Tag Archives: sci-fi

Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday

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Motor racing has long been used to change brand image. Or, in the case of the tobacco industry, market cigarettes to children.

Audi’s ‘What Dieselgate?’ hybrid Dakar racers, Inifiniti, then Aston Martin, and next Ford, all pretending they have something to do with the Red Bull F1 car, fictitious energy drink company ‘Rich Energy’ sponsoring Haas F1, without having any money… or even an energy drink… Yes the world of race sponsorship makes about as much sense as a LEGO website staffed by Elves.

Fast-forward to the future of racing (or is the past? We’re never quite sure with Star Wars), and the Galactic Empire is still using the same tactics to transform its brand image / market itself to children. Because what better way to convince a sixteen year old to die* on a far away planet than to go racing!

This marvellous ‘Imperial Pod Racer’ is the work of Rubblemaker of Flickr, who has imagined what it would look like if the Galactic Empire went racing. TIE Fighter aesthetics, top-notch building techniques, and stellar presentation have us ready to enlist at the Stormtrooper recruitment office, and you can join us there via the link above!

*And yes, this is actually happening. Still, it’s better than Marlboro.

They Think It’s Febr-Over…

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…It is now!

Yes the annual festival of all things other-worldly is over for another year, with a smorgasbord of wonderful roving contraptions entered, about which we know exactly nothing. We’re not sure what our strong suit is, or even if we have one at all, but we certainly know it isn’t sci-fi.

But before TLCB staff can breathe a collective sigh of relief and return to writing about the engine capacities of 1960s British sedans, here are two final Febrovery rovers, as entered by Julius Kanand and Nathan Hake of Flickr, and about which – as is customary – we know exactly nothing.

Both look great though, with Julius’ final Febrovery ’23 rover (above) available to view at his photostream (where an array of other rovers can also be found), and Nathan’s fully remote controlled entry (below), complete with articulated steering, 8×8 drive, and an ingenious LEGO Spikes Colour Sensor front light, available to view at his.

Take a look via the links above, and you can check out all the Febrovery madness from this year by clicking here.

Wrath of the Sith

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This is a ‘Sith Wrath Class Light Frigate’, and we know that because builder BobDeQuatre wrote it in the description. Yup, this is another attempt by The Lego Car Blog to post something about Star Wars, a topic about which we understand as much as Kim Kardashian does about plumbing.

Should the proper Lego blogs pick this one up they will no doubt be far more useful. Until then, you’ve just got us going ‘Ooooh, that looks cool’. See more of Bob’s spectacular Sith thingy at his ‘Sith Wrath’ Flickr album via the link above, where further Star Wars information may be available.

It’s Not Size That Matters…

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…but what you do with it. And least that’s what this TLCB Writer tells himself. It’s a self-support mechanism that’s never been truer than with today’s post too, as we have two enormous-looking FebRovery rovers that are actually really rather small indeed.

The first deceptively-scaled creation comes from Oscar Cedarwall of Flickr, whose ‘Multi-Purpose Terrain Rover’ has gained an apparent massiveness thanks to a cleverly constructed landscape and the use of LEGO’s tiny one-stud figures. Top notch presentation and appropriately wide-angle photography maximise the illusion, and there’s more to see of Oscar’s optical trickery at his photostream.

Our second not-very-big-at-all creation is really very small indeed, utilising a body just one stud square and LEGO’s chain components, more commonly found on Technic motorcycles, for the tracks beneath it. Created by TLCB favourite David Roberts, the ‘Planetary Explorer’ is one of the tiniest FebRovery entries yet, and there’s more to see (although not that much more) at David’s photostream.

Click the links above to see how it really is ‘what you do with it’ that counts.

Industrial Roving

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It’s FebRovery, and this is an ‘NTERRA B400 MEGA HAULER’, the latest in industrial grade multi-directional rovers from the [ S E /\ Z Y ] corporation.

Able to service an entire moderately-sized colony*, the NTERRA B400 can take a gigantic load*, thanks to an enormous tilting deck with a 300 ton payload capacity and its ‘revolving mecanum wheels’.

Rendered in Bricklink Studio 2.0 with considerable post-production enhancement, [ S E /\ Z Y ]’s gargantuan design shows what’s possible when taking digital building to the extreme, and there’s more to see of his moon-based monster-mover on Flickr via the link above.

Alternatively, if enormous digital creations aren’t your thing, here’s a brick-built FebRovery entry of a similar aesthetic that’s altogether smaller…

*Just like your Mom.

R is For…

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It’s February, and that means the month-long annual rover-based building bandwagon of FebRovery has begun!

Not aimed at creating brick-built versions of the products produced by the defunct British car brand (although some members of TLCB Team wish it was), FebRovery entrants are instead tasked to create machines of a sci-fi complexion, capable of roving other worldly environments. Which means of course, that this site will comprehensively struggle to write anything about them whatsoever.

Anyway, this one comes from Flickr’s Frost, who is a fan-favourite during the contest each year, and there’s more to see of his FebRovery, er… rover at his photostream. Click the link above to start roving.

Want to Get into My Van?

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As if that old Dodge van parked down the street wasn’t creepy enough, Flickr’s 1saac W. has made it hover. Still don’t get into it kids. See more (from a distance) at 1saac’s photostream.

Pew Pew Pew!

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After our, er… ‘success’ in writing yesterday’s sci-fi post, here’s another! Meaning more absolute incompetence from TLCB staff because anything without four wheels is some kind of witchcraft.

Cue OA KD‘s ‘Moon Escape’, about which we know nothing except that if there’s an image that goes ‘Pew Pew Pew!’ more than this one, we’ve haven’t seen it.

A ship formed of a pair of rubber bands and a Belville triangular window piece is dodging the trans-yellow lazers, and you can join in the pew-pewing on Flickr via the link!

Sunday Sci-Fi

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Uh oh. TLCB Elves failed to find any cars this weekend, but they did unearth some sci-fi. Which means the vehicular competence you’re used to, and the eloquence of our prose, are about to take a nose-dive. And the bar was already very low…

Here are two spaceships. Swoooosh!

The first (above), entitled ‘The Nurikabe’, is the work of Flickr’s noblebun, whose spectacular image is reminiscent of those annoying online gaming ads that frequently appear on questionable websites (cough…). Noblebun’s photostream is bursting with exquisitely rendered spacecraft like that pictured here, and you can make the jump to hyperspace or something else science-fictiony via the link above.

The second creation giving TLCB Staff difficulty today comes from previous bloggee Oscar Cederwall (aka o0ger), and is a ‘Light Space2Surface Shuttle’ or ‘L-S2S’ for short. The Neo-Classic Space aesthetic looks the business with the downward-facing cockpit, which – come to think of it – probably makes sense as you’d want to see the planet you’re landing upon rather the sky you’ve just descended through above it.

Crikey, did we just write some sci-fi-related sense? We’d better end there before we ruin it! See more at Oscar’s ‘L-S2S’ album via the link above!

The Claaaw…

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The claw is our master. The claw chooses who will go and who will stay. This one also moves pieces of scrapped spaceships around a junk yard, according to builder David Roberts. Point upwards and say ‘Ooooo!’ via the link above.

Cyber Wednesday

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Cyberpunk is just one of the many sub-genres of Lego building about which we know nothing. Sci-Fi? Nope. Steampunk? Nope. Sky-Fi? Nope. Cyberpunk? Hard nope. To be honest if it isn’t a car built after about 1955, we’re going to struggle. In fact we’re constantly amazed that this site functions at all. Still, these two cyberpunkesque vehicles do look deeply cool, even if we have no idea what they’re for or do. Flickr’s incredibly talented Tino Poutiainen owns the mind behind them, and you can get the answers that we don’t have at his photostream. Click the link above to make the jump.

And Now For Something Completely Different*

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That lump of rock orbiting 550,000 miles above us all has only been landed on by one nation, the USA. But what if the Soviet Union had made it there too? Well the two countries would have fought over it, obviously.

Cue Shannon Sproule’s ‘Battle for the Moon‘, a retro-futuristic lunar conflict in which wind-up mechanoids, barely one step above pots-and-pans-robots, ‘battle for the ultimate high ground’. There’s more to see on Flickr, and you can blast off to pick a side via the link above!

*Link. Naturally.

Bang! Zoom! Straight to the Moon!

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Bang! Zoom! Straight to the Moon! Yes, today we’re referencing a cartoon referencing a vintage sit-com to refer to a rocket that references a cartoon. No we don’t have to make sense. This marvellous whimsical Tintin-inspired rocket comes from Flickr’s Tobias Munzert, who has pictured it here landing on the lunar surface from the comic. Join Tobias (and Tintin) on Flickr via the link above.

Monsters of Rock

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Rock Raiders, the most phallically-symbolled of all LEGO’s themes, probably wasn’t one of their all-time greats. Something to do with finding energy crystals, as per about six other themes from the time, LEGO’s 1999 effort featured a rock monster, a turquoise-and-brown colour scheme, and a Playstation video game, before it quietly died a year later to be forgotten by everyone.

Except, that is, for Ghalad of Flickr, who has digitally reimagined an almost unfeasibly big Rock Raiders machine from over 13,000 virtual bricks.

Ghalad’s 6×6 mining behemoth features a huge rotating rock-cutting laser, gun turrets to ward off rock monsters, two enormous arm-mounted drills for munching through rock, and a towing crane for, er… something else that’s probably rock related.

It also takes the Thundercougarfalconbird approach to naming, being titled after two underground animals, and there’s more to see of Ghalad’s titanic Rock Raiders ‘Badger Mole’ at his photostream. Click the link above to rock out.

In Space, No One Can Hear Your Bewilderment

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Uh oh, sci-fi. Long standing readers of this decrepit back-alley of the internet will know that TLCB staff ‘could do better’ when it comes to appreciating, writing about, or even comprehending science-fiction creations. Well today is… er, no different actually – but the creations are cool, so on to them!

The first (pictured above) is Nick Trotta‘s exceptional ‘Astraea’ spacecraft, which combines more colours and craft building techniques into one build than should reasonably be allowed. The result is spectacular though, and there’s more to see of Nick’s superbly presented spacecraft at his ‘Astraea’ album above.

Today’s second sci-fi creation (pictured below) comes from previous bloggee Slick Brick, and takes the minimalistic monochrome approach to spacing, to great effect. Stunning presentation and clever construction can be found at Slick’s photostream – click the link above to make the jump to hyperspace, or something else that sounds spacey.

We’ll go find a car…