Nearly twenty years since the release of the movie, this instantly recognisable scene of the very first introduction to Captain Jack Sparrow is brilliant. I love how the shallow depth of field achieved during the photography. Exquisitely captured in ABS by Mountain Hobbit, Captain Jack’s arrival on a sinking ship has been perfectly recreated. Using a brick-built background and water the builder has captured the essence of the original scene that kicked off a whole franchise. Original linkOriginal author: Jonathan Samson
Last month we took an early look at the latest wave of LEGO Collectible Minifigures, 71027 Series 20, with a full in-depth review. Our in-depth review should serve as a guide to help you figure out if you want to collect the whole series, or just a few specific characters that are most interesting to you, especially since the new series is priced at US $4.99 | CAN $4.99 | UK £3.49, a new high price for non-licensed minifigures (though some retailers are selling them for less than LEGO’s MSRP). As always, we source our reviews from a full case which we sort by feel before opening any packs. This means that we can bring you one of the best feel guides on the internet, since we’ve compiled our Feel Guide through hands-on experience. 71027 Collectible Minifigures Series 20 are available now at LEGO.com for US $4.99 | CAN $4.99 |...


Builder ZiO Chao has given a us a beautiful rendition of a somewhat obscure character from the Mario Universe, Peachette. She made her first appearance in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe and is a unique form of another character but looks like Princess Peach. It’s all a bit confusing, but I digress. This figure contains a lot of nice parts use and clever build techniques. The petals on her dress make use of the 4X4 with Bow brick combined with a few other types of curved bricks and plates to create a pleasing shape. The arms and puffy sleeves are nicely constructed and the modeling of the face and hair is detailed and full of character. The attention to detail includes perfect recreations of her unusual crown and trademark bow using the 1×1 heart tile. The pose is wonderful and really captures Peachette’s essence, bringing the whole character to life....

I hear it all the time from would-be builders that they just don’t have enough pieces in their collections. “I can’t make anything cool,” they bemoan, as if having a billion LEGO elements at their disposal would make building easier. Now, in some respects, that is true; having more parts does expand the horizons of what you can build. But more importantly, building cool things comes from an eye for how to use the parts one has, rather than the parts one wishes one had, and a small collection is as good as a large one in that respect. Take this windmill by Inthert, for example. It’s not huge. It didn’t take a lot of parts. Granted, there are some specialty parts like the green palettes and the green feathers, but most of what is in the build could come from the collection of anyone who has a few sets. It’s...
