Aegis

If you didn’t know BrickCon is going on right now in Seattle WA and I’m there. This means I get to see loads of really cool builds in person and even better I get to meet (or be reunited with) the builders behind them. Yesterday I was thrilled to see this beast with my own eyeballs and chat with its builder Rphilo004. While the pictures are awesome, nothing compares to standing in front of it and gawking.

Daedalus

Is it weird that when I see a really cool ship like this my first thought is to imagine it mounted to a pylon in front of a green screen with a big motion control rig swooping a camera past it, then the shot that would result from that motion control pass? This is the Daedalus, by builder Rat Dude, and I want to see it in a movie! The detailing is exquisite, with a perfect blend of large and small detail to convey the scale, and just enough studs to let you know it’s LEGO.

The Valzaleer

This beautiful craft by builder AdNorrel would be right at home in Episode IX in my opinion, it just has a Star Warsy vibe to it. Especially with that nifty bit of lighting and photo editing on the first image. Is that Bespin I see in the distance? I hear they have excellent carbon freezing capabilities there.

Space Battleship Andromeda

It's nice to see a SHIP appear on the scene in a month that's not September, when there's so many the signal to noise ratio makes it hard to feature them. What would not be nice is to discover this beast by builder lysanderchau bearing down on you in open space. Heave to and prepare to be boarded, you're no going to win that fight.

Leviathan

Some day I suspect we'll have colossal ships like this one from builder I Scream Clone roaming the galaxy and beyond (if we don't blow ourselves up first). I have to wonder what the men and women on these journeys will experience, what they will see and do. And if any of them will fight a Gorn just outside of Santa Clarita...I mean another planet.

AuraSpace

"Aura to mission control:  This is Captain ZCerberus.  Orders received, and coordinates plotted and laid in.  Time to roll the hard six..." 

"Good hunting, Captain. Control out." 

Or something to that effect.  That's what I figure builder ZCerberus might say aloud when getting ready to swoosh this baby around his living room.  And a few blaster noises, naturally.  Anyway, zoom in to see all of the details; from color blocking to greebles.  Lots to enjoy!

Battlestar VANDEMONS

What would Christmas be without a new Battlestar in the fleet?  Well, that's what my old pal Garry King pondered about eight months ago when he started this 8 foot, 35K+ piece project.  Yeah, you read that right.  This SHIP is his own design, but those of you familiar with the reimagined BSG series will notice some cues from the Valkyrie-type battlestars, especially in the flight pods.  In other shots, however, you can see some Pegasus features, and of course, the Galactica.  Overall, it's another tremendous achievement by Garry, with tons of edited pictures on MocPages, so check it out!

The Lonsaí

What do you get when you mashup castle, pirates, space and a yearly need to build a SHIP 100 studs or longer? You get the Lonsaí by W. Navarre, which somehow we missed back in September. But thanks to this lovely photo edit by Mark of Falworth it's back in the spotlight. What an absolutely fantastic, whimsical vessel.

Seriously Huge Investment In Galidor

When asked about the worst LEGO themes of all time, many afols will bring up Jack Stone. I think that this is because they have forced themselves to forget that Galidor ever existed. But of course; this is the LEGO community and nothing is useless: the aptly self-titled Prince Galidor presents us with a SHIPtember entry this year built entirely from Galidor parts. The result is a beautiful mess of purple, red, orange and various shades of gray.

LAIVA

I probably got that name wrong, but according to the IKEA Dictionary that's a Finnish word for ship. And just like pretty much every IKEA I've ever been too, this SHIP by builder LEGOLIZE IT MAN is massive. This intergalactic forklift is a wonder to behold, it's a cargo pusher, and from the size of those engine, I'm guessing this thing could push a boatload of semi-disposable Swedish furniture. (fun fact: BrickNerd Studios is 95% furnished with IKEA stuff, we love it)

Portal Ship

The future of space travel could someday be like this, where huge craft in space actually open up worm holes to fold space and allow travel vast, unimaginable distances. It's likely the ships of the future will look like this gorgeous vessel by Sheo, somewhat unconventional to classic NASA and even sci-fi designs, but beautiful and wonderful in their own right.

Nautilus

Two years in the making, Alexander Safarik has finally completed his 1.75m SHIP!  It's made entirely out of LEGO, too, no metal or wooden framing needed.  His next task is to create some other ships in addition to a ground scene beneath.  The second shot really highlights the variety of understated color blocks along the length of the ship.  Not sure what they indicate, but it all looks pretty cool to me.  And if you want to see this beast in person, Alexander says he's going to be taking it to Brickcon this year.  Awesome! 

Vengeful Spirit

I really dig this ship design by Tim C76, it looks like a mashup of angular Imperial design and classic NASA, with a touch of rebel spirit. But based on the name I'm guessing it's not transporting colonists or doing research. The contrast of the white cladding against the greebly goodness is visually appealing (but must have made it hard to photograph). Regardless I want to rig it, light it, do a motion control pass and put this baby in a movie!

Agamemnon

Sometimes being separated from your brick collection can be a hardship, sometimes it can be a source of alternate inspiration. Builder Nuju Metru built this over the holidays while away from his usual bricks, and the results are stunning. It's also a departure from his usual building style, which I think is fantastic. Never let a lack of resources limit your creativity.

Redeemer Of Albin

Builder nate_daly crafted an elegant and regal SHIP to celebrate SHIPtember, and it's quite lovely. The subtle, flowing forms and good balance of broad strokes to fine details really work here. And while it's mostly monochromatic, there's just enough color in select places to give it a bit of punch without getting garish. Click through for many more pictures and some WIP shots.

GLDR

I don't know what the typical SHIP build time is. I know that if I was going to build one, it would probably take the entirety of the month (and then I still wouldn't finish). So you can imagine my shock to learn that this SHIP by Kris Manabo was built over the course of four days! That's the same time it took me to build my silly little Madness MOC. It's on display at BrickCon this weekend and worth a pause as you make your way around the show floor.

Viper Mark II

As a BSG fan, this Mark II jumped right off the screen at me.  But when I read that it's actually over 100 studs long, I was struck: "No frakin' way!?!"  Chris Maddison has built a mega scale version of the iconic Colonial aerospace superiority fighter.  He's captured all of those sexy curves and angles which are a real challenge at the mini-fig scale.  And there's still plenty of room for tasty greebles on the side of the fuselage and around the engines.  Okay, Chris, time to go shoot some toasters!!

Curvy Carrier

As most of you know (unless your internet has been down for a month), SHIPtember is almost over, which means that lots of ships are finally starting to pop up. Tim Schwalfenberg's latest sci-fi offering is very unorthodox (in the best possible way). Lots of spaceships are very angle-y, with plenty of hard edges. Tim's ship, however, is almost entirely curvy, making for an extremely eye-catching design. I particularly like the few trans-light blue accents; they really go well with the white and gold.

Sword

SHIPs are big, by definition. When your MOC gets to over one hundred studs you're naturally dealing with a build of decent scale. But in comparison with how big the vessel is supposed to be, for instance a colonist ship, they're tiny. So imparting a sense of scale is part of the challenge. This MOC by migalart shows how it's done. With a smart balance of panel and form to greebs, with implied structures and small details, and in this case with super effective use of stickers. The lighting and photo editing complete the illusion, and this thing looks absolutely colossal.