U-Wing Starfighter

The U-Wing is an exciting addition to the fleet of Star Wars. I will admit when I first saw it in the trailer for Rogue One my first thought was "uh oh, a new ship, this is going to get fan boys' panties in a twist." And of course soon after I starting seeing comments like "how come we don't see those in episode 4?" I don't know if it's a legitimate complaint, I don't want to take a position on it. I think it's a cool ship, and I enjoyed seeing it in action in the movie. So did builder JBIronWorks, who crafted this brilliant minifigure scale one that puts the official set to shame.

Rockin' In Wonderland

Talk about eye catching. This musical scene from Alice in Wonderland is as much about the photography as it is the build. Julius von Brunk brings us this colorful and whimsical scene, showing Alice, Hatter, March Hare and the White Rabbit absolutely rocking. The shot was accomplished with the clever use of multicolor party spotlights, a great effect expertly done.

Vinochope

I love getting fooled by MOCs (well, most of the time). I almost scrolled right past this brilliant presentation by J.B.F. At first glance, this just looks like a bottle of wine, a craft beer and a yummy snack. But don't be fooled, while still delicious, this is all bricks (and stickers of course).

Batman/Batcave

Batman Movie mania is in full swing (we've got the bug too, obviously) and Batman MOCs are everywhere. As if a cool Batman maxi fig wasn't impressive enough, Norton74 went and put a awesome little Batcave surprise inside his. Open his chest and there's Batman and Robin, ready for some crimefighting action.

TIE Bomber

Star Wars has a pretty vast collection of vehicles. A great many of them only make brief appearances in the films, and I think that's great. Just like in real life, you don't see giant Caterpillar land movers or F1 cars in the same place or very often, there's no reason to expect you'd see every ship in every movie or show. The TIE Bomber only really got any decent screen time in Empire, and I'm totally cool with that. I always loved that it took what we thought was an exceptional design aesthetic, exclusive to Vader, and made it very utilitarian. This version by marking not only nailed the proportions and details, but it's an impressive scale. I want to see this thing in person!

This Issue: Everybody Dies!

Henry Pinto has completed the daunting task of building this massive LEGO Sentinel, complete with a working light center. I've always loved the menacing, monolithic forms of these villains, contrasted with their bright pink heads and highlights, and this one looks like it could easily stomp on all of those tiny X-minifigures.

Tropical Shores

I was fortunate enough to view this impressive tropical island pirate MOC in an earlier iteration at BrickCon. It's a collaborative build by Takkata1 and ForlornEmpire and it's pretty spectacular. There's little touches and fun back story everywhere you look, but that temple entrance is a total scene stealer. Check out the video for a time lapse of it's construction and to see the moving features in action.

Hornet

It's been a while since we've featured some good old Neo Classic Space. I really like the use of the large canopy and staggered seating of the pilot and gunner in this fighter by ZCerberus. It's sort of a optimistic future aesthetic mixed with modern apache kickassery. I think if I saw this coming over the horizon I'd be simultaneously sincerely admiring and pooping my pants.

Batman's Favorite

After a long day of crimefighting and being everyone's favorite, Batman totally deserves a lobster dinner. Builder team and awfully fine people Siercon and Coral bring us this appetizing little dish, and I do mean little. It's deceptively small, just take a closer look. And as everyone has pointed out, that lemon steals the show, very clever.

Jack Skellington

The Nightmare Before Christmas is such an amazing piece of cinematic history. The quirky design, the unforgettable music, the phenomenal stop-motion animation. It's really no wonder it's such a fan favorite. Those quirky designs make for some serious build challenges to those endeavoring to recreate them in LEGO, but as you can see, with some mad skills like J.B.F, it can be done.

Digital Ombudsman

I will admit to having never heard the term ombudsman before seeing this wonderful robot MOC by the venerable Pete Reid. And I can say after reading the description, I think the human version would be intimidating enough, but if this guy showed up to investigate some maladministration on my part, I'd be seeking another career. Read more about him and his clever use of "bar with towball" on The New Elementary.

Smart Pistol MK5

Titan fall gave the world no shortage of cool weapons, and builder Nick Brick has given us no shortage of brilliant brick-built reproductions of them. This is the Smart Pistol MK5, it features auto aiming of multiple targets, laser sight and 18 round magazine. Just the thing for futuristic warfare.

Saajiir

It seems no one can post a picture of a vaguely reptilian winged beast without a dragon vs wyvern debate starting up. I'm starting to wonder if we need a new word that encompasses all the beasts. Sort of like "bird" covers everything from eagles to finches. I don't know what that word may be, please feel free to comment below and nominate your word. In the mean time, please enjoy this "weast" (winged beast) by builder jaapxaap.

The King of Sea Monsters

Warning:  Possible nightmares ahead!

Hacim Bricks has been hard at work creating this beautiful, ugly mother of all sea monsters.  Did that make sense?  Well, it did to me.  What a crazy cool creation!  Not sure if the sailors on the boat would agree with me, though.  Building a creature of this scale allowed Hacim to use some interesting parts, including larger tires and actual dragon jaw elements to create the mouth.  It's quite impressive how organic this MOC looks, with its irregular shaping, numerous tentacles, and even more numerous eye balls.  Another aspect of this monster that was executed excellently is the throat, designed slightly angled giving the appearance that there's more.  Very realistic!  After hours of building, I wonder if Hacim ever got hungry for sushi?  Uh-oh, it's looking at me. . .  I'm sorry!

Filthy Frank

I will apologize ahead of time to those of you that have never heard of Filthy Frank and will now go on YouTube out of curiosity. I will also state for the record I do not get the appeal. I am perpetually flummoxed as to what resonates with viewers of YouTube, I've given up trying. I also don't understand Iain Heath, and no one ever will. Doesn't mean I don't love him though.

Dexter

There were many cartoons playing in my house not so long ago. Luckily both my boys were young during a bit of a resurgence in cartoon production. The likes of Spongebob, RugRats, Ed Edd & Eddy and many more were new shows. One of my favorites to watch with them was Dexter's Laboratory. It had great writing, funny scenarios and excellent animation. This MOC of the title character by builder GolPlaysWithLego was a nice little dose of nostalgia this morning.

A New Year, A New Hope

Fun fact, it wasn't until late high school that I first saw Star Wars and then it was on a very loud charter bus on one of those old-school tiny overhead CRT screens. Despite the terrible viewing environment I was drawn into the Star Wars universe and have been a fan since. One of the first scenes that drew me in and got me hooked was the one where Leia despite all the chaos around her is uploading the secret Death Star Plans to R2-D2. To this day I cannot explain why I love this scene so much, but I would like to thank builder Miro Dudas for taking me back down memory lane.

Tracing Through the Snow. . .

Tracer is one of the iconic characters to be created in the 2016 game Overwatch (and is one of the few I am somewhat familiar with).  I am a sucker for good character builds, which is exactly what Nick Brick has done today!  The colors used on this character are very cool and pleasing to the eyes.  Good color schemes can really draw you into a build.  As weird as it may be, I think the pants are my favorite part, which were executed well without making them too boxy, and they lead into Tracer's hips without a large gap.  Another impressive part of this build is that it's viewable from all sides, which is not something you see with every character build.  Nice job, Nick!  Looking forward to more of these builds from you.

Aliens Live in Style

If this is what our architecture will look like in the future, I'm totally okay with that.  Sleek and round structures appear to be our future when it comes to buildings.  Sad Brick has created his representation of a "Space Cathedral."  It's not directly referenced if this is a human structure, or something built by other beings in the universe.  The beauty about this creation is that it can be left up to interpretation.  The builder of this creation also included some landscape, using a very interesting technique to create some well-trimmed pine trees.  It seems to be a peaceful place to come visit!