Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Fabulous LEGO Cloud Nine Car from an old smoothie

Stewart Lamb Cromar‘s Star Wars x Fabuland mashups have been viral sensations and appeared at LEGO shops and conventions, but his latest creation the Cloud Nine Car, was created for a much smaller audience. The adorable build, made from vintage parts and presented in custom packaging, was a wedding gift for friends. Stewart originally designed the pods using yellow Fabuland boat hulls to match the theme’s iconic red, yellow, and blue color scheme, but ultimately swapped them for red to better match the source material. Whether in smaller sets like the Fabulandspeeder, or on the massive scale of the Tie Bungalow Hanger, Stewart’s builds always deliver smiles.

Should you find yourself in Billund, Stewart’s work can currently be found at LEGO House where his Fabuland paddle steamer recently joined the World Explorers experience.

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Sci-fi LEGO train sets a course for Creations for Charity

Some people imagine a future where everyone has their own flying car. I’d much rather live in a world where everyone has access to reliable and affordable flying public transportation! Like a train pulled by LEGO builder Daniel Barwegen‘s Space Train engine. I love how Daniel blends sci-fi repulsors with the look of a modern electric commuter train. The color blocking is sharp, using triangular tiles to create diagonal stripes. A piston rod amongst the thrusters is a fun nod to tradition.

While Daniel’s train deserves celebrating for craft alone, it’s also on its way to the Creations for Charity shop. From October 15 through November 30th, donated models can be purchased with all proceeds going towards providing LEGO bricks to hospitals, shelters, and schools in underserved areas. It’s a great way for fans and collectors to give back and inspire a new generation of builders and creators.

Dr. Robotnik sends Sonic scrambling with his epic Eggscruciator mech

After multiple waves of LEGO Sonic playsets, poor Dr. Robotnik must be getting pretty sick of the blue hedgehog and his pals smashing his ingenious machines. With an epic assist from builder Zane Houston, Robotnik is back with a towering LEGO spider mech guaranteed to stop the blue blur in his tracks. Revealed at Brickworld Chicago, where it was awarded Best Mecha Creation, Zane’s Eggscruciator mech was assembled over 7 months and hundreds of hours from many thousands of bricks (including three Rock Raider drills!). It’s an incredible accomplishment, not just for the character design, but for the pixel-perfect 16 bit terrain.

Grab a gold ring and spin dash under the fold for more pics and designer insights!

Allow me to break the ice

Inspired to make a mech to pair with the recent Ice Planet collectible minifigure, Theo Bonner understood the assignment. Classic colors – blue, white, and black. Windscreen in trans neon orange. And of course, chainsaw, CHAINSAW, CHAINSAW! Theo expands the color range to allow for silver crampons on the mech’s feet. I like the projectile used as a heftier antenna to match the mech’s bulk. But the standout feature here is that chainsaw, perfect for tunnelating, making mech-scale igloos, or traveling back in time to save the Titanic from the iceberg. (This isn’t Theo’s first chainsaw mech rodeo.)

When he’s not making sick chainsaws, Theo is a designer at The LEGO Group where he recently collaborated on LEGO Icons Botanical Collection 10369 Plum Blossom and LEGO Icons Botanical Collection 10368 Chrysanthemum. Perhaps his mechs helped with the pruning?

From collectible minifig to majestic model, this Aarakocran Ranger soars

Ever since the release of LEGO Dungeons & Dragons Collectible Minifigures 71047, builders and role-players have been celebrating the mix of new fantasy elements to play with. While the figures are great out of the box, D&D has always been about making your own characters. Some builders prefer to stick to minifig scale for their custom creations, but Mitch Phillips always goes big. Mixing Bionicle, Constraction, and System parts, Mitch’s Aarakocran Ranger strikes the perfect balance of fluffy and and fierce.

There are many great techniques to appreciate, from the intense eyes crafted from nested ninja scarves to the lush wings to the excellent sword brooch. If you’re curious about how an expert goes about designing articulated characters like this, Mitch generously breaks down his process in a video. MitchBuild walkthroughs are among the best resources available for understanding how to integrate disparate LEGO parts.

This isn’t Mitch’s first D&D ranger character. During the 2024 Bio-Cup, he rolled a critical hit with this Dragonborn Ranger.

A saintly LEGO interlude in Venice

Barthezz Brick returns to Venice and the world of Assassin’s Creed 2 with another epic diorama of Renaissance life in LEGO. Last time, Barthezz created markets, military towers, and a bustling harbor out of 250,000 bricks. For this epic encore, Barthezz focuses on a single building, but what a heavenly building it is. And of course, the diorama is bursting with character moments and amazing details.

The centerpiece church looks great with a white marble foundation and grey accents. Boomerangs and hockey sticks make for unexpected details in the church’s ornate stonework. In front of the church stands an angelic fountain, one of a handful of elements that Barthezz brought over from the last build. I love the mosaic under the fountain, incorporating cut-out tiles. We can also start to appreciate the many stories transpiring beneath the assassin’s watchful eyes, like the out-of-work builder who is about to lose his lunch to a hungry gull and a pig herder, leaving behind some stinky surprises.

Synchronize with the Animus to explore more of Renaissance Venice!

The Zero Suit Samus of Eero’s DREAMZzz

Legendary LEGO character builder Eero Okkonen has a new side hustle reviewing sets for New Elementary where he puts new parts through the paces in a companion MOC. Hot on the bright light orange heels of his Simba-based Keetongu, Eero celebrates shades of blue with an amazing Zero Suit Samus from Metroid: Other M. The seed parts this time come from a pair of DREAMZzz sets, specifically the 3×3 maxi macaroni tubes in blue found in 71480 Logan the Mighty Panda.

Eero’s goal was to integrate the tubes into larger shapes, and he definitely succeeded, with a curvy torso that makes you forget you’re looking at LEGO. Samus’ fingers also come from Mighty Panda; the reversed trigger finger looks exceptionally cool. Eero is not a fan of building guns, but for Samus’ sidearm, he makes an exception, beautifully integrating Power Miner armor into the barrel. As we’ve come to expect from Eero’s models, the color blocking is second to none (I love the tiniest hint of blue in the eyes). Longtime fans of Eero’s work might remember his earlier takes on Zero Suit Samus using Bionicle parts, first in 2013 and later in 2015, as well as Samus in her iconic Power Suit. While still impressive in their own way, it’s amazing to see what a decade of practice and a wider palette of bricks makes possible for an artist and Masterpiece Gallery alumn like Eero.

Starfighter or bomber? Y not both?

At the Battle of Yavin, it was the brave pilots of Gold Squadron in their Y-Wing starfighters who made the first trench run in an attempt to blow up the Death Star. Even if those ships failed in their mission (thanks, Darth Vader), they live on in our hearts and, courtesy of builders like talego, in our LEGO bricks. talego’s take on the iconic Star Wars vehicle is one of the best we’ve seen, preserving the detail reserved for a UCS ship but at minifig scale. The greebling is out of this world, but the color blocking on the cockpit is just as impressive. For the support pylons, talego employs vintage rails, all the better to stay on target. With the care that went into this model’s creation, it’s no surprise that the Y-Wing is talego’s favorite ship.

Fallout boys create Panic! at the vault door

Fallout wrapped its first season on TV, and a Fallout 5 game is still years off, but the post-apocalyptic world of Vault Dwellers and Nuka Cola lives on thanks to fans like Cube Brick who spent 8 months bringing the beloved universe to life in LEGO. The scene depicts a Raider camp built on the doorstep of Vault 27 in the Mojave Wasteland from wood scraps and rusty refuse. Cube Brick’s diorama is packed to the ghouls with incredible details lifted from recent games, while also sporting some innovative techniques to bring the wasteland to life.

Suit up and venture into the Wasteland for a close-up look and more surprises!

How the West was fun in LEGO

Fort Legoredo, biggest set of the 1996 Western theme, had all the qualities of a great LEGO castle, only trading grey stone for brand new log bricks in brown and swapping knights with cowboys and soldiers. It was a remarkable set, the first that I bought in multiples as a parts pack, and so iconic that LEGO re-released it in 2002. Evan Crouch, one of our favorite builders of historical MOCs, rolls out the welcome wagon with his take on a Western Stockade Fortress. While not a direct remake of Fort Legoredo, Evan’s base uses elements from the classic set to build at a more accurate scale with wonderful detail and technique. Brick yellow cones atop the log bricks give the palisades a rough-hewn look. The headquarters takes advantage of white log bricks, not available at the time, for a painted log cabin. The terrain texture is wonderful, especially the tan ruts in the road from wagon wheels. And instead of just decorative bullhorns, Evan’s fort features a whole longhorn skull over the gate.

While historical themes shows up in Architecture, Collectible Minifigures, and Ideas, it’s been quite a while since LEGO looked to history for a full play line. Would you hitch your wagon to the Western theme again, or is there another historical period you’d rather see explored in bricks?

Mini LEGO centaur isn’t horsin’ around

Kamil Karpiński is a master at working minifig parts and accessories into complex creatures bursting with personality. As much as we loved Kamil’s Aarakocrans, this centaur druid is a contender for his most impressive figure yet. While LEGO has made a molded centaur body before, Kamil’s brick-built solution offers more realistic proportions and posability. Using the head and hairpiece of Beorn from the LEGO Hobbit line brings appropriate animal rage to the build. Packing in around 100 elements, the centuar might be mini in stature but it’s a major building feat.

Move over Mario, mini mascot Astro Bot is here to play with LEGO

Nintendo has Mario. SEGA has Sonic. LEGO fans can build with both! Playstation has had its share of platforming mascots over the years, from Crash Bandicoot to Spyro the Dragon, but they didn’t stay exclusive or endure. But now Sony’s throwing its hat into the mascot ring again with Astro Bot, the adorable platforming robot who celebrates all things Playstation. Builder and gamer dad curtydc pays tribute to the bot in LEGO form and the results are pixel-perfect. From TV head to thruster toes, curtydc captures Astro’s adorable energy. My favorite detail and building technique is found in the stand where three frayed cables are created from macaroni tubes filled with brown stems. Simple yet effective, and instantly recognizable to fans of Astro’s games.