Tag Archives: sci-fi

Use Your Illusion

Making something static appear to be in motion is a tricky thing. Of course photo editing means almost anything is possibly digitally, but adding movement purely in brick-form is something we rarely see.

Today though, two builders have absolutely nailed it, by deploying some ingenious techniques to give their creations the appearance of speed.

Taken from the Japanese Manga ‘Dominion’, David Collins‘ ‘Bonaparte’ police tank has arrived on the scene in violent sideways fashion, kicking up a shower of broken asphalt and smoke as it does so. It’s a killer technique and one that would work brilliantly for rally cars, drift cars, and off-road motorbikes, and you can see more of how David has done it via the link.

Today’s second build manages to convey both ponderous movement and agile flight, as MadLEGOman recreates the iconic ‘Battle of Hoth’ scene from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. An AT-AT is striding through the snow towards the Rebel Alliance base from which this A-Wing has departed, with cable in tow in hope of tripping the attacker.

Mad has cunningly used the cable to both support the A-Wing in-flight and depict the path it’s taken, to brilliant effect. Click the link above to jump to Hoth for more movement illusion.

Cyberpunk 2077

The news about Cyberpunk 2077 seems to suggest that it is incredible to behold, but underneath the visual splendour it’s actually unusable rubbish. Kinda like a Lamborghini Countach. Or an Instagram influencer.

However, it does look spectacular, helped by the brilliant artists behind its ‘Night City’ setting. A megacity in a free state, independent from government control and inhabited by Keanu Reeves for some reason, Night City also includes this; the Quadra Turbo-R V-Tech.

Whilst it sounds like a kid’s laptop, it is visually awesome, managing to look both like a 1980s supercar and a concept from the near future.

This stunning recreation of the V-Tech Speak’n’Spell superbly captures the Cyberpunk 2077 aesthetic, and it comes from Hasan Kabalak who has deployed some brilliant building techniques to create it.

Custom decals add to the impact and there’s more of Hasan’s creation to see at his Flickr album, which includes outdoor shots, build steps, and close-ups of some of the outstanding details to be found within it.

Click the link above to jump into Night City in 2077.

Be One of the Good Guys

It’s Classic Space which – out of all of the space themes – is remembered most fondly by subsequent generations. Perennially smiling, the mini-figures of Classic Space held no weapons, and placed science and knowledge above fear and power.

In contrast, the bullying Spyrius militants – who used violence and weaponry in an attempt to steal what they wanted – were no more than a flash in the pan, fading away as quickly as they arrived and proceeded to smash everything up.

In completely unrelated news there’s a Presidential Inauguration today, which is going ahead despite the arrival of a bunch of bullying militants – who used violence and weaponry in an attempt to steal what they wanted – and proceeded to smash everything up.

We believe in the power of voting for the good guys, and you can do just that at LEGO Ideas, where LEGO are holding a ballot to celebrate their 90th Anniversary, in which you can vote to bring back one of many beloved popular classic themes. And Time Cruisers for some reason.

TLCB’s vote will always go to the good guys, themes of which include Imperial Soldiers, M-Tron, Forestmen, Space Police, and – of course – Classic Space. You can vote for the return of your favourite theme via LEGO Ideas, and you can see more of the excellent Classic Space ‘Exo-Planet Surveyor’ by Flickr’s Pascal that’s featured in this post by clicking here.

Outrider

This is a YT-2400 Outrider from the Star Wars universe, which we definitely knew for ourselves and aren’t simply quoting the builder in an effort to appear knowledgeable about sci-fi.

Built by aido k, the model uses around 4,000 pieces and weighs in at 5kg, which includes a neat lighting system to illuminate the engine.

There’s more superb imagery of the Outrider to see at aido’s album on Flickr – click the link above to something something dark side.

Floating Fuel

The future is electric. The UK has banned the sale of new cars that aren’t zero emissions from 2030, Tesla have become (amazingly) the world’s most valuable car company, and Norway’s new car registrations are over 50% EV.

That message hasn’t reached Dallen Powell though, whose marvellous hover freighter is not only transporting some kind of mystery fuel, it’s also still powered by burning fossilised dinosaurs, as denoted by the four exhaust stacks.

Dallen’s alternative future may still be a polluted one, but damn; it looks so cool! Superb parts usage adds to the whimsy, including a balustrade for steps, picket fence for a grille, and a brilliant brick-built Octan logo.

There’s more of to see of Dallen’s dirty sci-fi at his photostream – click the link above to float on over!

Intergalactic Escapism

Sometimes this TLCB writer wishes he could be a Classic Spaceman. Permanently happy, the mini-figures of Classic Space don’t have to deal with lockdowns due to deadly disease, Keeping up with the Kardashians, and – in newly depressing events – the greatest undermining of democracy in American history.

It turns out, to the surprise of absolutely no-one, that if you drip feed lie after lie to people in order to inflate your own ego, said people will eventually believe your falsehoods with such fanatical fervour that they will rise up in an attempt to realise the fantasy.

Still, it’s not like America has exported democracy (both successfully and with disastrous consequences) to multiple countries around the world, who are now looking upon the same terrifying images as this writer…

Donald Trump’s new low, and the actions of those undermining the very country they purport to stand for, is of no consequence to the Classic Spaceman however, who continues his business with a smile upon his face and and giant 10×10 ‘Space Utility Truck’ in his control.

This enormous (and marvellous) creation comes from previous bloggee The G Brix, who has unwittingly been brought into this writer’s rant about the worst moment in U.S. electoral history, and it’s packed with ace play functions.

Featuring a working crane, functioning steering, a detailed cockpit, control room, and living space for longer missions, G Brix’s build looks the perfect place to escape the appalling mess the world seems to be in at the moment. Join this writer and host of happy mini-figures in Classic Space via the link above, where there’s no Coronavirus, no Kardashians, and no Donald Trump.

Blacktron’s Back!*

Blacktron, one of our favourite of LEGO’s classic space themes, have quietly bubbled along since their official dissolution several decades ago. Quietly no more it would seem though, thanks to Flickr’s Frombol and his spectacular Blacktron fighter. Suitably cunning techniques have been used throughout the build and there’s more to see (plus a link to building instructions) at Frombol’s photostream. Click the link above to make the jump!

*Today’s title song. Kinda.

Cyberbike

‘Twenty twenty one’ sounds futuristic doesn’t it! What better way to kick off the new year then, than with this cyberpunk streetbike by Flickr’s Oscar Cederwall. Entitled the ‘Zyrkowski Surge X500’, which admittedly does sound a bit washing machiney, Oscar’s sci-fi motorcycle was suggested to us by a reader, and it’s earned its appearance here by the utterly ingenious use of an upside-down passenger train part alone. There’s more to see of Oscar’s brilliant bike on Flickr – click the link above to take a peek into the future.

Wish Upon a Star(fighter)

We’re stretching the Christmas metaphors already, and there are still nine days of Christmas to go! This tenuously linked post comes courtesy of Ted Andes, and his marvellous ‘Corsair Parallax’ starfighter, which appears here thanks to some of the coolest stripe work we’ve ever seen. Head to Ted’s photostream to see more.

Digital Doodoo

Our workers may be mythical creatures, but their turds sure aren’t. And that doesn’t even make any sense. Fortunately a reader has suggested this robotic street sweeper, which looks just the thing for removing Elf droppings for TLCB Towers. Finn Roberts (aka ORION_brick) is the builder, or rather ‘designer’ as this is a digital creation, although so good is the render it’s very hard to tell. There’s more to see of Finn’s cyberpunky cleaning robot on Flickr – click the link above sweep the streets on 2077.

The Moneylorian

Props to Disney. After buying Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, they have cranked out Star Wars movies to capitalise on their investment, with additions to the main storyline, spin-offs, and now a TV series, all with essentially the same plot.

Still, we do keep watching them, because pew pew pew! This is one of Disney’s newest additions, and one we haven’t seen, because well… it’ll be the same as all the others and there’s already plenty of pew pew pew in those.

From what we can tell ‘The Mandalorian’ seems to have been devised primarily to sell a toy of a green alien with poor sentence structure, but it has resulted in this rather magnificent creation from Flickr’s Jerac.

Entitled the ‘Razor Crest’, it sounds like a combination of things you’d find in your bathroom, but Google assures us it’s a gunship used by Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin, which gets destroyed during a skirmish on Tython. That may have been a spoiler.

Anyway, Jerac’s spectacular Razor Crest build took five months and around five thousand pieces to create, and it looks simply wonderful photographed on the sand with a few LEGO plant stalks poking through as in the images here.

A three seat cockpit, opening hatches and doors, and internal lighting are all included, and there’s loads more to see at Jerac’s photostream via the link above, where – sticking with the cashing-in theme – Jerac will soon add a link to building instructions available to buy, so that you can build your own Razor Crest at home.

NASCAR’s Finally Interesting

Ways to generate complaints here at The Lego Car Blog: Mention Trump. Or Putin. Or the NRA. Insulting NASCAR is probably another method, so here we go!

NASCAR sucks. Old technology circling endlessly whilst everyone waits for a crash to liven things up. However we think Rod Gillies may have found a route to making NASCAR interesting, thanks to the addition of jet engines and the removal of gravity! Now the racers can crash in whole new ways!

This is Rod’s Racing Hover Car, piloted by the #5 mini-figure Todd Ravelston for Goddard-Reid Racing, and it looks good enough to get even TLCB staff into NASCAR. A long time in the future. Join us in the crowd waiting for the anti-gravity pile-up via the link!

The Best Things in Life are Illegal

And so too are the best things in building techniques. Step away from the prescribed use of LEGO bricks and a whole world of fantastic shapes opens up. Exploring this is Rubblemaker, whose Neo-Classic Space ‘Recon Bubblescout’ deploys some mind-bending illegal techniques in the pursuit of the desired form. Head to Flickr via the link above to view something illegal…

To Walmart!

It’s Black Friday! Which means the entire office are off to Walmart to fight middle aged women for discounted electricals. Not really, we’re very much remaining here and very much buying nothing, because a) we’re in another COVID-19 lockdown, and b) most importantly, Black Friday can suck it.

Still, if you must venture out to storm your local Walmart, have we got the vehicle for you! This is Ivan Martynov‘s ‘PanzerVVagen Heavy Terrestrial Assault Vehicle’, and it’s the perfect transport for the annual shopocalypse. Martin’s even racked up some old lady kills which are displayed proudly on the side.

Take the PanzerVVagen to Walmart and add your own old lady stamp (Carol from across the street isn’t going to get that last half-price TV alive!) via the link above!

The Future’s Bleak

The future of motoring is bleak. Cars will make zero noise, they’ll steer and brake automatically by law, travelling above the speed limit will be impossible thanks to GPS limiters, and on top of all that – if the video game Cyberpunk 2077 is accurate – they’ll look like this. Boo.

Sheo‘s ‘Economy Class Car’ from the aforementioned video game captures this miserable future superbly, with opening doors, a detailed interior (complete with a surely superfluous steering wheel), and an exterior design somewhere between a Bond Bug and a skip.

Visit 2077 at Sheo’s photostream via the link above, whilst we find videos of noisy V8s and pretend the inevitable isn’t happening.