As such we hope blue and yellow vehicles might feature here a bit more prominently for a while following our recent call, which Flickr’s Frost has answered, rounding off Febrovery with his final lunar rover looking wonderful in Ukrainian colours.
So that’s it for Febrovery 2022, but sadly not Putin’s ‘Special Military Operation’, which – thanks to the heroism of those defending Ukraine – looks far from being over. If you’re one of the 5,000 TLCB readers from Ukraine, or indeed one of the 17,000 from Russia and are as dismayed as the rest of us, a special welcome to these pages to you.
Most LEGO pieces can be used in almost infinite ways. It’s the very purpose of LEGO. However there are a few parts that seem to be defiantly single-use. The Primo ride-on elephant. Anything from the awful Galidor range. And the wearable Bionicle mask.
Designed so that kids could pretend to be defending Mata-Nui or something, the mid-00’s were clearly a difficult time for LEGO. And yet out of adversity comes triumph, in the form of Scott Wilhelm‘s magnificent ‘Mobile Reactor Transport’.
Wearing the life-size Toa face like a tortoise wears its shell, the until-now-pointless-part looks purpose-made for Scott’s half-track rover. Delightful greebling is visible through the mask’s orifices and there’s more to see of the build, including the epically inventive parts usage, at Scott’s photostream.
Click the link above to see what’s under the mask.
2022’s Febrovery is drawing to a close, in which Lego builders from around the world have united in their creation of other-worldly transports. Today we round out the roverest of months with four intriguing space-based builds, each of which has deployed a few of LEGO’s more unusual pieces in the pursuit of roving brilliance.
First up is Robert Heim‘s ‘Spaceport Fire Rover’, which features so many LEGO pieces of which we know nothing it’s making us doubt we can do this job. The wheels look like cupcake cases and the rotating cockpit appears as if it’s made from a kid’s sand bucket. We have absolutely no idea what sets they’re all from, but you can find out more at Robert’s photostream via the link.
Next we have martin.with.bricks‘ impressive eight-wheeled rover, which actually looks rather like something we could well see in our lifetime. A determined-looking mini-figure sits at the controls inside the same clear buckety-brick cockpit, whilst a minimalist brick-built lunar surface passes beneath the tyres. Centre articulation and an opening rear hatch add to the fun and you can see more of Martin’s rover on Flickr at the link above.
No longer used as the cockpit, but still featuring prominently in the design, Frost‘s colourful ‘Biotron Corp Spaceplant Relocation Rover’ utilises the same transparent buckets, this time for some sort of lunar re-wilding project. A trans-lime half-dome continues the funky cockpitting however, and there’s more to see of Frost’s space-based conservation via the link above.
Today’s final Febrovery creation takes a rather more utilitarian approach, and is very possibly the reason that Frost’s ‘Spaceplant Relocation Rover’ above is required. Andreas Lenander‘s ‘Dome-rover’ is smoothing its way across a lovely brick-built moon-scape, thanks to some genius tracks and a wonderfully pink classic spaceman sealed within a transparent orb. Andreas has used said orb in other cunning ways during Febrovery ’22 too, and there’s more to see of this and his other Febrovery builds at his photostream via the link above.
Flickr’s Febrovery build-a-thon is drawing to a close. There have been some wonderful entries so far which we have… er, missed completely, seeing as a) we don’t understand sci-fi and b) we’re interested in things far more mundane at the moment…
Had we not blogged this one though, TLCB Elves would’ve started a riot, as it’s really not mundane at all. Frost (aka TFDesigns) owns the mind behind this glorious rover-based muscle car homage, which is fitted with some of the most splendid wheels we’ve ever seen.
Racing stripes and a giant wing complete the Elven excitement, and there’s more to see of his marvellous moon-based muscle car at his photostream. Take a look via the link above, and we’ll be back with some things far more mundane tomorrow…
It’s race day at the lunar track, and an eclectic mix of characters are watching the kart-based antics of the Classic Space-kids. Flickr’s Frost (aka TFDesigns!) is the builder and – if you’re weird enough – you can join the spectators trackside via the link above.
It’s the last day of Febrovery, meaning our Elves will cease bringing back sci-fi nonsense and we can re-start blogging cars! Before then though, we have three (excellent) Febrovery creations to share, about each of which we know absolutely nothing. We’re counting the hours until it’s cars again…
First up is a Febrovery entrant that is at least relatable to our humdrum transport here on Earth, being a space school bus by Flickr’s Tyler (aka Legohaulic). A diverse list of alien children are present for the trip to space school and there’s more to see at Tyler’s photostream via the link.
The second creation in our Febrovery Finale come from regular bloggee Horcik Designs, whose space tanker merges Neo-Classic Space and Octan to brilliant effect. Twenty four wheels make it exactly six times better than anything in TLCB office car park and there’s more to see on Flickr. Click the link above to make the jump to Neo-Classic Space.
Ah ‘Ice Planet 2002′, when years starting with a ’20’ seemed super futuristic. This funky looking rover by Carter pays tribute to the oft-forgotten vintage theme, and includes the coolest wheels seen since your Mum fitted spinners to her mobility scooter. There’s more of Carter’s ‘Ice Scout’ to see on Flickr – click the link above to check it out.
We like large off-road trucks here at TLCB, so imagine how cool we think a large off-road truck is that lives in space! That’s right; less cool – but as sci-fi is all the Elves will bring back at the moment for some reason, here’s a large off-road truck that lives in space. However, it is – as you can see here – rather awesome…
Built by Flickr’s martin.with.bricks, this enormous 10×10 Neo-Classic Space carrier measures almost 60cm long, features two space containers (which are like regular containers, only in space), and includes a wonderfully detailed cabin. Part of the ‘Febrovery’ monthly bandwagon, there’s more of Martin’s brilliant creation to see at his ‘Space Rover’ album – click the link above to take a look.
As this year’s Febrovery contest draws to a close we have a few more lunar rovers to share with you, mostly because it’s all TLCB Elves will bring back into the office at the moment. We’ll have to do something about that*, but until then here are two more (admittedly great) sci-fi builds.
First up is Andreas Lenander‘s ‘MW-2P’, a spacey mono-wheel that looks perfect for couples married more than a few years. Roll into Andreas’ photostream via the link to see more.
Today’s second lunar rover looks equally fun, coming from ‘Rob‘ (who must have the most straightforward Flickr handle ever), and he’s applied some wonderful photo editing to bring his rover to life. Click the link above to blast across the surface of some far-away planet!
*We may well hi-jack Febrovery in ’22. Not all Rovers are in space…
We are, as has been well documented here, completely useless at blogging sci-fi. However this sci-fi creation is also a hot rod! Which means that today we’re useless at blogging hot rods too. Thanks TFDesigns.
There’s more to see of TFDesigns (aka Frost)’s Neo-Classic Space ‘RoverRod’ on Flickr, where a wide range of other Febrovery creations can also be found. Click the link above to make the jump.
We featured an earth-based Bobcat last week, and now we have one in space! Of course being a space Bobcat this one has a great many levers to enable it to conduct complex spacey things, controlled by a pink Classic Spaceman in a bubble canopy. TLCB regular Horcik Designs owns the mind being it and there’s more to see here.
We’re cheating a bit today, but whilst this creation by Flickr’s L E G O Z ; ) is digital, being ‘built’ in Bricklink Studio 2.0, it’s also awesome. Called the ‘SPARKY’ High Mobility Salvage Rover, it’s based on the concept art of John Wallin Liberto, and features only genuine (digital) LEGO pieces plus some rather neat photoshopping. The result looks mega and there’s more to see via the link above!
Is it engineers and racing drivers that develop cars today? Of course not, it’s software developers, writing a billion lines of code. Every part of modern life is controlled by code writers, and even those that seem cool now got to where they did by being massive nerds,however much they try to reinvent the person of their past.
CueTFDesigns! aka Frost, who has entered this year’s Febrovery annual build-off (itself a pretty nerdy thing) with his ‘Futuron MoLab’; a big white box designed purely for science. What science we’re not told, but it looks really very nerdy indeed, so it must be important. Probably a new advert algorithm for Facebook or something.
Whatever it’s up to there’s more to see at Frost’s photostream – join the nerds writing the future via the link above.
FebRovery really is over… (isn’t it Markus Rollbuhler and Chris Perron?). Luckily Markus and Chris’s building skills are significantly better than their timekeeping, so here are two more rovers before we really will get back to posting cars. Probably.
Markus’s effort (above), entitled ‘Stardust Snooper’, harks back to LEGO’s earliest space themes in its purpose, being solely an exploratory rover. A living space and research lab support the crew of two and there’s more to see on Flickr by clicking here.
Today’s second rover comes from Chris Perron, whose Blacktron ‘Surface Scout’ is also apparently an exploratory vehicle. Just one with a giant double laser cannon thingy on the roof. Four wheel steering and a beautifully built cockpit for one feature alongside the ginormous death ray and there’s more to see of Chris’s build on Flickr.
And here endeth the FebRovery Rovers. Unless someone uploads a cool one tomorrow. Now let’s find some cars…
There was a whole extra day in this year’s Febrovery competition, with many builders taking advantage of this to squeeze their creations across the finish line. And some still missed it…
In celebration of those that didn’t quite manage the deadline, which was fittingly extended this year for space-based reasons, here are three of our favourite rovers that might be more Marovery than Febrovery.
First (above) is Scott Willhelm‘s enormous entry, complete with magnificent brick-built wheels fitted to ends of whatever you all those chassis-arm-thingies. Those chassis-arm-thingies are a bit of a theme this year, kinda like full-width light bars appearing on literally every new car design of late, but much like them they do look cool. See more at the link!
Our second fashionably-late Febrovery entry comes (above) from Faber Mandragore, who has also deployed chassis-arm-thingies to great effect. A transparent domed cockpit and an assortment of science fictiony equipment keep the build suitably futuristic and there’s more to see at Faber’s photostream via the link above.
Our final featured Febrovery creation (above) is very possibly our favourite, eschewing cool chassis-arm-thingies for a single slightly tragic looking jockey wheel, reminiscent of those miserable looking tractor tugs you see at the airport.
Spectacularly inappropriate for a surface littered with craters and rocks, and with an exhaust stack that raises unanswerable questions about how an internal combustion engine works without air, ‘Benny’s Space Trike’ is clearly our winner and you can see more courtesy of Blake Foster by clicking here.
