Tag Archives: Underwater

Gleaming the cube in LEGO

Where did the cubes come from? How long have they been here? Was it aliens? Jordan Fridal offers no answers, only questions in a pair of builds featuring enigmatic cubes in ancient ruins. After creating his first cube, based on a design from geometric LEGO genius Zachary Steinman, Jordan was inspired to create a suitably mysterious setting to house it. Jordan’s first cube sits on Aztec-inspired ruins in a dense jungle. Normally a vehicle builder, this was Jordan’s first time playing with LEGO foliage.

Jordan set the second cube amidst Greek-style ruins deep beneath the sea. The explosion of color in the surrounding reef includes some clever parts usage, with orange combs, magenta hair, and frogs in pink and gold doubling as coral.

Will scientists discover a third cube, perhaps frozen the in the ice or buried in Egyptian sands? Only time will tell. For now, we can only specualte who left them…

It was aliens.

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Such wonderful things surround you right here on the ocean floor

The wonders of the seafloor are on full display in this entrancing build by BardJaskier, where the variety of ocean flora and fauna represented is matched only by the variety of elements used to build them. In addition to using standard LEGO molds like crabs, octopi, rays, and fish, BardJaskier gets creative to fill out the rest of the marine life. The flame-and-umbrella pairing to create jellyfish is inspired, as are the simple but effective combinations used for the coral polyps. I can also pick out carrots, broomstick ends, purple minifig hair, and tan samurai swords. Go ahead—take a closer look and see what else you can spot. Just make sure to hold your breath.

Under the Sea!

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Oh the Hu-manatee

This excellent LEGO build by Legonerdphotos! steals and borrows pieces from a powerful array of Bionicle heroes and villains! Its head is made from the all-mighty Mask of Life, while its shoulders and tail fins are made from the head-pieces of the great Bohrok-Kal. The little bundle of seaweed the manatee is carrying is a hairpiece from a single minifigure from the Hidden Side line. Speaking of vegetation, the grass at the front to either side of the scene comes from spines of the Barraki lord Ehlek. Further back, the tall fronds are from this year’s Dreamzzz Cat-Owl and the vast field in the middle is made from Gresh’s shoulder guards. All-in-all Legonerdphotos has put together a lovely diorama that shows it’s better down where it’s wetter; take it from manat-me!

Tranquility

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I’m a deep-sea girl, in a deep-sea world

Duncan Lindbo has really hit the nostalgia button for me on this one. This ocean-bed scout mech is reminiscent of some underwater LEGO themes of days gone by – think Aqua Raiders or Aquazone. I’m pretty sure it was a rule to have “Aqua” in the name of any deep-sea sci-fi (sea-fi?) theme back then. Big fans of that Barbie Girl song in Billund, I guess. I’ll settle for being a big fan of this walker, with its bubbly limbs and viewport borrowed from 21335 Motorized Lighthouse.

CMRN SeaScout

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Reading can take you to unexpected places

Travel beneath the waves in style with this beautiful scene by LEGO 7. It features a pair of humpback whales swimming alongside some dolphins, and carrying an unusual passenger: Low-Fi Girl? She’s just reading a book and riding along with her orange cat while a nearby angler fish provides her some light. There is some amazing rounded shaping used in all the underwater mammals. Drifting along with this unusual group, several notes complete the scene.

Murmur in the sea

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Brick-built life on LEGO pond

Well really, there’s just as much life within this LEGO pond, built by Jannis Mavrostomos, as there is “on” it. The composition is lovely, and an interesting perspective that you don’t often see – including both above and below the waterline in an elegant way. I love the seamless transition and how it all blends together, and of course, the animals are fantastic. Both the mallard and the pike are easily recognizable, but I think I’m most impressed by the use of the cylindrical hinge element with heart tiles and hands to create the smaller fish.

While you’re here, check out more builds by Jannis, as well as loads of other exceptional animal creations.

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SCUBA: Superbly-Constructed Underwater Bionicle Awesomeness

I’ve really been enjoying all the recent builds revolving around the LEGO Bionicle novel Prisoners of the Pit. And one of the best of the bunch is by constraction expert Patrick Biggs, rehashing the Toa Hahli set of 2007. What a truly remarkable figure, clad in dark blue and sporting some excellent lime green highlights. The shaping of the limbs here is exquisite, intricately blending Bionicle and System pieces together into a perfect harmony. I also appreciate the detail put into the Toa’s breathing apparatus and scuba tanks, while still utilizing the mask of the original set. But the real standout feature of this figure has got to be its spiny wing-like fins. Falling somewhere between lionfish and angel, the array feels like the perfect application of pearl silver weapon parts first found in the Toa Nuva sets of yore. And speaking of weapons, that massive trident is quite the impressive armament as well!

HAHLI MAHRI: TOA OF WATER

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Solve the Blue Mystery of Neptune’s Garden

One thing legendary LEGO builder Bart De Dobbelaer is quite good at is taking us to unique alien worlds. Take Neptune’s Garden, for instance. Whether it be the eerily luminescent jellyfish or the shale-like rocky structures, I can easily get lost in all these amazing details right up until I run out of oxygen, which wouldn’t be very long. Bart tells us that ocean exploration is dangerous (well, duh!) but when Blue Mystery manufactured their OFE (Ocean Floor Exploration) units, a new world opened up. It turns out there’s big money in ocean exploration as Blue Mystery emerged as a Fortune 500 company. But many of their autonomous units were lost to the depths, never to be seen again. The company went under both figuratively and literally. What happened? Did they find something that would best be kept hidden?

Neptune's Garden

Care to plumb the depths?

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In the zone....The AQUAZONE

With the 90 Years Of Play thing going on, LEGO nostalgia has been running high lately. That’s why I was so chuffed to see this great Auquazone tribute by Jason Head (Xccj). Built for this year’s Bio-Cup competition, it features a superbly upgraded monstrous shark getting ready to chow down on mini versions of  1995’s 6195 Neptune Discovery Lab and 6175 Crystal Explorer Sub. Standout features are the textured approach to the sea floor, the integrated transparent blue Bionicle mask serving as the Lab’s front gates, and that cute little mini sub.

AquaShark

If you’re looking for more under the sea goodness, there’s plenty in our archives!

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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.

Classic Space - The Manta Ray

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.

Classic Space - The Manta Ray

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We all live in an iron (builder) submarine

LEGO expert Jake Hansen dives deep into the his Iron Builder duel with this Ponyo inspired submarine! His signature color mastery and clean lines abound in this build. The teal tentacle parts create a sense of motion as seaweed waving in the currents over the brick built sea floor. The seed part for Iron Builder this round is the red cockpit part used here as fins. Keep an eye out for more builds using this seed part in the coming weeks as the Iron Builder round progresses!

Ponyo Submarine

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Take a dive into this vibrant underwater world

LEGO Masters winners, Steven Erickson and Mark Erickson, have created this fascinating aquatic display. We have had a look at the golden speeders before, which fit in perfectly with this diorama. Bursting with colour, the build features a variety of characters and sea life, surrounding a grand-looking throne room. The use of flexible green tubes as seagrass is one clever technique and makes a great addition to the collection of sea vegetation. Minifigure legs represent the curl at the end of the seahorse’s tail and one of the jellyfish even uses hero blast pieces as its tentacles.

The Ocean Empire

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