Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

LEGO seen through a glass, darkly

The artful LEGO creations of Mattia Careddu are more than they first appear to be. Two forms stand on opposite sites of a mirror – an elegant robot and a black fantasy monstrosity. Which is truth and which an illusion? Mattia’s build is striking, both as three separate models and as an evocatively staged tableau. I love the retro robot with a slight tip to its head. The mirror frame is simple but effective, especially at this large scale. But it’s that shocking red background contrasting with the sand green and inky black that turns the scene into dreamy technicolor phantasmagoria.

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Warning! Dungeons & Dragons can be habit(at) forming

For many LEGO fans, each new series of Collectible Minifigures is a creativity prompt to assemble minifig habitats to house each character, and one of the most prolific and inspired of these builders is ABrickDreamer. The latest Dungeons and Dragons series of minifigs is arguably the hottest set to date, with each character bringing deep lore and delightful accessories to inspire habitat builders. Let’s take a look at ABrickDreamer’s take with 12 fantastic habitats!

The Dragonborn Paladin lead the pack housed in an elegant castle courtyard with a lovely double archway. The Dwarf Barbarian camps atop a mountain pass, joined by a goat to match her gruff demeanor. The Mind Flayer and its Intellect Devourers suck life from a deep dungeon. Minifig habitats follow a few basic rules – the base should be 8×8 studs,and the walls 8 bricks high, offset halfway by a stud to help them interlock. Often the best habitats, like those of ABrickDreamer, bend the rules with elements that spill outside the rigid form, as we see with the Dragonborn’s tower and the Dwarf’s rocky terrain. My favorite technique of this trio is the repurposing of the printed baseplates on the wall behind the Mind Flayer.

Next up: a trio of named villains. Witch queen Tasha laughs hideously in her workshop. Strahd poors a glass of “I don’t drink wine” while chilling on his throne, while next door Szazz Tam performs a ritual with whatever it is Strahd is drinking. Szazz’s habitat is the standout here, with blood that refuses to be contained by the 8×8 grid, and once again printed base-paints serve as a backdrop, in this case the starry ones from the Series 26 Space collection.

Delve deeper for a peek at the other 6 D&D habitats!

“Gila” mobile mining mech is a monster of LEGO engineering

Do your off-world ambitions require taming unforgiving alien terrain? Then Iron Builder Industries has you covered with the Gila Mobile Mining Mech! Designed by chief engineer Duncan Lindbo, the Gila is built for Logistical Excavation & Geoengineering Operations (“LEGO” for short). The excavator buckets are made of virtually indestructible keetorange from the far end of the Unikitty system. Not convinced this mech can get the job done? See the excavator in action!

I think this spaceship knows which way to go

You can play, read about, and make video games every day and still it’s impossible to keep up with everything coming out. Case in point, I had never heard of space flight sim Flight of Nova until seeing this LEGO version of the game’s CF2 shuttle from builder cixpack. In the game, the VTOL CF2 is simple to fly, but creating these angles in LEGO is no easy task! The ship design feels very NASA adjacent, resembling proposed space planes that could be bringing Astronauts home within our lifetimes. Somehow cixpack’s sci-fi builds have flown under our radars for years, but they’re definitely worthy of your attention.

You have OneShot to appreciate this LEGO Niko

You don’t have to have played the cult hit indie game OneShot to appreciate this LEGO tribute to starring cat Niko by Dylan Mievis. It’s a great character model with a flat face in the style of chibi builds, with great shaping of the cat-kid’s oversized coat and scarf. If you’ve played the game, then you’ll know that keeping Niko safe is the player’s near-impossible duty, and Dylan captures the character’s vulnerability perfectly in brick form. Those big eyes borrowed from the Nightmare Shark Ship definitely help.

Dylan is no stranger to indie gaming builds, having shared amzing tributes to Hollow Knight and Shovel Knight. And as a shameless plug: getting back into building, I recently paid tribute to my favorite indie game of the moment, Tactical Breach Wizards!

Rocket, yeah, satellite of LEGO

For Classic Space fans, 6950 Mobile Rocket Transport is up there with 497 Galaxy Explorer as one of the all time great LEGO sets. It packed in rockets, radar, chonky wheels, a unique trans yellow cockpit, and loads of play potential for aspiring astronauts. Jan Schönherr-Wacker (with the amazing handle Fiftyshadesofbley) makes their debut with a stellar reimagining of the classic set, putting as much care into preserving the set’s character as LEGO did with the Galaxy Explorer update.

Like the best Neo-Classic Space builds, Jan sticks to classic colors while drawing on a much deeper bench of parts and adding plenty of greebles. The upgraded wheels come from Chima/Ninjago sets. The radar dish is replaced with a trio of hexagonal flags that can bloom into place. The simple hinge lift of the original is redesigned using Technic parts to support the much heavier rocket. Jan tops off the build with a custom-printed 6950 brick to pay tribute to the original’s serial number. It’s a great debut and we’re excited to see what Jan builds next!

A stately villa for the Dragon Knights (and their goats)

During LEGO’s 2010 Castle revival, Kingdoms, the Dragon Knights got a whole new look with earth green tabards and a new crest. The faction was also framed as overtly villainous, focusing on prisons and siege weapons. Builder Tom Studs prefers to imagine that the Dragon Kingdom isn’t all about oppression and scheming and that their knights deserve a charming chateau. Tom’s seed part for the striking tower roof design was inspired by a previous Iron Builder challenge with the teal cylinder. The manor roof, made up of 1×1 round tiles, is gorgeous and apparently held in place by Majisto’s magic. Great castle techniques abound, from the round SNOT tower design to the lovely weathered brickwork to the clever lattice window made of interlocking brackets. Of course, the villa is also home to the pair of goats “liberated” during the Mill Village Raid.

Heavenly clockwork mech glistens in LEGO gold

Gold LEGO elements in LEGO aren’t nearly as rare as they used to be, but the mix of shapes available still makes it quite tricky to use it as the dominant color in a model. Builder Yakin Xipe, a member of the Mexico RLUG community, shares a mech in mostly gold that looks truly divine. The halo ring and feathered wings give seraphic vibes, but the red skull in the ring and the mech’s name, Sister Sorrow, suggest a fall from grace. Or perhaps she’s auditioning to be a boss in the next FromSoftware game.

Yakim is quite a prolific mech designer thanks to a custom frame used to scaffold most builds. I might have to try this techique myself!

We adore Jayfa’s smashing pumpkin dragon in LEGO

Usually, a ripe pumpkin invites you to carve its flesh to make a Jack-o-Lantern, but Joss Ivanwood‘s pumpkin creation needs no help in creating a scary face and it looks poised to carve you up if you get too close! Draconis Cucurbita is the 10th entry in Joss’ Year of the Dragon series of monthly LEGO builds and it’s one of his best. Big macaroni tubes are the star elements here, supplying the ribbed pumpkin bodies – a wonderful technique, with bananas filling in the gaps – and the snaking neck and legs. The long vine-like tail is especially effective at evoking a pumpkin patch. With only two dragons left in the project, we can’t wait to see where Joss will draw inspiration from next!

Did somebody order an Uber to Deadwood?

Builder Ghost Hunter Gunn‘s vehicle game is strong. When it comes to old-timey roadsters, sci-fi dragsters, and steampunk whirligigs, Gunn is a LEGO ace. Turns out this Gunn doesn’t miss when he sets his sights on Old West conveyances either, as this LEGO stagecoach is a thing of beauty. The design owes a lot to the Lone Ranger Stagecoach Escape (one of our favorite Western sets), even using the same printed tiles, but fixing the scale with a tighter and sleeker package where every brick counts. The red carriage in particular uses some great SNOT techniques for the clean lines and curves that we’ve come to expect from Gunn’s vehicles, and the perfect minifigs capture the cutthroat spirit of the Wild West.

Is there room in your X-Mansion for the Master of Magnetism’s throne?

Magneto was right – a lot of people have been saying it. Even Professor X saw fit to hand over his X-Men to Magnus in the event of his death (or engagement to a space empress). LEGO builder and Marvel fan flambo14 shows their pro-Magneto stripes, creating a throne from a dismembered Sentinel hand for the the Master of Magnetism. Flambo14 creates artfully arranged chaos with a mix of scrap metal parts for the raised dais, held in place not by magnetism, but by tension and cleverly concealed LEGO connections. It’s the perfect display piece for Marvel’s most magnetic personality. But good luck fitting that throne into the X-Mansion, bub.

New November 2024 LEGO sets now available: X-Mansion & Botanical Garden [News]

November sees the release of two of the year’s most anticipated LEGO sets: LEGO Marvel 76294 X-Men: The X-Mansion and LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden. Each set is paired with an exclusive gift-with-purchase during the first week of availability. This is also your chance to acquire a copy of the GWP LEGO 40698 Books Are My Passion, while supplies last. For full details on November’s sets, visit LEGO’s website (US | CAN | UK).

Take a closer look at November’s heavy-hitters and GWPs here!