Posts by Jake Forbes

I can’t remember a better camera build than this Memento tribute

You won’t believe his lies your eyes when you see the details that go into this Polaroid SLR 690 from master of life-size LEGO props (and tbb alumn) Nick Jenson. This version of the iconic instant camera is a collapsable point-and-shoot model from the ’90s made famous in Christopher Nolan’s breakout film Memento. Nick is a stickler for accuracy as with all of his impressive 1:1 scaled models. The seed part that makes Nick’s model so accurate without stickers is the Polaroid tile from the film packet on the recent LEGO Ideas’ Polaroid set. Even the nylon strap is sourced from a LEGO-branded bag. To make this a proper tribute to Momento, the camera is paired with appropriately lo-fi photographs to match those in the film. Here the photos are real Polaroids, but the subjects are brick-built facimiles of Teddy and the Discount Inn from the film. At least I think they are… I can’t remember that far back. Thankfully I don’t need a tattoo to remind me when I see an amazing LEGO build like this one.

LEGO Memento (2000)

This Warhammer-inspired LEGO diorama is fast in friendship and in enmity

What do LEGO dwarves have to be resentful of? Well, elves got their own fondly remembered line, orcs featured prominently as Castle foes for a spell, and dragons appear in multiple themes and get their own zodiac calendar year. Oh, the indignity! We can’t know what animus brings motivates the dwarven king in Illia Zubashev‘s grand diorama, but chance are it involves gold, elves, or grudges. Probably all three.  Illia calls this creation The Hall of Grudges of Karak Izûm, a sacred site for dwarves of the Warhammer ilk. It’s a truly grand scene where a lone minifig king and the holy Book of Grudges are dwarfed by a hulking statue and a towering wall of brick and stone, showing the immense scale of the underground dwarven empire. Illia employs a solid mix of profile bricks, offset tiles, and SNOT work (studs not on top) in the impressive wall and floor. The chonky statue of dark grey and gold makes impressive use of 2×3 rock tiles for a chiseled beard. But perhaps the most striking element of the  scene is the diamond window of jutting trans light blue crystals.

The Hall of Grudges of Karak Izûm. Night

The evenly lit scene represents the hall at night. Even more striking is the daylight version, where light shining through the crystal window transforms the underground scene.

The Hall of Grudges of Karak Izûm. Day

Dance to your Death with Sekiro’s Corrupted Monk

LEGO and video games have proven to be a powerhouse of family-friendly fun, but combat in LEGO games is a pretty basic affair. If punishing action is more your speed, perhaps you’ve wondered what a LEGO Souls-like game would look like? If it’s anything like Marius Herrmann‘s Corrupted Monk from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it would be a beautiful game indeed!

The Corrupted Monk from "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice"

FromSoftware, makers of Elden Ring and Dark Souls, are known for their amazing enemy bosses that combine punishing difficulty with breathtaking dark fantasy character design. For many, the Corrupted Monk is the pinnacle of boss encounters, as dueling this demoness requires total mastery of the game’s robust combat system (unless you cheese the boss — no shame in that!). Marius’ model employs some incredible parts usage to capture the Monk’s haunting appearance, like the use of an inverted Ninjago Anacondrai helmet for a mouth and a frog for a nose. There are hand-strung beads made of eggs and flowers, as well as a vintage LEGO Scala pearl necklace for this classy lady of darkness. The color is striking, especially the draping tiled fabric in gold, yellow, and black. Given the vibrant colors, this is clearly the “True” version of the Corrupted Monk. Sekiro also features a spectral version of the boss, but I suspect creating a model this incredible using only translucent parts would be too punishing a challenge for even the most hardcore LEGO builder.

Are spheres the new DOTS?

LEGO DOTS brought the technique of building geometric mosaics from tiny tiles to a broader audience, and the humble 1×1 quarter circle tile was the workhorse of that line. Builder Palixa and the Bricks employs hundreds of these tiles on a particularly challenging canvas for a mosaic – a sphere! The results are beautiful from every angle, as soothing to look at as it must have been for Palixa to build.

The Sphere

This series allows Palixa to combine some of her favorite things: LEGO, mosaics, colors, and math. If the series continues, what polyhedron will she apply her tiling magic to next? A pyramid, perhaps? Personally, I’m hoping for an icosahedron.

The Cube

LEGO Nausicaä glides to a brighter future

Before co-founding Studio Ghibli and going on to win two Oscars for Best Animated Feature, it was Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind that cemented Hayao Miyazaki as Japan’s great animation auteur. Joffre Zheng pays tribute to the film with a brick-built Nausicaä on her swooshable glider racing over a herd of Ohmu as they skitter across the desert. The diorama uses forced perspective to sell how high Nausicaä soars over the titanic bugs. The use of bowed slopes to give the dust clouds a sawtoothed edge does a great job evoking Miyazaki’s style and conveying the Ohmus’ terrifying speed. As a bonus detail, Nausicaä’s glider features an LED that lights up with a button press.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

For other masterful Nausicaä models, check out these builds from Tino Poutiainen, TBB alum Iain Heath, and Alex Hui.

The stage is on fire in this heavenly KISS concert build

You don’t have to be a member of the KISS Army to lick up this sizzling concert scene from virtuoso LEGO builder Paul Hetherington. In this fantasy staging, The Starchild, The Demon, and The Spaceman shred on pedestals above lava, while The Catman owns the drums from atop a flame-spewing podium flanked by metallic demon dogs and backed by a deafening wall of speakers while Detroit Rock City burns in the background. Doesn’t get more rock and roll than that! Paul artfully blends flat typography and graphic design with a minifig vignette to create this popping poster. (It’s a technique he’s used before, including in this TBB favorite golden age batman masterpiece). I find the use of color particularly striking, with flame shafts and geometric brick-built lava matching the KISS logo. While there are few visible LEGO studs on the stage itself, Paul uses an enviable amount of silver-grey elements to mimic the band’s studded leather look in the design. The custom minifigs come courtesy of Big Kid Brix. And is that a Bionicle Kanoka Disk hiding behind The Catman? If you love your LEGO loud, you’ve got nothin’ to lose revisiting Paul’s classic black diamond builds.

The Hottest Band in the World...KISS!

A gilded chapel for repentant pirates

The LEGO Pirates theme might not have the range of sets that we’ve seen in City, Space, and Castle, but for many AFOLs, the Pirates flame still burns as bright as Captain Redbeard’s chin whiskers. For several years now, builder Marcin Dski (Sleepless Night) has been expanding on an original series of dockside modular buildings that bring to life the Golden Age of Piracy in stunning detail, and their latest addition is this majestic chapel. The façade features some attractive use of gold elements for detail work, but my favorite section has to be the powder dome, ribbed with flex tubes and cupola. Sleepless Night’s modular pirate journey started with a re-imagining of their favorite classic set, Lagoon Lock-Up. From there, they added Captain Redbeard’s mansion and a custom house, and now this lovely chapel to tempt freebooters with its golden façade. Here at TBB we are excited to see what other historic additions Sleepless Nights adds to this bootyful tableau.

Chapel from the Golden Age of Piracy

An artist’s journey in full bloom

As a three-time member of the LEGO Ideas 10K club with some of the most stunning modular buildings we’ve ever seen, Jiwoo Seon has become something of a celebrity in the LEGO community. But those past works didn’t prepare us for her latest masterpiece: a gallery-ready floral artwork built for the (now-concluded) Create Your Own Exhibition contest. Overture of Blossoms: Journey to Freedom is the builder’s most personal work to date.

Overture of Blossoms : Journey to Freedom⠀

Click for more details of Jiwoo’s floral masterpiece!

Our princess is in this castle, Mario!

We’ve seen some amazing LEGO microscale builds this month thanks to the Marchitecture contest. Matthias Bartsch jumps into the game with a delightful and instantly recognizable recreation of Peach’s Castle from Super Mario 64. A version of the castle appears in the official Super Mario 64 Question Block set, but Matthias’ take greatly expands on the homage with gorgeous landscaping, a larger interior and careful fidelity to the beloved in-game design. Mathias leverages the printed tiles from the official LEGO set but finds clever solutions of his own for details like the micro warp pipe, here represented with a technic pin, and poofy trees made from ice cream toppers.

LEGO Peach's Castle 2

The roof lifts off to reveal the castle’s interior, with a tiled floor and tiny staircase.

LEGO Peach's Castle (interior 1)

Building Scrabble words with tile-built tiles

Squint and you might think the only thing LEGO about this elegant build from Galarie d’Antha is the word spelled across the tile rack. Antha created these giant-sized scrabble tiles for a typography challenge at the BrickPirate forum (a venerable haven for francophone builders). As a Scrabble player with no less than four sets in my collection, I appreciate the classic wooden tray design with the little lip for holding the tiles upright, and the tiles look so real I can practically feel my hand rummaging through a bag of them. Of course, my Scrabble brain looks at those sets of letters and screams that brand names are not legal plays, and HOLE or HOG would both be worth more points. And even if you could play LEGO legally, my AFOL brain bristles at the idea of someone trying to pluralize it with an S. You know what’s a great Scrabble word? BRICK. 13 points, or 36 points on your first play.

Giant Scrabble - One word to win

The grass is sand greener at the Black Raven Inn

When Black Falcon knights need room and board between tracking down bounties on Wolfpack hooligans, where better to stay than Ben Cossy‘s beautiful Black Raven Inn? Ben’s latest medieval LEGO build innovates on classic half-timbered designs. I especially apprecaite the mix of white bricks with tan and sun-yellowed white to give the plastered walls a weathered look, constrasted with the dark brown timbers. For the foundation, Ben plays with a new technique of offset stacks of 1×1 tiles clipped to tubes. While the building is striking on its own, the sand green landscaping and voluminous trees really sell the scene.

The Black Raven Inn

For details how how he pulled off that unique foundation and to hear what inspired this amazing build, watch and listen as Ben guides you through the process.

If you, like us, give this inn a ten, then consider revisiting Ben’s past models featured on TBB.

Barcelona’s most iconic casa is anything but gaudy

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.Casa Batlló