About Richard Dryden

Richard Dryden was the inspiration for Will Ferrell’s character in The LEGO Movie. Just kidding, the only thing these two guys have in common is their escape to a brick-built sanctuary. Before Richard immersed himself in writing for TBB in 2020, he spent his free time casually collecting themed sets from LEGO Batman to The Simpsons. His first discovery of LEGO began with 1994's Hot Rod Club set. During Rich’s dark period, he was a staple of New York nightlife’s music scene. DJing at parties was routine. And for a few years, he toured internationally or at random wedding gigs. Connecting with new audiences is a consistent theme for Rich (a.k.a. Treats) whether writing about music, playing at events, or researching creative builds throughout the LEGO community. Some samples of his work can be found on djtreats.com.

Posts by Richard Dryden

Water, water, everywhere

This summer, I’ve had watercraft on the brain. Moana’s Starlight Canoe is the latest LEGO build by Letranger Absurde that follows my stream of reality shows I am currently addicted to watching. Below Deck Mediterranean and Below Deck Sailing Yacht are in heavy rotation. This fantastical route inspired by Moana, the 2016 Disney film, is a nice change of pace. Letranger Absurde does another solid job at modeling her figures with realism, adding stylish details of the character’s dress. This is the sixth installment in her Once Upon A Time series that recreates iconic scenes and characters from the annals of Disney (i.e. The Little Mermaid and Snow White). Building a real-life canoe is a feat unto itself. So the recreation of the bamboo deck along with other wooden-like textures gives off the appearance of a watercraft ready to take on the elements. The kicker in the canoe’s rigging is the string of beige battle droid arms supporting the mast. I’m already over my head in nautical terms. Ahoy!

Once Upon a Time VI - Aquamarine

Check out more cool creations by Letranger Absurde (vitreolum).

The stars align for a classic space nova

Bionicle Day, 8/10 (810nicle), is behind us, and we’re catching up by celebrating some builds that incorporate the popular buildable figure elements from LEGO’s past. Blake Foster found inspiration to use Bionicle elements such as Macku‘s helmet and Hero Factory feet (ball and socket configuration) for the side of the hull. The standard blue LEGO Classic Space hue is an obvious homage to the 1986 LEGO Cosmic Fleet Voyager. Just don’t expect to see Benny fit into this space fighter, because it is micro-scale. After some quick research on novae, I get why Blake Foster named it “Nova Class.” It is akin to nova, the astronomical event where new stars form and explode, shining bright and slowly fading, just as Blake described how the build constantly came apart during its construction. For now, bask in its glow.

Nova Class Heavy Fighter

The BATSUB explores the depth of Batman’s vehicles

Batman’s watercraft mostly played second fiddle to his main vehicles in The LEGO Batman Movie. It would have been great to see a submarine from his fleet explore the deep seas of Gotham City. Stevenpavan created the BATSUB, modeled after the Yellow Submarine, with some major upgrades, and of course in black. The BATSUB’s specs are imagined with the type of realism you’d expect from some tinkering by Lucius Fox. According to the builder, it’s armed with electromagnetic harpoons (on its sides) and EMP blasts (not visible). We’re just happy to see that it has dual propellers and a removable roof to place a few minifigures in the cabin.

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Street Fighter minifigures battle toe-to-toe

Street Fighter II in an arcade cabinet is the ultimate trap. Once you get your hands on it, you’re hooked. Now, Capcom’s iconic fighter video game from 1991, known for attracting crowds from pizzerias to amusement parks, now exists in miniature LEGO form thanks to _pixeljunkie_. The cabinet looks close to the height of the 8-bit mini arcades by Basic Fun, but _pixeljunkie_ recreated Street Fighter II‘s key gameplay through minifigures of Ryu and Ken.

Street Fighter II

Click here to see the fighters in action

Imagine LEGO Gorillaz in a real world of the plastic beach

Music-inspired LEGO sets are getting a lot of attention right now. While the recent announcement of  this fall’s LEGO Art The Beatles set honors the Fab Four, Gorillaz are a more contemporary awesome foursome that is popular with LEGO fans. Legotruman designed Gorillaz as buildable figures. The British virtual band is one of legotruman’s latest virtual creations, following the stunning Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”.

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Eastwood’s lucky day

There’s never a shortage of Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II nostalgia. However, for the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future Part III, the 1990 film gets its due respect in a LEGO remake of Doc Brown’s timely rescue of Marty McFly from Biff Tannen and his goons. Brick Grayson is the creator of this memorable western scene. The Hill Valley Courthouse (1885) is shown under construction with a wooden scaffold covering the facade. The Biff minifigure is holding the rope, while Marty (a.k.a. Eastwood), hangs at the other end. Standing near the top left of the construction site is what seems to be Marty’s great-great-grandfather Seamus McFly, wearing a derby hat. The Marty McFly from the future is wisely sourced using the cowboy torso from the series 18 CMF, along with the addition of pink arms to contrast the maroon-colored pants. The printed fringe shirt worn by Marty McFly also lines up pretty close to the LEGO version.

Check out Brick Grayson’s previous BTTF III scene from Marty’s wild west escape.

Here is New York City, from a brick’s eye view

The view of New York City from the street level comes with a mixed bag of emotions: excitement, curiosity, and for some natives and tourists, claustrophobia. The beauty of its skyline however, when observed from a bird’s eye view, can turn the metropolis into a piece of art like a LEGO sculpture. A new brick-built model of Manhattan, designed by Axcit is awe-inspiring in its overall scale of 144 cm (56 in) long, down to the details of the many landmarks he was able to fit in the model. In a Reddit post of his masterpiece, Axcit drew hundreds of comments. Between compliments and requests for building instructions, what took the cake were the differing opinions on its authenticity, flying like a typical New York debate of where to get the best pizza (sans NY accent).

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What’s behind the mask?

At first glance, you might think you’re looking at Optimus Prime sporting Rodimus Prime’s maroon color scheme and pinstripes from the original Transformers. Think again. This semi-truck is way more than meets the eye because it is a LEGO Creation of Rhino from M.A.S.K., the signature shape-shifting tractor rig/mobile defense unit from the 1985 Kenner toy line and animated series. Builder Hobbestimus actually made this his third version of Rhino, now complete with almost all the specs of its retro counterpart: battering ram, smokestack cannons, missile launcher (doesn’t actually launch), mobile computer command center, and detachable all-terrain vehicle, according to his Flickr page.

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Let the beat build

For over 30 years, music producers have been devoted to building beats using audio hardware to sequence their signature drum loops, or sample elements from vinyl records. Yet, no matter how much music is digitized through virtual studio programs, beatmakers still craft timeless hits through tapping buttons, turning knobs, and sliding faders. One of the latest LEGO creations from Arran Hearn honors one of music’s most iconic tools of the trade, the E-mu SP-1200. 

Last week, Arran revealed the LP-1200 on Instagram, his biggest LEGO build yet, with over 2,000 parts. It includes the playable feature of a mini-floppy disk that can be inserted and ejected. The unit is well-branded through Hearn’s custom stickers representing the model LP-1200, the maker N-umo Systems, Inc., plus a sticker where machine’s digital screen displays data.  The original drum machine studio staple is still used by hip-hop super producers like Pete Rock and Madlib (mentioned in his post). Arran’s LP-1200 was teased back in October 2018 with a photo of the internal elements. Previous creations included the MPC 2000 XL, the L-447 Turntable Cartridge, and the Technics 1200 + mixer setup. Hip-hop, you don’t stop!

Here is a detail highlighting some of Arran’s custom sticker work.

Color me inspired with this LEGO Nintendo Game Boy

As we count down the days ‘til the release of the LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System (it’s tomorrow!), a LEGO Game Boy creation is just what we’ll need to add to our museum of buildable retro gaming consoles. Author of Tips for Kids: Transformers: Cool Projects for your Lego Bricks, and LEGO builder of many everyday items, Joachim Klang was inspired to build the green pocket-sized classic after finding an actual Game Boy Color at a flea market. Seeing the clean rounded edges and the cartridge built into the back are convincing details that it might power on. Klang’s recent creation is an upgrade from his previous lineup of Game Boy Color builds from 2017. Still, my all-time favorite is the see-through version with purple tint. LEGO x Nintendo = you’re playing with power, clutch power!

Also, check out these other LEGO Game Boy creations!