Roses

Consider looking at real-life buildings or objects and think about what pieces would fit best to recreate those buildings or objects, then think about what techniques you would use to make sure all pieces are where they need to be. I often do this in my free time or when I'm bored, on the bus, at the supermarket, wherever. It's recreating what you see before coming up with things of your own. Many art classes will have you painting or drawing real life objects or people before you get to make things up. But yeah, it's pretty much just build, build, build and you'll discover neat techniques and unexpected uses for otherwise inconspicuous pieces.

Ok that mechanism is really cool. EDIT: Looks like the vignettes fold into the back of the "?" block. Do we still not know what's behind the door that's slightly open on the picture on the back of the box?

The A-frame cabin and the House of Time are my favorites this round. I was lukewarm on the Typewriter when it was approved, but TLG delivered such a sleek final design that I ended up getting it. It makes for quite the unique display piece in a LEGO collection. I could see TLG approving the cuckoo clock to appeal to the adult market. However, if it were chosen, I would love, love, love for the designers to replace the motor with a realistic, external dropping-weight mechanism. Such a mechanism might be a little weak to maintain the movement of a circling train, and TLG might deem the entire set too big to be safely and easily secured to a wall using those special Technic panels, though. It's a big ask, but considering LEGO included as many functions as they realistically could in the Typewriter, perhaps a working cuckoo clock would be an appropriate step forward in terms of life-size, functional replicas of real objects.

Thank you all for the nice comments! I used these five parts: However, it's an illegal technique because the size of the technic gears prevent the axle connector from fitting all the way into the three-axle hub. You have to either force the pieces a little bit or leave them semi-connected.

41999, the exclusive edition of the 4x4 crawler, had a run of 20,000 copies. Whether it was advertised as limited edition - I do not know, but to disclose the amount of copies produced might mean that it is indeed on the smaller side of production runs. The "number who own" statistic on Brickset can help compare numbers from one set to another. It is by no means a representative figure, though, as only a fraction of people log their collection on the website.

6721 is among the oldest sets I have in my collection. I never used it for any MOCs but I always thought it used some of the coolest- and weirdest-looking pieces. Since I can probably count the sand-blue pieces I have in my parts collection on two hands (and a foot), I thought I would make a big ol' pair of mechanical legs to let the fish roam the land. You can see my MOCs on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/193467387@N03/albums/72157719697761644 Or on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CSuG55onqeG/

What to do with an old blue elephant head? Had a fun time making a large (and friendly-ish-looking) system-based character for once. More pictures on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/193467387@N03/albums/72157719661691998 Or on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CSXJLI8nTZr/

I could see these two having had a drink: ^ From the sleepyhead CMF: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3626bpb0659&idColor=3#T=S&C=3&O={"color":3,"iconly":0} ^ From various fairground sets

Thank you! The character is a product of having few yellow pieces, an unused heart mini-build using the pirate bandana, and hours of bashing my head in trying to figure a use for the Mahri Hewkii mask. I agree that it makes for a weird result! It's open to interpretation

This one was a pain and a half to make. I have very few yellow constraction pieces, but I think it turned out pretty well. It was supposed to be the main model in a duo with this little guy, dubbed "Ultraviolet": But after the Sun went through some drastic thematic changes (action pose -> meditative pose), I decided to keep them separate. I've got more pics up on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWkV1DR Or on my Instagram: The Sun & Ultraviolet

Thank you , it's like a mini explosion he's triggering. It's a bit weird but it looked like a good idea for a prop

Thank you!! I'd love to use the 2x4 light-up bricks from Exo-Force for a MOC some day, they're long gone pieces but they're one of a kind! I'm pretty proud of the lamppost . Rarely do I get the chance to work at greater-than-minifigure-scale.

Woah that's some mighty geometry. Wonderful shoulders and perfect extensive use of those pentagonal 2x3 tiles!

You can consider using SNOT techniques to create a more rounded penny shape. It's more parts-consuming and you'd be working with rectangular tesserae instead of square, but you might be able to achieve a smoother circle at that size. You can also mix a studs-on-top surface for the mosaic itself and a studs-on-the-sides surface for the edges of the penny, if you prefer to work with tiles for Lincoln's face. I'm unfamiliar with the curved slope selection in medium nougat, but I know there are some curved slopes in dark orange for an approximate penny colour.

Thank you so much! I tried making a system-based torso at first, but the lack of lime pieces in my parts collection veered me towards basing it out of Bionicle, which I'm glad you like

Thank you! He doesn't look like the friendliest of fellows

Gutted that Gringotts is allegedly not in the works right now, but it's true that that may be a standard "we can't confirm nor deny" response regarding the development of a set. Then again, them saying that there are no plans to make Gringotts for now is a more definitive response than "wait and see". It's good to hope that maybe, just maybe it is indeed a way of avoiding confirming the coming of Gringotts, but this is giving me Mother 3 "maybe this year Nintendo will do something!"

Picked a bunch of lime green buckets off my local pick-a-brick wall months ago. Never found a use for them. I thought they kinda looked like the front of a gas mask, so here's a post-apocalyptic guy to make use of that one piece. Also found a use for some Inika and Barraki heads for the top of the mask and the shoulders, respectively. Mixing system and constraction - it's a puzzle! You can find more pics on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWfT5R9 Or on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CRraA1gLZRB/

Pspspspspspsps That's a very cute cat. I especially like the shaping of the mouth with the cheese slopes and the 1x2 wedged curved slopes. Well done!

Thank you! It's really fun figuring out how inconspicuous pieces can be used in weird ways

First time mixing System, Technic and Bionicle to build something weird. Heavily influenced by Poor Disadvantaged's awesome Bionicle tributes. I'm running out of parts to accurately replicate something from real life, so it's time to get weird . Got the idea to make a creepy character from the two hair brush pieces making the mouth. More pics from different angles: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWhyQqR or on my Instagram @rosesmustdraw

Impressive model. I'm not that big a fan of more-than-minifigure-scale sized UCS ships (I've only kept the minifigure-scale Millennium Falcon, Slave I and Imperial Shuttle in my collection, as well as 75252), since the play versions of the vehicles usually get the job done for me in terms of screen-accuracy, so I have to agree with the people saying that perhaps the Gunship was not the best option for a UCS set. Nevertheless, I really want to see this thing in display at the LEGO Store, since it looks massive.

True, I am beginning to reach critical mass when it comes to finding space to display more sets in my room, and considering the big sets that are rumored to come out in the next few months, it is becoming hard to justify purchasing something that cannot be displayed properly (in my case, at least. I'm sure most people who get this set will give it a deserving display space). Nevertheless, I also hope it sells well so we can possibly get more Prequel Trilogy UCS sets in the future. I am also wondering about the side turrets, and I saw Promobricks' confident hint that they are tucked away on the sides, which as much as I trust their information, I can't help but wonder how they both fit inside the rather narrow body of the ship. Hopefully they are fully enclosed as opposed to open at the back like the previous versions of the Gunship.

Lovely use of the Bionicle 60928 hook blade for the legs.

I love when LEGO does this kind of tease where people will go increase the contrast and gamma of the teaser image. Reminds me of the UCS Millennium Falcon box tease years ago, which was a lot of fun to pick apart. That being said, the Gunship looks enormous. There was a post on Instagram where someone counted the studs on the front of the ship to approximate the dimensions of the whole set. I believe it turned out to be 25 to 27 inches in both width and length, and nine to ten inches high.