About Faiza Khan

Faiza is a life long fan of LEGO who has since 2018 become a more serious collector and aspiring MOC maker. His other hobbies include: pop culture consumption, traveling when possible, gaming, and good conversation.

Posts by Faiza Khan

A well-seasoned guard tower

It’s that time of year again for some, particularly those who are already wishing it was autumn due to hot and humid weather. Well if you’re one of those people, you are sure to love Ayrlego’s model guard tower standing nice and tall in an autumn forest.

Autumn Watchtower

For the guard tower build itself, a number of brown and grey elements are utilized to render the stone and wood structure. Tiling is especially key to this build with the salmon-colored and tan tiles used at different elevations to render wood roof shingles. A couple of the old wavy flags in green and yellow are hung at the front of the building, denoting the city colors. This LEGO tower rests on an elevated brick-built terrain consisting of tan and olive green tiles, plates, and bricks instead of a baseplate. Of course, where there is a built structure, there should be some creatures around, and here we’ve got a couple of minifigures and the coveted LEGO goat hanging around the area. Lastly we have the brick-built trees displaying some crisp bright light orange tree branch elements. I can almost smell the autumn air through this build.

An industrious little steampunk town

Steampunk builds are always fun and in this LEGO model by Simon Liu we get a whole little town in micro-scale.

Tinker Town

In this fun-looking town, life actually appears to be all work and no play; the buildings seem to be giant machines churning out the necessary widgets, you know, putting the steam in steampunk. Said steam is rendered by the 1×1 ice cream scoops element, liberally applied in multiples. A number of pearl gold LEGO pieces are also implemented in this build – necessary components to the overarching aesthetic. Perhaps my favorite portion of this build is the zeppelin transporting a dark red micro-figure around probably to his house, which might or might not be a clock.

Beauty and the bricks

Perhaps one of the most iconic scenes in Disney animated film history is depicted here in bricks, superbly constructed by LEGO builder Konoyaro.

Beauty and the Beast

In this model we have the ending scene from Beauty and The Beast all built up and spectacularly accurate to the film, from the windows with the dark blue 1×2 trans-clear bricks to the floors utilizing great tiling build techniques. The shapes, sizes, and poses of the brick-built characters are completely on point. Belle’s signature dress utilizes slope pieces in various forms and even bright light yellow claw elements with 1×1 cone pieces to accurately render the ruffles of the dress. The beast is also largely composed of slopes as well as bricks and both characters are constructed in a way in which a minimal amount of studs are exposed. With this build, Konoyaro truly translates the magic of Disney fairy tale films into a LEGO masterpiece.

A monochrome steam machine

The Mogul steam locomotive, also known as the “2-6-0”, is a pretty classic-looking train especially for model or toy trains. František Hajdekr fashioned a sleek looking light grey LEGO 2-6-0 in monochrome, and it is certainly a beauty.

The 2-6-0 / Mogul Steam Locomotive (MOC)

While most LEGO train are built to run on track, this train does not, but there is an upside to that because in this build Hajdekr uses technic pulley wheels in combination with gears to render locomotive wheels and these are pretty aesthetically pleasing choices. I think the fez piece in black flipped upside down for the chimney was also a clever use of parts. The brick-built train tender hauled by the engine contains many different types of black LEGO elements serving as the fuel source for the engine – coal. With all the right parts and pieces, this build is ready to go full steam ahead.

A miniature modernist maze

Monochrome geometric shapes descending into infinity – this is the only way to describe Simon Liu’s amazing “Hexahedral” LEGO model which can also be referred to as “Cube City”. Surely it is an interesting architectural concept, the model itself reminds me of drawings done by M.C. Escher, with all of its interesting perspectives, spaces, nooks and crannies.

Hexahedral Planetoid

The visible city portion of the build is divided into cubicle-like zones each containing various buildings and houses, these are mostly rendered using 1×1 modified headlight bricks topped with either a double or pyramid 1×1 slope – all in light grey. Various other small pieces including a ton of 1×1 tiles, ingots, 1×2 grilles, levers, and other modified 1×1 pieces are included to create intricate designs and spaces within the cubicle zones. Any area that has not been carved into this slab of stone-colored brick is plated with 1×1 tiles in a minesweeper-like grid. This build is just wonderful to look at especially with the visual contrast Simon creates between empty space and grey plastic.

The city of Midgar…before the Mako disaster

As dystopias go, Midgar from the cult-classic game Final Fantasy VII has to be as dystopian as it gets – a Pangea of slums surrounding a giant reactor sucking out the planet’s lifeblood and to top that off, it always seems to be night in this location. Fletcher Floyd conjures up an amazing micro-scale LEGO build of the most iconic setting in the widely loved game.

Midgar

In a circular pattern, Floyd assembles a menagerie of smaller light grey elements to construct the metropolis. Literally any grey LEGO piece you can think of is included in this build – from 1×1 cones and cylinders, to lightsaber hilts and binoculars, even chalices and steering wheels help render the industrial mess that is Midgar. The area surrounding the city is rendered with some tiles and mostly 1×1 plates in earth tones such as tan, reddish brown, and light brown. Overall this build perfectly recreates the look and feel of Midgar in miniature.

A case of the cat mech zoomies

If you have a pet cat or if you’re like me and watch cat videos in your spare time you’ve definitely seen the well-documented phenomena of the “cat zoomies” – basically when indoor cats release pent-up energy and zoom around. Aido’s LEGO zoid-like cat mech also appears to be experiencing the zoomies and wow look at that powerful gait.

Full Power

Aido constructs this cat mech using a sleek black and red color scheme and overall the build makes use of a number of interesting elements including a black baseball diamond tile, an armor piece used above for the shoulder area – this looks like it is from a buildable figure model, and then the tail is interestingly constructed out of pneumatic T pieces clipped together using 1×1 modified plates. This robotic creature also is displayed running through a mystical patch of grass with bioluminescent-looking plants or creatures utilizing trans-clear green elements. Ultimately, this build is a very captivating and futuristic jungle scene and quite timely for late spring.

Full Power

Down, down, and away?

“Mayday!” – well that’s never good to hear. Douglas Hughes fashions a little red biplane in some big trouble in this LEGO micro-model.

Mayday!

The background featured in this postcard-like photo is brick-built using a number of different elements including various slopes, bricks, and plates in light blue and white for the red plane to crash through. The plane’s body mainly utilizes the plane minifigure costume featured in the series 21 collectible minifigure set, with some added parts to create a second pair of wings and a cockpit. Black 2×2 round tiles serve as a smokey cloud trailing behind the plane – the signifier of disaster. Overall for a minimal build, its concept is surely conveyed.

Mushroom man makin’ his way

Of course, an enchanted forest is filled with strange mushrooms of varying sorts, maybe even some mushrooms that get up and take a hike. Steven Erickson builds up a magical little LEGO mushroom guy he lovingly named “Shroomkin,” and he is as he should be, hanging out in a mystical little forest that is partially brick-built.

Shroomkin

Shroomkin’s brilliant blue cap is composed of many 1×1 blue plates with some white 1×1 round tiles rendering spots. This fun guy’s stalk is a whole-body sporting a neat red and yellow brick-built tunic made up of tiles, bricks, and cheese slopes. One arm with a 1×1 tile with clip piece can hold a staff, while the other arm sports a 1×1 round tile printed as a compass – useful for excursions in the woods. Shroomkin stands tall and looks out at his station – a brick-built patch of greenery comprised of many small green elements along with some different flower pieces in popping colors. What a wonderful build for the spring season.

While you’re away, the Switch will play

Seemingly inanimate objects coming to life – we’ve seen it before in movies like Toy Story or Transformers; now we’re seeing this notion come alive in LEGO form with this Nintendo “Switch Imp” model by Zane Houston.

My favorite part of this build are the imp’s Switch controller arms in their iconic blue and red color scheme. These brick-built arms mainly utilize common elements such as bricks and slopes in various sizes constructed by way of the SNOT (studs not on top) technique. The buttons on the controller arms are rendered by black 1×1 round tiles while the joy sticks are cleverly composed of black round 1x1s with bar and pin holders, 2×2 round plates with an open stud, and 2×2 plates with round bottoms. The rest of this mythological mashup is comprised of a menagerie of black slopes, bricks, and tiles with a couple white cheese slope pieces serving as teeth thrown in. Better watch where you put your things, judging by this build you can never really know what your household items are up to when you’re away – they really could have a life of their own.

Switch Imp

Forgot your lunch? Here’s a BYGGLEK Bento Box.

In my youth I used to watch a lot of anime, and of course with most of it being created in Japan during that time, snippets of daily Japanese life found their way into the animations; school uniforms, cherry blossom trees, and of course Bento boxes – neatly home-packed meals. The fairly new BYGGLEK boxes produced as a collaboration between LEGO and Ikea are perfect for creating LEGO Bento, which builder nobu_tary has expertly done here.

#BYGGLEK Bento

Rice balls, veggies, and more! These foodstuffs are all expertly brick-built, some – like the rice balls are constructed by way of the SNOT (studs not on top) technique, utilizing some basic pieces such as slopes and bricks and others such as the two tomatoes are built regularly and are composed of only a couple pieces. These colorful food builds certainly capture the colorful palette of Japanese cuisine. The cover of the box is also colorfully decorated with a nice mosaic pattern built out of variously shaped tiles which can be found in the LEGO Dots line. Nobu_tary did not forget the utensils either – the chopsticks here being shaped by various cone and cylinder pieces topped with some 1×1 bricks and plates. Certainly this build is a palatable one indeed.

LEGO Goes Super Saiyan

Dragon Ball Z is a beloved animated show with many fans across generations, there’s definitely no need for a scouter to check out this LEGO model built by nobu_tary, surely its power level is above 9000. Here we have a figural model of the main protagonist of the series, Goku, in his super Saiyan form. The majority of Goku’s body is fashioned out of orange slopes in a variety of types and sizes, along with tan pieces to flesh out his face and arms. Dark blue bricks and tiles help render Goku’s boots, belt, and t-shirt. The signature spiky golden super Saiyan hair is comprised of slopes and bricks in yellow. A hero factory 1×1 printed round tile is cleverly used here to portray the Kame symbol typically shown on his gi. Nobu_tary also sticks in a couple LEGO dragon wings behind Goku, paying homage to the show’s namesake. Overall it’s always great to see uncommon colors and pieces coming together for an uncommon build – I haven’t seen a ton of models based on Dragon Ball Z.

DRAGON BALL Son Goku