Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Creative adobe suites in LEGO

The stacked adobe houses of Taos Pueblo are an architectural wonder whose living history goes back a thousand years. Brothers Brick alum Nannan Zhang takes inspiration from Taos for his breathtaking model The Enchanted Pueblo. While the pastel colors are much more vibrant the the walls of Taos Pueblo, they absoultely reflect the palette of a desert sunset and art of the region. The offset houses with their rounded roofs and exposed viga beams are unmistakeably pueblo, but serindipitously echo the architecture of LEGO House in Billund. There are so many lovely details with brilliant parts use, from the strings of dried chilis that hang by the doors, to the custom red soil base, to the incredible array of desert succulents (love that flowering yucca on the left!). If, like me, you’re wondering where those curvy pots that fit so well on the terraces come from, they’re sourced from old Scala flower pots. Nannan estimates the build took 60 hours over 2 months to achieve, but the results are truly timeless.

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Le voyage dans Hyperspace Mountain

You don’t have to travel to Billund for LEGO-themed thrill rides. Skip the queues and visit Gregory Coquelz‘s Disney park mini-builds instead! Space Mountain was the second of Disney’s E-ticket mountains and unique among roller coasters for its fully enclosed light-and-sound experience. Four of the Disney parks followed the original 1975 design of a retro-futuristic white cone, but for Disneyland Paris, the Imagineers took a different approach, taking inspiration from Jules Verne and remaking the ride with a steampunk veneer. Gregory pays tribute to this incarnation, with a tan and azure roof and the signiture barrel of the space gun up the side (true to the Jules Verne roots, this ride launched visitors into space via good old-fashioned ballistics). I love the use of interlocked domes in dark red for the loading shute. The Verne theme extends to a micro Nautilus moored next to the “Mountain.” Should you visit Disneyland Paris today, you’ll find the shell of the mountain largely the same, but inside your coaster is accompanied by projected X-Wing fighters and TIE Fighters as part of a Star Wars retheming.

To see more Disney Parks mini builds, check out Gregory’s Tower of Terror and ~~Big~~ Smol Thunder Mountain.

Scan in the piece where you live

One of the great things about a fandom like LEGO is that it can accommodate and celebrate so many disparate special interests, from tractors to ancient Rome to ornithology. Builder voxel123 give the full otaku treatment to a subject I’ve never seen in LEGO before; radiology. Voxel has previously built medical scanners at minifig scale as well as BrickHeadz tributes to pioneering radiologists, but for his latest series of models, he works at a larger Miniland scale, using Belville dolls to staff the facilities. Each piece of machinery is part of a larger vignette where studless surfaces are crafted with the bright colors and geometric patterns you might see in a medical facility catering to children.

First, we have an open MRI system, a scanner that can accommodate those who might have trouble with the standard tunnel MRI machines, like children or claustrophobic patients.

A waiting room puts younger patients at ease with a miniature MRI model and boxes of plush toys to scan. I especially like the quarter circle tile mosaics, balanced inside a transparent brick, a variation of a technique I first encountered in the Ninjago City Markets karaoke lounge.

But wait, there’s more medical imaging fun to be had!

Don’t scan so close to me, LEGO police drone

Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi epic The Creator recieved a mixed reception when it released last year. But whatever your thoughts about the film’s take on foreign wars and AI sentience, one thing’s certain: it features some of the most striking sci-fi imagery in recent cinema, from many of the same artists who contributed to Rogue One. I’m actually surpised we haven’t seen more LEGO models based on the film. Builder Tom Studs and friends have been correcting this with an Instagram Creator collaboration series, and Tom’s latest addition is a stunningly-recreated police transport. The insect-like vehicle has such an distinctive silhouette, with its bulbous helm and those menacing probe arms, here tipped with LEGO katanas. I love Tom’s mix of dark and medium azure to give the vehicle a weathered look.

Believe it or not, this is Tom’s first spaceship build, a change from his inspiring fantasy works (like this library vignette that floored us last year). We certainly hope it’s not his last dip into the future!

An interstellar waystation fueled by imagination

Space is big. Vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big. For LEGO explorers running on empty while traversing the deep cosmos, Bart De Dobbelear has you covered with the Liquid-Core refueling station. When filtered through the mind of this Belgian builder, even a gas station in the stars becomes a scene of wonder, where brilliant technique blends with evocative lore. Space is a popular theme for builders, whether inspired by the LEGO sub-themes, sci-fi films, or swooshable ships and chonky rovers. Bart is an artist who pushes the theme further, whose work feels truly cosmic, offering glimpses of a vast and ancient universe that we can only understand in glimpses. His builds often remind me of the sci-fi work from Jean Giraud (aka Moebius) in the way he blends organic and mechanical, where technology is so removed from our understanding as to border on the magical. You can see that here with the eerily reptilian solar fins, sourced appropriately enough from a Ninjago NRG Dragon, and the fuel chambers made from the milky green domes of Yavin 4. This Liquid-Core station is fairly unique among Bart’s builds in that it features inviting human typography, suggesting maybe we aren’t so alone in the great unknown of space.

Once you’ve had your fill of this station, set a course for the Bart De Dobbelear archives to see why he is considered cosmic royalty around these parts.

A tiny kingdom of towering LEGO trees

A vertical kingdom of stone surrouned by towering pines overlooks a pale blue lake in Eli Willsea‘s stunning LEGO diorama titled Heart of the Kingdom. The whimsical architecture, lovely colors, and striking verticality are reminiscent of the Monument Valley games, but the details are utterly original and evocative. This build marks Eli’s return after a busy 2023 when he competed in three heats of the Iron Builder competition and is a clear reminder of why he’s a NPU (Nice Parts Usage) star. How to pick a favorite detail? The elegantly angled tooth bars serving as micro stairs? The grey roller skates adding a decorative touch to the 1×1 towers? The wands still on their sprue for the portcullis? I have to go with the grey popsicles flanking the cave beneath the castle. Even though there is nary a stud to be seen, with its right angles and clean lines, Eli’s model celebrates the aesthetic of the brick.

This Bavarian beauty goes full steam ahead

Should you find yourself in the 1920s and need to get from Munich to Nuremberg in record time, then you’ll want an express ticket to ride behind the Bavarian S3/6. This majestic steam locomotive is meticulously recreated in LEGO by Bricks_n_Trucks. At 10 studs wide, the engine is comparable in scale to the Hogwarts Express Collector’s Edition, but unlike LEGO’s largest steam engine model, this train is fully motorized with a BuWizz engine (see the video below the fold!). The version you see here is an update to the builder’s first iteration, and spotting the differences highlights how much thought went into the smallest details.

But what’s a Bavarian steam engine without luxurious cars to pull?

Click to see the train cars and video!

A beautiful build of a terrible fate

History repeats across The Legend of Zelda games like a flat circle. In the groundbreaking entry Majora’s Mask, looping time becomes the key to saving the world when a cursed mask draws the moon down on a collision course with Hyrule. Majora’s Mask itself, brilliantly recreated in LEGO by Dylan Mievis, is a terrifying relic. With its bright colors and heart shape, who would guess the mask contains such evil? (Actually, the eyes are a tell — they’re super creepy!) The front of the mask shines with a mix of curved tiles, accented by carefully looped white strings. I’m in awe of the perfect stud-free curve that wraps from brow to chin (if I had to guess, each segment is clipped to a hidden hose? I’d love to get a peek behind the mask). The colorful spikes are the creepy icing on the cake. You don’t have to be a fan of the games to appreciate the craftsmanship on display in Dylan’s model.

Dylan is no stranger to video game LEGO builds. We’ve featued his delightful Deoxys from Pokémon and spectacular Shovel Knight, but he’s also tackled Hollow Knight, Minecraft, and Nier: Automata, among others. Game on, Dylan. Game on!

Crawl out through the LEGO Fallout

The Fallout TV show just dropped its first radioactive season, and like many fans of the beloved gaming franchise, I was quick to binge the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine. Better than fine, actually. The show is pretty great! On The Taste of Bricks, Philipp shows pays tribute to the premier episode with a LEGO vignette of Vault dweller Lucy’s first steps into the post-apocalypse. The anchor of this scene is the iconic Vault door with the number 33 in its distinctive font, which Philipp painstakingly recreates with a clever SNOT jigsawing of bright light orange slopes and tiles amongst dark grey. The sparse patch of wasteland completes the scene with weeds, bones and an empty bottle of Nuka Cola. Despite living in an ultra-violent world of mutants and marauders, Fallout’s Vault dwellers maintain a chipper American space-age outlook on life, which Phillip makes sure to include in his model. Not even the trauma of recent events can wipe that optimistic grin off Lucy’s minifig face.

Philipp is quite talented at capturing iconic TV and movie scenes on a small (16×16) footprint, including LEGO tributes to The Last of Us, the last video game series to get the prestige TV treatment. I’d bet my last bottlecap we’ll be seeing more Fallout moments from Philipp (and the rest of the LEGO building community) soon.

Don’t dump on this ultra classy hauler

Dump trucks are a staple of the LEGO City and Technic lines, but those versions focus on the highway-friendly variety that you might see around construction sites. The Komatsu 930E, modeled here by TsungNing Lee, is not that sort of truck. It’s an ultra-class behemoth, standing 24 feet (7.37m) tall, capable of hauling over 300 tons. That puts this massive model at about 1/2 minifig scale. TsungNing works almost entirely with LEGO system parts, with only a few Technic elements to handle the steering mechanism and axels, and custom stickers to match the real thing. I’m impressed by the use of curves in this bulky beast, both in the inverted slopes of the bed and the precisely bent tubing for the railing. While the model itself isn’t new TsungNing recently shared a thorough gallery of this and other masterfully detailed trucks from his collection.

As a bonus, TsungNing also made a microscale version of the truck:

King Gleeok brings three times the LEGO trouble to Hyrule

Gleeoks are the three-headed dragons who have menaced Link going back to the very first Legend of Zelda game. King Gleeok, introduced in Tears of the Kingdom, is the most fearsome incarnation of the recurring boss to date, and makes for one of the most menacing LEGO dragons we’ve ever seen. Built by Mitch Phillips, the model wasn’t created via Ultrahand, but instead employs a masterful blend of System and Bionicle techniques to achieve the inticate organic design. The three toothy heads first catch the eye, colored to match the elements of Thunder, Flame, and Frost. Then you might be drawn to the spidery wings whose membranes come from the sails of several LOTR Corsair ships. Perhaps my favorite section of the build is King Gleeok’s scaly chest, which, if you look closely, you can see is made from red discs affixed to a net and wrapped around the torso.

It’s such a complicated build with unusual parts that you can’t fully appreciate it from pictures alone. Thankfully, Mitch guides you through the build process on his YouTube channel.

To see more of Mitch’s Zelda-inspired builds, fire up your Sheikah Slate and check out his pug-faced LEGO Bokoblin and (my personal Zelda nemesis) this terrifying LEGO Lynel.

I can’t remember a better camera build than this Memento tribute

You won’t believe ~~his lies~~ your eyes when you see the details that go into this Polaroid SLR 690 from master of life-size LEGO props (and tbb alumn) Nick Jenson. This version of the iconic instant camera is a collapsable point-and-shoot model from the ’90s made famous in Christopher Nolan’s breakout film Memento. Nick is a stickler for accuracy as with all of his impressive 1:1 scaled models. The seed part that makes Nick’s model so accurate without stickers is the Polaroid tile from the film packet on the recent LEGO Ideas’ Polaroid set. Even the nylon strap is sourced from a LEGO-branded bag. To make this a proper tribute to Momento, the camera is paired with appropriately lo-fi photographs to match those in the film. Here the photos are real Polaroids, but the subjects are brick-built facimiles of Teddy and the Discount Inn from the film. At least I think they are… I can’t remember that far back. Thankfully I don’t need a tattoo to remind me when I see an amazing LEGO build like this one.