The Mill Reimagined

The official Pirates of the Caribbean sets were a fun but short lived theme. Most of them were pretty good, but a lot more could have been done with them. Builder W. Navarre illustrates this point perfectly with a reimagining of set 4183 The Mill. I realize LEGO designers need to keep within a certain budget, keep the set a certain size and design with 8 year olds in mind, but the gap between the official set and his is just staggering.

TT:R3: Isla Cruces
TT:R3: Isla Cruces

Welcome To Refugio Beach...Watch Your Step...

These things have been a part of the ocean horizon as long as I can remember, and so has stepping in a fun byproduct of their proximity, tar on the beach. It's so synonymous with a day at the beach around here that most people bring baby oil or lighter fluid to remove it as a standard pack-in, along with the Pringles. But then again that oil isn't going to suck itself out of the ocean floor, amiright? Nice build One More Brick.

Oil Rig

"That Is The Ugliest Thing I Have Ever Saw"

We're big fans of Lilo and Stitch here at my house. I've seen or heard the movie countless times. I say heard because we have two boys and a Honda Odyssey with a DVD player, I listened to more movies than I saw for many years. Stitch is also a favorite character for all of us, and this version by Takamichi Irie captures his essence perfectly. Nice photo and edit by willgalb too!

Stitch

Poe's X-Wing In Midi Scale

Midi scale is a tricky but wonderful thing. The size needs to be between minifigure scale and mini, with enough detail to be worth it, but not so much it gets cluttered or messes up the proportions. When done right the results are irresistibly swooshable, like Poe's X-Wing here by Rogue Bantha. Those intakes are inspired genius,

Poe

LEGO Gaming Computer

Mad scientist and customizer extraordinaire Mike Schropp is back with another mind-blowing custom computer, this time it's for gaming. This isn't just a matter of wrapping an existing system with a LEGO shell, this is a ground-up, highly customized monster. He even modified the power supply and uses a custom machined heat sink! I won't go into the specs and details here, because there's too much to share. Luckily Mike has an excellent website that breaks down the entire process.

Sugar, Spice, And Everything Nice...

Having raised a millennial, we had plenty of exposure to cartoons in the 90's and 00's. We were steeped in Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo, Spongebob, Rugrats and the like. But the one with the best theme song was The Powerpuff Girls (in fact it's still on my iPod). Builder legomichiiiiii built these lovely little ladies. Photo by willgalb

The Powerpuff Girls

"It Was Like That When You Found It!, Really?"

In space, where no one can hear you scream at stuff when it breaks down, here comes a handy repair man and his faithful service droid. These guys from O0ger look ready to take maintenance to another level. Clever use of parts on the Droids little crane arm and its superb wheels really caught my attention. The uniform colour scheme also really pops, I want to see the trusty space pick up they arrive in!

Maintenance

Battle Droid

I'm no fan of the prequels, that's no secret, but there are a few things I like from those three flicks which I usually try to pretend didn't happen. Despite being dumb as a crate of blasters and comically easily dispatched, I kinda like the battle droids, especially brick-built battle droids and this version by umamen is one of the best I've seen.

LEGO: Battle Droid [2/12]
LEGO: Battle Droid [10/12]

Space Jockey

It's the second moment in Ridley Scott's masterpiece Alien where you're just going "what the heck?" with feelings of dread and wonder painfully intermixed. The discovery of the large alien being, apparently killed by something that burst out of it's chest, the "space jockey". It's so bizarre, so complexly alien that it's hard to wrap your head around, and it leaves you unsettled. And things just got worse for the crew from there. Builder GeoffreyWelch does this Giger inspired cinematic icon justice.

1979 Alien Space Jockey
1979 Alien Space Jockey

Get Building!

There's two new contests that have been announced. First for you car enthusiasts out there LUGnuts is having it's 100th challenge! They're asking you to take on the task of building a randomly assigned car based on the number you give them between 1-100 and they have some killer prizes. Next up is Space Chefs, where you are being challenged to build either a "Cosmic kitchen" or a "Space Chefs on the go" vehicle. Also with some fabulous prizes.

Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, it's also FebRovery.

MF-03 Eagle

I wish the future would get here already. We've been watching the antics of cool mechs like this MOC from Moko since the 70's and we still can't suit up and cause a little mischief. Then again, I've seen what people do with something as simple as those stupid two-wheel balancing boards (I refuse to call them hoverboards) so perhaps it's best we don't have this tech quite yet.

MF-03 Eagle
MF-03 Eagle