This low-riding LEGO landspeeder by SweStar has all the stylings you need for a sweet Star Wars ride, from a big scoop up front to smooth engine nacelles and an orange windscreen. The color scheme is particularly intriguing here because it’s the oddest of combos and yet it works somehow, combining a sand green body with lavender and magenta stripes, and sand blue and bright light orange highlights. The best just might be that plush cockpit though, which uses macaroni pieces and a car hood to give it a comfy and curvacious interior.
Tag Archives: Star Wars
Don’t look a gift varactyl in the mouth.
When you think of Star Wars, I bet your mind goes first to the Millennium Falcon and X-Wings. But that franchise has brought us just as many beloved weird creatures as it has spaceships. I mean, who doesn’t love a tauntaun? Or a rancor? And my house is full of plush porgs. But one Star Wars creature that doesn’t seem to get enough love is the varactyl, a reptavian creature from the planet Utapau. Koen Zwanenburg is attempting to make up for that with this excellent rendition of Boga, the varactyl mount that helped Obi-Wan chase down General Grievous in Episode III.
Koen began the build inspired by the NINJAGO Jungle Dragon set, and kept modifying until the results looked enough like Obi-Wan’s helpful steed. Personally, I’d never have guessed this model started as anything other than an attempt at a varactyl. The stance is a perfect match for the movie character, and the use of blue and green plant plates does a fantastic job of replicating Boga’s feathered back. In fact, the only varactyl detail that this build lacks is the lizard’s trademark cry. And, really, it’s better for it.
Relax. On this slime pool, everybody’s an outlaw.
The wealth of characters from the Star Wars universe is almost never-ending and fans of the animated series are sure to recognize this infamous villain. An icon of the Clone Wars series, Cad Bane proved a formidable foe to Obi-wan and Anakin on a multitude of occasions. Respected by fellow bounty hunters and often employed by the Sith, this rough and tough fighter knew his way through the galaxy from the swamps of Nal Hutta to the underbelly of Coruscant. Immortalized here in brick form by Magnus W, this digital build uses some clever parts usage to achieve an uncanny likeness of Bane. Stand-out pieces are the pirate hats on either side of his chest as well as the Minifigure hoods used as his shoulders. Hinged bricks, angled slope tiles, and modified plates make up most of his jacket. The blue Magnus used in Bane’s face perfectly contrasts with the bright red eyes peeking out from the shadow of his iconic broad-rimmed hat. The satisfying color blocking does well mimicking the character’s design.
The rear of the bust holds a few extra details and reveals how the head was modeled. A mix of modified bars, hinges, and inverted plates allowed Magnus to attach Bane’s eyes and hat to the inverted pieces in his neck, jaw, and nose. The hose attached to the angled bars with studs not only works perfectly as his breathing apparatus but also forms the core of the connection between the top and bottom of his head. The bricks laid on their sides for the base are also a satisfying way to mount this fantastic bust.
Though much smaller than the helmet busts the LEGO Group released in the last year or so this model would still make a great addition to any LEGO Star Wars collection.
This massive Rebel Alliance space station is 12 feet long and lit with 19 strands of LEDs
The last 18 months have brought a number of challenges, and we’ve all had to find our own unique way to deal with them. Corry Lankford dealt with the stress by letting his mind get lost among the stars – Star Wars and Starcraft, specifically. The result is an original space station of his own design: the ST-01, a staging base where Rebel Alliance pilots vet prototype Starcraft to determine if they’re combat worthy.
This beast of a build measures 12 feet in diameter. But you don’t really get a sense of just how big it is unless you scope these pics of Corry hard at work on it.
Click here to take a tour of this mammoth space station
Fighting Relics from the Republic
Even after the fall of the Republic, remnants of that bygone era continued to exist in the service of the Empire. LEGO builder Malen Garek shows one example of this with the Venator-class Star Destroyer.
The first word that comes to mind when I look at this Star Wars capital ship is smooth. There are relatively few brick studs on the hull, helping me see the armor plating that I would expect to see on an Imperial warship. I’m thrilled to see all of the angles on this Venator look exactly like we see in Revenge of the Sith. So many LEGO models of the Venator try but fail to get the angles just right (looking at you, LEGO set 8039). Malen managed to pull it off while building it on a super cool base. Is it lava on Mustafar? Is it molten slag from an orbital bombardment? Regardless, it looks incredible.
But wait, there’s more! The engines on the Venator can be tricky to make, but again here’s another success for Malen. The use of hinge plates to build the cowling around the engine was a great choice. Additionally, Malen chose to add the smaller engines that are often forgotten in other Venator models.
Speaking of other models, Malen used his Venator alongside creations from other LEGO builders, including an Imperial light frigate and a couple of V-wing starfighters, all of which are attacking a Rebel starship. I think the winner of this battle is clear: the Venator lives on!
LEGO Star Wars 75316 Mandalorian Starfighter features Bo-Katan Kryz & Gar Saxon [Review]
In addition to all the LEGO sets from The Mandalorian, LEGO is also releasing a pair of LEGO Star Wars sets from The Clone Wars. We’ve already reviewed the smallest set in the summer 2021 wave, 75310 Duel on Mandalore, so today we’re taking a look at 75316 Mandalorian Starfighter, featuring a vehicle and characters seen in both The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series. The set includes 544 pieces with three minifigs and is available now for US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £49.99.
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.
Read our full review of LEGO Star Wars 75316 Mandalorian Starfighter
LEGO Star Wars 75319 The Armorer’s Mandalorian Forge – Mando gets his signet [Review]
LEGO continues to expand its range of sets based on the Disney+ TV series The Mandalorian, with several LEGO Star Wars Mandalorian sets launching this summer. Joining the previously announced sets, 75319 The Armorer’s Mandalorian Forge includes 258 pieces with three minifigures and will retail for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £27.99 beginning September 1, with preorders available now.
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.
Read our hands-on review of LEGO Star Wars 75319 The Armorer’s Mandalorian Forge
LEGO Star Wars unveils 75219 The Armorer’s Mandalorian Forge from Season 1 [News]
This morning LEGO took the wraps off a new set based on the hit Disney+ show The Mandalorian via a reveal on StarWars.com. 75219 The Armorer’s Mandalorian Forge will feature the elusive Mandalorian smith and her workshop, along with Paz Vizsla and, of course, the Mandalorian. With 258 pieces, the set will retail for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £27.99. It’s available to pre-order now and will be released on Sept. 1. We’ll be bringing you a hands-on review of this set very soon!
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Get your drinks at the Genesis Casino
One of the best things about building with LEGO for a hobby is that you can ignore it. What I mean is, when you don’t have enough time at hand, you can just park your hobby for a little while. Unlike sports, where your condition deteriorates. Or gardening, where the weeds take over. Or horseback riding, which tends to not go so well after not paying attention to your horse for a couple of weeks. Whenever I am crammed at work I tend to not build with LEGO at all. I do however keep my minifigure parts close by because I do enjoy putting together funky LEGO minifigures. In their latest creation, Darth Bjørn proves that they are an expert when it comes to building funky Star Wars minifigures.
The gold flooring in this build also deserves a mention. I didn’t know LEGO produced different tones of gold bricks, but apparently, they do. (Yes, and not all of them were intentionally different. – Ed.) Darth Bjørn used the two tones to create the pattern on the floor, which I personally haven’t seen before. I am really curious about the construction underneath the tiles. And last but not least there is a really simple but elegant design for drinking glasses. A transparent round plate is combined with a colored trans round tile and then turned upside down to mimic the rim of a drinking glass.
Unloading on Scarif with the U-wing that could have been
Star Wars and LEGO have gone hand-in-hand for quite some time now. Uncountable LEGO User Groups are centered around the very concept of building models based on the Star Wars universe. Suffice it to say, there is a wealth of models inspired by the galaxy far, far away. As many ships as there are in George Lucas’ fever dream of a series, a whole can of worms opens up when you look into the concept designs for some of the most iconic vehicles. This ship, built by Jan Südmersen, was inspired by a concept design of the rebel U-wing fighter from Rogue One. Quite different from the movie design on a few fronts, the main difference is the lack of wing-like strike foils. For those that aren’t hip, the s-foils were apparently used more for increasing the shield profile of the ship and less so for aerodynamics in an atmosphere. I doubt this big boy needs much help from some wings, though, as it looks like it can take a few hits without a problem.
LEGO Star Wars 75310 Duel on Mandalore features Ahsoka vs. Maul [Review]
LEGO’s summer 2021 wave of Star Wars sets has been taking us back to the Clone Wars and early Empire eras, with sets like 75314 Bad Batch Attack Shuttle from the new animated series and the set we’re reviewing today, 75310 Duel on Mandalore from the final season of The Clone Wars released on Disney+ last year. This set 147 pieces with two minifigs, and will hit stores on August 1st for US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £17.99.
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.
Read our hands-on review of LEGO Star Wars 75310 Duel on Mandalore
LEGO microscale Razor Crest from Star Wars: The Mandalorian [Instructions]
The hit Star Wars series The Mandalorian premiered on Disney+ in 2019 introducing us to an instantly iconic ship, the pre-clone wars era starship known as the Razor Crest. And before you make your jokes about a microscale model of the Razor Crest really just being a pile of loose parts, I like to remember her in her prime.
Wait, what am I saying? From the very first episode, she’s been grabbed by a space walrus, scrapped by Jawas, shot at, jumped on by space spiders, dunked in the sea, shot at again, and more. But if you want to remember her as she once was, soaring through the sky over Navarro blasting TIE fighters to bits, you can follow along with these instructions for a desktop model, designed by me. It even includes a poseable stand! Click here to download the LEGO Razor Crest Instructions by Daniel Fortine