Those no-good space pirates Blacktron are at it again. The harmless magnet-collectors of M-Tron have built themselves a monorail, full of some delicious space fuel as yet undiscovered by science. Yet no sooner have they loaded up than those sneaky Blacktron reprobates begin a cunning space siphon of the liquid goodness. Maybe it’s beer? Whatever it is you can see more of the heist courtesy of Kalais of Flickr – click the link to take a look!
Because there’s something in the air.
It’s got no wheels but a forklift.
And a mini-fig in the chair, and you know it’s right.
We’ve butchered one of the greatest classics of music there, but no matter – because what a neat creation we’ve done it with! Built by TLCB regular de-marco this hover forklift and hover loading bay work a treat, and we hope this combo foretells of more hovery creations to come. The revolution’s here.
As regular readers of this site will know, we’re not a blog that fully appreciates the wonders of the Star Wars franchise. Not so today, as this LEGO Friends Star Wars mash-up is the stuff dreams a made of! Flown by Rebel Alliance pilot Emma, with a gunner and an all-important on-board pet, Tyler Sky (aka Bricksky)’s ‘BFF Y-Wing’ is ready to defend Heartlake City from the forces of the Dark side.
Ingenious details are in abundance throughout the model, and Tyler has even built a hanger for BFF Y-Wing maintenance and Heartlake City Rebel Alliance tea parties. Join the fight against the Dark Side and make new Friends via the link to the BFF Y-Wing album above!
Today’s, er… amusingly named creation comes from Tammo S of Flickr, and whilst we’ve used Sci-Fi in the tags, there is more truth in this remarkable design than meets the googly-eye.
Developed by the Soviets during the cold war, Ekranoplan ground effect vehicles occupied a weird space between ship, hovercraft and aircraft, whilst being none of them. The mightiest of these, and one that remained secret from the West for years, was the Lun Class Ekranoplan. It measured over 70m in length and was powered by eight Kuznetsof turbojets producing a combined 28,000lbf of thrust, enabling it to travel at almost 350mph for over 1,000 miles, skimming at just 10ft above the water.
Tammo S’s ground effect vehicle is slightly jazzier than the secret Soviet monster, and looks to be a great way to travel if you’re a LEGO mini-figure! Head over to Flickr via the link above to see more of Tammo’s fictional version of one of the world’s weirdest vehicles.
It’s Thursday, and for reasons unknown The Lego Car Blog is going spacey! Today’s finds fast-forward us to a time when hospitals can hover and the UN may actually be an effective organisation. No that’s silly, but hospitals probably will be able to hover.
First up (above) are the United Nations who have got themselves one heck of a cool looking buggy! Built by Flickr’s taxonlazar, making his TLCB debut, it features some gloriously retro Technic rims, custom mini-figures, and very un-UN-looking machine gun.
Next, and doubtless far more effectual, is Ted Andes‘ ‘M-E-H’ (mobile emergency hospital), surely otherwise known as an ambulance Ted? No matter, it looks the business in Red Cross livery and is ready to ‘mitigate a broad range of epidemics, from zombie apocalypses to race fans getting alcohol poisoning from Malort‘.
There’s more to see of each build via the links above, and our customary link to the Red Cross can be found here.
And now for something completely different…
This is a SHOK|AAHN Xylian Intercept Starfighter. What is a SHOK|AAHN and who are Xylians you ask? We have absolutely no idea. Best head over to Jeremy Williams‘ photostream to find out more.
Another sci-fi post nailed by TLCB!
Like regular crabs, only in space. Make sure you don’t accept that extra service from the girls at the space truck stop. Anyhoo, this delightfully odd spacecraft does indeed resemble the humble horseshoe crab for reasons that we simply can’t fathom other than to make it look more science fiction-y. Tammo S. is the builder behind it and you can contract crabs for yourself via the link above.
As has been well documented here over the years, we know nothing about sci-fi. Nothing. But we (and the Elves) do like racing stripes, and this inventive starfighter by Andreas Lenander of Flickr has some of the coolest we’ve seen in ages. You can check them out (and the spacecraft to which they’re attached) via the link, and we’ll be back with a proper vehicle tomorrow. And what a vehicle….
The crafty reprobates of Blacktron have been keeping a low profile for these past fifteen years. Once the most formidable group in the galaxy, Blacktron made a living from Space Evil, which is much like regular Evil, only in it occurs space. It seemed that by 1993 though, their number was up, and Blacktron mini-figures were subsequently only to be found in the cells of the Space Police.
However it seems not all of Blacktron’s members were caught, with some disappearing into the cosmic underground to plot a glorious return. Emboldened by the recent resurgence of other classic space civilisations, the dastardly mini-figures of Blackton have decided that now is the time to stage their comeback, and what a machine they’ve built to do it!
With six enormous wheels, a fully appointed ten-crew interior, a rotating gun turret, and – in true old-school LEGO space style – a smaller scout vehicle hidden within itself, the Blacktron B-59 armoured personnel carrier is ready to help the Blacktron empire rise once again!
Andreas Lattanzio aka Norton74 is the Space General (which is much like a regular General, only in space) behind Blacktron’s triumphant return and you can see more of what they’ve got planned at the link above. Your move Space Police…
Ergh, Star Wars… OK, here goes. This is Darth Vader’s TIE/x1 Advanced and… that’s all we’ve got. The proper Lego blogs will probably lose their shit over this build when they find it, so be sure to check them out for a better explanation. In the meantime you can see more of this thoroughly excellent (and commissioned) recreation of Darth Vader’s ride by Jerac at his photostream – Click here to use the force. Or something.
War. Sadly it will probably never ever go away. Man always seems to think there are others of his kind not as valuable as himself. Still, the future of warfare does look, well… rather cool, at least if this ‘HT-122 Golem’ tank and opposing ‘Pollaxe’ anti-tank by Flickr’s Sunder_59 are anything to go buy. There’s more to see more of each of Sunder’s military concepts via the links above.
Space stilton. Galactic gorgonzola. Rocketfort. Whatever it is, this planet’s loaded with it. Markus Rollbühler, making his TLCB debut, has built the perfect vehicle for cosmic blue cheese mining. With enormous tractor tyres (fitted the wrong way round Markus, cough cough…), a panoramic windscreen for spotting the best cheesy veins, and a huge cargo hold for transporting the blue bounty, Markus’s ‘Deep Space Discoverer’ is perfectly suited to Lego sci-fi’s most absurd industry.* Grab some crackers and head over to Flickr via the link above for a taste!
*That we even have a ‘Cheese Mining’ tag is testament to this.
It’s a bumper haul today at The Lego Car Blog, thanks to Tim Henderson and his wonderful collection of retro-futuristic hover cars. Loosely based on all manner of classic American machinery, Tim’s hover car concepts update their historic counterparts with a whole lot more vertical ability.
Models include a Buick Skymaster (apt name!) station wagon (pictured above), a pair of Pontiac Grand Prix (pictured below) and Mercury Meteors (more apt naming!) (top), and a very cool Blacktron-esque Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Caprice (bottom).
There’s more to see of each build, all of which contain a mini-figure and some delightful detailing, plus many more besides, at Tim’s ‘Hover Car’ Flickr album. Click on the link and leave gravity behind!
*Today’s title song, which has instantly made this blog 37% classier.
We really don’t understand the appeal of Start Trek. From our limited knowledge of the show we have determined that it was mostly William Shatner visiting a variety of alien planets, whose principal characteristic seemed to be being shoddily constructed from cardboard, in order to pick up hot alien babes. Oh, now we get it.
Countless nerds loved Star Trek for the aforementioned reasons, and this mini-figure scale recreation of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s ‘Galileo’ shuttle will enable mini-figure Captain Kirk to leave the confines of his ship in order to boldly go where no man has gone before.*
It’s been built by Stephan Niehoff who has done a rather impressive job, fitting his Galileo shuttle with a full interior and even building a suitably ropey-looking planet – complete with hot alien babe – on which to land it. There’s more to see at Stephan’s Flickr album, where you can watch Captain Kirk’s Art of Seduction in action.
*In exact contrast to this TLCB writer and your Mom.
The Lego Speeder Bike Contest ’18 ‘Battle for District 18’ has come to an end! Contest judge and Lego Speeder Bikes overlord _zenn joins us here at TLCB Towers for a full run-down of the competition results. Over to _zenn!
This year we chose a ‘Futuristic City’ theme that evolved into the whole ‘Battle for District 18’ concept, perfect for building speeder bikes and sparking creativity/imagination. Feedback among contestants was front of mind; competitions should encourage contestants to give and recieve constructive criticism in order to become better builders, and to help us to see building from a different point of view or perspective.
And what a turnout it was this year, with a huge 234 bikes and 34 districts entered! On to the results – the toughest part for us at LSB – the judgement of all those bikes. Let’s get into it!
…
The ‘Rebel’ (criminals) category winner; Djokson‘s Necrohiver. A tight finish with just 1 point difference between the top two entries. What’s more rebelious than a dark bio-mechanic giger-esque styled bike which will claw the cr*p out of you when you come across its path?
Clockwise from top left;
1. Guy Smiley‘s Police Speeder. Urban, rugged and bulky, yet incorporating smooth angles on the front and back-end, Guy’s speeder looks ready to make the streets of District 18 a better place.
2. Anthony Wilson‘s Needler X13. At first glance you might think it’s just a pile of bricks thrown together, but take a closer look to see the careful and painstaking planning to layer each part together into one coherent design.
3. Random Vector‘s Steam Denizen. An angled engine consisting of old-school Modulex parts combines with smooth flowing pipes, a Throwbot visor canopy and atmospheric lighting.
4. F@bz‘s Volkswagen Cardinal Speeder Bike. The first time I’ve seen a bike build with flexible spike parts that are actually used when flexed.
5. Graham Gidman‘s Street Devil. Superb stickering and photo editing gives this bike a real sense of speed while dashing through the streets of the District.
Lastly we like to thank The Manifesto, eclipseGRAFX and Chrome Block City for sponsoring this year’s contest, and Keith Goldman for being our ‘sideline cheerleader’ as well as Christopher Hoffmann for being our guest-judge. We’d also like to thank also all the blogs/groups/people for getting the word out, and most importantly we like to thank you; the participants/’riders’ out there, for putting such a tremendous effort in time, design and enthusiasm into building all the bikes and displays. We couldn’t have done it with out you!
Courts adjourned, _zenn.