Dave Steeves. Two familiar images contrasting here: the yellow accents and caution striping hint at something industrial and mechanical, while the form appeals to some sort of insect. Both themes are familiar enough, but at the same time frightening. The probe at the front is delightfully violative. This LEGO advertisement for the 1998 Insectoids theme was before my time, as I was then at the primo stage in life, but relevant:

Shoot them before they shoot you

Both the design and the rendering, executed by Genghis Don, are superb. It looks like an elongated version of this fighter craft seen in Cowboy Bebop:





More Mobile Frame Zero designs from Malcom Craig. This one is delightfully chunky.


The two-tone, patchwork color scheme on flickr user imaginationDUCK's mech works well to inspire urban camouflage. It definitely calls to mind Spook's work, who has been prolific as of late.

Concept-inspired LEGO design

Flickr user Drywall created this dropship. His LEGO rendering is inspired by artwork done by Ukitamkumuki on deviantArt for a Role Playing Game, called "Space Vagabonds", in 2009.

There's a lot of good things going on with Drywall's model. The exposed studs do good to break up the awkward texture created by the slightly beveled edges of tiles. The three color rule is used with some reservations. The aesthetics of the source artwork really comes through, even if the LEGO model is a bit boxier. Fun details include the believably minimal chin and tail armaments, as well as the landing gear.

Gotta love his choice of coloring on the figures as well. The cardboard backdrop is actually pretty effective.


These armored suits, also part of Ukitakumuki's Space Vagabonds series, remind me of the biosuits from a Niell Blomkamp short that saw popularity during the time that District 9 was being hyped. Twee Affect, on that.   

So that's what that feels like

Brickshelf user Tiler has created both these figure-scale and mini "Tumblers" as seen in the Dark Knight Trilogy. Click the pictures for the corresponding galleries, as well as instructions. Check them out!

It's nice to see something from Dan Jassim. The negative space pattern present on both the fuselage and the engines is a good touch. The 3 x 3 cones fill in the cavity of those awkward canopy bodies.

I believe that is a hovercraft corner piece that Dave Steeves is employing as a cockpit on this battletech-inspired mech.

Brickworld 2012 AFV round-up

This year's BrickWorld saw an extensice lineup of especially well-crafted LEGO Armored Fighting Vehicles. The "cyberpunk" setting allotted these guys some creative license, there are enough flashy futuristic bits to make them stand out from the run-of-the-mill stuff that occupies much of the near-future military genre.
Ignacio Bernaldez Carter Baldwin Peter Anderson (Shadow Viking) Forest King (KingBrick)

Here's the same vehicles participating in a brikwars game, the venue is the Pennsylvania LEGO Users Group.







Carter and Forest put together this gritty diorama, I took a moment to pose one of my Verticals for a good show.

Real World Starfighter Contest

The "Real World" Starfighter contest provides an interesting opportunity for sci-fi builders to dabble with aesthetics far removed from the gunned up darts that proliferate the genre. P. Fieschi's is a great example, his concept presents a product of an arms race gone too far. Spherical parts are used to a great effect, as with all of Pierre's models the "Hercules" maintains a high level-of-detail.



"The nuke was a self propelled Monster of destruction, about 4 or 5 times the size of the Apollo module itself. In the end, officials had no idea what to do with this horrifying piece of engineering that went far beyond mutually assured destruction. For the sake of mankind, the project was discontinued, and the 'Emperor' nuke was fired at the sun."

The contest runs until the end of next month, get building!

Cole Blaq goes navy blue

Tim Gould over on The Brothers Brick featured this before I came across it, but I'm glad to post it here. First, because of the sci-fi builders that see regular plugs on this blog Cole isn't one of them; second, Cole's stuff is certainly good enough to deserve an increased signal radius; and third, because I've thoughts of my own that I get a kick out of seeing published.

Anyway, these are pretty smart near-future designs. Gould mentioned the vivid colors in his post, I'll echo that, as it is my adamant belief that color variety is the spice of LEGO. I can't help but think a trans yellow windshield on the smaller vehicle to match the larger Aliens APC looking thing would be nice, but I'm not knowledgeable of Cole's preferences regarding modding.The wheels are great.


The blue and gold colors on Cole's fan models resembles the liveries of the human faction in the official LEGO "Alien Conquest" line. The subject matter is not different as well, it is as if Cole took the juvenile playset characteristics out of the designs and inserted some worthy aesthetics.


Set reconstruction, a level above "set modding", has been popular lately as the official themes have gotten more niche. 2001's "Alpha Team" line was one of my favorite themes as a young child. After being inspired by the submersible that recently made a limited run via the Couscous Cuusoo program, my interest in tracked ground vehicles (like snowcats!), and remembering the adoration that I harbored for the above set as a third grader,  I might like to do a "cover version" of 6774. To this day springy slat that was used as the catapult is still bent from use. And that skull-spanning grin!


Halfway relevant links:
This Maize-and-Blue "Wolverine". A mecha from Kyle Vrieze's collection of early works residing on MOCpages.com. Even more relevant to those of us, who such as the author dwell in middle Michigan where the MSU / U of M rivalry is a very real and frightening thing.

"I must admit, the Wolverines usually have a better football team, but I think we beat them more often than we really have a right to."


The APC from "Aliens". Created in LEGO by flickr user Larry Lars.

"Doing it right"

Flickr user Drywall has created exceptional LEGO mecha based on the "Gekko" units from the Sony Playstation 3 title, Metal Gear Solid 4. Theses particular in-game designs have inspired LEGO mecha of my own. You can see the Gekkos moving around and mooing in the video below, real fantastic work on the part of the artists behind the game.



 
The animation and sound effects are so great. A real contrast to the boring legged slabs revealed in the Black Ops 2 trailer.



He has also created this equally magnificent realization of a "Think Tank" from Ghost in the Shell. Both of José's models stray from their inspirations; while retaining the concepts imagined by original artists the LEGO builder has tastefully added features of his own.

Geoff Herndon's Gekko. It is scaled to the LEGO minifigure, though I daresay the legs aren't spindly enough.

Tim Gould's GiTS Think Tank.

Antige-V

Quality from Jerac, as to be expected. The angling of the 1 x 1 slopes is good. Retro-future is sometimes gimmicky, but this is great. The patches of color on the body and the offset-antennae greeblie are sci-fun as well. Functionality in mind, the grey railing on the footstep seems redundant, but I guess it looks alright.

I have not yet expressed my enjoyment with his background selection. The concrete is more exciting than texture-less photoshop editing, but it doesn't compete with the models.