LEGO’s 10300 Back to the Future Time Machine set (aka the best LEGO set ever made) is sadly not a set we own here at TLCB Towers. Thus, full disclosure, this is not a review of the rather swish-looking display case in which 10300 is pictured. And nor are we getting paid to promote it.
But we are happy to support third-parties entering the Lego Community, and the display specialists at iDisplayIt provided our Festival of Mundanity Winners with some cool LEGO-compatible display stands too.
This is iDisplayIt’s latest product, and you can check out their stackable display case for the 10300 Back to the Future Time Machine via the link to their store below, where a range of LEGO-compatible stands and cases can be found.
This is it. The single coolest LEGO set ever made… it’s the brand new Creator Expert 10300 ‘Back to the Future’ Time Machine!
In partnership with Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures (but notably not the DeLorean Motor Company, probably because they went bankrupt before the first ‘Back to the Future’ movie was released, and most people don’t know the DeLorean was a real (and rubbish) car anyway…), LEGO have brought the most famous movie car of them all to life in brick form.
Constructed from nearly 1,900 pieces, 10300 measures 35cm long and features a mini-figure Doc Brown and Marty McFly, hoverboard, radioactive plutonium / a banana for flux-capacitor fuelling, and a light-up flux-capacitor too, putting LEGO’s new light-up part to much better use than on its debut on the 42127 The Batman Batmobile set.
And that’s not all, because 10300 allows builders to time travel between all three ‘Back to the Future’ movies, with a variety of accessories that capture the Time Machine’s various amendments and evolutions during the trilogy.
These include the hook used for lightening strike power in Part 1, the hover system (“Where we’re going we don’t need roads!”) enabling flight in Part II, and the more rustic western modifications that ensured Marty could get home in Part III, before the Time Machine met its destruction in front of a locomotive.
The ‘Back to the Future’ Time Machine set looks like an absolute triumph, and if you’re as excited as we are you can hit 88mph for yourself when 10300 reaches stores in April for around $170 / £140.
The DeLorean-based time machine from the ‘Back to the Future’ movie franchise has been built so many times in Lego form it ironically feels like we’re in a time loop.
Still, there’s always time for another, particularly when it looks as good as this one.
Flickr’s Jerry Builds Bricks is the latest creator to have a crack at Doc Brown’s flying DMC-12, producing the rather excellent Lego version pictured here.
Take a look via the link above, or alternatively travel back in time to our post charting the remarkable story of the real car here, which features more cocaine than you might expect…
Released in 1990, the final instalment in The Back to the Future trilogy put an end to very probably the most famous movie car of all time. In fact, we suspect many people wouldn’t know the DeLorean DMC-12 is a real car, so synonymous with the movies has it become. It was rubbish though, so that’s probably a good thing. We’ll stick to the movie car, recreated here in ‘Part III’ guise by Flickr’s Łukasz Libuszewski alongside some bemused native Americans. Head to Łukasz’s photostream via the link above for one last trip to 88mph.
LEGO’s new Brickheadz sets have spawned an invasion of brick-headed cuteness, with fan-built characters popping up everywhere. Now they can pop up anytime too, thanks to this delightfully cutesy Brickheaded Delorean DMC-12 by Flickr’s jp_velociraptor in full Back to the Future spec!
Inside the flying time-machine are a Brickheadz Doc Brown and Marty McFly (of course!), and the model can transfer between flying and driving modes as per the movie car too. Click the link above to hit 88mph in the cutest way possible!
Certified LEGO Professional Ryan McNaught (aka The Brickman) is back! The Brickman Awesome event is touring Australia and New Zealand throughout 2018, having taken over 4,500 hours to create and built from a whopping 1.5million LEGO bricks! 290 of those hours and over 65,000 pieces belong to this, Ryan’s incredible replica of Doc Brown’s Delorean DMC-12 time machine from the Back to the Future movie franchise.
Created in conjunction with Universal Pictures the DeLorean took a team of seven people to design and build, and includes lighting and in-built smoke machine hidden underneath one of the largest plate-built exteriors that Ryan’s team has ever built.
There’s a whole lot more to see of Ryan’s unbelievable Back to the Future time machine replica at his photostream via the link above, and you can also check out some of the other models built for the Brickman Awesome exhibitions – including a 460,000 piece, 7.5 meter tall, half a ton replica of NASA’s SLS rocket – by clicking here.
We’ll watch the Back to the Future trilogy literally every time it’s on television, which means it plays quite regularly here at TLCB Towers. Flickr’s Primoz Mlakar has gone one step further though, as cinema’s most iconic movie car is permanently showing on his TV.
This absolutely wonderful period-correct 1980s Sony television, complete with the famous flying DeLorean from Back to the Future Part II, has caused our collective jaw to drop here in the office, and we cannot recommend taking a closer look highly enough. This is the build of the year so far.
Time is standing still here at TLCB Towers. It’s been hours and we’ve accomplished nothing. Because of this. The single most amazing model that we’ve posted this year. Built by Flickr’s 지현 주 (aka seter82), it is, of course, the incredible final DeLorean DMC-12 time machine from the iconic Back to the Future franchise, and it’s the hardest one to make of them all.
Often overlooked by model makers, the time machine from Back to the Future Part III is the most intricate and highly detailed of all of the movie cars, modified to operate before gasoline was discovered via a push from a steam engine. Steampunk, surely, began here.
Seter82’s astonishing recreation of the Back to the Futrure Part III DeLorean is one of the most beautifully replicated movie cars we’ve ever seen, in any context, and it even gives real-world recreations from the Back to the Future franchise fierce competition. With a perfectly recreated cabin, complete with all the paraphernalia Doc required for time travelling, a 100% movie-accurate exterior, plus functions such as opening gull-wing doors and hood, and adjustable steering wheel and seats, Seter’s DeLorean is a build that you can revel in for hours.
Which is what we’ll be doing. You can join us at Seter82’s Flickr photostream by clicking here, where a huge gallery of incredible imagery is available to view – however, unless you have a real time machine be prepared to lose a good part of your day. Because Seter’s DeLorean is as real as it gets.
The Lego Car Blog Review My Set Competition is drawing to a close, so there’s just enough time to fit in one more fan review! Today’s reviewer is a previous bloggee himself, and today he’s on the other side of the screen after joining us here at TLCB to pen the final reader review of the competition. Over to Nils O to pick up the story…
A Dream (Almost) Come True…
The LEGO Ideas set of the Back to the Future (BTTF) time machine could have been one of the best LEGO sets ever. For me the project on LEGO Ideas (then still called CUUSOO) is still one of the best on the platform. The pictures of the car / time machine are so cool that as a BTTF and LEGO fan you just want one thing: To own that model!
The set that hit the shelves was another thing entirely. If you want to be nice you could call the look weird, but let’s be honest; it’s ugly. I think most BTTF fans still want the set, but they also want to do something more; modify it to make it look better.
But first things first. 21103 comes in a high quality black box featuring a cool BTTF design. There’s a book with instructions for the time machine from all three parts of the movie franchise, including a hover function and 1950s’ wheels and ‘electronic components’, and the parts are included for all three versions of the car. There are also unique mini-figs of Marty and Doc which are instantly recognisable, and additionally you get a skateboard, but no – no Hover Board.
But what you do get is a handful of excellent printed parts (yes, printed parts, no stickers) (Hurrah! Ed.): License plates for 1985 (‘OUTATIME’) and 2015 (bar code), a time computer and, of course, a Flux Capacitor. The only part I’m not a 100% happy with is the Flux Capacitor. I just don’t like the 1x2x2 panel, for me a 1x2x2 printed brick or a 2×2 printed tile would have been a better choice.
After building the set (I built the version from Back to the Future Part II) the second thing you notice (after realising how ugly it really is) is the untypical fragility of the set. You can’t really touch it without something falling off. I had to modify the thing, especially the 4-wide roof which didn’t look right. Surprisingly I could build a 6-wide roof and matching A-pillars and doors just using parts from the set. So, why didn’t the LEGO designers do something similar? We will never know. Continue reading →
Previous bloggee Brian Williams (aka BMW_Indy) has released an absolute masterclass in both small scale building and beautiful photography. His expertly recreated DeLorean DMC-12 time machine from the second ‘Back to the Future’ movie is one of the best mini-figure scale vehicles we’ve seen this year.
Brian has enhanced his model with a few trick products from custom Lego suppliers Lifelites and Brickarms, and the results – as you can see above – are spectacular. There are more images to view at Brian’s Flickr photostream – click here to hit 88mph and here to read the unbelievable true story of the real DeLorean Motor Company.
In 1990’s final* instalment of the superb Back to the Future franchise the ageing DeLorean needed a little help in hitting 88mph. Flickr’s Irwan Prabowo – making his TLCB debut – has recreated the famous Back to the Future Part III movie ending sequence wonderfully in micro-scale. You can see more of Irwan’s mini DeLorean time machine and the 1885 steam locomotive pushing it at his photostream via the link above.
This year’s MOC Olympics are already into their third round, over on MOCpages. TLCB Elves don’t often look at the listings for this competition, as despite being packed with loads of creative builds, the MOC Olympics don’t produce many cars. Our hungry Elves were initially attracted by the modular cafe which headlines this MOC but were then delighted to find two cars, which meant that they got two meal tickets to spend.
Matt Rowntree’s challenge was to build a Back to the Future Lego set and he chose to avoid the obvious DeLorean and go for the scene at the diner, along with the two vehicles. First up is Biff’s ’46 Ford Super DeLuxe Convertible, with its sculpted front end, typical of that era. The second vehicle is D. Jones’ manure truck, complete with working tipper function so that it can fill Biff’s car. You can see more of the cars, plus the cafe and the mighty wurlizter jukebox by clicking this link to MOCpages.
The third and final post for today’s Movie Vehicle Special is another car we seem to feature every other month; the DeLorean DMC-12 time machine from the cult 1980s trilogy Back to the Future. Misterzumbi is the latest builder to take a crack at the infamous vehicle, and a sterling job he’s done too. You can see all the details of his mini-figure DeLorean on Flickr via the link above.
You can also see LEGO’s own version of the star movie car in our Brick To The Future 21103 Preview, and if you want to know the real story behind the DeLorean car, including the drugs, bankruptcy, and conned celebrities, make sure you read ‘Failure, Cocaine and Marty McFly’ via The Lego Car Blog Archive.
With all the excitement following LEGO’s release of the Cuusoo Winning 21103 Back To The Future DeLorean Time Machine set, here at The Lego Car Blog we thought it was time the real car, the one without a flux capacitor, got some press too.
The true story of DeLorean, one of conned celebrities, entrapment, cocaine smuggling and bankruptcy, is even more remarkable than the film…
John DeLorean, a talented automotive engineer at General Motors, decided in the late 1970s to design and build his own car. Called the DMC-12 it was everything an ’80s supercar should be, mid-engined, wild doors, wedge design and fantastically exclusive.
He needed serious funding to put it into production, and so – much like a modern Kickstarter project – he contacted his wealthy celebrity friends to secure investment, and then presented his idea to governments in need of a glamorous employer to solve their unemployment issues. Northern Ireland, then in an unemployment crisis, was selected on the basis of a massive government grant and a new factory was built, despite the area having zero car manufacturing experience.
The progress on the car was less positive. DeLorean took it to Lotus for further development, who were staggered at how bad it was (and this was at a time when Lotus themselves weren’t making anything much good either). Lotus extensively redesigned the car and it was fitted with a V6 Renault engine, which – in US emission specification – made… 130bhp, well short of the 200bhp expected.
Two years late the car was pressed into production anyway, right in the middle of the largest automotive slump since the Great Depression. Requiring urgent funds John DeLorean decided to take one hell of a risk, and was subsequently arrested for drug trafficking. The DeLorean Motor Company went bankrupt, losing the UK government $100m, and John’s celebrity friends their investments too. A few years later the DMC-12 ironically featured in the cult trilogy Back To The Future, but sadly for the Northern Irish factory workers, it was too late to save their jobs.
Without the fame and status brought by the film, the DeLorean DMC-12 would have been another AMC Gremlin or Ford Pinto; an embarrassing failure pushed under the automotive carpet. Marty McFly’s shocked line of ‘You built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?’ may have secured the car’s cult status, but he was as surprised as the rest of us.
The excellent Lego model in this feature is the work of Razvy_cluj_ro, and you can see more on Flickr.
Great Scott! LEGO’s Cuusoo scheme – where fans can publish their creations on the LEGO Cuusoo site, and those reaching 10,000 votes or more are considered for limited production – has generated its fourth fan-designed official LEGO set!
m.togami and Sakuretsu’smini-figure scale DeLorean time-machine from the superb Back To The Future movie franchise was recently approved by LEGO’s ‘Jury’ of designers for production, and The Lego Group this week released images showing how the set will look when it reaches stores later in the year. The new set – numbered 21103 – will contain 401 pieces, including both ‘Doc Emmett Brown’ and ‘Marty McFly’ mini-figures, a skateboard, and of course, a DeLorean with a few ‘modifications’.
It’s too early for us to say what the pricing for 21103 will be, however the really cool news is that the designers have decided that the revenue they receive as a commission reward for creating the Cuusoo-winning product (1% of the total generated) is to be donated to the Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s Foundation. If The Lego Car Blog gave out awards for the heroes the Lego Community of 2013, m.togami and Sakuretsu are surely top of the list.
So watch the video below, start saving, and join the discussion on Eurobricks. And congratulations to the winning duo, from all of us here at The Lego Car Blog, for making this exceptional project a reality.
