Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

15,000 piece LEGO Space Mountain is a motorized E-Ticket wonder

Cinderella’s Castle and fantasy may have become the face of Disney Parks, but founder Walt Disney’s heart was always in Tomorrowland. Space Mountain, first built in 1975 at the Magic Kingdom, has endured as the crowning achievement of Tomorrowland and cemented itself as one of the most beloved roller coasters in the world. One of Space Mountain’s most enthusiastic fans is builder and LEGO Masters Japan contestant Kon, who has spent much of the past year focused on a incredible and functional recreation of the attraction built at minifig scale from 15,000 bricks.

Hop on the FastTrack and see more of Kon’s creation!

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Going rogue in the Bio-Cup

The Bio-Cup, an annual tournament for LEGO constraction builders, has grown to become one of the biggest events on the LEGO fan calendar. The preliminary round has concluded and 27 builders advanced to Round 2, where each is assigned a D&D type character class as a theme. VelociJACKtor, whose first round entry tugged our heartstrings, is first across the line in Round 2 with his “Wandering Assassin,” in the “Rogue” category. The assassin is an elegant figure armed with a Bionicle blade and a face/mask borrowed from Garma Mecha Man. The highlight, though, has to be the rogue’s mount, a lovely robot mixing Bionicle and Technic parts, topped with a System saddle, which gives new meaning to the phrase “rubbernecking.” VelociJACKtor has given the pair such a personality, one can’t help but be curious about their harrowing travels across a techno-fantasy landscape.

While we wait to see who makes it to Round 3, be sure to check out our Bio-Cup archives.

A masterful build of a masterless samurai

Ronin in winter
Fuji-san and red sun rise
Shadows cut the snow

Like a haiku, Cecilie Fritzvold has found beauty in constraints with her latest LEGO creation, a vignette that plays with perspective and color to striking effect. I love the techniques of crisp brick-built shadows integrated into the snow, and the depressions of the ronin’s footsteps. The restrained use of red bricks, especially in the lovely torii gate and the red sun (mirroring the Japanese flag), add dynamism to the quiet scene. Cecilie’s pagoda is a wonderful architectural build on its own. As a whole, the vignette evokes Ukiyo-e woodblock prints with its muted palette and intense perspective. A masterful work of stillness from a builder who is always evolving.

Creature Contraptions building a better future in LEGO

2024 has been a delightful year for the Space theme, with it showing up in surprising forms across a range of LEGO themes. Ian Hou (DOGOD Brick Design) keeps the Space party going with a whimsical scene where old and new space minifigs pilot fish-ships and bug-gies to a chameleon-inspired space station. In the spirit of joyful collaboration, the model even incorporates a modified portion of the LEGO Friends Mars Space Base for the chameleon’s control module. According to the builder, the scene depicts a facility where the “dragon” restores life-giving soil. The central building is so colorful and fun, but my inner-kid’s favorite element has to be the adorable beetle buggies.

For more of Ian Hou’s playful animal-inspired builds, check out our DOGOD Brick Design archives.

Metroid figs trade mini for mighty

The minifig’s chunky and chibi format has made it a beloved icon recognized around the world, but have you ever wondered how your favorite minifig head or accessory might look at more human proportions? Japanese builder Qin has carved out a niche upgrading minifig and minidoll heads onto fully articulated action figure bodies, and the results are outstanding. To commemorate new footage of Metroid Prime 4 coming out of the latest Nintendo Direct, Qin assembled Samus Aran, in both power suit and unmasked versions, and the results are among Qin’s best figures to date.

When building at this scale (just 4″ tall), truly every piece needs to pull its weight, adding articulation or character-specific accuracy. For Samus’ suit, the standout section has to be those shoulders, built from orange Stuntz helmets and rare Samurai X visors.

Unmasked Samus trades minifig helmet for a minidoll head, but the clever parts usage continues. For the shoulders and elbow joints, we can see one of Qin’s best tricks for pint-sized articulation – mini-antennae – a technique you can see in some of their other recent character builds. Every one of Qin’s little action figures brings a smile to my face – proof that big talent can come in small packages.

Draconis Wisteria is a garden-variety dragon with a twist

As we cross the halfway point of 2024, Joss Ivanwood (jayfa_mocs) continues his Year of the Dragon LEGO celebration with his sixth offering: Draconis Wisteria. June’s dragon is a tribute to the flowering wisteria vine. The idea first came to Joss at the start of the year, but it took until now for the vision to fully come together and the results truly soar. Joss excels at organic shaping in his builds, especially when liberated by the chaotic outgrowths of roots and vines, as he demonstrated with his orchid-inspired Demogorgon. The model masterfully incorporates a lot of snaking brown parts that you would expect with the theme, and a few parts you might not, like a hairpiece for upper maw, and golden One Ring eyes. This dragon is such a perfect execution of a concept that just feels right. I can imagine the majestic beast nesting on a pergola, draping its wings to create a lavender canopy and perfectly camouflaging itself in plain sight.

With six months remaining, I can’t wait to see what other imaginative spins on the dragon Joss has in store for LEGO fans.

A toy-like tower showcases tremendous LEGO technique

Pan Noda has only been active sharing original LEGO creations for a few short years, but they’ve quickly cementented themselves as one of the most exciting builders around. Pan Noda’s creations are united by a love of texture, patterns, verticality and liminal spaces. Their latest work, simply titled “Castle of building blocks,” is an architectural wonder existing in limbo between earth and sky, childhood and sophistication. The red slope rooftops evoke a nostalgia for the earliest LEGO buildings, only these are weathered from age with a rash of studs popping out. The red door (taken from Isabelle’s House Visit) and poofy brick-built clouds evoke a safe Nintendo childhood, in contrast to the pokey brown technic frame (building on a technique from another of their vertical marvels) that almost says “Don’t touch!” Once again, Noda floors us with a towering achievement in LEGO artistry.

Chinese lake in LEGO brings memories to life

Earlier this summer, our old friend Nannan Zhang recreated a the quintessential American playground of the sort he’s experienced as a new father. For his latest LEGO achievement, Nannan draws on his childhood memories of growing up in China in the 90s to create “A park from yesteryear.” Even though it’s an amalgam and not a recreation of a specific park, the traditional architecture, weeping willows, lotus plants on jade water, and swan boats make Nannan’s memories so specific and tangible.

Nannan pulls his usual magic trick of making clever technique look effortless. The hexagonal pavilion, where older residents share snacks and gossip, is a lovely build on its own. The balls stacked on rollers skates make for excellent decorative elements, and the heart tiles in the eaves are a great detail. One of my favorite techniques is seen along the bottom of the railing where curved slopes fit neatly under window arches, adding a subtle texture to the stonework. The cotton candy machine is a very clever and instantly recognizable mini build. I also admire the attention paid to the lotus plants, with leaves popping from the water at angles, and some flowers and leaves aloft on long stems, differentiating them from lilly pads. But the stars of the show are the swan boats, which hold a secret…

See the swan boats in action!

Opulent LEGO “goldfish” doesn’t play coy

Last year Swedish builder Rickard Stensby (@stensbylego) wowed us with his ingenious technique for layering round plates around a frame to create a perfectly-shaped chicken. How to follow up on one of 2023’s most admired LEGO creations? Rickard plumbed the depths and hooks a gold-plated anglerfish, mounted and ready for its gallery debut. This time it’s the 2×3 flat tile with angle that gets the layering treatment, giving the fish its sleek yet pokey finish. The jutting teeth, cartoon eye, and glow-white ball dangling on a pearl gold hose round out the briny personality. Don’t let the flat presentation fool you – the model captures nearly the full spherical body of the fish (which you can appreciate in Rickard’s video). The black tile backing and gilded frame let the deceptively simple model shine. Rickard says there were two unfinished attempts at creating this difficult form but the third time is a charm worthy of a LEGO Master.

Celestial love finds poetry in motion

What is love but an irresistible attraction between two heavenly bodies? Legonerdphotos brings the metaphor to life in LEGO with an anthropomorphized sun and moon locked in each other’s orbit. Like a high-concept PIXAR project, the builder manages to turn an abstract idea into deeply relatable characters. Who would have guessed that a cold grey meteor and a trans orange tridax pod could convey such emotion? The figure designs are a perfect mix of alien and intimate, especially the tendril arms that hold each other so lovingly. The photography is stellar, perfectly staged, using compositing to achieve the slight glow around each figure’s head.

Dancing of the Spheres is legonerdphotos’ interpretation of the theme “Gravitational Energy” for the BioCup. We’ve seen blessed with some truly out of this world creations in this year’s lineup. I can’t wait to see what legonerdphotos and the other advancing builders come up with in Round 2.

LEGO Swamp Hut is anything but bog-standard

Medieval architecture might be a thing of the past, but it’s a wellspring of innovation for adult fans of LEGO. I’m constantly amazed at how members of the community find clever new ways to recreate decidedly old-fashioned aesthetics with the latest in plastic bricks. Builder david zambito, a long-time innovator in medieval techniques, returns from a lengthy hiatus with a singular Swamp Hut scene that shows he’s been honing those skills since we last saw his work.

The unusual choice of colors first catches the eye, with the wonderfully-mottled green walls of the hut echoing the mire of the swamp. By keeping to a narrow and muted palette, the few accent colors in the flowers and berries really pop. The stonework is perhaps the most impressive aspect of the build, both with the flagstone path nestled between brown stems (someone had fun at the Pick-a-Brick bins!) and especially the hut’s stony ground floor built from a truly eclectic mix of round parts in dark grey, from slide shoes to helmets, and even a frog. Nice parts usage (NPU) are sprinkled throughout the build; the Islander hairpiece topping the lantern and the arachnid arches over the windows are standouts and add to the witchy vibes.

A stout building for bitter warriors to cure what ails them

Dwarves of the Warhammer universe take their beer very seriously. No warrior worth his salt would get drunk on pig swill. Only barrel-aged stouts will do. Dwalin Forkbeard, builder of all things dwarven and steampunk, treats us to a proper Dwarven Brewery in his latest LEGO creation. Dwalin recreates a dry stone building technique of stones stacked without mortar – a tricky technique to pull off this well with LEGO bricks. The stonework is paired with a riveted rooftop, copper detailing, and a pearl gold brewing apparatus peeks out from the back of the structure to heat the wort for a heady brew. On this day, the brewery has guests of ~~dis~~honor, as Dwarven slayer Gotrek and his chronicler Felix look thirsty for a pint of Korben’s Finest.