Round round get around, I get around, yeah
(Get around round round I get around, ooh-ooh) I get around
From town to town (get around round round I get around)
I’ve a real cool mech (get around round round I get around)
I’m drivin’ real good tech (get around round round I get around)

I’m gettin’ bugged drivin’ up and down the same old road
I gotta mech with a van, it’s a wicked load
My buddies and me putting tracks in the street
Yeah, the bad guys runnin’ cos they can’t take the heat

The wise words of The Beach Boys there, slightly altered by the morons here at TLCB Towers to vaguely fit with today’s creation. Ok, we butchered a classic, but is was either that or we’d have to use this again. Anyway, the build; it’s a surfer-van-mech of course, from deep within the obscure mind of Dvd of Flickr. We’ve not really got any more to say than that, so it’s probably best if you check it our for yourselves at Dvd’s photostream. Head to the beach via the link above!

No sooner does one Lego-building monthly bandwagon end than another begins. ‘Ma.Ktober’ is instantly replaced by ‘Novvember’, but because we’re incompetent we’re posting this entry on December 1st…

That does mean we nearly made it through the whole thing without getting dragged in, but if we’re going to get sucked into a spinning vortex of nerdiness it may as well be by something as cool as this.

It’s called the Lone Eagle, it comes from Flickr’s F@bz, and it features more ingenuous building techniques than would normally be found in a whole month of spacey nonsense. Click the link above to head to F@bz’ photostream to check it out.

WALL-E; the last surviving cute robot on an abandoned Earth tasked with tidying up the mess we made. Disney-Pixar’s masterpiece melted hearts around the world in 2008, but a decade on in 2018 several pieces of news have emerged over the course of the year that make us sure we’re heading ever closer to the grim reality depicted in the movie.

The world is in the midst of a mass extinction crisis, CO2 output has risen for the first time in 4 years, and our oceans are filling with plastic.

We don’t yet have cute little rubbish-collecting robots like the Wall-E and Eve pairing built by Flickr’s Luis Peña pictured here to help, but there are a few very easy things that we can do to lessen our impact upon our environment. Turn things off, recycle everything we can, and switch Google for Ecosia. Each year around 300,000 visitors arrive here at The Lego Car Blog directly via a search engine. If they all arrived via the tree-planting alternative Ecosia that would be a lot of trees!

To find out more about what The LEGO Company is doing to reduce its environmental impact click here and to see more of Luis’ brilliant Wall-E and Eve builds click the link above.

Today’s creation is huge, very well travelled, and is a frequent visitor of truck-stops. Just like your Mom.

Built by Robert Heim it’s called ‘Space Truck 2’, and unlike your Mom it looks seriously cool. Join the convoy in space via the link to Flickr above.

There have been countless versions of the ‘Spinner’ police cruiser from the 1982 Philip K. Dick epic Blade Runner built in Lego form, yet builders always seem able to find new ways of perfecting the iconic hover-car. This latest version is the work of Davidup of Flickr who has used LEGO’s large window pieces to great effect to create the Spinner’s canopy. A highly detailed interior lies underneath it and there’s more to see of the complete build at Davidup’s Flickr album – head to the future in 1982 via the link above.

*Today’s appropriately-’80s title song.

It’s the Friday before Christmas here at The Lego Car Blog, and our Elves are starting to get all twitchy. This might be because they’re potentially a (very) distant cousin of those employed by Santa, but more likely it’s because they know that they’ll soon be shut in their cages for the Christmas break.

Whatever it is, they’re a bit off-message when it comes to cars at the moment, but no matter, because the two creations in today’s post are rather excellent.

First up (above) is Oscar Cederwall‘s ‘Vanguard Planetary Defender’, a ‘bulk fighter of the Confederacy Navy, designed to operate from both space carriers and ground bases’. It also features ‘dual tungsten rail-guns’, and whilst we don’t know what those are, we do know that if you press the lever on the back of Oscar’s spaceship some guns really do fire!

Today’s second sci-fi creation (below) forgoes real firing guns for a plethora of brick-built weaponry, which are mounted under the wings of Red Spacecat‘s ‘A-32 RAVEN Light Attack Aircraft’. In fact the rockets and missiles you see here are just a fraction of those that Red Spacecat has built for the RAVEN, which has an array of weaponry so vast it nearly matches an average Texan Republican.

There’s more to see of both builds on Flickr – head skywards via the links in the text above.

With only two days until Christmas most of the Elves here at The Lego Car Blog have returned to the crumbling ruin that is TLCB Towers ready for their enforced ‘break’ over the holidays. This makes the office a noisier and messier place in the build up to their re-caging, and is something we’ve gotten used to over the years, but nothing prepared us for just how much noisier and messier this year would be.

With the office stereo playing Christmas songs loudly on loop we weren’t paying attention to any sounds emitting from the Elves’ cage room or the corridor outside. Mistake.

When we finally did notice that something was amiss, the Elven casualties were higher than anything that had gone before. There were Elves squashed into the carpet, Elves staggering around in circles, and even Elves unconscious on the top of shelves. One Elf though, was probably the happiest we have ever seen an Elf be, and it was at the controls of This.

‘This’ is shadow_elenter‘s ‘Transforming Tank / Howitzer’, a fully remote controlled, eighteen motor and five SBrick behemoth that can do, well… a lot. Take a look via the video below and you’ll understand how the situation here at TLCB Towers unfolded…

With an amazing Howitzer gun capable of deploying remotely and firing a Technic rubber-ended bullet (complete with re-coil), four remotely firing cannons up front, remotely controlled (but non-firing) gatling and anti-aircraft guns, and huge tracks driven by four Power Functions XL Motors, shadow_elenter’s tank is an incredible (if mad) example of the very best Technic engineering.

There’s much more to see of this gloriously unhinged build at the Eurobricks discussion forum via the link above, whilst we undertake a big Christmas tidy up…

Christmas Dinner is now just a fleeting memory, the presents are all unwrapped, and it’s cold outside. What you need is a classic video game. Fortunately we have one, thanks to the brilliance of Flickr’s Johan Alexanderson (aka Jalex), who has created a marvellous pixelated Classic Space adventure game that uses many of LEGO’s Classic Space sets and is free to play!

Four-hundred pages of Javascript code renders you the ability to become your favourite Classic Spaceman, embarking on a 2D adventure that includes piloting ships, firing lasers, and exploring unknown worlds, all the while maintaining the trademark Classic Spacemen smile.

Take a look at the trailer for Jalex’s ‘Classic Space Adventure’ via the link above, and then click the link below!

Play ‘Classic Space Adventure’ Here!

This marvellous slice of blue magnificence is apparently a ‘Moondune Rover’, and whilst we don’t really know what that is, we know we like it!

Build by Horcik Designs of Flickr this mini-figure goliath features four pivoting tracks, a huge refuse-truck-like loading area, a crew of determined-looking mini-figures, and the most wonderful vehicle cockpit we think we’ve ever seen.

Join Horcik on the moon of Classic Space at his Flickr album via the link above.

The iconic Spinner from the 1982 sci-fi epic ‘Blade Runner’ has appeared here in multiple forms over the years. From large scale brick-built versions to smaller mini-figure builds, there’s a spinner for everyone. Except Technic fans, who have – until now – been unrepresented.

Syd Mead’s infamous design has finally been Technic-ed, thanks to previous bloggee Jeroen Ottens who has created this utterly wonderful (and brilliantly motorised) version of the Spinner in Technic form.

With doors that open electrically and a motorised transformation from ground to flight modes, Jeroen’s design is more than a visual treat too. You can watch that transformation in action by clicking here and you can see more of the build on Flickr, where a link to instructions is also available.

*We haven’t had a title song in a while. Here’s today’s.

…in space! This enormous long range research vessel was apparently named via a public vote, with ‘Ugly Ducking’ garnering the most support. Unlike a recent public naming poll, the Government decided to honour the outcome, and thus the Ugly Duckling was launched into space.

This amazing creation comes from Blake Foster, and the techniques used throughout it are anything but ugly. With superb photography and lighting it’s one of the most impressive sci-fi builds of the year so far, and there’s loads more to see at the Ugly Duckling’s Flickr album or via MOCpages.

Looking like a cross between a hypermiling competition car and a coach, only with the addition of a few troll arms and mermaid tails, Vince_Toulouse‘s latest vehicular concept looks like a bugger to park. But then the coolest cars always are. See more of Vince’s ‘GR440 III’ at his photostream via the link above.

Long-standing readers of this crummy little website will know that we know the square root of F-all about sci-fi. But good news! It’s Febrovery, when silliness, nonsense and whimsy prevail, and even the proper blogs can’t pretend to know what’s going on. What’s that… they do? Oh well, rest assured that there’ll be no such information here…

We’ve got three Febrovery Rovers to showcase today, and we know nothing about any of them beyond what the builders have told us, so without further ado, above is a Syrsan third-gereration drilling rover. No first or second generation drilling rovers here! Primarily used for low to medium depth surface drilling, the Stenhård geology team pictured above are exploring the terrain before deciding where to take samples as part of their mission. Andreas Lenander is the man in the know and you can find out more about third-generation Syrian drilling technology by clicking here!

Today’s second Febrovery entry comes from Flickr’s Frost, who has built a Vespid Rover of the Venusian Fly People. Commonly seen in the Venusian agricultural sector, the Vespid’s great visibility, soft balloon tyres and powerful turbine drive perfectly equip it for pollinating duties across the Venusian homeworld. If you fancy one for the flowers in your own garden head to Frost’s photostream via the link above to find out more!

Our third and final Febrovery creation is one you’ll all be familiar with. That’s right, it’s a Pinktron P6R, built to conquer harsh environments and widely used by Pinktron operatives in rescuing cute little animals on all sorts of inhospitable planets. We’re not sure that matters to Spaceman Lenny, who just needs a new rover to get to work after the plasma-drive failed on his old 8-8-6, but that’s the schtick that Honest John the Rover Salesman is going with. Flickr’s Frost is again the builder with full deets; click the link above to take a tour of Honest John’s Rover lot!

Febrovery continues apace, with rovers of all shapes and sizes appearing across the interweb. The nerdier among you may recognise the shape and size of this one, which recycles the cockpit from some ship that appeared in a series of over-rated movies. Tim Henderson is the scrap metal dealer behind it and there’s more to see at his photostream here.

It’s been a while since the last act of outrageous Elven violence here at TLCB Towers, but fear not readers, the little scumbags were back in business today. This is Desert752 aka Kirill Mazurov’s ‘Grinder’* tank from the classic video game Red Alert 3, and it’s nuts.

Controlled via bluetooth thanks to no less than three SBricks, Kirill’s Grinder* features ten Power Functions motors, six alone just for drive. A seventh powers the articulated chassis steering, the eighth the boom lift, and a ninth the huge rotating cutter on the end of it.

But what about the tenth you say? Well the lucky Elf that discovered this remote control monstrosity kept that one secret for a bit.

Driving it through the halls of TLCB Towers, Kirill’s Grinder* was frustratingly slow, certainly much too lethargic for the Elf in question to mow down any of its brethren. The other Elves in the office quickly got cocky, taunting the Elf at the controls by standing in front of the approaching tank with its whirling cutter, before jumping out of the way at the last second to much cackling and – we suspect – Elven profanity.

But that tenth motor had yet to be used, and after lulling its colleagues the Elf in control deployed motor No.10. With the secret high-gear engaged the Grinder’s* speed instantly trebled, and the taunters simply couldn’t get out of the way quickly enough.

Fed under the wheels by the cutter, then squashed by the Grinder’s* huge tyres, before being rolled flat by the tracks that followed thereafter, there has probably never been a worse machine to be run over by than this.

We were quite impressed by the Elf at the controls’ subterfuge too, and it’s now enjoying a blue Smartie whilst we have a go with the Grinder* ourselves.

There’s more to see of Kirill’s remote control behemoth at the Eurobricks discussion forum, the complete Red Alert Grinder* gallery can be viewed on Flickr, and you can watch the machine in action via the video below.

YouTube Video

*No, not that Grindr.

‘Febrovery’ 2019 has entered its final days, with rovers of all shapes, sizes and colours being uploaded to Flickr. Previous Febrovery bloggee Frost has built many of them, but today we’re featuring three of his builds that take a more minimalist approach to aesthetics.

Frost has successfully managed to combine the colour approaches of these folks and this guy to create the planet Whitetron and the seriously cool-looking vehicles that rove about on it.

Using pieces of only black and white Frost’s ‘Whitetron’ rovers are some of our very favourites from this year’s ‘Febrovery’ contest, and range from small quads to huge eight-wheel-drive armoured transports.

We’ve featured three of Frost’s rovers here and there are more available to view at his ‘Whitetron’ album on Flickr – click here to make the jump!

We don’t often publicise mechs here at The Lego Car Blog. This is mostly because we’re a car blog, but also because we know absolutely nothing about them, and we’d look silly.

So here are two mechs…

We’re actually publishing these two builds because whilst they are both clearly superb creations, they demonstrate the very best in presentation too, with outstanding photography and editing – something that can be applied to any genre of building.

Image quality is the most common reason for creations suggested to us here at TLCB not to meet our criteria, with even the most brilliant of builds rejected if photography is poor. However clean backgrounds are super easy to achieve using natural light and 50p worth of coloured or white card, successfully removing shadows and other visual distortions. Just take a look at Marco Marozzi‘s ‘KZ1 ma.k mech below to see how successful this approach can be!

The other option is a cunningly photoshopped image. These are much harder to achieve but gosh do they look good if done right! Red Spacecat shows us how to do it properly with the stunning image above showing his KA-9 Police Support Unit in action dispelling civil unrest on the streets.

Both of today’s builders demonstrate the very best in presentation and there’s more to see of each build and the amazing images in which they’ve been captured via the links in the text above.

From our (very) limited knowledge of the Star Wars movie franchise we’ve deduced that the good guys fly things named after letters whilst the bad guys fly things named after shapes. Kind of like an inter-galactic Sesame Street, although we’re not sure Bricknerd would see it that way.

The most powerfully evil of all the bad guys’ flying things are the spherical ones, but the triangles aren’t far behind. This is one such triangle; the ‘Monarch’ Imperial Star Destroyer.

Built by Flickr’s 0necase this incredible creation is constructed from around 11,000 LEGO bricks, and measures well over a meter in length. The huge engines are even formed by three LEGO Death Star pieces, amongst the largest in LEGO’s range, in a gloriously circuitous homage to the Empire.

There’s much more to see of this astonishing recreation of the second-most-evil of all the shapes in Star Wars at 0necase’s ‘Monarch ISD’ album – click here to join the Dark Side.

We rather like house spiders. They eat flies and other pests and are a rather elegant design in their own way. Sadly we’re probably in the minority by safely capturing them and releasing them outside TLCB Towers, as most people tend to prefer smushing them. This one would be harder to smush though, and it’s even more useful than its arachnid counterpart. Over to the blurb from the brochure;

“The Yogamabara Mechanization M-400 Multi-Purpose Shell is a commonly used type of shell. It’s very fast and agile. It gives the host AI the ability to follow its client around any ground based environment and has a full range of standard tools, like laser cutter, hydro spanners and standard data sockets to name a few. Its animal-like form gives it personality and this has made Yogamabara one of the biggest manufacturers of Personal AI Shells.”

You can place your order for a new M-400 courtesy of Oscar Cederwall on Flickr. Or alternatively you get get a really big glass and a piece of paper, capture it and release it outside. You know it’s the right thing to do.

The mini-figures of Classic Space led a peaceful and research-based life, flying across the galaxy to explore new worlds with a permanent smile printed upon their little yellow faces.

But things have changed. M-Tron, Blacktron and even the nerds of Ice Planet have recently got a whole lot more fighty, leaving the Classic Spacemen vulnerable. Flickr’s Uspez has arrived to help however, equipping the smiling spacemen with a brand new ‘LL-221 Leap-Frog’ rover, complete with a detachable cockpit spaceship and what looks like one heck of a rail-gun. That’s sure to keep them smiling.

See more of Uspez’s new Classic Space weapon on Flickr via the link above.