Here at TLCB we don’t really understand sci-fi. Or video games. So sci-fi video games are well outside of our comfort zone. But we do understand brilliant building, and this Vagyr Battlecruiser from the Homeworld game series certainly earns that accolade. Flickr’s Tim Schwalfenberg is the builder and you can see more of his incredible creation via the link above.
The Homeworld strategy game burst onto the scene in late 1999. It soon gained a cult following, both for its game-play and its distinctive graphic design. Many of the ships were brightly patterned, reminiscent of designs from 1970s pulp book covers by the likes of Chris Foss and Peter Elson. The designs have inspired many Lego builders, most notably TLCB bloggee Pierre E Fieschi, who has built a variety of space and ground vehicles in this style.
Flickr’s curtydc has joined in the Homeworld inspired building with a micro-scale build of massive proportions. The Baserunner is a 6×6 truck, powered by two XL motors and steered using two M motors. Neatly tucked behind X-pod lids are 6 radio control car tyres. Although they’re not Lego, were very much appreciated by our Elves for their smushing potential. The rear of the vehicle features a hangar, with space for a fleet of micro-machines. You can see these in detail by clicking this link to curtydc’s Flickr Photostream.
The great Sci-Fi Building race that is SHIPtember is now officially over and has given way to Ma.Ktober. 105 monster spacecraft, each over 100 studs long and each a Seriously Huge Investment in Parts, were completed. Many SHIPs also fell by the wayside, as their builders struggled to find building time, inspiration, a suitably strong enough Technic skeleton or waited nervously for Bricklink orders. There were some awesome thin-ships, bulky battleships and variations on the Classic Space, Blacktron and Homeworld themes. Some builders chose to tackle the challenge in novel and unusual ways and we thought that we would feature these builds in this post.
At the top of our post is Jonathan Walker’s beautiful “Eye of Misfortune” . This has been built using “brick bending” type techniques to achieve its smooth curves and is greater than 100 studs “in some dimension”. It nicely complements his SHIP from 2013 and we wonder if Jonathan has a special deal on white bricks at his local LEGO Store.
Whilst most SHIPs fall into the big & grey category, Chris Rozek’s “Yagami-Maru II” stands out in its red and white livery. Being a car blog, this reminded us of Starsky’s Ford Gran Torino, with its white vector stripe, which made us especially happy.
The next SHIP excited the Elves, as it contained something designed to be eaten, that wasn’t LEGO. SHIPtember’s rules state that builders should only work during September. Canadian builder Halfbeak was also out in his sunny garden, germinating camomile and mint on first aid dressings to go into the biomes on his “Pathfinder 4”. In addition to this novelty, Halfbeak has included a bunch of details in authentic NASA style, including the Canadian built manipulator arm.
Having recently featured Bionicle for the first and probably last time on this blog, we now come to the first and probably last Duplo creation to be featured here. Wm Byron Duncan’s “8-Belle” is a mind-boggling 100 Duplo studs long. His Flickr Photostream is well worth a visit to see his other Duplo spacecraft and tips on DUPLO SNOT techniques. This SHIP is 100% Duplo, which does unfortunately mean that it isn’t swooshable, if you could pick it up to start with!
One builder who had to endure a nervous wait for several Bricklink orders was Jacob Unterreiner. His Tron themed “Solar Sailer” features 96 identical modules and a beautiful brick-built sail.
Our penultimate SHIP is Karen Quinn’s colourful “Queen of Hearts” whose distinctive stripes give it the look of a spaceborne mint humbug. Karen has succeeded in creating an interesting shape from some of LEGO’s bigger chunks of plastic, which is a tough thing to achieve. The Queen of Hearts also features lots of playable features and an unusual domed front windscreen, complete with eyelids.
Last up is Peter Mowry’s “Battle Scarred Hexan Battleship”, built in his trademark style. Although a few SHIPs did suffer accidental collapses and crashes, Peter has deliberately broken his SHIP to make this unusual presentation.
We’ve featured just a small portion of the 2014 SHIPtember builds. To see more, click this link to the SHIPtember group on Flickr, where you can also vote for this year’s People’s Choice Award. Congratulations to all of the builders who completed a SHIP this year: the SHIPtember 2014 poster is going to be awesome!