Whether from the recent Pokémon Go fad, or from the past twenty years of catching them all in other Pokémon adventures, this LEGO Oddish built by Tyler Halliwell is instantly recognizable. I love the way Tyler built the adorable little face of this grass/poison type Pokémon. How could one possibly throw Pokéball after Pokéball directly at a Pokémon this happy?
Ever since I had the chance at Brickworld Chicago 2011 to wear my good friend Ben’s LEGO Master Chief helmet, I wanted to construct a helmet myself. It was far more difficult to build than I expected, and was nothing like building other 1:1 scale builds. I’ve attempted this project before – first time in late 2011, and second in mid 2015, both failing. Finally, in 2016, I found a frame solution that worked well, and now I can present a wearable LEGO ODST helmet from the Halo series.
See more photos of my LEGO ODST helmet
When the 2016 reboot of DOOM launched we covered a collection of classic demons from the games that included a perfect rendition of the player character (sometimes called Doomguy). Those versions were comprised of Bionicle and Hero Factory parts, but today we’re looking at one created with more traditional bricks by Anton Sundström. Which one do you like best?
If you’re on the fence about DOOM, let me suggest my review of the game. As the year draws to a close it’s looking more and more like the best title to be released in 2016.
As I am not a StarCraft player, I had to look up a Protoss Carrier as it appears in game to judge the accuracy of Tim Schwalfenberg’s LEGO scale replica. I’m looking at this carrier, and I’m thinking, “There’s no way this could be built with LEGO.” But it was built, and built beautifully. Brilliant use of brick bending techniques brings the alien curves to life. Tim adds that his Protoss Carrier was built to 100 LEGO studs in length (just over 31 inches) in only six days, making his build that much more impressive.
The hit video game Overwatch continues to generate a steady stream of great LEGO builds from fans of the game, and this large version of the peanut-butter-loving tank hero Winston by Paul Lee is one of my favorites so far.
ZaziNombies built perhaps my favorite replica from him yet in terms of screen accuracy with his LEGO Soldier: 76’s Heavy Pulse Rifle prop from Overwatch. The V-shape of the muzzle area and the blue barrel paneling are especially outstanding when compared to source material. The build is rounded out with nice touches like a removable top-loaded ammo cartridge and a light-up, wearable tactical visor. See it all in action in the video below. If you’re not familiar with Overwatch, don’t worry; some Soldier: 76 gameplay captures are also shown.
Overwatch has been a wildly popular subject for LEGO builds lately. Check out more of the Overwatch creations we covered, including brick-built heroes, Ana Amari’s rifle, and Jesse McCree’s revolver.
Back in December 2013, Finnish builder Eero Okkonen wowed us with a Bionicle / Technic build of Samus Aran in her Zero Suit. Almost three years later and he’s at it again, this time with the famous heroine in her Power Suit.
This huge build (this time built with regular bricks) is a sight to behold. Thanks to the large size, the builder really got to do some impressive shaping, especially nailing the spherical pauldron. The colour choices too are superb, with the azure blue Arm Cannon being both a literal and figurative highlight.
Sculpting an organic shape in LEGO is tricky. Nathaniel has pulled this off spectacularly with King Bowser, who is offering you a blue shell. I don’t think I’d trust Bowser with that, but that’s just me. This build is just lovely: that expression! The big hands with claws! The hair and shell!
Finnish builder Eero Okkonen has built a fabulous character model of Excela Noa Aura, an Imperial Princess and Dragon Knight from the roleplaying videogame Shining Resonance. Whilst I don’t know anything about the source material, I know a great LEGO creation when I see one. This model is packed full of nice touches and detail — don’t miss the hinges and arches used on the unmistakably anime hair, the smart use of “big fig” pieces for the rather shapely legs, and the near-genius deployment of a neck ruff from the collectible minifig Shakespeare for the lacy cuffs peeking out of the sleeves.
When Ana Amari was revealed as an addition to the Overwatch hero roster, I knew I wanted her rifle added to my LEGO arsenal. It was an interesting short rifle design, had bolt action that would be fun to build, and even the concept of a healing sniper was a rad idea. The most challenging part of the build was the bolt action itself. There were countless iterations of the bolt itself that can simulate chambering the biotic round, the chamber walls hiding the bolt’s slots inside the body of the rifle to reduce gaps, and the trigger mechanism that released the bolt. All this design work led to a LEGO rifle that has realistic looking firing action, despite not actually firing.
Watch this firing action, as well as other functions including a folding stock, removable magazine with opening mag cover, and glowing biotic round powered by BrickStuff lights, in the video below. You can also view all photos of the biotic rifle in my Flickr album.
Overwatch has spurred builders into a frenzy of creativity, and Tim Schwalfenberg has spent the last couple of weeks building a series of characters from the game to display at his local comic convention. Tim’s character builds include Mercy, Pharah, Reaper, Roadhog, Soldier 76, Tracer and Winston. I’ll start with my favourites: Mercy, a healer and staunch advocate for peace; and Reaper, an extremely volatile mercenary who is a ruthless and remorseless killer. Reaper’s face shaping is spot on and captures this intimidating, cold blooded faceless character to perfection.
If you somehow haven’t heard of Overwatch, it’s a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released in May of this year by Blizzard Entertainment. More importantly for LEGO fans, a host of brilliant depictions of the characters from the game has swiftly followed its release. Simon Lui takes the building-baton and has recreated 20-year-old monk and wanderer Zenyatta, in his typical meditative pose.
I particularly love his torso area made from taps, and the waistband of his orange pants made from mechanical arms. Those shoulders look fab but perhaps not the most robust, so it’s just as well that Zenyatta can attain a transcendent state of immunity to damage!