On this blog, we strive to show you the best creations from the LEGO Star Wars universe. And scrolling down, we hope you see loads of great MOCs. However, you might notice something’s missing. Looking at Concore‘s amazing work made me realize this. You see, we’ve featured so many MOCs, but we haven’t touched a lot on the subject of custom Star Wars minifigures. You might think there’s not so much creativity involved in that, as most characters have already been done and a single minifig can’t possibly be as much work as an entire creation. Or it could be your opinion that the results are often quite weak compared to the grandiose, detailed and realistic MOCs. But once you’ve seen Concore’s work, you know that can’t be true. We’ve featured some of his decals long ago, but recently he has started to create completely new, highly detailed and absolutely gorgeous minifigs, from Doctor Who over Tintin to our beloved franchise. Above, you can see his recent and possibly best creation. It is indeed a Star Wars figure, since it’s a representation of the original concept art Ralph McQuarrie did for Han Solo. It’s hard for us to think about what the famous smuggler could have been, except for what he is, but here we have plenty of fuel for our imagination. It’s an incredible figure, with personality through all of the details and the pose. It’s as expressive as a minifigure can get, and it doesn’t need an elaborate setting to tell a story. With this kind of incredible creations, Concore is filling up the gaps in the minifigure population we never know we missed. So go on a blind date on his Flickr, and meet all of those characters you never saw, but now can’t look away from.

Minions! You either love or hate them, and although they’ve managed to show up more or less anywhere, I wager you hadn’t expected seeing them here. You have car_mp to thank. He has been turning all sorts of characters into LEGO minions over the last couple of months. Recently, he has been decorating our favorite characters with a single, googly eye and a cylindrical body. Sounds absurd, but the result is rather pleasant. In the picture above, we’re still seeing the spirit of Yoda, and not some grotesque piece of merchandise. For a minion, he still has that mysterious demeanor and sense of wisdom over him. Impossible? Well, it is a day of surprises! And if this wonderful piece hasn’t turned you to the yellow side, have a look at other creations forging Star Wars, Minions and superb small scale building into cute miracles you have to like, like the Minion in carbonite below. So check out car_mp’s photostream for more, or mourn over the fact Disney hasn’t acquired the rights over the Minions yet, ruling out possible guest appearances in future movies. Oh well…

It won’t be long before the San Diego Comic Cons opens the doors, to let thousands of fans in to indulge theirselves in panels, stands, costumes about their favorite obsessions. As usual, LEGO will be offering an exclusive set for sale at their booth for $39.99. With 177 pieces, the set is a nice micro representation of everything there’s to see on Dagobah, although a Dragonsnake doesn’t seem to be included. The micro X-wing is identical to the 2011 advent calendar one, and Artoo doesn’t seem to be different from the one from Anakin’s starfighter. All in all, it’s a pretty sweet set, and a perfect fit with the micro Tatooine build from Star Wars Celebration. I wonder, if the exclusive builds introduced the microfighters line, we’ll ever see similar sets in stores… For now, discuss it in the Pictures and Rumors topic.

“Welcome, young Skywalker,” the Evil One smiled graciously. ”I have been expecting you.”

Following the release of the new ‘Death Star Final Duel’ set (75093) I’ve seen several great re-creations of this classic scene, and I thought it was about time to blog one of them.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, Luke finally meets the Evil Emperor, and without any provocation his Dad throws the defenceless Emperor into a bottom-less chasm, which I always felt was a little unfair!

Anyway, I was looking around flickr today and found this image by the highly talented Nilsøn Lewiński, and he’s managed to create another masterpiece.  Somehow, Nilsøn has managed to capture both the look and ‘feel’ of the scene perfectly and I cannot fault it.  The lighting is excellent, and he’s even managed to add just the right amount of shadow the Emperor’s face to make him suitably menacing!  Head over to flickr and take a look at this stunning piece of LEGO artwork, and while you’re there browse through the rest of Nilsøn’s photostream, you won’t be disappointed.

StarWarsKev must have quite a fascination for his UCS Imperial shuttle. Almost a year ago, he built an excellent piece of scenery for it. It was big, rich and detailed. Well, it was, because now he treats us on an amazing battle of Endor. There have been a couple of incredible creations depicting the epic battle, so you might think it has become hard to wow us. And yet, that’s exactly what his creation does. What makes his creation unique, is the presence of quite a few iconic locations, like the landing platform, the bunker, and the shield generator. Especially that last one hasn’t been rendered a lot in its full glory. And this version is immediately the definitive one, with the perfect intricate shape and tasty textures, and complete with bat shelter. The bunker is much smaller, but as notable, because of its incredible trapezoidal shape. Furthermore, it sits perfectly in three dimensions. In general, I love the slight height differences in the landscape, where most creations are very flat. Complemented by that ubiquitous vegetation, not perfectly straight trees and differently colored patches, the scene feels all the more natural, and the artificial elements feel more like a strain on the landscape. It tells the perfect story. So admire it in the Flickr album, and don’t forget to check out the WIP thread to discover all the little secrets to making more than your average mind-boggling diorama.

There are a handful of LEGO builders that have an almost magical ability to create MOCs, and you just know that when they release something new it’s bound to be worth a look.  Anio is one of those talented few, and in the last few years he‘s built a reputation for excellence amongst the SW community, which leads me neatly onto his latest creation.

I’ll admit that the Sith Infiltrator isn’t anywhere near my favourite ship, and won’t ever be in the same league as the Falcon, Star Destroyer, Nebulon B or Slave 1, but it does have a certain appeal and Anio has clearly tried his best to replicate it at a UCS-scale.  His MOC is very close the original shape, and Anio’s made the best of the limited details available to add interest to it.  In particular, the dark red slopes used for the front screen and exposed greebling along the hull look great, and help to set it apart from other versions that I’ve seen.  Head over to the Star Wars forum and take a closer look.

I was chatting to EB’s Sci-Fi Moderator Bob De Quatre a few months ago and he mentioned that he was working on a Star Wars project, and asked if I would be interested in helping him with it.  So after a lot of emails, several LDD files and couple of suggestions from me, Bob’s latest MOC is finished and I hope you’ll agree that it’s well worth the countless hours that he’s dedicated to it.

I’ve tinkered with LDD and, to be honest, it has driven me to distraction on more than one occasion so I’m constantly in awe of those who have mastered the complexities of it.  Perhaps I’m too old for such things!   Anyway, it’s been great to see the transition from LDD into real elements, and it looks even better than I’d imagined.

I know that Bob struggled with the cockpit, and tried several designs before finally settling on this.  The curves of it are very difficult to replicate with LEGO, and whilst Bob’s design isn’t perfect, I feel that it’s a significant improvement on the short-lived 10227.  The rest of the MOC is stunning, with every surface using ‘SNOT’ techniques to give it a beautiful smoothness, and it’s crammed with every imaginable detail.  Head over to the Star Wars forum and take a look the other photos of Bob’s very own B-Wing!

INTERVIEW: Bob De Quatre

Today we’re interviewing Bob De Quatre, our very own Sci-Fi Moderator and a talented builder from France.

EBSWF: So, Bob, how did you get into the LEGO hobby? What is it that attracts you in Space and Star Wars in particular?

I guess I get into Lego hobby like most of us here, by being a child playing with Lego… My collection back then was already mostly space themed, with Blacktron and M-tron sets. I’m also a 7th art lover, again mostly Sci-Fi. I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was a kid. I was 9 or 10 when I first saw RotJ on my uncle’s TV, he watching the movie while I was playing with… Legos. I have a photographic memory,  and some scenes like the Sarlac pit were carved in my mind. I guess that not long after that I started watching the movies and dived deep in a galaxy far, far away….

EBSWF: In a couple of years, you went from regular member to Sci-Fi moderator. How did you get involved in the AFOL community in the first place?

My first contact with Star Trek the AFOL community was in 2012. As an adult I’ve seen the UCS Star Destroyer, and I always wanted one, but I was still in dark age. In early 2012 I finally decided to build one, but I found pictures of an Executor and decided to go for it. I looked for pictures, instructions, and that’s when I discovered Eurobricks. I joined after a few months of lurking…

EBSWF: What are the up- and downsides of being a moderator, apart from being stuck in the wrong forum of course?

I was surprised when Bonaparte asked me to become a regulator here. I wasn’t sure to have what it takes (and I’m still not sure). There are lots of downsides being a moderator. Like I’ll never have the chance to win a contest . Joke aside, being a moderator takes time and isn’t as easy as some might think. There are some difficult situations, for exemple when members don’t follow the rules and then don’t understand when you tell them kindly… then you have to them in a less kindly way, and that’s a part of the job I don’t like. I don’t think Sci-Fi is “the wrong forum”, there are lots of interesting and various themes in Sci-Fi. Making an original MOC really feels starwarish isn’t that simple.

EBSWF: Being involved in SoNE from the very beginning, and now running AG (Andromeda’s Gates) on the Sci-Fi forum, what do you like so much about setting up these community projects?

I think I simply like community projects. When I look at all those MOCs done for SoNE, and AG now, I can’t help but think that most of them wouldn’t have been built if we didn’t started those building games. We’ve seen players progressing, acquiring techniques and building better. I don’t build much, but I’m happy to bring opportunities for EB members to build more and participate in something here on EB.

EBSWF: Apart from being a very active community member, you’re also an extremely talented creator of both Star Wars and other ships, often with crazy techniques. How do you go about this? What’s your big secret?

You’ll make me blush … Well My big secret is… Oh wait, someone rings at the door.

EBSWF: Space pirates, space ninjas… not only are your creations amazing, the mere concepts are flabbergasting. Where do you keep getting the inspiration for these crazy mashups?

My inspiration is: Why not? If it’s possible, and if it’s fun, just let’s do it. I don’t think there is a recipe for having inspiration. It just comes, or not…

EBSWF: Your first creations were mostly digital, but later you moved to physical bricks. How did this transition go and what are the main differences?

Well in fact all my big projects are all made in LDD first, with the exception of my latest entry for AG (the Cockroach). Now I use LDD to test things, to assemble bricks when I got an idea, that allows me to get back at them later when needed. So I haven’t been through a complete transition, I just have more bricks and so tend to build more with bricks.

EBSWF: Are you currently working on any projects, or do you have a creation you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time?

I just finished a project (B-wing MOD) and have nothing to work on at the moment. I guess I’ll always dream to build more iconic Star Wars ships, we’ll see if some of those dreams come true one day.

EBSWF: What do people who aren’t LEGO fans think of your hobby?

They tend to understand, now that I have builds to show. I’m not into minifigures, I build spaceships, so people understand when I explain that for me Lego bricks are a medium to express my creativity. I could paint, I could carve rocks, but no, I sculpt with Lego bricks. And that people understand.

EBSWF: How has the LEGO hobby changed or impacted your life? Do you have any practical uses for LEGO?

First the Lego hobby is costly, so it had a direct impact on my life. I’ve bought an appartment 2 years ago, and one of my two chambers have turned to a Lego room.To make AG runs smoothly I almost don’t work anymore on Monday, well I go to work, but I spend the whole day on EB… Honestly, I think I spend too much time on that hobby…

EBSWF: Other than LEGO, do you have any other hobbies?

I try to do sport, it’s important. I’m also a volunteer at my local movie theater, so I spent lots of time there to receive the public and to watch movies (thanks for the episode VII spoilers by the way…).

Have you ever heard of the Ateryn Dawn?  No, well apparently it could do the Kessel run very quickly, or so I’ve been told!  This is the first MOC that Eurobricks member, The Librarian, has made for a long time and it’s the personal starship of Jedi Shadown Rhaga Venn.  At 87cm long it’s a sizeable model, and he’s taken inspiration from the Blockade Runner and Republic Cruiser and blended these together to create a very elegant design.  When I first saw it, I was reminded of some of Bob De Quatre’s MOCs; meticulously constructed, distinctive and crammed with great details.  It’s one of those models which looks impressive from virtually every angle, but I particularly like the oversized engines which give a indication of its potential speed, plus the subtle aging of the hull which help to break up the expanse of greys.  Personally I think that the top cannons are a little too long, but otherwise I can’t fault it.  Head over to the Star Wars forum and take a look.

You’ve waited long enough, but finally it’s here: the next episode of the Shadows of Nar Eurbrikka! In this ninth episode, it proves nearly impossible to bring the Black Sun crime syndicate down, and the factions decide to try for an alliance instead. This means their agents have to fully cooperate with the organization in order to get more information and to earn some favors. But is the smuggling, spying and downright killing worth it?

So if you like building something different in the Star Wars universe, if you like telling stories or if you crave for a warm community, join right in! As an extra motivation, in this episode we have some prizes to give away. RoyalBrickCustoms has kindly offered to design and provide some unique SoNE-themed cloth minifig accessories! More details on that later. The episode is open until September 19th, and new players can join at any time. For more information about the episode, go to this topic. And if you’d like to know more about our building role playing game and would like to register, here‘s the recruitment office.

As most of you are probably aware I’m an OT fan, so when I saw the second teaser for The Force Awakens for the first time I was immediately taken by the crashed Star Destroyer that appears in one of the opening scenes.  It was quite odd to see the wrecked hull of it partially buried in a featureless expanse of a desert, but it looked just right and that leads me neatly onto this latest MOC by KevFett2011.

Measuring 75cm x 75cm, it’s taken him four months to build and in my opinion it’s KevFett2011’s best creation to date.  The Star Destroyer is impressive in itself; it’s obviously substantial and includes a mass of surface detailing and he’s used a clever mixture of dark-bluish grey and reddish-brown elements to replicate the damage caused by the harsh environmental conditions.  The surrounding sand dunes are superbly re-created and add a great final touch to it.  Head over to the Star Wars forum and take a better look at this stunning MOC.

It’s that time of the year again! On the German forum Imperium der Steine, the MOC Olympics have started once more with what looks like the most amazing edition yet. I know… it has been going on for a couple of weeks already. Sadly, things got in the way of blogging. Therefore, in the next couple of days you’ll see quite a few somewhat older builds as I try to work away the backlog. I’m pretty sure that won’t make you appreciate them less though;

The MOC Olympics revolves around a bracket system. In each round, two builders face each other with builds revolving around some unique theme. This can be anything from recreating a famous scene to building an Architecture-style Star Wars set. Legopard was challenged to incorporate Star Wars into a completely new theme. In response, he built something quite new: actual, ancient Star Wars Olympics. When watching Ben Hur lately, it already struck me how much the pod race resembled the iconic chariot racing scene. Here we see a similar scene. I love how perfectly the two concepts have been blended. The chariots themselves actually succeed in not looking like fancy technology, but rather like overly dressed wagons, adding to the ‘authentic’ feel. I love how Vader’s one is so tank-like, while Luke’s one is light and agile: perfect translations of the concepts. Furthermore, the building is simple but great, elegant and detailed where needed, with a subtle roof and nice steps. And the natural, interesting terrain and the lonely tree give it an amazing atmosphere. You can almost see past the deficiencies of the bricks and see the horses running not quite at light speed but almost, and the dust sweeping up high, and spears perfectly taking over the job of laserblasts. I just don’t want to think about what the proton torpedo’s would look like… But you’re free to let your imagination go wild: park your chariot here for inspiration.

Vauban also had to put his imagination to work when he received his theme: Steampunk. We saw many great Steampunk builds last year with FBTB’s MOC Madness, so it must have been quite a challenge to come up with something new and wonderful. But Vauban delivered. He cleverly recreated the opening scene from A New Hope. The Tantive IV is nice and cute in it’s own right, with exactly the right parts to give it texture and a Steampunk vibe. The Imperial Cloud Destroyer really is the pride of the Armada, with the strong design, proud smokestacks, powerful engines. And that smoothly curved hull is just so delicious… The greebles on the side are a nice touch as well, appropriate as they are here. To make it all even better, the builder set it all on a beautiful display, with yet another impressive desert landscape and some amazing micro modelling. And that’s not all… the sides are stuffed with all kinds of scenes from Episode IV, well, kind of. The creativity and nice building simply has no end! It’s a stunning piece. It would look perfectly in place in any Victorian room you might have in your house. But if you don’t have that luxury, don’t worry. You can gaze at the masterpiece right here.

It seems to be The LEGO Group’s favorite Star Wars vehicle, with it’s numerous incarnations. And still, apart from the UCS version, none of them truly captured the iconic look of the snowspeeder. LiLmeFromDaFuture‘s one you see above, succeeds where the official ones failed. It’s the result of three months reiterating to come to the perfect fighter. Working with LDD and together with the kind commentators here on the forum, it seems like he’s tried every single possibility to come to what could be described as the definite LEGO Snowspeeder. It’s quite amazing how a number of techniques have been used to create the perfect, clean shape. There’s the notable use of a combination of SNOTted slopes and studs-up plates for the perfect balance of smoothness and accuracy of shape. And you might not have noticed the fact that the cheese slopes delineating the air intakes and supporting the cannons have been offset half a plate to form a perfectly smooth whole. The new windscreen part also fits perfectly. The amount of detail is quite impressive: just look at those air intakes, the different sizes of cooling fins, the brakes in several places… It’s one of those models you can really see the dedication in. You’ll see no accidental gaps here, no compromises: it’s completely ready to take on the Empire all by itself! We can only hope LiLmeFromDaFuture will use his patience, openness and talent for more and bigger vehicles… the future looks promising indeed! Right now, check out the airspeeder in great detail here, or get more insight into how it grew over the past couple of months here.

Our member JackJonespaw has returned from his long trip to the mountains to bring us a very entertaining review of 75094 Imperial Shuttle Tydirium. It has many detailed pictures of this impressive set and lots of good humor throughout. This is his ninth RA review, so with this review he has graduated from the Eurobricks Reviewers Academy and has joined the ranks of the esteemed Academy teachers. You can read the review here, and if you want to learn how to make high-quality reviews like this, you can join the Reviewers Academy here.

Two weeks ago, the second round of IdS’s MOC Olympics reached its peak. One of the most exciting standoffs to witness, was that one between Eurobricks members Cecilie and markus1984. The mission they chose to accept, was to let a far Eastern wind blow through the Star Wars universe. What followed was a hurricane of creativity.

It’s widely known that Star Wars was inspired by among others the samurai movies by Akira Kurosawa. When you think about it, there are indeed various similarities between the two worlds. In her entry, Cecilie fantastically showed how well they blend together as well. She drew inspiration from Japanese mythology to populate her marvelously translated Geonosian Arena with genuine mythological creatures. The setting oddly stunning and serene for such a gruesome purpose. I think we’ve never featured a landscape with such natural, harmonious and peaceful landscape here. And that pagoda is perfectly in place. Still, the high walls remind you of the true purpose. They are severe, prisonlike, yet again, beautiful. Just look at those ingenious roofs! The scen wouldn’t be what it is though, without those awesome creatures. Each one perfectly corresponds to its Geonosian counterpart. Just look how the Nine Tailed fox look so agile, with that amazing set of tails swooping behind it. And I don’t want to see that Qilin storming towards me, no matter how beautiful. And that fast and menacing dragon… it would be worth a blog article on its own. But I’ll leave the discovery to you. Be sure to keep an eye out for familiar faces. The Far East is this way.

You might not have expected it, but there’s a wide range of possible Eastern creations. That’s demonstrated by how different markus1984‘s entry is. His source material was the martial arts video game Tekken. His entry is much darker but still captures the interesting contrast between peace, balance, harmony and brute power. The idyllic garden on top of the severe cliff looks like the perfect illustration of the idea. It’s mirrored by Luke-san’s peaceful demeanor in the face of a storming might. It might be connected to how the Force works, but this is a blog about LEGO, not philosophy. It’s just that markus1984 gives us such a powerful image, with the haunting, twisted trees, the perfect architecture overlooking the battle and the vast expanse of space water, and the court itself. He used some interesting techniques to set the stone of the court apart from the rocks, and to give the facade of the house an incredibly fine structure. His fancy techniques don’t feel forced however, they just are the perfect way to build what’s necessary. You can see the builder didn’t go overboard with details, but the ones that are present matter, and are utterly beautiful. The creation itself strikes the perfect balance it is trying to tell about. So two contrasting themes have been united flawlessly. To get in touch with your yin and yang, just click here (there’s no dodgy website behind that link, even though it might sound like it). With two such amazing creations, it hardly matters which one made it to the next round, as each of them is already a victory of building. But if your curious, it suffices to say you’ll certainly see more of Cecilie’s delicious creations here in the future. And markus1984’s jaw-dropping creations you’ll see as regularly as usual.

Njiaaaww! Bleep bleep! (exciting music!) Pew pew! Woosh! Bang! We all felt the excitement and intensity of the iconic trench run scene, watching the movie on the edge of our seat. It would seem impossible to replicate that feeling with a single, still image. But OliveSeon‘s diorama leaves us with a pounding heart and gasping for air. It’s quite possibly the most dynamic diorama I’ve ever seen. That might be due to the neat composition. The main action is set apart by how perfectly straight the models fly, indicating the speed and creating a dramatic intensity: you can almost see the motion blur. It’s interesting how what would otherwise be an extremely static setup drives the suspense. It works because there’s the contrast with the crashed fighter, that shows the consequences of the speeds involved. There’s also the chaotic battle in the back, that serves as the perfect setting for the scene, vastly expanding it, and shows once more the concentration of the main action. The explosions going on and the laserbolts whizzing by don’t distract, but help to break things up and sell the flurry of the battle. Once your heart has calmed down from all the action, you might take your time to have a closer look at the trench itself. It features quite a few different modules and shapes, contributing to the authentic Death Star look. The UCS TIE fighter, TIE advanced and X-wing prominently sit in the foreground, yet there’s more to them than meets the eye, as the TIE advanced received an interesting cockpit MOD and the X-wings pilot seat is occupied by a brick-built figure. And they aren’t the only official sets used. You can recognize the AT-AP’s legs among the greebles, and the AT-DP’s cockpit used as cannon is quite ingenious… I suggest we forget about Nice Parts Usage! and turn to Nice Set Usage! for once. So strap yourself in, make the jump through hyperlink space and dive into the action to find out everything about this exciting creation here.

It won’t be long before the episode VII sets will be officially revealed by LEGO. It’s already a certainty the successor of the X-wing will be one of the seven. Excited to see how it will look in bricks? We can’t show you set pictures, but we can show you two amazing MOCs that are the first incredible entries in the search to the definitive next X-wing creation. Or have we already found it? Judge for yourself after the jump.

StarWarsKev‘s entry is not just another entry in the MOC Olympics held by Imperium der Steine. Among all the big diorama’s, he built this rather small and simple scene. It doesn’t loose focus on all the small details. You immediately know what you’re looking at, and you instantly sense it’s beautiful. The water looks clean, and that whirling effect is just breathtaking: it might be the best water effect I’ve ever seen in bricks. The X-wing itself also uses some interesting techniques. I just can’t imagine what the inside of the fuselage would look like. At first, you might think it looks a bit haphazard, but in fact it perfectly replicates the true shape accurately, and it suggests some subtler detailing, like the different panels on the original. That’s a detail that’s often overlooked in creations that try to replicate every single aspect, because it’s barely noticeable and is hard to do with bricks. Yet, while forsaking other details, StarWarsKev managed to capture it, and ended up with an incredibly accurate and utterly gorgeous model. He teaches us to look beyond the obvious in a model to the essential. So go to his Flickr to check out his creation in greater… essence.

“So, another X-wing creation… great!” But don’t leave just yet! Just take your time to take Wookieewarrior‘s creation in. A silly joke readily brings us to the engine intakes, of course. Instead of going for a conventional diameter and compromising the proportions, the builder used flex tubing and some lever magic to get it just right. In fact, there are quite a few places where he didn’t took the obvious route, but went the extra mile to give us something special. Look at those beautifully rounded wingtips, for example, or the rounded bottom of the fuselage, even in between the engines. Notice how the model isn’t symmetrical, with asymmetrical stains, different details on the wings and differently colored exhausts. Enjoy the nice curves behind the cockpit, and marvel at the cockpit itself. Wookieewarrior’s care for a clean shape helps to set the detailed elements apart, drawing your eyes gently to the business end of the fighter, but not too gently, as our fighter has already seen a bit of history. It makes it look fast, effective, authentic… and incredible swooshable. You can find bigger pictures on Wookieewarrior’s Flickr. Just print it out, cut it out (take care with those cannons!), and swoosh away! It’s either that or tossing your screen around. We don’t take responsibility for any damage that might occur.

Everyone who loves Jar Jar Binks, raise your hand please. Apart from Jar Jar himself above, I think a lot of you kept your hands neatly on your computer mouse or your touchscreen. But do you hate him so badly you wish you had a voodoo doll to end it all and project your pain? Well, then umamen‘s latest creation is right up your alley. If you’re more peace-loving and appreciate a good brick-built character, you’re good too. With a surprisingly small pile of bricks, umamen built an extremely accurate and expressive character. He nailed how long and thin his limbs are, and somehow I like those hips. They perfectly balance the model, and have been built in multiple dimensions to get away from the flatness that hurts quite a few character builds. The way the limbs connect is incredible as well, with a lot of unconventional sideways joints that allow for the perfect posing of the character. A lot of the character comes from the genius face as well. It amazes me how a number of simple pieces perfectly sketches the look of everyone’s favorite gungan. Umamen went through several versions to achieve this, so I think you’d be amazed at the work that went into building such a small model. That’s what makes it one of the best character builds in its size category. It might be the most beautiful figure no-one will ever want to have on his desk. Still, the likeliness is good enough for voodoo-purposes, with the posability allowing for some very uncomfortable situations. So dust of your book full of dark magic and delve into umamen’s pictures to start your practices.

But before you give in to the dark side, continue for a peek at umamen’s insane 8-inch episode VII trooper figure.

In case you’re wondering whether you’ve heard the name of the builder before, umamen is the one who built the astonishing stormtrooper figure a few months ago. You’d think it couldn’t get any better, but in fact he has done it once again and built a stunning First Order trooper from The Force Awakens. Once again, great details, impressive posing and a cool-factor that goes through the roof. Still, it isn’t a simple rehash with a different (and once again downright genius) head. When you take a closer look, you’ll be surprised by the number of differences making this model a familiar but different masterpiece. The arms feature some more detail now, and the shape of the legs has been refined. The back is great as well. It all makes for a figure that looks ready to take on a whole new generation of Rebels. These figures are truly inspiring, and I can only hope a series of amazing creations is in the making. A series of which I’d like to won every single entry…

As a MOCcer, there are certain vehicles or locations you have a special connection to. You spent ages studying and recreating them, and know every detail. And when someone else tackles the same subject matter, you immediately spot small differences, with thoughts like “Hmm, he forgot that detail…”, “Wow, that must have been difficult!” or “Why didn’t I think of that?”. I have such a relationship with the AT-ST. Nearly a year ago, I recreated it digitally and was pretty pleased with it. Seeing anothergol‘s rendition lessened my satisfaction. Because it isn’t just a very detailed and faithful recreation of the original. He also managed to cram an interior in it. And this is not a digital creation, but a physical thing, and it stands. That while the model is fully articulated. The builder managed to achieve that with clicky joints and some special high-friction ball-cup connectors. He seamlessly integrated them into the model, even presenting the parts so, that they contribute to the detail of the model. Yes, with every inch of the model is covered in sweet detail, you wonder how there’s even room for structural elements. So this model is not a compromise between detail and functionality, it perfectly caters for both of them. So we have nice panels, great leg detail, sweet cells in the back, a handsome roof, lovely feet, even decorated joints, all combined and held together to form the ideal AT-ST replica. You can already imagine the amount of work and engineering that went into it. In fact, you don’t need to imagine it, because anothergol provided us with an insightful WIP topic. Take your notebooks and start reading, or jump directly to the finished product, to discover all the parts you never thought of. Try not to loose your balance.

One of the most prestigious competitions in the AFOL world is the Iron Builder. In each round, two builders face off to create as many awesome creations as possible in a month’s time, all using a particular seed part. In this round, Pepa Quin and One More Brick fight not with guns or swords, but the metallic silver barbell piece. And it so happens they both built a Star Wars creation. One More Brick built an extraordinary micro representation of the Coruscant Senate District. What’s impressive, is that he dealt with the cityscape as if he were building vegetation. You have the most notable features, all of the different trees, all of the unique and diverse skyscrapers. There’s the main focal point, a lonely shed, the Senate building. There’s texturing, the undergrowth, the smaller buildings. And there’s the guidance, the path leading to the shed, the air lane leading to the Senate building. So in every detail and even in composition, One More Brick built a perfectly natural landscape, but only with buildings. That incredible idea makes the scene so appealing and agreeable to look at, and makes it so much more than a random collection of helmets, weapons and seed parts. Yes, that idea and the perfect execution of it makes it hard to see where the build ends and the background starts. You see why One More Brick got invited to participate, if he can come up with this in so little time. So when you’re done drooling over the pictures of this build, be sure to check out what other natural uses he found for the seed part.

What’s more natural than the ageing of all things? This is what Pepa Quin‘s Star Wars: A New Hip illustrates. He depicted our two heroes Han Solo and Leia Organa a little bit after their glory days. But still, it’s quite a glorious bit of character building. The heroes are perfectly recognizable, still have the character we know, and look exactly as we would imagine them so many years later. I love how our dynamic duo try to look as best as they can despite there weaknesses. Han with his blaster up high, but heavily leaning on his walking stick. Leia with that sneaky pose, clinging to her perfectly built walking rack. Or are they just deceiving you and are they ready to hit anything that looks remotely Imperial (their sight didn’t improve, you know) with their ‘equipment’. The surprisingly elaborate way in which their arms are articulated already suggests they’re still capable of quite a lot. With already 10 destroyed Death Stars behind them, I’m sure they can handle another one! It’s always nice when a creation encourages you to let your imagination go wild. All it took Pepa Quin to achieve this, were a couple of basic bricks, some specialized parts to create the perfect accessories and the seed part to complete the princess’ silver hairdo. So if you’re sight isn’t too good either, just click here for a bigger picture, and see what more builds Pepa Quin has ready to spark your imagination.