Tag Archives: Space

Monorail!* | Picture Special

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Like any LEGO fan who grew up in the ’90s, this TLCB Writer would give an internal organ, even a big one, to get his hands on a LEGO monorail.

Flickr’s martin.with.bricks. doesn’t need to forgo a body part, because he already owns the best LEGO set ever made, and has redeployed it to create this fabulous ‘Space Monorail Station’.

Packed with wonderful spacecraft, speeders, hover-tugs, aliens, a glorious Futuron-style monorail train, plus an entire second monorail based on LEGO’s rollercoaster tracks, Martin’s colossal Space Monorail Station is the sort of creation that makes you want to shrink yourself to mini-figure size to wander through it.

You can jump into all the imagery of Martin’s ‘Space Monorail Station’ at his album of the same name, where TLCB Staff will be both pretending they’re 3cm tall, and wondering which organ they could do without.

*It’s more of a Shelbyville idea…

Wipeout!

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In the history of video gaming there are only two cool titles (sorry nerds); Grand Theft Auto, and this; Wipeout.

First appearing in 1995, the British anti-gravity racing game has been a staple an almost every console and PC operating system for three decades, luring gamers with frenetic fast-paced gameplay and music from electronic legends including of The Chemical Brothers, Kraftwerk, Orbital and more.

Today’s phenomenal creation pays spectacular homage to the second-coolest video game in history, recreating the ‘Feisar FX250-300’ anti-gravity racer from the Wipeout franchise.

Constructed (and presented) flawlessly by Aliencat! of Flickr, the Feisar racer captures Wipeout’s iconic aesthetic in jaw-dropping detail, with the build enhanced by the most prefect decal-work we’ve ever seen applied to a sci-fi creation – just look at that colour transition!

A gallery of a dozen stunning images is available to view at Aliencat’s ‘Feisar FX250-300’ album, and you can head to one of Earth’s premier anti-gravity races via the link in the text above. It’s the coolest thing you can do in gaming short of stealing a fighter jet from the army base in GTA.

*Today’s title song. Of course.

Love and Rockets

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It’s SHIPtember, the annual spaceship-building bandwagon for sci-fi creations measuring over one hundred studs in length.

This one comes from Flickr’s Ryan Olsen and is a ‘Stiletto Class’ destroyer, so named because of its narrow pointed shape. That and it’s captained by Tiffany and comes from the Stripper Nebula. We may have made that last bit up.

You can take a closer look at Ryan’s gargantuan space shoe via his ‘Stiletto Class Pickett Destroyer’ album, plus you can see the other SHIPtember works-in-progress and finished builds at the SHIPtember Flickr group.

*Today’s title song.

Adventures Across the Galaxy

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We know nothing whatsoever about sci-fi, but nevertheless we do like Classic Space, with it’s perennially-smiling spacemen, assorted research tools, and spaceships that look like a cross between a fighter jet and a racing car.

This one comes from Flickr’s Wynd, who has brilliantly re-booted the Classic Space aesthetic in the creation of his ‘Galaxy Adventurer’. Funky landing gear, a glowing engine, and a perennially-smiling spaceman all feature, and you can join him adventuring across the galaxy via the link above.

Just Another Mecha Monday

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It’s Monday! And this is a mech. Hence the title. TLCB, being universally crap with sci-fi, aren’t able to explain much more about Sylvain Daunais‘ ‘TeamExplorer Neo-Ex-U’ than that, but it is a thoroughly excellent build, and you can find out more via the link.

*Today’s lightly butchered title song.

Cosmically Cool

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Mankind’s future is in the stars. No, TLCB Team aren’t suddenly into astrology, but rather hold a belief that now that the world’s richest men are building space rockets, it’s only a matter of time before space travel becomes democratised.

Which means that space will then inevitably be conquered by influencers, requesting Likes and Subscribes to fund whatever space-based lifestyle it is they want you to think is worth following.

Cue OA KD‘s ‘Space Vanlife’, in which an invariably top-knotted douchebag and his hot-pants wearing girlfriend will evangelise about the benefits of an all-natural diet and 5am yoga via the medium of a pseudo-intellectual trope embossed on a picture of a sunset. Only in space.

Appropriately OA KD has pictured his marvellous Neo-Classic Spacevan on Mercury. Or its top-knotted owner is surfing in mercury. We’re not sure. Either way you can Like and Subscribe via the link to Space Vanlife above.

Today’s second dude-in-space creation revisits our old friend Benny from The LEGO Movie, who has equipped himself with one heck of a jetpack courtesy of Flickr’s Rubblemaker. Join him on an extreme journey through the cosmos via the link to Rubblemaker’s photostream above, and get ready for the first influencer in space any day now.

Barrelling Along

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Flickr’s David Roberts has appeared here numerous times over the years with his strangely-shaped spaceships, including those based upon a giant block of cheese, a chess board, and a cat’s anus amongst others.

Today he’s taken inspiration (probably) from the barreleye deep-sea fish, whose eyes look upwards through the transparent dome of its own head, to create this barrel-shaped primary-coloured interceptor.

Neither he nor us know what it’s intercepting, but you just got to look at a properly weird fish, so you’re welcome. Head to David’s photostream by clicking here to cast your eye over it.

(Neo-Classic) Spaceship!

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Skibidi Toilet, The Brothers Brick secret handshake, the evangelical christian movement’s support of Donald Trump, and sci-fi are just some of the many things that TLCB Team don’t understand.

We do understand the skill required for building techniques as clever as those in evidence here though, with ingenious angles, a hybrid of Technic and System, and a beautifully retro colour palette. There’s more to see of previous bloggee Rubblemaker‘s neo-classic spaceship at his photostream via the link above, or alternatively you can Google ‘Skibidi Toilet’ to see if you can understand it…

Space Swordfish

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Uh oh, Sci-fi. This TLCB Writer genuinely knows more about oceanic fish than he does science fiction. Helpfully however, this splendid spacecraft by Flickr’s Red Spacecat is apparently a ‘Swordfish’ class frigate…. wait, that doesn’t help at all.

Still, it is really rather fantastically constructed, with details including a landing-pad for micro-scale ships, an array of cannons, and the coolest brick-built stripe we’ve seen in ages. Head out to sea space via the link above.

Space Race

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It’s sometime in the next century, and Formula 1 is still the world’s foremost race series in the hands of Liberty Media. There are now 43 races each season (not counting the sprints), with half of those taking place in the skies above America!

Nineteen of the world’s best pilots (plus Lance Stroll, who’s still looking for his first win) are competing to become World Champion, and previous bloggee David Roberts can exclusively showcase two of the machines that have been piloted to glory so far.

‘Orange 6‘ is one of the fastest atmo-and-space racers yet, being both highly manoeuvrable and fitted with an underside cannon able to spike viewing figures with remarkable effectiveness whenever Liberty need a little extra pizzaz.

It needs it too, what with ‘Green 21‘ being otherwise dominant in the hands of multiple-World Champion Max Velocity.

Will No.6 manage to blast past Max? Will Liberty Media find space to squeeze in another US Grand Prix? And will Stroll finally get that maiden win in return for his father’s billions? Click the links above to tune in!

Landspeeding

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It was Stargate Day yesterday or something, and – what with TLCB always having a finger on the pulse of the social zeitgeist – here’s an appropriately spacey build in celebration of Captain Pickard’s adventures.

Built by Flickr’s Wynd, this alien-piloted retro-liveried Landspeeder is every bit as good as TLCB is bad at sci-fi, and you can boldly go to a galaxy far far away via the link above.

LEGO Technic H2 2024 | Set Previews

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Our sneaky Elves, returning from successfully sneaking, have found yet more H2 2024 sets for us to reveal. This time it’s the turn of Technic, with no less than four brand new sets to be added to the line up. Each is an officially-licensed real-world vehicle too, which means in this writer’s case he may finally be able to afford a Koenigsegg!

LEGO Technic 42173 Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut

And here it is, the 42173 Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut. Named after a bottle of vodka and theoretically capable of a top speed of well over 300mph, just 125 Jesko Absoluts will be produced, which means the real deal will be comprehensively out-numbered by its LEGO brother.

Aimed at ages 10+, the new 801-piece set includes a working V8 engine driven by the rear wheels via a differential, ‘hand of god’ steering, and the Jesko’s ‘dihedral synchro-helix door system’. Which basically means they open upwards.

Arriving in August of 2024, expect 42173 to cost around £47 / $50, and for bedroom floors everywhere to become the venue for some serious top speed testing.

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LEGO Technic 42176 Porsche GT4 e-Performance

From the world’s theoretically fastest car, to LEGO’s actual fastest, this is the brand new Control+ powered 42176 Porsche GT4 e-Performance.

Also aimed at ages 10+ and with a similar parts count, 42176 claims to be the fastest remote control LEGO set yet. Servo steering and motorised drive are powered by a new on-board rechargeable battery, operated via the Control+ app.

Said app also controls the working LED lights (via some trick new lighting pieces), and provides ‘live data feedback’, so drivers can perfect chasing the cat.

A range of real-world sponsorship decals (gone are the days of sets wearing stickers saying such things as ‘Race’, ‘En-Jin’, ‘Fuel’ and suchlike) enhance a reasonable approximation of the GT4’s shape, and you’ll be able to get your hands on the fastest LEGO set yet for £150 / $170 when it races into stores on August 1st.

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Lego Technic 42182 NASA Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV

Some of the Lego Community’s very favourite things to create are lunar rovers, with hundreds of all shapes and sizes uploaded each year. All of them can can trace their existence back to this; the Lunar Rover Vehicle, or ‘LRV’.

Packed inside the Apollo 17 mission, the lunar rover carried scientific equipment and astronauts across the moon’s surface, and now – thanks to the new 42182 NASA Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV* set – builders can reimagine this astonishing moment in human history at home.

Constructed from over 1,900 pieces, many of which are accurately coloured in gold and bronze, 42182 can be folded up just like the real thing (or, less exotically, a wheelchair), and features working steering and suspension, brand new tyres, plus tools, some ‘moon rock’, and three separate attachable equipment sets including the wonderfully named ‘Traverse Gravimeter Experiment’.

Which might not sound like much for £190 / $220, but with a black box aimed at ages 18+ and a description using phrases such as ‘a mindful project’, 42182 is targeted very much as a ‘display’ piece, despite its Technic billing. And – as a display piece at least – the 42182 NASA Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV* is out of this world.

*Yes LEGO named 42182 twice. But if it’s good enough for Ferrari and Lamborghini…

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But wait, didn’t you say ‘four brand new sets’? We sure did. We’ll be back with the fourth new addition soon, and it’s a goodie…

Training Day

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We all wonder if we’re on the right track from time to time. But perhaps if we put the brakes on a little and slow down, the journey might become more important than the destination.

Even Lego building can be part of this societal boiler room. An endless train of perfectly constructed and beautifully presented creations rolls past our feeds, a procession in which The Lego Car Blog is of course part. The pressure to create something that gets clicks, likes, and positive critique is all too real, and the destination – that perfect Instagramable shot – can often eclipse the enjoyment to be had in creating it.

Railing against this orthodoxy, Linus Bohman has decided to switch it up. Whilst playing with his daughter and bucket of Duplo, he noticed her railway track pieces; large, curved, and seemingly designed for a single purpose. But what journey could they provide if they were used… differently?

With no destination in mind, Linus started working with his daughter’s Duplo tracks, seeing where they would take him. And where they took him was to one of the most original and inventive creations we’ve yet publicised.

LEGO’s vintage blue and grey railway tracks joined their larger Duplo brethren, creating a swooping almost organic neo-classic spacecraft unlike anything we’ve seen before. A single mini-figure pilot drives the ship from a cockpit hung within the centre, whilst a robot co-pilot hides under the opening cover behind.

We think you’ll agree that Linus’ reached a spectacular destination, but we suspect the journey was – for him – better still. If you share his train of thought you can see more of the ship that emerged from it by clicking here, and you can watch a fantastic philosophical brick-based video on its creation by clicking play below.

YouTube Video

I’m Up in Space, Maaaaan!

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Finding time to build (or do anything) when you’re a new parent is tricky. Three years since he last uploaded a creation, Flickr’s Dvd has finally managed it, with the ‘help’ of his son, and in doing so allowed us to link to the greatest performance in Eurovision history. We might be biased. Anyway, TLCB’s blatant nationalism aside, even when it feels like trying you’re to reach the for moon, you can always build a rocket.

Support System

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Everyone needs some support now and then, even the perennially-smiling spacemen of Classic Space. And what better way to support them than via the perennially-smiling Spaceship Support Team, shown here at the wheel of their tractors, on hand with tools, refuelling, and a lift. Flickr’s David Roberts is the man in charge and you can see more at his photostream via the link above.