Nearly 100 years after his passing, Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi remains one of the most singular voices in design. No trip to Barcelona is complete without stopping to appreciate his iconic buildings, especially the Casa Batlló, which Toltomeja thoughtfully recreates in LEGO for the Marchitecture building challenge. Gaudi decorated the façade of Casa Batlló with a colorful mosaic meant to evoke lilies on a pond, here recreated with clever SNOT brickwork in pastel shades. Building such an organic-inspired design at micro scale couldn’t have been easy, but Toltomeja pulls it off, capturing the many bone-like balconies with inverted goggles and using a mix of horns and boomerangs to assemble the distinctive curvaceous windows on the lower floors. Look carefully at the colorful dragon-spine roofline and you can glimpse the frosting swirls doubling as chimney stacks. Gaudi’s amazing buildings are certified UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but sadly have never been released as official LEGO architecture sets. For now, we have builders like Toltomeja and others paying tribute with amazing micro creations.
Monthly Archives: April 2024
An adorable hero in a half-shell
Remember the official LEGO Ninja Turtles line from 2013-2014? We never did get to see the titular turtles before their fateful meeting with the mutating ooze. Builder Cecilie Fritzvold remedies that oversight with heartbreakingly cute baby Raphael. This pre-teen mutant ninja turtle even comes with his own brick-built pizza. Note the red bandanna off to the side, hinting at the fearsome fighter he will someday become. There’s no sai in sight, though—probably a good idea not to entrust a baby turtle with such a sharp object just yet.
LEGO announces initiatives to support neurodivergent individuals in stores [News]
The LEGO Group has today announced that they will be implementing a series of measures to make life easier for autistic and neurodivergent children and adults in their brick-and-mortar stores. Work is being carried out with KultureCity, a charity whose aim is to facilitate the implementation of such measures. This is actually not the first time the two firms have worked together; the LEGO House, in Billund, Denmark, has already received KultureCity’s stamp of approval for sensory inclusivity. The aim is for all stores in the USA and Canada to get the same certification this April, with more locations worldwide to follow later in the year.
The LEGO Life Magazine will also receive some minor updates to make it more accessible for everyone. And the LEGO Foundation has also announced five new partners in their Play for All Accelerator program:
- Social Cipher: a video game platform focused on social and emotional learning for the neurodivergent.
- Kokoro Kids: A platform in Spanish, Portuguese, and English dedicated to using play for developing emotional skills early on in kids.
- Mom’s Belief: an Indian-based organization (the largest in the country) approaching the education of neurodivergent children in a holistic manner.
- onebillion: a software publisher dedicated to publishing reading and math resources designed to help those children in most need.
- Little Journey: Using technology to bring a sense of ease to families with children amid the healthcare process.
Read the LEGO Group’s press release on these initiatives after the bump
Hanging up the sword of Martin the Warrior
Deep in the heart of the Mossflower woods, south of the gently-flowing River Moss, sits the storied Redwall Abbey. And when you need a cozier space to have your meal than the Great Hall, you can pull up a chair in the Cavern Hole, built for us in LEGO by Evancelt. This smaller dining hall is lovingly rendered for us in (plastic) brick form with a hearty feast upon the table. Evencelt here has made excellent use of third party parts for this build. The mouse figures and weapons – including the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior mounted on the wall – are from Crazy Bricks’ Mouse Guard series, and the stained glass windows are excellently repurposed from BRIQUESTORE’s Harry Potter stained glass prints. Going back to 1st party bricks, I love the living edge table made from various curves and arches holding a feast made from various printed tiles and food pieces. The chairs are also an excellent piece of design; managing to look both unique and similar enough to form a set. I hope they have saved a chair for me by that fire!
Medieval marvels and fantastical realms – where does your mind take you?
Since May 2010, when the first LEGO collectible minifigure series was released, enthusiasts have eagerly awaited the introduction of new characters with each subsequent minifigure lines. Some characters readily fit into past or present LEGO themes, like the Vampire Knight, while others evoke thoughts of a whole new world. Salt_city_bricks has brought imagination to life with one of the characters from Minifigures Series 25.. The structure in this build carries us to a world of fantasy and mystical wonder. However, if you were to remove the Mushroom Sprite from the foreground, the building would undoubtedly fit in wonderfully with a castle or other medieval-themed build. Titled “Curvy,” do not let your thoughts wander too far before appreciating the builder’s lack of square edges in this creation.
Bela Lugosi is dead but the LEGO Art Legends of Goth mosaic set is very much alive [April Fools’!]
LEGO has revealed a new mosaic set featuring Legends of Goth. The adult-targeted set contains 7,182 pieces, a large brick separator, and instructions and extra parts to build all five album cover designs by The Cure, Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. This set comes with a curated soundtrack that is downloadable via a QR code and will enable fans to listen to their favorite Goth albums while building.
The LEGO Goth Legends set comes in a box the size of a large pizza and will retail for US $219.99 | CAN $299.99 | UK £250.99 with a global release date of May 1st.
descend further down the spiral to see more
This kingfisher knows all the greatest fishing spots!
With all of the excitement for the new official kingfisher LEGO set, it’s no wonder other builders – like Ryan Van Duzor – are giving us their own unique take on the subject. This LEGO model captures a kingfisher in its most exciting moment as it just hits the water and drops in on those unsuspecting fish. If you’re like me and didn’t recognize those fish right away, don’t feel too bad; those are Duplo fish that were discontinued in 2018. The air-water boundary in this scene is skillfully held together by transparent slide shoes and the kingfisher is crowned with feathers from the Chima line. While this bird may not make a splash, I think the build will!
