SHIPtember 2021: When the Dust Settles

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Okay, spaceship fans! It’s October, so we all know what that means: Eleven more months ‘till the next SHIPtember. But while we anxiously wait, let’s check out a few highlights from last month that I’ve picked out for your viewing pleasure. For reference, these ships were selected from the Armada thread in the SHIPtember group on Flickr.

Let’s start with Ryan Olsen’s USS Halsey. Not only is this a cool ship, from the panel-on-frame school of design, but Ryan came up with a compelling backstory about a near-future United States Space Navy. If you look closely, there’s even a little American flag tile just aft of the starboard rail gun. What I really like about this is that it reminds me of my build from last year, the General George J. Stannard. Not only did I have a back story about the US Space force and the Civil War general it’s named after, I had a little American flag on my SHIP, as well. Nifty, right?

Next up, we’ve got Julie vanderMeulen,’s B.O.A.T. According to the builder: “The B.O.A.T is a high speed transport that delivers fresh agricultural goods to all sides of the Orion-Cygnus Civil War. 24 individual bulk cargo pods are capable of delivering anything from apple pies to live zebras.” I opted not to ask about the live zebras… Anyway, what I like about this one is that it reminds me of my build from a few years ago, the Picon Express. It, too, was a high speed cargo transport, just like Julie’s. It’s important to have spaceships that have a practical purpose, it can’t just be about the pew-pew-pew.

Now onto Cagerrin’s Aposemate Disputante of the Nth Coterie. This looks about as alien as a spaceship can get! Although it’s also strangely familiar, like a starfish. The details, color work and the shear scale of this build are truly impressive! Kinda reminds me of my build in 2018, the Barracuda. It was basically a 200 stud long fish with a gigantic blaster where the mouth was supposed to be. There were actually several fish-SHIPs that year. Must have been something in the water…

Behold F@BZ’s entry: Sonokrha! It doesn’t actually have the exclamation in the title like Airplane! or Jeb!, but it seems appropriate, read aloud with a Klingon accent of course. Anyway, you’ve got to appreciate the industrial look to this build. Lots of gray and dark gray, like a spaceship should. My first SHIPtember build was like that, too, in fact. My Colonial Transport ship, although completely different, was just like this, being grey and all.

We can’t forget BrickNerd’s own Andreas Lenander’s New Horizon. Changing things up with the vertical orientation, Andreas has some nice curves going on! He’s also got some crafty greebly bits mixed in, contrasting the smoothness of the majority of the hull. Yellow and orange accents really pop in this expertly edited photo. That lovely lens flare reminds me of my 2016 build, the Battlestar Chelone. It had a curved hull as well, with greebly guns and communication arrays mixed in between. That was a fun year!

And last but not least, we’ve got Daniel Church’s Aexon Industries Fabricator Class Voyager. Posted just before the final bell, Daniel really came up with a unique design. The concept is for in-orbit assembly of prefabricated space stations, delivered right to your planet. The geometric patterns and colors are quite eye-catching, and of course the backstory, written as an advertisement, is clever and funny. Speaking of funny, I have to mention the Battlestar Rowling my son and I built for 2017. That was downright silly; a BSG/Harry Potter mash up. We really had a great time working together on that one!

So there you have it, SHIPtember fans! I invite you to check out the Armada thread in the SHIPtember group on Flickr if you haven’t already. And feel free to check out all the links to my previous builds, too! But in all seriousness, events like SHIPtember, and other such things in LEGO fandom, are all about community and playing nicely with others. And that’s what we strive to do here on a daily basis. ‘Till next time, BrickNerd readers!

How’d you like my highlights list from this year’s SHIPtember? Is blatant self-promotion masked as an article appropriate? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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