This adorable vignette by Cecilie Fritzvold first made me laugh. Then, I looked at the local forecast for tonight and burst into tears. Although, this is a perfect way to build a car without actually building one. Finally, nobody is arguing whether it should be 5 or 6 studs wide! Oh, and just wait for this guy’s face when he finds out this is not his car!
Assassin’s Creed II is a video game I consider a must-play, with its incredible interpretation of Renaissance-era Italy, fun and simple stealth gameplay, and Ezio Auditore being my favorite assassin in the series. Builders Jonas Kramm and Brick Vader met up and collaborated on one of the most incredible dioramas in LEGO I have seen — one that undoubtedly does justice to a great game. I spent plenty of time admiring just how much attention to detail these two builders have in their Venice scene, and my favorite details captured have to be the gameplay aspect of Assassin’s Creed brought to life. The facades look climbable, the black pole appears perfectly aligned for a swing into a double assassination on the guards, and of course a cart of hay that make a leap of faith from any height safe.
Even if one hasn’t played Assassin’s Creed II, one can still appreciate the iconic, beautifully constructed Venetian architecture and canals.
Nothing is true; everything is permitted.
Ohio-based builder JD Keller has built this great minifigure scale vignette that depicts Steve Jobs in Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak’s garage back in the mid 1970s. Amazingly, the billion dollar company Apple Computing started out as Woz’s garage-based hobby so we are witnessing the ‘Birth of Apple’. I love the panelled garage walls and the various electronic bits and pieces on the shelves. Don’t miss the classic large red toolbox with sliding drawers, the Apple colours on the shelves, and the original wooden Apple I computer in the background.
You may have to look a little longer to get your bearings with this clever creation by Milan Sekiz. It’s certainly a unique perspective of a simple sunny autumnal day when a minifigure has a spot of good fortune.
Thorsten Bonsch has nailed this scene from Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. Not long after 13 year old Miles Morales takes over as Spider-Man, he has one of his most important early fights with Venom. This build really grabbed my attention but it had nothing to do with the minifigures initially, or even the Venom creature… it was the fantastic building in the background. Thorsten’s brickwork is really special here, especially the window lintels and decorative roof. Lovely use of LEGO’s colour palate with dark orange, dark tan and black all coming together beautifully.
Thorsten tells us that the Ultimate Universe Venom is much, much bigger than the 616 one, with no white spider symbol on his chest. I can’t say that I know a lot about Venom but I love his shaping and the ingenious use of white minifigure hands to create his sharp teeth.
The world of Ninjago is rife with opportunities for exceptional fan-built LEGO creations, but oddly we don’t see them too often. One gorgeous exception, however, is this vignette of a small village by jaapxaap. The red oriental structures are highlighted with strands of gold, and the curved roofs are admirably done.
This would look right at home next to the terrific Temple of Airjitzu set, which is currently $25 off on Amazon.
Normally there are only four seasons each year, but Emil Lidé has created a series of six microscale landscapes to capture all the changing colours found in nature throughout the year. Each of the six scenes depicts a trio of trees and ground foliage using the LEGO colour palate to full effect, especially those vibrant autumnal tones.
Emil’s trees are fantastic of course – he kindly shared his methods for constructing LEGO trees earlier this month. Interestingly, Emil tells us that the initial starting point for these was this cool technique for a base by o0ger, and the circular bases are a great way to keep each scene compact and contained. My own favourite is definitely late autumn.
Who doesn’t love a highly organized system of interlocking pallets? Warehouses are a marvel of modern engineering, with flurries of activity and pedantic levels of organization, and LEGO builder Norton74 says he recently visited a large warehouse and wanted to translate the scene into bricks. His use of the 1×1 Technic bricks for the adjustable shelving unit legs is great, and I love the clever way the he imitates cardboard box lids by not pressing the tiles all the way down.
Frequent readers will know that we at Brothers Brick love in-situ LEGO shots, with the background presentation also being brick-built. Here’s a fine example by Brazilian builder Gilcelio Chagas of a nifty mech being serviced in a hangar bay. I love that this mech’s design incorporates the huge cockpit windscreen from the Slave I to give the pilot a fantastic view of the battle, and the refueling ports on the wall made of 2x2x2 turntable bricks makes for a great detail. And of course, I can’t overlook the terrific use the upside-down baseplates for the cool textured floor.
LEGO builder Andrew JN, whose excellent death of Obi-Wan Kenobi we featured a year ago, brings us this great rendition of one of the most tense scenes in all of Star Wars: the chilling first meeting of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Andrew says he worked hard to balance the lighting, so that the model captures the dark, foreboding aura of the scene, while still highlighting his fantastic work with the bricks. The great design of the carbon-freezing chamber is worth noting, built with unevenly stacked plates to form a semicircle.
David FNJ has built a lovely little vignette for Mickey and Minnie featuring a building which wouldn’t look out of place down on Main Street USA. The touches of pearl gold detailing and the blue and white bunting add a festive feel, and that “hidden Mickey” made with the black boat studs is a nice touch. Mickey and Minnie look like they’ve secured themselves a great spot for watching the parade…
What a line! Al Pacino delivers that famous line in the role of Tony Montana in the movie Scarface. Spanish builder Omar Ovalle has used the line as the title for his creation, preferring to use Technic figures and their bigger scale over the classic minifigure. Technic figures are capable of increased expression due to their articulations and pose-ability when compared to minifigures. This guy has plenty of attitude, holding his minigun (I’m guessing) and rounds. Is that a minigun? It’s pretty big with a few barrels? Do we have a weapons expert out there to help me?
Omar has also made other vignettes using Technic figures. We blogged his Star Wars Technic figures earlier this year, and I have to highlight my own particular favourite, ‘The Angry Groom’…
