Showdown On Arvala

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Like a great many Star Wars fans, I ravenously devoured The Mandalorian, and it’s been so refreshing to have the feels of Star Wars back. There’s a certain intangibility to what makes something feel like Star Wars, but no small part of it is the roots on which it’s built, the inspiration that fueled it. It’s clear in the first minute of episode one that The Mandalorian is heavily inspired by the classic westerns, which were in turn heavily inspired by the classic samurai movies, and A New Hope drew much of inspiration from those as well. By the end of the first scene I was hooked, and so was everyone else. Builder Marcus19840432 is clearly a fan, having skillfully crafted one of the key early moments in season one, the showdown in the outpost on Arvala. For spoilers sake I will say no more and if you haven’t seen the series yet, what the heck are you waiting for?

Starfighter!

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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.

Pegasus

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Semi-embarrassing Idiosyncrasy time. Whenever I speak the word “Pegasus” I am overwhelmingly compelled to do it in the theatrically heroic voice of Hercules. And not from the inexplicably spirally Disney movie, more like the terrible Trans Lux cartoon from the 60’s. And yes, I did it the first time I saw this magnificent sculpture by Grantmasters (and no, I’m not ashamed).

That Little Space Movie

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I’m still mentally sorting through Rise of Skywalker, I enjoyed it, but it’s a lot to unpack (and I mean a lot). In the mean time I sit on the solid foundation of my fandom, thanks to being the perfect age to have experienced this little movie, Star Wars (maybe you’ve heard of it?) Builder NS Brick Designs has crafted one of the classic posters to my favorite movie of all time, and this edit incorporating aspects of the poster makes it pretty much perfect.

Work Out Girl

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Here’s a little secret: I don’t work out. Yes, yes, I know this formidable frame seems legitimately cut but I assure you, I’m quite doughy. Unlike this hard body by builder vitreolum, who clearly can do reps, whatever those are. The subtle details and clever building on this character are pretty amazing, look at the neck, where two simple angled 1x2’s suddenly become neck muscles, and the hair is wonderful.

Vintage Boombox

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Ok, I know old radios weren’t called boomboxes, but hear me out. It’s a box, and it plays music, is there any real difference? At what point does a radio become a boombox? When you add a tape deck? Now granted I don’t really see one of these on the street next to some cardboard blasting RUN DMC, it’s more likely to in a sitting room with some Glen Miller streaming out. But that doesn’t mean grandma isn’t wearing parachute pants and a Kango though. Builder adde51.

Narnia Awaits

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Sometimes escaping this insane world is as easy as opening a book. There you can find wizards, vampires, goblins, mystical settings and all manner of fantasy. And sometimes in a book you can find others escaping their world, it’s sorta meta. Like the wardrobe that leads to Narnia, brilliantly recreated here as a “book nook” by Kristal Allemann.

Baby Yoda Rules The Internet

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I can’t recall the last time the collective nerd community and the internet in general went so nuts for a new character (baby Groot maybe?). It’s caught Disney and toy companies off guard, it’s a continual headache for Disney’s IP stormtroopers and the maker community has gone into a building frenzy. The AFOL community is also madly clicking bricks inspired by this adorable little guy, including this one by builder hachiroku24, my favorite so far.

Star Destroyer Bridge

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Wouldn’t it be cool if modern cruise ships had a bridge like the one on a Star Destroyer, like this one from builder Jonathan_S? I Cruise on Disney pretty often, and I like to imagine the captain looking out the front of the boat through windows like this, with the crew submerged in pits behind him. Then we see a Carnival ship on the horizon and send out the TIE fighters…

Back Alley

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I’m really digging this back alley piece by builder Everblack. It reminds me of a movie set, and also of the many sets we have piled in the “brick backlot” here at the studio. I can just imagine this with proper movie lighting, watching a scene play out. Maybe a little drifting fog, with eerie or dramatic music playing, a dog barking in the distance…I digress.

Keyboard Rebel

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Are keyboard guitars still a thing? I could google it I suppose, but I want to believe they are so I’ll just assume. Being a kid of the 80’s and the first generation of MTV I remember keytars very well. But since I haven’t seen a music video in ages (they still make them right?) I have no idea if these are still in any way popular. This pretty awesome alien by builder Djokson looks ready to rock out, and I’m ready to watch and listen.

The Mandalorian And The Asset

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I suppose this is technically a spoiler, but if you haven’t seen “baby Yoda” by now, just how comfortable is it under that rock? And yes, I know it’s not Yoda, he died before the events of The Mandalorian, but we’ve never been told his species, so everyone is just calling him or her (yeah, it could he a her) “baby Yoda”. Episode 4 comes out tomorrow, and while I’m excited for some feasting here today on Thanksgiving, I sorta wish it was Friday already. In the mean time I’ll just admire this pair of excellent figures by builder BaronSat.

2020 Bugatti Centodieci

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There are lots of cars posted on the various LEGO sharing sites these days, but nobody builds ‘em like Firas Abu-Jaber. The Centodieci is the latest from Bugatti, an homage to the EB110 from back in the 1990s. The updated version, revealed here, comes with 1600 brake horsepower for a whopping $9million (plus tax). Only ten will be produced, which is just slightly less exclusive than the one-of-a kind shown here. Nicely done, Firas!

Roshambomatic

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Why play Rock Paper Scissors with your hands when you can do it with a machine? That’s the concept behind this game by builder Milan Sekiz, and it’s wonderful. It’s the simplest of games, but when determining who gets the front passenger seat (“shotgun”), who’s gets the last slice of pizza or who gets to change the diaper, there is no better method.

I Brought The Mix Tape, You Bring The Cardboard?

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I’ve written about this before, but I have no shame, I used to break dance. When hiphop hit the scene in my youth my mind was blown, and I was a fan. I had a pile of tapes, from Run DMC to Twilight 22 and everything in between. And I loved to pop and lock with one of these babies blasting the beat. The boombox, like this one from Cha Mi, was as a part of the culture as parachute pants and fingerless gloves. It was all silly as anything but we ate it up.