Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Amazing LEGO big rig delivers the goods

Keep your Mustangs and your Harley-Davidsons. For me, nothing captures the spirit of the American road like a semi-truck. German LEGO builder Eugen Sellin pays tribute to the American freight truck with a gorgeous diorama that pairs his highly detailed vehicle design with an enormous warehouse. The truck is built in the 9-wide* scale of newer Speed Champion sets, which allows for smooth lines and great detail in both the cab and the freight pallets being pulled (love those Octan cylinders). The warehouse is just as impressive, elevating a simple box design with wonderful textures, great use of color, an asymmetrical base, and attention to detail from the ventilation units to the papered-over windows. I especially appreciate the care taken to the road and concrete barriers. Even in the face of infrastructural decline, blue-collar workers keep on truckin’.

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You can lead a horse to water in LEGO

There’s a truism among artists that horses are impossible to draw. In life and imagination, they’re majestic beasts, but as soon as you try to recreate that unique form, the proportions are all off. Capturing a horse’s distinctive majesty is doubly difficult in LEGO, but brick artist Vincent Kiew stepped up to the challenge with a splendid steed drinking from a stream. Vincent nails the horse’s muscular build with excellent shaping from head to hocks. Samurai helmets make for a very clever solution for the horse’s hooves. A detailed patch of meadow rounds out the scene with lovely flowers, brush, and ladybugs adding to the pastoral beauty.

LEGO-built Dungeons & Dragon idol summons tabletop nostalgia

Before Tieflings or Githyanki, before Strahd took his first bite or Tasha so much as hideously chuckled, there was the Advanced D&D Player’s Handbook adorned with a red demon idol with jewel eyes who sparked the imaginations of a million young adventurers. Derek Bourgeois pays tribute to the OG D&D icon with a LEGO model of D.A. Trampier‘s classic illustration. Derek deftly captures the mix of menace and grandeur in the demonic statue, putting macaroni tubes to good use as fingers that clutch the flaming brazier. Third-party lighting elements make the flames dance for extra dungeon ambiance. Those jeweled eyes look quite tempting for treasure hunters. Perhaps a party of heroes from the new Dungeons & Dragons Collectible Minifigures will attempt to pry them free.

This LEGO troll means serious business

Is it a coincidence that Steven Wayne Howard shared this spectacular LEGO troll bust on the same day that World of Warcraft unleashed The War Within? Even though Steven isn’t a WoW player, his Day-Glo-colored troll, Ves’Panak, has so much personality that it has me itching to roll a new Zandalari Troll of my own. Steven was inspired to create this troll in light royal blue after acquiring a copy of LEGO Creator Expert 10298 Vespa 125, and only parts from that set are used for the blue skin. NPU (Nice Parts Usage) abounds throughout the build, from the dragon wing mohawk, dino tail tusks, frog teeth, and Banshee wing torso. My favorite element has to be the dark grey skulls, accented with orange eyes, teeth, and tusks.

This isn’t Steven’s first Horde-inspired fantasy bust, and hopefully, it won’t be his last. Perhaps a Tauren next?

Midnight sweet train brings holiday cheer in LEGO

It’s not even Halloween, but some folk are already pining for a winter wonderland. Christmas comes early in LEGO courtesy of Eann McCurdy (Miscellanabuilds) whose delightful midnight train scene is both cozy and clever in design. As his eighth and final entry in the latest Iron Builder competition against Geneva D, Eann incorporates the required red cauldron in the engine’s boiler. The pileup of snow in front of the train is a perfect mix of parts, including ice cream, hoods, and a frog. I especially love the forced perspective created by snow-capped trees at two scales. A tiny red byplane appears in the background, referencing Geneva’s prior Red Baron entry.

As if the brilliant train weren’t a grand enough finale, Eann prints the scene as a postcard for a bonus build that amps up the holiday spirit. Candles, Chrismas lights, and candies show off an abundance of red cauldrons. Dr. Strange capes make a sweet appearance as candy wrappers. Decorated gingerbread is the icing on the ~~cake~~ cookies.

Should any of ye be wishin’ ta beg for mercy, Captain Hutt will hear yer pleas

Any fan of pirate history knows the legend of the Jade Eye’s Return, and how young Duke Wavewalker and his ragtag crew fell into the hands of the nefarious Captain Hutt while fleeing the Imperial armada. Joe (jnj_bricks) pays tribute in LEGO to the memorable scene on the shoals of Cancun where Duke and crew were taken by skiff to the all-meaty shark pit. Joe’s clever mash-up was made for a challenge to blend Star Wars with history, so taking the plank-walking Sarclaac scene back to the golden age of pirates is a perfect fit. The skiff’s brick-built hull is a lovely design and Joe’s technique for partially submerged sharks is brilliant, nesting the upper jaw over a grey dome and using triangular tiles for the dorsal fins. What sells the scene is the excellent remix of minifigs. Of course, pirate Chewie would use Hagrid’s beard.

Take a Minecraft Warped Forest tour in LEGO for alternative rocks

In the Minecraft gaming world, player mods push the game’s visuals to new heights. In the LEGO community, builders like Michał Kozłowski (Edge of Bricks) similarly add AFOL innovation to the Minecraft theme and the results are truly next-gen. Michał’s ornate take on this Nether biome is night-and-day different from the official LEGO interpretation. Tooth plates make for excellent weeping vines on the fungal “trees.” Most impressive is Michał’s pixelated lava, which mixes solid and transparent orange elements and looks amazing when lit up with a third-party lighting kit.

Michał goes into detail on his LEGO Minecraft techniques on youtube, including his clever take on the Nether Portal.

Thai-style church gets the LEGO architecture treatment

While the LEGO Group may have only just released the first set based on a house of worship with 21061 Notre-Dame de Paris, churches have long been a popular theme for adult builders, whether coming from an interest in architecture, history, or faith. Inspired by a recent trip to Thailand, builder Anne Mette Vestergård recreates a landmark church very different from the cathedrals and chapels more often seen in LEGO: the Holy Redeemer Church of Bangkok. Built in 1954, the church is built in the style of traditional Thai temples, with square columns, stacked gables, enameled tiles, and decorative chofa along the roof edges. Anne Mette does a phenomenal job recreating the details in miniature, down to the microscale cars out front. Unikitty tails in white integrate surprisingly well as a Thai-style flourish. But it’s that colorful tile roof in the distinct Thai palette that makes the church sublime.

Danish builder Anne Mette creates large-scale architectural models professionally, mostly at minifig scale, for public viewing. Whether you’re interested in Nordic history, theme parks, or LEGo as a medium to explore current events, her works are well worth checking out.

LEGO Megazord is a Mighty Morphin’ Masterpiece

Move over LEGO Voltron, there’s a new combining mecha king in town and the power is on their side. Builder Moko has been impressing us for nearly 20 years with LEGO mechs that mix style with unmatched play function. Moko’s latest masterwork will be instantly familiar to any ’90s kids and sentai fans: the Megazord from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger in Japan). Moko recreates each of the five Dinozords that transform and combine with functionality to rival the best mech toys around.

Standing 18″ (46cm) tall, the Megazord falls between the heights of Voltron and the Hulkbuster. It’s remarkable how much articulation and detail Moko achieves at this scale while also achieving a studs-free look. The model is also impressively sturdy in all three forms, with joints that allow it to hold dynamic poses. It’s easier to fully appreciate Moko’s craft by seeing the model posed and transformed in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPreAwpI-h0?si=BQ2RBd_-xhYf6B2k

Go, go power on for more pics of Moko’s Megazord! !

Tommy in the trenches on the Western Front

During the First World War, an explosion in the rate and range of weapons fire made field warfare a last resort. Trenches provided a modicum of safety for soldiers on the Western Front but at the cost of a drawn-out war of attrition. Historical builder The Halls of Montezuma honors the British soldiers who gave their lives in the Great War with a vignette of trench life in LEGO. The scene takes place near Ovillers in northern France, which Montezuma recreates with excellent brick-built terrain that mixes light tan and white bricks to depict the region’s chalky soil. Densely packed carrot tops make for beautiful grass, with snaking foliage in dark green giving extra texture to the scene.

Military history buffs will find many models to appreciate in The Halls of Montezuma’s collection, as well as in TBB’s own WWI archive.

Wondrous music box castle spins right ’round, baby

As just an example of medieval architecture in LEGO, this castle model from builder Feanor001 would be worth heralding, but the creation is so much more. The round diorama tells a story in four acts, brought to life with motor functions and music. Here you can see the music box come alive, spinning on an ornate turntable as motorized minifigs tell the story of King’s fall and a kingdom’s rebirth.

Take a spin below for a closer look at this mechanical marvel.!

A LEGO castle where dreams take flight

Three years before Disneyland transported American families to fantasy worlds, Efteling park in the Netherlands brought fairy tales to life with European flare. Dutch builder Lucas Firestone makes his debut with a LEGO tribute to that theme park’s signature dark ride, Droomvlucht (Dream Flight), with his interpretation of the castle. Lucas does a great job capturing the castle’s dreamlike dimensions, with towers that jut out at gravity defying angles. Binoculars make for wonderful parapets. As much as we love the Disney Castle, it’s great to see other theme park landmarks in LEGO.