Creating a compelling LEGO model with just 30 bricks is tougher than it sounds. Gregory Coquelz is a wiz at making every brick count. There’s so much personality packed into these micro-build dogs hawking black-market bones. Their faces come courtesy of Dots, but it’s the ears and the black bands for eyes/sunglasses that make them come alive.
Gregory has been on a roll with cartoony characters of late, including this M-rated tribute that hopefully won’t get the builder cancelled.
Ever since LEGO transported the Castle theme to medieval Japan in the ’90s, samurai have inspired countless LEGO builds. artist_davs pays tribute to perhaps the most famous samurai of all, Miyamoto Musashi, in an incredible LEGO vignette that looks more like a museum diorama than a model built from bricks. Musashi, the famous duelist and philosopher, is uses a minifig head and a cloth-covered brick-built body for realistic proportions.
Musashi’s armor is as impressive as the man himself, incorporating cloth and string. The tatami floor, made from profile bricks laid on their side, is artfully raised a half tile above the floor. If you’re wondering where the kanji scroll comes from, it’s a sticker from the Hanzo vs Genji set and reads “Dragon Head, Snake Tail.” I don’t think that comes from the Book of Five Rings, but it makes sense that Musashi would display it as he was famously fond of playing Overwatch.
I’m in Billund this week, representing The Brothers Brick at Fan Media Days, where we’re lucky to get an inside look at what projects LEGO is cooking up for the months to come. As cool as those sneak peeks are, a highlight of this experience has been the chance to see the MOCs on display in the LEGO employee campus, especially The Great Turtle Race by Ghaniaian/Canadian artist Ekow Nimakow. I’ve admired pictures of Nimakow’s work online, with the unmistakable use of black bricks to create large-scale models embodying the spirit of Afrofuturism. Still, pictures didn’t prepare me for seeing the artist’s work in person.
The sculptures are massive, but that alone isn’t noteworthy in Billund where you’re surrounded by large-scale brick installations designed to inspire and delight. It’s the non-system elements, like the Technic plates used for the turtle shells, used at such a large scale that seamless curves emerge. Thousands of feather elements in the fins are layered to create a texture between animal scale and brush stroke. The feeling of motion in the children’s locks stirs the spirit.
more of Nimakow’s work follows
When LEGO goth queen Pernilla Johansson (legonillan) shows up with her sigfig, you know things are about to get spooky! The Swedish builder found a lot to love about the recent Beauty and the Beast Castle, but the lilac and gold simply would not do for Pernilla’s coterie of vampires and ghouls. In Extreme Makeover: LEGO Home Edition fashion, Pernilla strips the castle down to the studs and paints it black.
Of course, a project like this is too big for one minifig, so legonillan invites a few sigfig friends to help out with the remodel. Even some hitchhiking ghosts get into the spirit of things.
Pernilla matches the original castle nearly brick-for-brick, while adding additional flourishes like bats and spooky foliage. It’s a great example of the joy that comes from treating official sets as a jumping off point for creativity.
Greebles are famously the extraneous bits added to the outside of a model to add texture. Builder Aidan Webb dares to ask, what if a model were nothing but greebles? The Wasteland Strider is inspired by the mechanical wildlife of the Horizon games, with Aidan exploring what a creature might look like if its rider was constantly scavenging for parts to keep the mount functional.
A work-in-progress look at the build process reveals how precariously assembled the Strider is – a barely contained skeleton of clips and minifig arms. As fragile as the beast appears, Aidan managed to wrangle it into a rideable state for a desert nomad and their supplies. It’s an incredible amount of detail for such a compact creature.
In the United States, the fourth Saturday in September is National Public Lands Day – a day of service and celebration for the stewardship of public lands, from community gardens to national parks. It’s a day to give back as well as a chance to visit any of the county’s national parks for free. If you’re in the US, consider visiting a park this Saturday or reflecting on how to steward nature and resources for tomorrow.
Let’s also celebrate the amazing LEGO Park Ranger account, celebrating 10 years of sharing daily builds inspired by America’s parks and history.
Enjoy more highlights from the LEGO Park Ranger below
LEGO bricks may be rigid and angular, but somehow Sophie manages to make them look like watercolors in this incredible island villa. The house is charming with surprisingly intricate brickwork used for the plastered white walls and thin brown frame making the subtly shaped windows and door pop. The landscaping is so soothing with the mix of sand green and nougat. Custom lighting elements make the scenic villa even more inviting. TFOL Sophie only just started sharing builds this summer. Be sure to follow her on Instagram to see what she builds next!
With LEGO releasing so many large-scale sets of late, many builders have taken to crafting “the version I can afford” micro-sized alternatives.
Joe Lam has made a few such tiny builds lately. We loved his mini Balrog Book Nook, but this chibi Going Merry from One Piece might be his cutest microbuild yet. The cornice piece is too perfect for the curled goat horns on the figurehead, and the Straw Hat Jolly Roger is instantly recognizable from a few tiny parts.
![［LEGO] One Piece - Micro Going Merry](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54713558330_97a47fba0e_b.jpg)
Meanwhile, Dicken Liu takes a break from creating alt-build Aliens to shrink the Black Pearl, excuse me “Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship,” down to a more manageable size. The official set is one of our favorite builds this year, but it’s good to know you can still capture the ship’s magic even if you don’t have the booty to buy the full-size model.
The much-anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong is out and inspiring more builders to create LEGO models of Team Cherry’s beautiful insectoid world. Brickbot_studio came in early with a build of protagonist Hornet done in his signature brickbot style. The MVP element are the claw modules used for Hornet’s antennae and pointed feet, but Brennen’s secret weapons are the uncannily perfect stickers used for Hornet’s eyes, taken from the Koenigsegg Jesko Speed Champions set.
With so many incredible new bosses and locations, I’m sure we’ll see many more Silksong builds in the months to come.
After a two-year building hiatus, Turkish AFOL Metin Delikurt returns with his most ambitious creation to date – a sprawling diorama of a town beset by zombies. Featuring eight full-size buildings in varying states of decay, multiple vehicles, and dozens of zombies and survivors, its a truly epic LEGO look at a world where the dead rise.
In the past, the builder focused on historical settings, such as the age of piracy or the Old West. For this project, Metin wanted to challenge himself to explore a more modern world, and he proves every bit as adept. Buildings are close to Modular scale, but Metin sticks to earthier tones and more intricate brickwork, the better to showcase the cracks and overgrowth of a world in decline.
Taking your work home with you isn’t always the best idea, but that’s especially true if you work as a Labor and Delivery nurse. Story Brick finds a loophole in LEGO and recreates her workplace in bricks. The builder recreates all of the equipment and essential tools of the delivery trade – I love all the spare gloves ready for the staff. LEGO has released a number of hospitals as part of the city line, but it’s a theme that has yet to make its way into an adult set. Would you want a hospital or clinic to add to your modular city?
Ten years ago this week, Toby Fox’s pixel adventure Undertale released, creating a stir in the gaming world with its beloved characters, haunting music, inversions of video game tropes, and a profound sense of empathy. A trio of fans expressed their appreciation for the game in LEGO in a charming collab.
gcbricks creates Frisk, Papyrus, and Sans as minifigs. The characters use all LEGO parts, but this custom minifig creator uses knife, glue, and eraser as part of their craft.
lego_brickey assembles Mettaton, the robot with a SOUL. Minifig arms make great cartoony fingers for this entertainment bot turned anti-human boss.
Lastly, snom_nom sculpts a beautiful render for a custom Asriel head. Undertale, and its follow-up Deltarune, made a profound impact on the builder’s life. Her tribute to Deltarune on the Ideas platform is currently under review.
For more tributes to Toby Fox’s game, check out our Undertale archives.