The Space Bar

You’re a space trucker, looking to unwind after a long week of hauling bio-cells. Where do you go? Why, the place where everybody knows your name: The Space Bar. This MOC by Pixel fox is really fun, with tons of detail. I love the bubble-lamp things, and all crazy characters and stories going on (my favorites are the little spider thing at the bottom, and the guys jumping over the railing to save their friend).

Starfighter!

John C. Lamarck , aircraft builder extraordinaire has once again found his way into our Nerdy hearts. He has built an excellent rendition of Lockheed’s F-104 . For those uninitiated into the world of aircraft geekery let me give you the quick tour. The F-104 was designed by Kelly Johnson’s design team in the 1950’s (Johnson is most known for working on the P-38 Lightning, U-2, and SR-71 Blackbird). Known as the “Missile with a Man in it” the 104 was design as a supersonic interceptor design to intercept and destroy soviet fighters and bombers. Starfighters were in service in the USAF, allied air forces and NASA from 1958 until late 2004 (USAF retirement was significantly early). The 104 set several aviation records mostly in climb to altitude speed. Seen here is an excellent rendition of the CF-104 built under license by Canadair for the Royal Canadian Air Force. John captures the curves and the sleekness of the Starfighter amazing well. I love the use of the classic tire to capture the exhaust cone, the air inlets are rendered very well at this scale and the custom decals are fantastic. The one limitation of this scale is the biconvex airfoil cannot be captured. The leading edges came to such a knife edge that unware ground personnel often received very bad cuts on their heads when bumping into the wing.

Yellow Castle Tributes

Yellow Castle 375 came out a bit before my time, but it’s beloved by many in the LEGO community. Galaktek spent the year building nine MOCS inspired by the set, ranging from a Japanese castle to a space base, and they’re all fantastic. My favorite ones are the underwater castle, and the forest stronghold.

The Dark Crystal

Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal is a fantasy classic, and the new Netflix prequel series Age of Resistance is fantastic, too. With Dark Crystal hype in full swing, seeing Brent Waller’s MOC based on the original film was a delightful surprise. Really great brick-built versions of some complicated, iconic designs (the Fizzgig is especially ingenious). If you’d like a Skeksis of your own, give it a vote over at LEGO Ideas. Hmmmmm!

Roger Roger

The Star Wars franchise knows how to provide cannon fodder for the good guys. Tie fighters and Stromtroopers from the original trilogy and to a degree so far the sequel trilogy. The prequels gave us battle droids, who also attempted to provide a bit of humor. Hachiroku24 has built excellent renditions of the standard battle droid. Best of all video instructions are provided on YouTube! The droid uses mostly common pieces, and has a ton of articulation. My favorite part is the minifig scale battle droid arm as a neck.

Rhapsody

If I didn’t have a fear of swimming (or heights), a ride on Ted Ande’s futuristic skiff Rhapsody sounds just peachy. I always enjoy seeing builders try to incorporate Technic pieces into their MOCS, and it’s especially well done in this one. I also dig the floorboard texturing.

Love, Death & Robots

I’m only a few episodes into Netflix’s new animated anthology series Love, Death & Robots, but the Three Robots short is definitely an early standout for me. Lu Sim made a MOC of one of the titular robots, who comes from a long line of baby monitors. He also created some fun alternate expressions for the lil’ guy. I wanna animate him!

Poe Spirit

One of the many iconic enemies from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time were the Poe Spirits. Julius von Bronk has captured their devious aura in bricks, complete with lantern and spectral smoke trail. I especially love the detailing on the tattered hood. Now I want to dust off my N64 and explore Hyrule!

Houses In Barqa

This fantasy scene by Jonas Wide is so well made and designed that I mistook it for a recreation of an actual European town at first (until I saw the Orc with a cane). So many cool details, like the brickwork on the houses, the big pots in the alleyway, the market, and the excellent usage of micro scale lights to create a mood.

The Abduction

You don’t need a lot of bricks to make a creative MOC. This build by Tom Gerardin depicting an alien abduction in some metropolitan city is a perfect example. Love the little tank, but the highlight is the usage of the new Giraffe Guy collectible minifig’s snout as an alien head. Brilliant!

Lonely Polar Bear

It’s not often a MOC can elicit an emotional reaction from me, but this polar bear by LEGO7 certainly did. The form and silhouette are excellent, and conveys the feeling of isolation quite well. Poor guy. I suppose a Coca-cola won’t help much?

Smashin'

The other day I blogged about Mike Dung’s fun Kirby and Meta Knight builds, and he’s returned with more renditions of the Smashin’ Bros. Mario and Link look great (love that Hylian shield), but my personal favorite is Mr. Game & Watch; he’s absolutely perfect.

Smash Bros.

I’ve been playing the new Super Smash Bros. quite a bit. I’m not good at it by any means, but I’m having a blast. Mike Dung has captured Kirby and Meta Knight’s likenesses in bricks perfectly. Kirby is adorable, and the technique Mike used to make Meta Knight’s wings are absolutely brilliant. Who’s down for a match?

Ergo Proxy

I’m not at all familiar with the anime Ergo Proxy, but I know a good build when I see one, and this is a VERY good build. Sheo has captured the likenesses of the characters perfectly, and uses slope pieces to great effect.

Deltarune

Toby Fox’s surprise new game Deltarune dropped last month. If you enjoyed his previous game Undertale, it’s an absolute must-play. One of the new characters introduced is Ralsei, the adorable Prince from the Dark, which Anthony Wilson has recreated perfectly in bricks.

Sheriff's Office

I’ve had westerns on the brain lately, thanks to the recent release of Red Dead Redemption 2. This MOC by captainsmog would look right at home in that game. Love the little details, like the cacti, and the prisoner carrying his ball and chain. Yeehaw!

Looming Crimson

Mihai Marius Mihu returns with a sacred fortress, constructed beneath an imposing, monolithic being. It is alive, eerie, but safe, and a gorgeous juxtaposition.