Legos, anyone?

[sh9000]

 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

They got me on this one.  I passed up on the Aston Martin, but I couldn't say no to a fastback Mustang.

[kanedaestes]

[kanedaestes]

[Tking22]

Yeah the Mustang is sweet, highly recommended. Really fun build too, the steering wheel mechanism is quite interesting.

[technoblue]

Very slick, kanedaestes and Tking22.  I'm still waiting for my copy of the Lego Mustang to arrive in the post.

Might be able to put it together this weekend if I can set aside some time.

[M'Kyuun]

Just got back from a LEGO convention in Portland, and I went to the LEGO store a day too early. They were sold out on release day, so I didn't get one on my second trip. Feeling a little envious of you guys who've got it already. I did, however, pick up the new modular building set, the Corner Garage, which looks like another fun build. I'm not much of a building builder myself, MOCwise, but I thoroughly enjoy the Creator Modular Buildings. As large sets targeted at more mature builders, they're always a great mix of detail, more advanced building techniques, unique parts usage, the occasional Easter egg, and enterprises such as a detective's agency, or a pool hall, that don't generally appear in regular retail sets aimed at younger builders. 

In other LEGO news, the new Avengers: Endgame sets have been revealed: https://www.brothers-brick.com/2019/03/04/more-lego-sets-from-avengers-endgame-revealed-including-war-machine-buster-ultimate-quinjet-news/

Loving the new Quinjet, new Hall of Armor ( the previous version from Iron Man 3 left a bit to be desired), and the War Machine Buster Armor. I know that the kneelessness of the large armors is a turnoff to some, and, as a mecha builder myself, not just a little frustrating, but overall I find these sets to be fun just to mess with. 

[M'Kyuun]

This popped up on Flickr today. I thought it was adorable and too good not to share.

Aside from a plethora of VF-1s, Macross rarely shows up in LEGO form. This was a nice surprise.

[technoblue]

Thanks for the pic, @M'Kyuun. That’s a very clever mini build of the Regult. I wonder what set that printed piece for the “eye” comes from, or if it is custom? I also like how the blue round disc pieces were used to add the color accents on the Regult’s cockpit.

[M'Kyuun]

Glad you like it, Technoblue. I thought it was rather well done, especially given the scale. Reading comments in his Flickr, it sounds like he has instructions somewhere for it, but when I clicked the link, I pretty much got a blank screen. I wouldn't mind building it as a little deskoration to stand alongside all my Yammie valks.

As to the parts in question: the blue rounded parts are the small 2x2 dishes (4740), often used as small radar antennas, and any number of apps requiring a small rounded surface, as seen brilliantly applied here. The printed pink round tile is in fact official; it came in the General Greivous' Wheel Bike (75040) from 2014. The set came with an extra one, so I have one ready to use if I find instructions or attempt to reverse engineer it. It's pretty complex within the main pod, so I think instructions will ultimately be necessary. My Kung-Fu with micro-builds is non-existent.

[Bolt]

Very cool!

[technoblue]

Found this browsing around the 'net last night:

https://brickformation.com

The company is combining two things I enjoy very much: Lego and the Homeworld universe. The price to brick ratio on the first few Hiigaran ships is quite high, though.  That said, I'd love to see more.

[Tking22]

I got that sweet, sweet nostalgia driven Steamboat Willie set on the way. looks good. Yeah, once again, a few compromises were made from the original set, but I still think Lego did a damn fine job with it overall, the "black and white" look is pretty neat.

[David Hingtgen]

It'd be even better if it was as big as the Creator F40, but a Countach is always welcome: 

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/8e64e16f-ec3b-41ea-9e72-3ebc01114cf9

(I imagine if it actually gets made, we could get pearl-gold wheels---LEGO has done wheels in that color before, just not these particular ones).   A printed tile on the rear could also help with getting the "triple-taillights in a hexagon" effect.

 

[len_d69]

Sharing my Super Deformed VF-25F Messiah 

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/8be49869-216a-4ee1-bc28-04d1addc2eb3

 

[ArchieNov]

Hey, aren't you the fan designer of the Ideas Voltron?

[M'Kyuun]

Yes, he is. Supported the SD VF-25. Even if it gets made, though, it'll only be for the Asian market, as Harmony Gold still has Macross locked up here in the West and in Europe. Hopefully, that'll change in a couple years.

Len-d69, your SD VF-1s look great, too. Voltron turned out really well, although I wish the designers had been able to put more articulation into the final model. From the many test model shots included in the instruction manual, they tried valiantly, but ultimately too much of the look was compromised by the hinges, so they went for toon accuracy and stability instead. I can't fault them, as safety and stability are important in such a tall and heavy model. It looks great on my shelf, so thanks for submitting. It gives me hope that more anime-inspired models will get made.

[Bolt]

8 hours ago, len_d69 said:

Sharing my Super Deformed VF-25F Messiah 

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/8be49869-216a-4ee1-bc28-04d1addc2eb3

 

DAAAAAANGH!

That’s Killa!

[Scyla]

That VF-25 looks awesome! 

[sh9000]

 

[Mazinger]

Is the Full Scale McLaren a VIP exclusive?  When's the preorder? Need to win the lottery first.

[Convectuoso]

On 4/16/2019 at 3:44 AM, len_d69 said:

Sharing my Super Deformed VF-25F Messiah 

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/8be49869-216a-4ee1-bc28-04d1addc2eb3

 

We should all be voting for this

[Bolt]

Absolutely!

 

[M'Kyuun]

I would highly encourage everyone to give this, and any decent Macross related project support. Even with the Harmony Gold situation and the unlikelihood of it's getting produced should it meet the 10,000 votes, I think it shows support for Macross creations to the LEGO Group. Given the current pool of designers, many are AFOLs who expressed interest in anime, Macross included, in their MOCs before landing their dream jobs at LEGO. It's a message I want to send, if for no other reason, it resonates with the folks managing the Ideas program. Should HG finally lose their iron grip on the Macross license in a few years, it's my hope that more Macross projects will be submitted and that at least a few will see global production. And, should it come to fruition, hopefully they'll actually be able to pull off a fully transformable model without the need for parts-forming. I long for that day.

[Bolt]

Official Macross LEGO would be BOMBA!!

i was supporter 171, quite auspicious 

[M'Kyuun]

Real world inspired City Space sets coming this summer. https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-city-mars-exploration-summer-2019-official-set-images/

Looking forward to these; as much as I love their various sci-fi space themes, I've always enjoyed the neo-realism of the City space sets. Of these, the 'Moonbase' stands out, as it's the first orbital station LEGO has done, and of the lot, it's the one I can easily see being the most modded and expanded. Kinda wish it came with a stand to give the appearance of floating, but the way LEGO designed it, it has the versatility of being grounded as well.  I like the new shuttle as well; the basic 'space pickup' design is eternally cool.

In other LEGO related news, Chinese authorities raided Lepin factories, making arrests and seizing property: https://www.thebrickfan.com/lepin-factories-raided-and-boss-arrested/

LEGO has been waging a legal battle against this and other clone companies for some time, so this is a small victory for The LEGO Group, and demonstrates some good faith from the Chinese government.

[Chronocidal]

Ok, but seriously, where's my freakin IDEAS Shuttle, huh?  

Not to detract from the sets themselves, they look pretty fun.  Though, with the new larger cone elements they made for the Harry Potter castle spires, I'd think they could come up with something better than the classic inverted curve stack of nose bits on that rocket.

The Lepin news is just kind of wacky though.  I'm pretty shocked to see China lifting any portion of a finger against a knockoff manufacturer.

[sketchley]

8 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

The Lepin news is just kind of wacky though.  I'm pretty shocked to see China lifting any portion of a finger against a knockoff manufacturer.

Context is everything: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48076505

 

TLDR version: " The raid comes as China seeks to strengthen intellectual property rights, with the number of trials hitting a record high last year. "

In the past year, the Chinese government has become motivated in shoring up IP rights for foreign companies (if one needs a self serving reason: it's to get more foreign investment to help stimulate growth as their economic growth rate has significantly declined in the past few quarters).  Expect more of these in the coming months.

[sketchley]

9 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Real world inspired City Space sets coming this summer. https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-city-mars-exploration-summer-2019-official-set-images/

Looking forward to these; as much as I love their various sci-fi space themes, I've always enjoyed the neo-realism of the City space sets. Of these, the 'Moonbase' stands out, as it's the first orbital station LEGO has done, and of the lot, it's the one I can easily see being the most modded and expanded. Kinda wish it came with a stand to give the appearance of floating, but the way LEGO designed it, it has the versatility of being grounded as well.  I like the new shuttle as well; the basic 'space pickup' design is eternally cool.

(...)

Thanks for the link!

I agree that the "Moonbase" looks like the most fun.  I wonder if it's modular enough that if one buys more then one set, one could connect them all together to make a larger base?

There's also a significant presence of real-world tech on the packaging (E.g. NASA's Curiosity rover).  Interesting.

[M'Kyuun]

14 hours ago, sketchley said:

Thanks for the link!

I agree that the "Moonbase" looks like the most fun.  I wonder if it's modular enough that if one buys more then one set, one could connect them all together to make a larger base?

There's also a significant presence of real-world tech on the packaging (E.g. NASA's Curiosity rover).  Interesting.

You are most welcome. I thought this might interest a few folks. 

To your first question of modularity, I'm inclined to say yes.  There's a new Technic brick frame being used as an airlock that suggests a high level of modularity.

Unfortunately, at least in this particular set, the gimmick is not realized to its full potential, as there's no way for the astrofig to actually traverse from ship to station given the way the little ship was designed.  Alas, as I said, I'm sure there'll be any number of fan-builds that do use it as a functioning airlock once these become available. Only a couple more months to go. 

As for the real world inspirations, LEGO married every set in this theme to something existing within the various current space programs, both private and NASA. So , yeah, there was a concentrated effort to ground all of these in real world development, and honestly, I think that's really enjoyable from the hobby side of LEGO, but also very inspiring to the kids buying these sets who aspire to become part of the space program when they grow up. Let's face it, as much fun as fictitious stuff is to build, there's always a sort of wonderment to building a replica of something existing, especially when it's done to a satisfactory level of accuracy. Mileage to that end varies, of course, but from personal experience, and as a huge fan of sci-fi, there's still an exhilaration to be gained from building something like the recent Ford Mustang Creator set, or a functional Technic set based on a real vehicle or piece of machinery. I think it's a very primordial urge within us as a species to want to reproduce that which we see in the world around us in some tangible form that we create, be it a cave painting, pottery, wood carving, a model kit, or good ole LEGO. So, it pleases me greatly when LEGO trots these City space sets out every four or five years. I wish it was a yearly or bi-annual release schedule, personally, but I'll take what I can get. In the meantime, May the Fourth is right around the corner, so I'm working on collecting the 20th anniversary LEGO Star Wars sets, including this guy  and building up my VIP points to score a copy of the Bespin Playset. 

For those interested in seeing what else LEGO has in store over the coming months, I highly suggest checking out www.thebrickfan.com, www.brickset.com, or www.brothers-brick.com for ongoing coverage and disclosures of official pics and descriptions. Play well!

Edited April 28, 2019 by M'Kyuun

[Scyla]

I‘m looking forward building that Tantive IV. I don‘t like that they didn‘t print the cockpit details and that it isn‘t a UCS set.

On the other hand I managed to align the stickers on the escape pod pretty well and I still need to find a way to display the UCS Falcon, so the smaller size is probably a good thing. 

[slaginpit]

Just purchased it

I like the look of this one but man its expensive

 

[M'Kyuun]

Same here. LEGO's offering double VIP points to members starting today and running through the weekend, so I grabbed this, as well as the 20th anniversary Pod Racer and Clone Walker. I think that completes my collection of the 20th anniversary of the LEGO Star Wars sets. I highly recommend the Slave I- beautifully done, and it comes with the first ever release of Zuckuss in minifig form.

Now I'm looking forward to the release of the City Space sets and the 80th anniversary Batman sets. Some cool LEGO stuff coming this year.

[slaginpit]

27 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Same here. LEGO's offering double VIP points to members starting today and running through the weekend, so I grabbed this, as well as the 20th anniversary Pod Racer and Clone Walker. I think that completes my collection of the 20th anniversary of the LEGO Star Wars sets. I highly recommend the Slave I- beautifully done, and it comes with the first ever release of Zuckuss in minifig form.

Now I'm looking forward to the release of the City Space sets and the 80th anniversary Batman sets. Some cool LEGO stuff coming this year.

I just got the mustang so for me the money is a bit tight. But I have the UCS SLAVE !. I wish I was on a good contract and not a FTE but I would like to get the new Quintjet

[nhyone]

On 4/28/2019 at 12:23 AM, M'Kyuun said:

LEGO has been waging a legal battle against this and other clone companies for some time, so this is a small victory for The LEGO Group, and demonstrates some good faith from the Chinese government.

The owner was arrested and you called it 'a small victory'?

It is a major blow.

Has the Gundam KO maker recovered? Its owner was arrested as well.

Even if Lepin comes back, it will not be able to use exact box art and have 1:1 sets. The October court ruling was very clear on that.

(This is why the police could only act on October 2018.)