Tag Archives: Asia

The diverse cultures and complex history of Asia continue to inspire LEGO builders all over the world. China, Japan, and Korea also have large and active LEGO fan communities that contribute to the global conversation through their LEGO models. This page features LEGO models inspired by Asia, coverage of events that happen in Asia, and background about models by Asian builders.

Temple’s crowning glory

What is serenity? One definition — perfection of form, coupled with a strong and simple colour scheme. That’s exactly what we’ve got in this temple building by jaapxaap. The standout feature is the purple and gold roof, adorned with beautifully shaped corners and nicely offset tiling. Don’t miss how the shaping flows perfectly around the golden decorative elements, almost as if they were designed to fit the spaces, rather than the other way around. The stark grey structure is striking and forms a robust backdrop to the ornate roofing. There’s nice landscaping and foliage, along with some minifigures, placed around the model, but the colour choices are perfect — complementing, never distracting, from the model’s central subject.

Long Hao Temple

TBB cover photo for December 2018: The quickest way to the top

For December’s TBB social media cover image, alanboar is taking us back to the turn of the last century in Hong Kong, where the Taikoo Ropeway spans the mountainside in Hong Kong. In use from 1891-1932, the aerial ropeway (also called the Mount Parker Cable Car) provided quick transportation from the docks and sugar refinery to apartments on the mountain’s slopes. Alanboar’s rendition is an artistic representation all decked out in the white of snow, backed by the apartments and elegant steep-pinnacled peaks with clouds punctuating the sky.

LEGO Taikoo Ropeway 太古百年吊車 「銅鑼飛棧 」

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Do you live to eat, or eat to live?

In modern times, “eating good food” has become a hobby of sorts around the world. There are hotspots for foodies to relish in simple and local food sold on the streets or pushcarts, just like this huge LEGO scene from Malaysia depicting such a location, where food lovers hang out and where a few dollars can go a long long way.

Muar Avenue 4 Brick Street

This build is a collaborative effort by members of SynergyLUG Malaysia, led by Bruce Lee, along with a large team which includes Junious Tan, Chua Chee Yan, Marco Gan, Tommy Tong, Michael Choy, Zi Quan, Foo Wen Yao, Leroy Pang, Vincent Kiew, Cheng Heng Ching, Wong Chee Keong, Zac Wong, Daphne GanJack Tan and Terry Lai.

Muar Avenue 4 Brick Street

Click to see more of the Avenue 4 Street scene

Sumo is the greatest sport on earth

I’ve explained elsewhere why sumo (traditional Japanese wrestling) is the greatest sport on earth — it’s fast, complex, and incredibly exciting. I won an apple in my first sumo bout at age three, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Cindy Su apparently agrees with me, because she built this wonderful rikishi (or wrestler — sumo is the name of the sport, not the name of the wrestlers). She layers various round tiles to bulk up the underlying BrickHeadz form, and gives this mountain of a man a stand complete with a Japanese flag to pose on. He has huge arms to shove opponents out of the ring, with an expressive face that seems to say he’s relieved to have just finished a winning bout.

相撲力士(sumo rikishi /りきし)

Interestingly, many of the top wrestlers these days are foreign-born, from countries like Mongolia and Georgia. As someone who spent 15 years getting called gaijin (foreigner, with connotations of “outsider”) in my own home country, I’ve taken a perverse pleasure in rooting for the foreigners in recent sumo tournaments. Of course, sumo wrestlers aren’t born quite so big. They bulk up by eating a special stew called chankonabe, which Cindy has also faithfully created for this rikishi to enjoy.

相撲力士(sumo rikishi /りきし)

Cross the bridge and find yourself

Many people use LEGO building as a form of meditation, but not quite as many use LEGO to literally build meditation. Andreas Lenander definitely uses it at least for the latter — that we can be sure of. The build is very atmospheric, but secretly, it is also quite technical in its construction.

The journey...

The Journey represents an old traveler crossing a bridge amongst blooming trees. The surrounding landscape is not bad, but the bridge is really the impressive part. The railing uses Elves fence pieces with a well-known curve technique. The bridge itself is just stacked plates carefully curved to follow the railing’s curvature – a construction that seems very unstable, but Andreas says that it actually holds together quite well. The trees should be noted too, densely packed with flowers, nicely designed trunks, and lanterns hanging off the branches.

Gateway to tranquility

This elaborate architectural beauty is the gate to Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. André Pinto is the architect of this faithful LEGO version, which captures the ornate decorations and the vibrant colors of the gate.

KIYOMIZU-DERA, NIOMON

It’s worth noticing that the builder incorporated the intricate lattice in the underside of the roof, which is a huge undertaking but also one with huge payoffs.

KIYOMIZU-DERA, NIOMON

Oriental abode built to embrace luck, joy, and beauty

There’s always a splash of grandeur in detail with buildings from ages long ago. Perhaps inspired by a flashback of an oriental abode, this build by Jennifer Lee has transported us to ancient times. The home is adorned and detailed with red and gold. Red, in Chinese culture, is a symbol of good luck, joy, and happiness, while yellow or gold, in this case, is considered the most beautiful and prestigious colour.

See more details and photos of this Asian home

The Great Wall of Forlorn Empire

The Great Wall of China requires no special introduction, and neither does Forlorn Empire. As the great wall can bee seen from space, so can mr. Forlorn’s building skills. While this segment of the Great Wall may not be the largest we have seen in LEGO, it is surely one of the best (and frankly, keeping up this level of detail and texture on an excessively large scale would turn out to be too much for pretty much any builder) in the terms of construction quality.

The Great Wall

As I have mentioned, it boasts a high level of details and some nice angles, but what I like best is the roofed hut on the top of the tower – the roof technique is a stroke of genius. To top it all off, the builder has added a minifig on guard duty to fill the scene with life.

Once upon a time in old Beijing

This diorama by vincentkiew showcases the beauty of traditional Chinese architecture and landscaping. A quaint courtyard and miniature garden completes the peaceful setting, and the use of the new Ninjago fences as well as the wallpaper brick are fantastic details that add style to the creation.

Once Upon A Time.. (35)

There are many delightful detail shots to discover in the Flickr gallery, or you can check them out in this slideshow accompanied by traditional Chinese music.

Once Upon A Time. (2)

Building will bring you focus

What better way to relax than to rake through the brick bins and create an Oriental pavilion? At least that’s what David Hensel appears to have decided. David clearly felt the roof was the key element of this LEGO creation — and no surprise, it’s wonderfully detailed, and a nice mix of colours without appearing garish. That would explain the shallow depth of field in the photography, bringing the roof into sharp focus and rendering the rest of the scene with something of a haze. This, coupled with the lack of minifigures, creates a strange dreamlike atmosphere. I like it.

Serenity

This maneki-neko is the cat’s meow

Maneki-neko are Japanese figurines of cats that businesses all over the world have adopted to beckon customers and the money burning holes in their pockets. The cats often hold large, old-style Japanese gold coins in enormous denominations, as this lovely white cat by Taiwanese builder DOGOD Brick Design does — this maneki-neko holds a coin worth ten million yen! This lovely feline was recently installed at the Masterpiece Gallery in the LEGO House.

nEO_IMG_Dogod_ManekiNeko_01

Maneki-neko hold their paws up in the gesture that Japanese people use to ask someone to come over — palm facing out while “scooping” the fingers toward yourself, rather than palm up as many Westerners do.

The sound of a thunderous charge in the dark forest

The prolific teenaged builder William Navarre is no stranger to realistic historical Japanese themes, but this latest creation of a company of samurai ambushing a camp of the emperor’s ashigaru is one of his best addditions to the series.

From the Depths of the Forest

There is much to see in this full LEGO scene, from the minifig action that seems to express motion much better than one would expect of the somewhat motorically limited minifig, to the flags and the realistic ground texture. The background deserves discussion too; while the opinions on the trees’ textures may be variable, the textures do work for what they are supposed to. More importantly, you should not miss the most subtle, but also the most ingeniously simple part of the build: the angled black background with dark blue rays of light penetrating the treetops.