Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

The Jade Chamber of Genshin Impact descends like a ton of LEGO bricks

Genshin Impact is one of the biggest successes in modern video games with an enormous international fanbase. The Chinese-inspired region of Liyue and the heavenly Jade Chamber are especially popular for their striking architecture and cultural representation. LEGO builder Hugo Huang brings to life the massive Jade Chamber at micro scale, capturing the climactic moment when the palace drops from the heavens to save the city from the god-monster Osial. Hugo adeptly captures the palace’s curves and complex angles in profile, as well as the detailed joinery and gold ornamentation in close up. The blue heads of Osial, the roiling sea, and nanofigures elevate the scene and help sell the scale. Ningguang would be proud! This is the second rendition of the Jade Chamber to be featured here, but the iconic palace also fits nicely in the grand tradition of castles built atop floating rocks.

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Grab a bite or a drink at Cafe CoCo

A new modular from Andrew Tate is always a treat as this master of minifig-scale architecture has a knack for builds that sweep you away to a specific time or place. His latest model, Cafe CoCo, captures the timeless and unhurried aesthetic of a European old town street corner that could just as easily be in Paris, Vienna, or Prague, fifty years ago or today. I can practically taste the Aperol spritz. The dark-stained wooden facade on the ground floor provides warmth and old-world charm against the tan stone building. Andrew packs the model with fun details and techniques, like the lamps held aloft on black hot dogs, or the pot snaking plants made from actual rattlesnakes. For the stone sidewalks, Andrew uses masonry bricks laid flat, a great technique that conveys the texture of paving stones without visual noise to distract from the scene above.

Andrew “Snaillad” Tate says he builds at a snail’s pace, but over time he’s built an “>impressive body of LEGO creations that are always worth a revisit.

Finally a fantastic LEGO Cait Sith

Feline hero Cait Sith epitomizes why Final Fantasy 7 captured the imagination of generations of gamers. Whereas other RPGS might let you choose between elf or dwarf, cleric or druid, FF7 gives your party a robotic fortune-telling cat with a Scottish brogue who rides into battle with atop a giant living plush toy using a megaphone and gambling powers to shift the odds. Nathan Don (Woomy World) pays tribute to the beloved gaming icon with a faithful LEGO model that is bursting with personality and perfect parts usage. From the soles of his chunky boots to the tip of his crown (borrowed from constraction scale King Mathias), the shaping is impeccable, especially the face.

Time and again Woomy World demonstrates incredible skill in connecting just the right pieces using innovative connections to create organic and cartoon-like models. Using grey hot dogs for Cait Sith’s perpetually squinting eyes works perfectly, and a pair of white ninja cowls for the upper lips frame the adorable pink tongue. For the knotted bow on the cape, Woomy World uses the ribbon hanger of a holiday ornament. If you’re feeling lucky, take a limited break and explore our Woomy World archives.

LEGO takes you back to childhood

When I think back on my childhood, spending time indoors with LEGO and video games figures prominently, but for those sunny days when mom wanted me out of the house, it was all about the playground. The more slides and things to climb on and hide in, the better! The Brothers Brick alum Nannan Zhang captures that nostalgia with a playground so familiar that, chances are, you probably played in one just like it at some point. It’s an elegant build, making the most of prefab rails, slides, and Harry Potter pavilion tops to recreate the modular and child-safe look of an authentic playground structure.

Nannan’s playground was created as part of OhioLUG’s collaborative summer camp display for the Columbus Metropolitan Library – the full gallery of the massive display is guaranteed to make you feel like a child again.

LEGO fan blows us away with LEGO fan

We’re constantly inspired by the strange creatures, swooshable ships, and epic dioramas shared by LEGO builders each day that instantly grab your attention. Ironically, we nearly missed one of the most impressive builds of the week because it’s so lifelike and mundane that it doesn’t even register as LEGO at all! This retro electrical fan at 1:1 scale is a nearly studless masterpiece from builder ruby_lego that begs the question: “Is it LEGO?”

The seed parts are the rare trans blue doors from the Aquanauts Neptune Discovery Lab. Ruby built the cage out of flex tubes from the T-Rex Breakout. To minimize seams, the base is made from an IKEA Byylek lid. The dial utilizes a clock face from Big Ben. Even though the plug and pneumatic tubing power cord is purely cosmetic, the stand hides official LEGO Power Functions so the lifelike fan really works! It’s a powerful piece of nostalgia and NPU (nice parts usage) that made us instant fans of ruby_lego.

Rebellions are built in teal

How can a scrappy Rebellion possibly stand up against an Empire with massive fleets of grey, dark grey, sometimes black, but mostly grey ships? By using the one thing the Empire, in all of their power, could never imagine bringing to battle: teal. Teal, the color of hope, beloved by LEGO fans across the galaxy (except of course for designer Mark Stafford)! A band of rebels in the LEGO community have been slowly expanding on the Teal Squadron theme, and the latest addition is this brilliantly-shaped Teal Tower from Tim Goddard. As Tim explains, Rebels often repurpose existing buildings for their bases, and this tower’s weathered exterior certainly suggests a long history, with just small details to let the crafty Rebels lie low. Dark orange weathering looks great amongst the white masonry, and perfectly contrasts with the vital teal. The greebling (or sci-fi texturing) along the sides, rooftop antennae, and the decidedly low-tech awning perfectly capture the Star Wars aesthetic. And Tim’s teal-accented droidekas are maybe the best minifig scale versions of the droids I’ve seen.

For more teal-infused Star Wars creations, Mansur Soeleman’s Cerulean Phoenix, Alec Hole’s Capital E-Wing, Inthert’s Teal-4 Skylark, and Wami Delthorn’s Cobalt Thorn.

Killer Zodiac collaboration from a constellation of AFOL stars

What’s better than seeing your star sign in LEGO? How about all twelve zodiac signs stunningly assembled by some of the brightest stars in the building community?

Two years ago, builder Woomy World created a zodiac-themed “Libra Dragon” for the BioCup competition. Fellow builder Ezreel was inspired and pitched a collaboration for all 12 Zodiac signs to the community. Those invited to participate could claim their own star sign or swap if they had a strong idea, and soon the list was full. But with so many builds to coordinate and busy lives and creative blocks complicating things, some folk dropped out, others came on board, and time was ticking by. Finally, a deadline was set, and the final lineup of builders set to work on their chosen sign. To maintain thematic cohesion, the group agreed that every Zodiac sign would be depicted as a creature, which for some signs meant some creative interpretations were necessary.

Now, nearly two years in the making, the Zodiac Collaboration makes its debut!

Read on to see all 12 Zodiac signs in LEGO!

Kick off summer with a spicy LEGO lemonade

With summer ramping up in the northern hemisphere, now’s the perfect time to find new refreshing drink recipes to beat the heat! This LEGO still life of spicy lemonade from umemaruko looks like it could be straight from the June issue of Bon Appetit. While the build itself is elegantly simple, the arrangement, colors, and photography add up to pure delight. This is the first time we’re featured umemaruko on the site, but their feed is definitely worth checking out, especially if you enjoy botanicals and brick-built decor for the modern home.

Friendship takes flight

A mother and daughter are transported to the sky on an elven airship bursting with the colors of the seasons in this fantastic LEGO model from builder Josh Parkinson. He blends inspiration from the colors and parts Friends, Elves, and Dreamzzz lines with a dragon figurehead from the Ninjago Water Dragon, and a mysterious power source built from an illuminated Trolls pod. I love the forest foliage spilling over the deck, the cozy captain’s cabin, and especially that azure figurehead! Josh’s ship captures the whimsy and imagination of LEGO’s modern era. Now, what was the Elvish word for “Friend,” again? I feel like that might come in handy on a quest…

It takes many pieces to make One Piece’s Whitebeard

The pirate adventure series One Piece is overflowing with larger-than-life characters, but Edward Newgate, aka Captain Whitebeard, aka “The Strongest Man Alive,” takes excess to new heights. To recreate this honorable ally to the Straw Hats in LEGO, builder lavishlump had to go big. Believe it or not, this model of the 666cm tall pirate emperor is to scale with the custom minifig of the captain’s number one, Marco the Phoenix. Lavishlump employs tiles to great effect to capture the captain’s chiseled physique, and the slight gap between plates in his head perfectly aproximates Whitebeard’s perpetually squinting eyes. The classic Islander horn piece makes for a dynamite mustache. But my favorite detail has got to be the use of a pearl gold handbag to connect the blade and shaft of Whitebeard’s massive naginata weapon.

With hundreds of colorful characters, dozens of whimsical pirate ships, and fantastic ports of call, One Piece and LEGO go together like skulls and crossbones. I hope to see many more LEGO tributes to Luffy and crew’s adventures on the Grand Line.

Super smashing Pokémon partners in LEGO

Ivysaur, Squirtle, and Charizard, the starting trio of the Kanto region in various states of evolution, are some of the most iconic and beloved of the ~~151~~ 1025 monsters in the Pokédex. They’re also the swappable characters used by Pokémon Trainer in Supers Smash Brothers Ultimate. LEGO Builder Zane Houston pays tribute to this fighting tag team with a Miniland scale ensemble. Zane does a phenomenal job capturing each character’s colors and personality in the Miniland aesthetic that celebrates bricks and studs. My favorite has to be Ivysaur with leaves built from green cheese slopes and the judicious use of whips as the only non-brick element. This isn’t Zane’s first Pokémon or Nintendo tribute. We loved his shocking Pikachu model, and his clever twist on the Nintendo Switch hardware still makes us smile. For more LEGO pocket monsters, catch ’em all in our Pokémon archives.

Let the shell games begin!

Iron Builder competitions are one of our favorite sources of delight as we seek out new LEGO creations to highlight and share. These playful competitions highlight some of the most creative builders in the hobby while also showing how much potential is packed into a single eccentric LEGO element. The latest Iron Builder just kicked off between TBB regulars Sandro Quattrini and Gerrit Gottschalk, and the “seed part” is the green Koopa shell with spikes. Sandro fires the first salvo with a majestic green dragon, which uses 34 shells to achieve the snaking, scaly body. The head design is very effective, especially the sculpting around the eyes using minifig arms and frogs for an organic shape.

gGh0st strikes back with an elegant Japanese sword display, using koopa shells for the hilt. There are plenty of other nice touches in the still life scene, like the life buoys on the tsuba blade guard and the perfect curvature of the blade and scabbard. But the best touch of all: gGh0st’s sly nod to Sandro’s build, incorporating the unmistakeable green dragon design into the sword stand. That playful back-and-forth is another reason why Iron Builder competitions are so much fun to spectate.

Sandro keeps the dance going in his follow-up, riffing on the Japanese theme with a beautiful kimono featuring a whopping 87 koopa shells. Mama mia, that’s a lot of koopas! Who knows where the game will go next?