When I first glanced at this Vic Viper from pyrefyre I thought it was a great micro-scale build…but there is a minifig hiding behind that transparent-black windscreen. Then came the rush of part recognition. Amidst the sharp angles of slopes, tiles and wedge plates, I saw the ball joints as the base of the struts connecting the engines. This design could stand in any scale, but it is particularly enjoyable holding its minifig.
We just did a big breakdown on the history of NoVVember, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still some Vic Vipers worthy of our attention to cover. Take this Ninjago themed ship from seb71. The dragon heads used to make the trademark front prongs work in large part thanks to plenty of organic curves in the hull and rear of the craft. And the red wings give the perfect pop of color to the golden spaceship. Another great example of how vast the Vic Viper variety is.
The team here at The Brothers Brick, like many of the builders we feature, live and breathe blocks and have been stewing in LEGO lore for so long that we’re more minifigure than man. But we recognize that not all of our readers are as fluent in the insider jargon and history of this hobby. With you in mind, I’ve prepared an outsider’s guide to help you understand an annual event with deep roots in these parts: NoVVember. This story showcases the importance of community, it speaks about a tragedy, and how we still honor age-old traditions.
You may have seen recent NoVVember entries such as this one but what does it all mean? And why the heck do y’all spell it that way, anyway? The double V in NoVVember stands for Vic Viper. This recent pair by Bradk918 perfectly demonstrates what a Vic Viper is; denoted by two wings or prongs that extend forward of a centralized cockpit and flares out at the rear of the craft and a central stabilizer fin. The style and term was taken from the Gradius video game series.
Creative examples from the community
Now that we’ve established the rather rigid rules that constitutes what a Vic Viper is, how does a builder go about being creative while still following the overall shape and guidelines? Last year, LEGO phenom Maxx Davidson prescribed the medicine-themed Sick Viper complete with syringes, pill pack wings and a central cockpit reminiscent of a two-color pill capsule. It’s good for whatever ails you.
NoVVemeber, the annual tradition of building “Vic Viper” inspired starfighters in November, may have been first inspired by classic video game Gradius, but over the past 17 years, builders have pushed the format to wild places, like a ship made from string or this VV made from medical supplies. The One and Only Mr. R (yes, that’s his handle) goes back to the source this month with a ship directly based on the Vic Viper of Gradius V, in player 2 red. While the inspiration isn’t revolutionary, the craftsmanship is of the highest caliber.
The geometry of the wings, the subtle recesses in the SNOT-built forward prongs, and the slick color blocking make this Vic Viper a dream from every angle.
Feeling nostalgic for Novvember? Check out our Vic Viper archives for dozens more ships in this iconic style.
In these parts, NoVVember always has two Vs in celebration of the Vic Viper starfighter and the memory of builder who inspired the tradition. Builder WyndGekko shows that the tradition is also held in a galaxy far, far away with this fresh upgrade to her 2022 TIE Viper design. The ship bears all the necessary traits of a Vic Viper – the twin prings, single dorsal fin, and rear lateral wings – while also looking like a design that might have been heisted from the Seinar Test Facility, alongside the TIE Avenger. Viper traits aside, it’s one of the best custom TIEs I’ve ever seen, especially for the color-blocking on the struts and the subtle greebling.
Feeling nostalgic for NoVVember? Check out our extensive Vic Viper archives.
If you don’t like needles, then you’d better hide from this LEGO Vic Viper by Maxx Davidson! This shark-nosed spaceship can make you comfortably numb with whatever is in those giant syringes, while the stethoscope radar can hear you at extreme range. Much like Bionicle before it, this whole build is inspired by pills, so Maxx gave it a classic red and white color scheme and even made the wings out of foil packets! Maxx is a great builder, so if you want to see more of his found-object builds, check out his archive here!
Swooshable is a word thrown around in the LEGO community that means the model is easily picked up and swooshed around the room without parts breaking off and probably while making fun spaceship noises. Don’t act like you haven’t done it! Martin.with.bricks gets extra kudos points from us for not only making this craft look awesome but also highly “swooshable.” The two are not always obtainable together. I mean; go ahead and try to swoosh your Hulkbuster set around the room and see what happens. Martin tells us the white with orange trim is his favorite color scheme and I’m inclined to think it’s mine too. Maybe it’s time to dust off my white leisure suit with orange belt and platform shoes. While you’re soaking in that mouth-watering visual check out our Martin.with.bricks archives for s’more LEGO goodness.
Ah, the Vic Viper. A spaceship design that has seen so many LEGO iterations, and yet every single year we get new and fresh ones for Novvember. Aside from inspiring a slightly forced alliterative title, there’s a lot to love about Tommy Frost‘s take on the subject. For one, it’s a super clean design. Those curves and tiles coupled with the new trans-black windscreen are silky smooth – there’s not a stud to be seen. And there’s juuust enough greebling to keep the “sci” in sci-fi. Vic Vipers are inherently swooshable, but this one looks especially so.
It’s fun when a bit of meta humor slips into a LEGO build. For those in the know, though, the Vic Veparator by Joey Klusnick provides more than just “a bit.” The twin orange forks of this Vic Viper style craft are oversized brick-built Brick Separators. (You can see a LEGO-issued one in use as the tail fin, if you’re not already aware of them.) The orange color is nicely offset by the yellow accents. I like the use of railings and brace elements here – the Technic bushings and macaroni brick echo the single-element shapes really well. But the best part? When Joey gets tired of this build, all the tools needed to disassemble it will be right at hand.
This isn’t the first great creation we’ve featured that use brick separators as a key element, and hopefully it won’t be the last. In the meantime, check our archives for more take-apart goodness!
NPU, or Nice Parts Use, is the fan term for taking an unusual and seemingly single-use LEGO element and cleverly incorporating it into something else. It’s rare to see the NPU ethos applied to expensive electronic components, however, that’s exactly what TBB alumn Benjamin Stenlund has done with the 9V battery box controller on this Vic Viper, positioning it so the infrared emitter becomes a cool cockpit. Of course, don’t miss the carrot blasters on this greebled entry to the Novvember fan challenge, too.
I’m certain no one asked for this big assault VTOL called Beluga. But clearly LEGO builder ReD M is a master at bringing us what we’d love to see but never knew we wanted. Whether it be the shaping, intricate details, or striking color scheme, this hefty gunship is very suddenly the object of so many LEGO fans’ desires. It’s like something out of all the best sci-fi movies ever made. With its parameters established long ago by a legendary and influential builder who has passed some twelve years ago, there is a certain look to the Vic Viper. Click the link to check out how this big Beluga fits into it. And as tradition goes, these Vic Vipers are almost always exclusively built in NoVVember. What a great way to honor a fine tradition. We’ll surely be on the lookout for whatever else ReD M builds.
Steve Marsh, a LEGO builder who goes by the name of Rubblemaker, has built a Queen Bee Royal Viper Drone. Let me break that down for you. Queen. Bee. Royal. Viper. Drone. What part of that don’t you understand? Clearly, she’s out to do some badass queen bee stuff like infiltrating the hives of other bees and stealing their plans for honey, pollination, and other bee-related stuff. But no need to explain it any further. You had me at Queen Bee! Check out why we think Rubblemaker is the bee’s knees.
