Xenomurphy’s LEGO Arkham Asylum Is The Raddest Thing You’ll See Today

I don't think I'm blowing anyone's mind here when I say that Arkham Asylum has more personality than any other building in comics. Heck, it's got more personality than a lot of characters. I can't think of any comics or video games named after, say, The Daily Planet Building or even Avengers Mansion, but something about Arkham keeps drawing people back to obsessing over it. My guess is that it's the interior gargoyles.

What will blow your mind, though, is a LEGO creation built over the course of a year by Thornsten Bosch, alias Xenomurphy, depicting a mass breakout at the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. It's one of the most beautifully crafted, painstakingly detailed and flat-out massive LEGO sets I've ever seen, based loosely on Chicago's Tribune Building. Check out some amazing shots below!

Here's the whole grand model from the front, from the Bat-Signal on the roof all the way down to the intricate custom-built gate:

And, just to give you an idea of the size of this thing, here it is with a copy of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Bosch's friend Eric, appropriately dressed to reflect his role assisting with the photos:

While the obvious attention is no doubt drawn to Poison Ivy breaking through her walls with an army of plant zombies and a massive, custom Clayface rampaging through the courtyard, the detail work on display here is phenomenal. Even the name worked into the gate is imaginative, not to mention the fresh snowdrifts against the walls:

It's one of those great models where you notice something new every time you look at it. A favorite bit: Mr. Freeze blasting a guard in the face, caught in mid-freeze:

It's worth noting that Bosch's version of Arkham is, uh, slightly more involved than the officially licensed "Arkham Asylum Breakout" set released by LEGO...

...but to be fair, they probably wanted something that wouldn't cost thousands of dollars and would take significantly less than a year for kids to put together.

For more, check out Xenomurphy's Flickr stream, where you can ind massive versions of the pictures he took and read through an 82-page book explaining every piece of his process, from his initial sketches (!) to reference material to the custom minifigs and pieces that he built to capture Arkham in all its glory. It's fascinating stuff, and well worth taking some time to look through.

[via The Brothers Brick]