this racer from a few other angles as well. Here’s to hoping we do!

A race to the Moon? Challenge accepted.

Noblebun is one of the best sci-fi LEGO builders out there, proving that title with his newest creation, the V-X Vera.

V-X Vera

“Roaring into the spaceport was the most beautiful ship I’ve ever seen in all my days. With a lean white bow and gleaming engines, she settled down into my docking bay. I thought I was lucky to just catch a glimpse of her, but now she could be mine to care for,” — Rhys Wheelright, chief of maintenance, Colony One.
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Super fast speeder zips on by

Do you feel a need for speed? Are your competitors feeling hungry? Fix that speed craving and make your rivals eat your dust as you speed along in Oscar Cederwall‘s LEGO skitter vig.
Skitter Vig

Look at this speeder zip through the desert! It’s always great to see what sort of science fiction vehicles can be created, and this is no different. Using large blue pieces from buildable action figures was a clever idea, as was the decision to do an open cockpit. We’re able to see the figure, giving us a sense of scale with the dust clouds. Which, by the way, is probably my favorite part of this whole creation. I’m seeing how fast the driver is going and what kind of environment he’s in. This definitely shows Oscar’s talent!

Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, cyberpunk?

Some people like horror movies, because they like being terrified by monsters and gore. I don’t. I hate horror movies, in fact. Instead, I go in for cyberpunk, because I like being scared by a desolate tech-heavy future. Bleak metal buildings, an utter dearth of plant life, and gritty scrappers with doctorates in electrical, aerospace, and mechanical engineering (how else could you keep such sophisticated tech running, kitbashing decrepit robots and speeders on the fly, right?), are all the things that give me nightmares. And I love it. This LEGO scene by CRCT Productions hits that perfect cyberpunk sweet spot, with the immersive scene, the optimal balance between greebled and smooth surfaces, and the dim light with brightly glowing signs.

LEGO Cyberpunk Industrial Zone

I love the pipes on the left and the roller coaster track on the right, and that little orange-lit shop down the street gives the scene so much added depth and realism. The builder resisted the temptation to overpopulate the street, and instead carefully chose a few well-placed soldiers to give a dreary, not-quite-but-almost deserted life to the scene. Ok. Now that I’ve looked at this for a bit, I need to get outside for a walk in the park or read one of my many leather-bound books to get that future of technological horrors out of my mind.

Do you like this kind of stuff too? Then check out the cyberpunk archives of TBB!

Why buy a new speeder when you can build one?

Does your speeder jerk when accelerating? Or maybe you started noticing that ticking noise coming from the engines after the oil change? I think you should stop by Alexander Blais garage. It’s not the fanciest one, and they might not be accepting credits, but these guys know their trade. Look at all the crates and boxes lying around; some say there is no such spare part they don’t have here in the garage. And forget about silly service droids. You don’t want to trust your lovely speeder to a soulless machine, do you?

Speeder Garage