Marvelous minifig hands

Ah, the minifig hand. Since the dawn of time this seemingly insignificant  part of the LEGO person's anatomy has been used for almost anything a builder could think of. Today we have two MOCs which I was going to blog individually but then realized that both these builds contain a smart use of the humble minifig hand. So here we go: 

First up is this microscale Hoth scene from Jeremy Williams (Bricking It). This was built a couple months ago for NEW ELEMENTARY but I missed it then, so here it is. Check out all the great part usages at this tiny scale, including a metal ingot, roller skate, and of course those tiny hands...

(Sidenote: we've chosen this build as our June 2016 cover photo over on Twitter! Don't forget to follow us, and all that!)

Our second MOC is also from a licensed theme, but from the more magical side of things - a Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets vignette built by Markus Rollbühler ('rolli). Not only are some sand green hands put to good use on the basilisk, but there are also some arms (and skeleton arms) in there. Plus that crow bar tongue. 

The hanging tree

vitreolum has been working on a series of vignettes showcasing popular horror movie scenes. He started with The Exorcist and Scream; his third installment is this scene from Witchfinder General, which I have not seen but seems like a pretty messed up film. 

This is one of the most organic brick-built trees I've seen in a while, I think because of the combination of curved and straight-edged slopes and the textured slope at its base. The other thing that caught my eye was the SNOT construction used on the grass under the tree - the curves of the grass and the stone path fit perfectly together, something not easy to achieve. Overall this is a very well-built vignette, maybe my favorite of the year so far! 

You can follow the continuing horror vignette series here. 

"We're making today a perfect day for yooooou!"

The latest round of ABS (maybe the best one yet) just wrapped up, and I realized I missed this fantastic model of Elsa from Frozen Fever when contestant Cody Purviance posted it a couple weeks ago. The lime green telephone seed part is used nicely, but that's not all - check out the bananas and ice cream cones that have been used as well! 

Speeding off into the sunset

There's a speeder bike building contest happening on Flickr, and these entries from Ted Andes are great! What a good idea to combine The Lone Ranger with sci-fi speeder bike technology...

The detail shots show off just how creative these bikes are:

The Governor

This round of Iron Builder has seen plenty of great uses of the seed part, the silver Technic connector, but this one may take the cake. It's Governor Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean, built by challenger Legopard!

And that's not the only smart part usage here - can you tell what piece the cravat is made from? 

Follow the round here. 

Road warrior

There's another Iron Builder round going on: challenger Legopard is taking on Iron Builder Tim Schwalfenberg (One More Brick). Although it looks like it'll be another close round, Legopard has contributed most of my favorite builds so far, and one of those is this desert bike from Mad Max: Fury Road:

This build makes good use of the round's seed part, the silver Technic connector, but there are plenty of other nice part uses and greebles galore - my favorites are the Chima gorilla fist and the way wagon wheels were placed inside tires to create a really cool wheel design. 

Stay tuned to this round in the Iron Builder Flickr pool here! 

Brick Bucket Review: 75915 Pteranodon Capture

3/5

Appearance - 4/5
Construction - 4/5
Pieces - 2/5
Playability - 3/5
Minifigures/accessories - 5/5
Value for money - 5/5


75915 Pteranodon Capture is the smallest of the May 2015 Jurassic World movie tie-in sets. It costs £19.99 / $19.99 / 24.99€ and contains 174 pieces.

Verdict: Overall this is a pretty nice set. The pteranodon and minifigs are fantastic. A lack of interesting or useful parts makes this pretty useless as a parts pack; it's intended as a collector's model, and specifically a collector's model for Jurassic World fans. If you liked Jurassic World, I recommend this set to you. Everyone else can pass. 

Ice Age: Continental Bricks

Here's another irresistible movie character we can check off the list as "brickbuilt"! Brought to you by captainsmog, the adorable and hapless Scrat is once again mere seconds away from his precious woolly acorn, though that ominous crack in the ice is likely to put the reunion off a while longer (probably forever).

With clever techniques to achieve proper shape and texture in the face, posture, and voluminous tail, and Mixel eyes once again doing their job to ensure unmistakable cartoonishness, this recreation is brilliantly accurate.

Back to the galaxy far, far away

The Brothers Brick is running a "Pimp Rey's Speeder" contest and some of the entries so far have been awesome. My favorite is probably this Back to the Future-ized version by David Hensel (Legonardo Davidy):

"It's a known fact that speeders go faster when you can time travel!"

Avengers Quinjet

There are allready two official LEGO Quinjets, one from the original Avengers and one from the sequel, but Kit Bricksto wanted his own model. With amazing shaping and a complete interior it tops the official models by far.

Anger management

This month's LUGNuts challenge is called "Anger Management," and the task is to build mean-looking or aggressively named vehicles, or vehicles from aggressive movies. The Mitsubishi Eclipse may not be a particularly "angry" car, but it did star in The Fast and the Furious, which builder Ralph Savelsberg (Mad physicist) points out is about the most aggressive movie ever. The lime green paint job helps too. 

Nature, uh, finds a way.

I'm getting pretty excited for Jurassic World (and the accompanying LEGO sets!), so forgive me if I'm a little heavy-handed with the Ian Malcolm quotes in the weeks to come. Tonight's dinosaur mood was triggered by vir-a-cocha's latest MOC popping up in my Flickr feed. Titled "Sunset," it shows a pair of small raptors that have come across a big T-Rex track in the primeval mud. The landscaping here looks really nice and the little dinos have plenty of character despite lacking any facial features. 

Spider-Man vs Doctor Octopus

Pieter Dennison (P-Denny) says he's never had one of his MOCs blogged before... so I'm here to change that. I don't know much about Spider-Man but I know a good MOC when I see one. This scene has some nice techniques that give it a worn-down, inner-city feel, like the brick detailing, broken walls, and exposed pipes down at the bottom. 

Executron from The LEGO Movie looks like Tumblr's "anonymous" symbol

He totally does, right? 

Raptor

Ralph Savelsberg (Mad physicist) built a nice model of a Raptor from Jurassic Park: 

I like the patterning with the various shades of brown and tan, as well as the eyes made from a cut tube. 

Beware the Balrog!

There's a MEMO going on on MOCpages, and- what's that? You don't know what a MEMO is? It stands for Middle Earth MOC Olympics, of course! This entry from Leonardo Da Brick shows the scene from The Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf battles an ancient and deadly Balrog in the Mines of Moria. Spoiler alert- Gandalf dies :)

The builder has more equally excellent LotR scenes on MOCpages and on Flickr.