Legos, anyone?

[Dangard Ace]

I like the new Lego NASA set.  Only $60 too.  
 https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRvXyFSgT0Z/?igsh=emc2OXcxM3dza253

[Dangard Ace]

Daa da da da da daaaa da!

[sh9000]

All Good Things Enterprise by Rod Reyes.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I kind of hate that I was considering ordering two of these after the holiday rush, specifically to have the spare parts to make that version.

Looks good though.  Maybe funny to say, but I think the up-greebling of that design actually helps the ship look better overall.  At least with the giant phaser cannon in place, the underside of the saucer is supposed to look blocky.  

Franchise-wise, I have to wonder if this one will have the same longevity that Star Wars has had.  It's taken them four or five iterations of a UCS X-Wing before they made some of the changes it needed from the first version, but I'm thinking it's unlikely we'll be seeing that many redesigns and re-releases of Trek ships over time.

Edited December 15, 2025 by Chronocidal

[Scyla]

Crazy Lego geometry:

[M'Kyuun]

15 minutes ago, Scyla said:

Crazy Lego geometry:

Nick Trotta and Blake Foster are two builders renowned for their savant-like abilities to achieve incredible and intricate angles seamlessly in their builds. Moreover, both have an incredible talent for design on its face, as well as intricate detail work. IMHO, they are two of the best MOC builders out there, and that's no small praise considering just how many really talented MOC builders there are. When it comes to Sci-fi designs, though, these guys stand out. I wish I had just an ounce of their talent.

Edited December 19, 2025 by M'Kyuun

[wm cheng]

Wow!  Just incredible, thanks @M'Kyuun never knew about these guys - simply amazing.  Thanks @Scyla  I wish these get made into real sets at some point!

[M'Kyuun]

7 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Wow!  Just incredible, thanks @M'Kyuun never knew about these guys - simply amazing.  Thanks @Scyla  I wish these get made into real sets at some point!

No worries. I try to shine a light on these builders when they pop up, as they and their work deserve recognition, appreciation, and a wider audience beyond just the LEGO nerds. A couple others you may like are Bob DeQuatre, Big Planes, and the late incomparable Nate Nielson, AKA nnenn, whose brilliant and prolific spacecraft, especially the Vic Viper from Gradius, created a movement that continues to this day. 

Nnenn wasn't always celebrated in the LEGO community, as he was an artist first, and LEGO happened to be a handy medium. He had no qualms about taking sandpaper to parts to smooth out straight edges, painting parts, or otherwise modding them to his liking. The LEGO purists weren't down with this molestation of the Sacred Brick when the community first became aware of him. He didn't really care- he built for himself and his two small sons. Ultimately, however, a number of more prominent builders began to celebrate and even mimic his style, and AFAIK, a couple reached out to him personally. I only found out shortly after his death in an auto accident that he lived rather close to me and I wish I'd met him. Perhaps I passed him at Toys R Us at some point. I'll never know. There's a fitting tribute to Nate on the Brothers Brick and his Flickr page remains open for all to enjoy thanks to LEGO community members. Few builders that I'm aware of have had the impact that Nate has had within the community, and there are still Vic Viper contests happening to this day due to his influence. He wasn't looking to become a legend, but he became one nonetheless, deservedly so. RIP nnenn

Edited December 20, 2025 by M'Kyuun

[Test_Pilot_2]

21 hours ago, Scyla said:

Crazy Lego geometry:

Spectacular

[Scyla]

21 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Nick Trotta and Blake Foster are two builders renowned for their savant-like abilities to achieve incredible and intricate angles seamlessly in their builds. Moreover, both have an incredible talent for design on its face, as well as intricate detail work. IMHO, they are two of the best MOC builders out there, and that's no small praise considering just how many really talented MOC builders there are. When it comes to Sci-fi designs, though, these guys stand out. I wish I had just an ounce of their talent.

Don’t be too harsh to yourself. You have an amazing talent for Lego MOCs. 
 

@wm cheng if you like this MOC you probably also like the R-Type one as well:

 

[M'Kyuun]

14 minutes ago, Scyla said:

Don’t be too harsh to yourself. You have an amazing talent for Lego MOCs. 
 

@wm cheng if you like this MOC you probably also like the R-Type one as well:

 

I appreciate the compliment, but these guys are so far beyond my meager talent. 

Trotta's stuff just boggles my mind. He designs and builds on a whole other level that few others I've seen can match. It's art.

[sh9000]

By len_d69.

https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/3ee262be-9e4c-4d4e-91e4-620fe278067e

[M'Kyuun]

3 hours ago, sh9000 said:

By len_d69.

https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/3ee262be-9e4c-4d4e-91e4-620fe278067e

I love Lendy's designs. His chibi Vf-1s are cool, too. Supported this and hope it reaches 10K in record time and then gets chosen. This, I believe, will be the third VF-1 submission to Ideas (I believe Lendy had one before this a few years back), so it's time it got the greenlight. FYI, Lendy also submitted the Voltron model that got made into a set.

[sh9000]

My Speed Champions Time Machine has shipped.

[wm cheng]

25 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

My Speed Champions Time Machine has shipped.

On the lego site it says coming soon Jan 1st?

[sh9000]

19 hours ago, wm cheng said:

On the lego site it says coming soon Jan 1st?

I preordered from Target and it arrived yesterday.

[M'Kyuun]

18 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

I preordered from Target and it arrived yesterday.

I thought I'd POed it when I POed the upcoming BvS and The Batman Batmobiles, but after checking my order status, nope. Ah well, my sister gifted me a LEGO gift card for Christmas, so the spousal unit and I are headed to the LEGO Store on Thursday to scope out the new sets.  I'll likely pick up the Delorean along with a couple other new Speed Champion sets. I may have to pick up one or two of the new City Great Vehicles as well. A former Speed Champions lead now leads the City line, and his goal is to impart more functionality into the City line while still maintaining or improving the aesthetics of the sets. I was wondering, especially given the working engine pistons in this year's bulldozer set. That was a surprise and certainly beyond the level of functional detail I've seen in a City set, so I'm quite pleased with this direction. My hope is that eventually they'll start integrating retractable landing gear into their aircraft sets, a bit of RW functionality that has too-long been omitted.

[danth]

8 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

A former Speed Champions lead now leads the City line, and his goal is to impart more functionality into the City line while still maintaining or improving the aesthetics of the sets.

The 2026 City lineup seems really strong to me, and for the first time, all but the very largest sets have only prints. I like to think it's due to his PTSD from leading Sticker Champions.

The Jet vs Car set looks surprisingly good, in terms of subject matter, value, and lack of stickers. 

Edited December 30, 2025 by danth

[M'Kyuun]

43 minutes ago, danth said:

The 2026 City lineup seems really strong to me, and for the first time, all but the very largest sets have only prints. I like to think it's due to his PTSD from leading Sticker Champions.

The Jet vs Car set looks surprisingly good, in terms of subject matter, value, and lack of stickers. 

Honestly, I thought this was one of the weaker sets, the jet more than the car. While I like the passenger jets, which benefit greatly from the large specially molded cockpit and fuselage parts, anytime they do a fighter-style jet, they all still look like 80s-90s designs to me. There just hasn't been much evolution in design, which is unfortunate. 

I understand and support LEGO's non-RW military vehicle stance; however, it sure would be cool if they didn't have that stance and they did a line of fighters with Speed Champions level of design. OR, do a fictional line of more sci-fi-ish fighters inspired by RW designs. My Macross fixation is speaking- I vehemently wish they'd do a Macross line. I'd LOVE to be a part of that design team if it ever came to fruition. For now, I'm happy to support Lendy Tayag's VF-1 on Ideas. I hope it gets the go-ahead for production, as I'm in for multiple copies.

[danth]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Honestly, I thought this was one of the weaker sets, the jet more than the car...anytime they do a fighter-style jet, they all still look like 80s-90s designs to me.

You're not wrong. The jet design is kinda whatever. I just like that you get a whole ass jet and a cool car in one set at $30. I like the jet's colors and prints, and the windscreen. I'm not sure about the angular nose, and the wings are literally just wedge plates. 

What do you think of Mike Psiaki's Blue Power Jet?  

[Chronocidal]

Honestly, moving to the wedge nose is a huge upgrade over trying to blend in actual cones.  I've hated how those transitions work since I was about 6 years old, and always worked to make better-shapes out of slopes and wedges.

I do think that Blue Power jet set was one of the best they managed though.  I love when they break out of the standard wedge plate angles by stacking them to combine into new angles, and especially when they make the extra effort for retractable gear.  The fact that the thing is basically an aerobatic F-35 is more hilarious than anything though.  

Edited December 30, 2025 by Chronocidal

[M'Kyuun]

On 12/30/2025 at 10:51 AM, danth said:

You're not wrong. The jet design is kinda whatever. I just like that you get a whole ass jet and a cool car in one set at $30. I like the jet's colors and prints, and the windscreen. I'm not sure about the angular nose, and the wings are literally just wedge plates. 

What do you think of Mike Psiaki's Blue Power Jet?  

Considering the immense strides taken within the Speed Champions line, and the subtle bleed over to City cars and trucks over the past few years (very likely due to former SC designer Chris Stamp, now a design lead for City), it's unfortunate that some of those innovative techniques haven't been applied here. I realize this is targeted at a younger age bracket than SC, but would it hurt anything to dress up a fictional fighter/aerobatics jet to impart a slight air of refinement? For me, since I was a wee lad, I've always prized folding landing gear in a toy, especially since the occurrence was, and still seems to be, a rarity.

Regarding the Blue Power Jet, let me preface by saying I was following Mike Psiaki's creations long before he got hired by LEGO, and knowing the quality of his work, I was very much looking forward to what he'd bring to the table. He certainly hasn't disappointed, and while the Blue Power Jet remains on permanent display in my collection, and while I'm a fan of his Expert Creator cars, his impressive upgrade to the Galaxy Explorer remains the crown jewel, IMHO, of his catalog and I'm exceedingly grateful that he, of all the talented designers, was the one to tackle that design. I honestly don't think it would have been as great as it was under any other hand. Look no further than the lackluster followup, The Blacktron Renegade, which felt like a disappointment after the stunning and innovative Galaxy Explorer.

23 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Honestly, moving to the wedge nose is a huge upgrade over trying to blend in actual cones.  I've hated how those transitions work since I was about 6 years old, and always worked to make better-shapes out of slopes and wedges.

I do think that Blue Power jet set was one of the best they managed though.  I love when they break out of the standard wedge plate angles by stacking them to combine into new angles, and especially when they make the extra effort for retractable gear.  The fact that the thing is basically an aerobatic F-35 is more hilarious than anything though.  

You probably wouldn't like my VF-4 or one of my current projects, as I used cones to create the noses on both. In certain circumstances, I think they perform the job adequately. Not perfectly, but they get the job done and look closer to RW jet radomes than wedges, IMHO. 

The fact that The Blue Power Jet was nigh unambiguously an F-35 in airshow colors and got released, yet the Technic V-22 in rescue livery was canxed citing LEGO's "no current military" stance is laughable on its face. I was sooo looking forward to building that V-22, one of my favorite aircraft. Ironic, then, that about a decade ago they released a very V-22 inspired heli-plane set in their City Cargo subtheme. How does that work?🤨

[danth]

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Regarding the Blue Power Jet, let me preface by saying I was following Mike Psiaki's creations long before he got hired by LEGO, and knowing the quality of his work, I was very much looking forward to what he'd bring to the table. He certainly hasn't disappointed, and while the Blue Power Jet remains on permanent display in my collection

Nice! He wasn't even on my radar until the Galaxy Explorer. 

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

and while I'm a fan of his Expert Creator cars, his impressive upgrade to the Galaxy Explorer remains the crown jewel, IMHO, of his catalog and I'm exceedingly grateful that he, of all the talented designers, was the one to tackle that design. I honestly don't think it would have been as great as it was under any other hand. Look no further than the lackluster followup, The Blacktron Renegade, which felt like a disappointment after the stunning and innovative Galaxy Explorer.

Full agreement!

[sketchley]

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

The fact that The Blue Power Jet was nigh unambiguously an F-35 in airshow colors and got released, yet the Technic V-22 in rescue livery was canxed citing LEGO's "no current military" stance is laughable on its face. I was sooo looking forward to building that V-22, one of my favorite aircraft. Ironic, then, that about a decade ago they released a very V-22 inspired heli-plane set in their City Cargo subtheme. How does that work?🤨

Wasn't the "no current military" stance the smoke screen for faulty technic gears in that V-22?

[rsvictor1976]

The first thing I'm doing tomorrow is going to the LEGO store and hopefully pick up that mini AT-AT and Speed Champions Back to the Future DeLorean set.

Edited January 1 by rsvictor1976

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, sketchley said:

Wasn't the "no current military" stance the smoke screen for faulty technic gears in that V-22?

Yeah, that was the pretense behind which LEGO shielded themselves from a potential serious endemic issue with gear failures. Instead of canceling the set outright, I wish they'd admitted the issue, put the set on hiatus to fix the issue, and released it. A bunch of lucky reviewers and LEGO ambassadors got the set for free. It quickly became sought after and the prices exorbitant.

[M'Kyuun]

My 2026 haul thus far. I picked these up at my local LEGO Store yesterday. I built the Delorean first, and like most Speed Champions sets, it was full of interesting techniques and some new parts, including this new much-needed bracket in black. 

It was a fun build and yields a respectable model of the Delorean. It comes with a generous number of printed pieces, and the sticker sheet was downright modest by the usual standards for these sets. Best of all, unlike most SC sets, this one comes with two minifigs (Doc and Marty, complete with his orange bubble vest piece) and the ability to change the Delorean's configuration between the first film and the second with a few parts swaps, all for the standard $28. If this is the benchmark for licensed sets based on media properties going forward, I'm here for it. I have my wishlist of sets I hope they do, starting with KITT and the Mach 5. I have yet to build the Ferrari and Bugatti, but both look like the usual adventurous builds we've come to expect from the line. Moving on to the new City sets, I have a soft spot for farm and construction vehicles, and this new tractor does not disappoint- well, almost. The build is solid and looks great with the new smaller front tractor tires, giving the whole a nice congruency. The tractor has one of these hinge joints   in black both front and rear for ball-joint connections as well as one of these hinge plates   mounted just above. There's a sense that perhaps there was going to be some sort of attachment that was left out to keep the price at $20. However, there's a sense of purpose missing from the set due to that omission. The tractor looks beautiful, but it has no utility and I hope that's remedied by the spring or summer sets in the form of some more farm sets.

I find it ironic then, as utility in the form of working features is one of the hallmarks of Designer Chris Stamp's direction for City. However, it's evident with the new Recycling Truck, which packs a number of working features into the model. The front forks can engage one of two recycling bins (one for paper products and one for plastic) and raise it up and over to dump into the truck's receptacle. The little dumpsters' lids are on frictionless hinges and open nicely with gravity. The functionality is ok- there's not really enough of a funneling effect to capture all the debris and some tends to fall overboard no matter how slowly or meticulously you attempt to dump the stuff into the truck. A for effort, though. There's a moveable baffle in the truck's receptacle that allows you to choose between paper or plastic depending on which you're dumping, and conveniently, the dumpsters' lids are printed with appropriate logos, as are the two sections of the receptacle. Once you've collected all the debris, the entire receptacle can raise and where you generally only have a single large door at the back that opens to allow all the trash to spill out, there are two doors, each corresponding to the two different types of recyclable materials. This in turn, allows you, if you wish, to dump the materials back into their corresponding dumpsters without mixing. It's a cool feature and it adds an extra element of playability to the usual garbage truck play pattern. One thing that needs mentioning- there are no stickers- any part requiring a marking is printed which makes the build process nice and smooth without interruption. I hope this is the new trend. Just from this small selection of sets, I feel like we're off to a good start for 2026 LEGO. Happy building!

Edited Saturday at 04:06 AM by M'Kyuun

[wm cheng]

Nice!  I just ran out to pick up the Delorean myself!  It was getting sold out at a few local Lego stores and completely backordered online, so I was lucky to find it at a physical store.  The figures are better than the big Delorean!

[M'Kyuun]

7 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Nice!  I just ran out to pick up the Delorean myself!  It was getting sold out at a few local Lego stores and completely backordered online, so I was lucky to find it at a physical store.  The figures are better than the big Delorean!

I'm so happy you were successful in scoring the Delorean. For my part, I was expecting a queue out the door, and indeed the place was packed nigh to capacity when we arrived (about an hour after they opened), but we essentially got right in. I was expecting their stock of the Delorean to be depleted, but they had a number of copies on-hand and a I happily snatched one. Ours is a pretty small store ( the Pick A Brick wall is only about five bins across) and the only one on the eastern side of WA. I think Boise is the next closest on this side. I wish it was a little bigger considering it services this side of WA, our Canadian neighbors, as well as NW Idaho, and Montana but beggars can't be choosers. After living in WA for over twenty years and hoping fervently for a LEGO Store in town or nearby, I'm just glad we finally got our own.

 

[sh9000]

I'll build my Speed Champions Time Machine today.

I really hope KITT will get a release.  Never forget.  What a missed opportunity.

https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/fed813cb-b261-41fd-8dbf-3233a87bca30

[wm cheng]

Oh nice!  I'm loving this little build (my first Speed Champions) it's so amazingly designed. 

Now that I see the Knight Rider truck, we need the Doc Enterprises white truck to go with the Delorean!

There needs to be the white Lotus Esprit from the Spy Who Loved Me that parts swap to the sub!!!

 

[M'Kyuun]

On 1/3/2026 at 12:20 PM, sh9000 said:

I'll build my Speed Champions Time Machine today.

I really hope KITT will get a release.  Never forget.  What a missed opportunity.

https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/fed813cb-b261-41fd-8dbf-3233a87bca30

Such a huge missed opportunity! Definitely would've nabbed a copy.

14 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Oh nice!  I'm loving this little build (my first Speed Champions) it's so amazingly designed. 

Now that I see the Knight Rider truck, we need the Doc Enterprises white truck to go with the Delorean!

There needs to be the white Lotus Esprit from the Spy Who Loved Me that parts swap to the sub!!!

 

Welcome to the Speed Champions rabbit hole! These sets are brilliantly executed in small affordable packages. IMHO, they offer some of the best building experiences for the size and price. I'm not a car guy, but there's certainly an allure to all these supercars, and while they don't always achieve a perfect capture, given the limitations of the medium, the designers acquit themselves quite admirably. As to Bond cars, they've already done the classic Aston Martin DB5, so hopefully that opens the door for more.

Edited Sunday at 09:29 PM by M'Kyuun

[Bolt]

Not sue if this has been seen yet..

wasn't able to post the link so here's a photo of the article..

 

[Chronocidal]

I really have to ask whether some people are actually aware of Lego history at all.

 

[Bolt]

Yes. It's not the same.