Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Fire Breathing Fortress reforged in epic collab from LEGO pros

In their professional capacity as LEGO designers, Chris Perron and Wes Talbott have collaborated on some of the best fantasy sets ever released, including Rivendell and the Red Dragon’s Tale. So what do these friends get up to when they’re off the clock? How about an epic reimaging of a beloved ’90s castle with modern building techniques and design aesthetics? The massive build debuts at the upcoming Skærbæk Fan Weekend event, but for those who can’t make it to rural Denmark, the builders graciously offer a detailed tour of this house of the Dragon Masters.

Click to explore the reforged Fire Breathing Fortress!

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He’s just a spoonbill, yes he’s only a spoonbill

Birds and botanicals have become beloved themes in LEGO and James Zhan excels at both with a model of a Black-faced spoonbill wading through lotus flowers. James perfectly captures the endangered bird’s unique shape, accenting the brick-built body with balloon panels and a few Technic panels as plumage. A banana under the eye adds appealing detail. James has been creating lifelike flora and fauna in LEGO for years. We especially liked his pygmy seahorse hiding in coral, walking iris in a brick-shaped planter, and this whimsical hybrid of hedgehog and floral arrangement.

Botanical Cruiser carries Earth’s plastic plants across the cosmos

While back-to-school sales, falling leaves, and pumpkin spice lattes might be the more recognized signs of autumn’s arrival, among LEGO fans, it’s the sudden appearance of massive spaceships in our feeds that we look for. SHIPtember is when builders race to complete a spaceship of at least 100 studs in length, aka a SHIP (Seriously Huge Investment of Parts). Space Kook is no stranger to the tradition, having participated for at least four years, even creating five SHIPs in a single month. This year, Space Kook presents the LSS Kew, a Botanical Cruiser adorned with domes to transport Earth biomes to distant colonies.

Click to explore Space Kook’s impressive cruiser from other angles!

Monorail Station celebrates Classic Space evolution

What could stir the heartstrings of LEGO Classic Space fans more than a motorized monorail? How about TWO monorails and an epic station bustling with intergalactic travelers? That’s just what Martin.with.bricks delivers in this stunning diorama that combines Classic Space with modern techniques and minifigs at a truly epic scale.

All aboard the monorail for more pics of this epic space diorama!

Delectable debauchery with LEGO Bacchus

Builder Jan the Creator returns from a LEGO hiatus with a delicious little build of the big D himself, Dionysus, spending all day long on the chaise longue. Combining the new Tiefling horned hairpiece with the Nexo Knight torso, faun legs, and devil tail, is an inspired combination. But the real star of the scene is the furniture, especially the table, modeled on the Stately End Table from LEGO Fortnite. It’s a wonderful use of the diadem accessory and a reminder that every piece of furniture in the LEGO Fortnite game can be built with real elements.

Treasure Planet’s Legacy celebrated in LEGO

Treasure Planet features some of the best action and artistry to ever come from the House of the Mouse, and in a just world would have been proudly featured in one of the many LEGO collabs of last year. Alas, it’s mostly remembered as the studio’s biggest box office misfire with nary a collectible Minifig to remember it by. For Daniel Church, the film’s mix of nautical adventure and cosmic spectacle remains a wellspring of inspiration. After many years of building sci-fi sails and futuristic ports, he took on his dream project: recreating Treasure Planet’s signature ship, the RLS Legacy, in LEGO. Standing 40″ tall and 39″ long and assembled from over 3000 pieces, the results are a stunning display of LEGO craftsmanship and a fitting tribute to an amazing design.

Sail on to appreciate the Legacy from other angles !

LEGO noodles fit for a ninja

After an intense day of training for ninja exams, nothing satisfies like a bowl of miso ramen with chashu pork and all the trimmings. This life-size ramen bowl in LEGO from H.Y. Leung, inspired by the signature dish from Ichiraku Ramen in the Naruto anime, looks delicious enough to slurp up. From the perfect marbling of the chashu pork, to the ripples in the opaque broth, to the prominent jelly-textured egg, to the careful arrangement of bamboo shoots and spring onion, Leung’s creation is the idealized form of a bowl of ramen. The naruto fish cakes employ a novel technique of red whips on 3×5 cloud plates. The ornamentation and kanji wringing on the bowl are reproduced beautifully in bricks. Leung’s best trick is the chopsticks, cleverly suspended and decorated with rune tiles. Even more impressive, they hide a play feature, sliding up and down as they pull noodles from the bowl!

Stay determined with this quartet of Undertale characters

Nine years ago this week, Undertale was released, going from a scrappy Kickstarter-funded passion project to one of the most beloved indie games of all time. The RPG “where no one has to get hurt” challenged what it means to be a game hero and won hearts with its humor, soundtrack, and memorable characters. Builder and LEGO photographer GlimpseGlow brings four key characters to life in brick form, capturing their pixel charm in miniature. First up is Asriel Dreemurr. And look! He brought flowers. How lovely.

Click to see more of the Undertale cast in LEGO!

A gilded birdcage from a golden age

The LEGO creations of Qian Yj aren’t just remarkable achievements in building with bricks. They transport the admirer to another place or time, whether at minifig or 1:1 scale. For his latest build, Qian creates a lifesize LEGO birdcage and its smol birb occupant. The mix of colors soars, especially the pairing of gold and bright blue. A simple 2×1 grille plate is fresh and exciting when used in abundance in an unfamiliar context. For the birdcage’s gold bars, Qian uses piano wires from the LEGO Ideas Grand Piano. As beautiful as the model is, I’m glad to see the small red songbird enjoying life outside the cage. Good birb.

Ice Planet 2024 base is chilled to perfection

I’ll always hold a flame for the Ice Planet 2002 LEGO theme, with its rovers, satellites, and neon chainsaws, but aside from one raised baseplate in Ice Station Odyssey, we never got to see any actual ice for tunnelators to tunnel through. Uncharted Fabrications presents a modernized take on an Ice Planet base with no shortage of frozen terrain. I love how the asymmetrical ice spills over a rectangular patch of sea. The base entrance is well-integrated into the ice with some nice SNOT building techniques for the door and platform. Splashes of grey and yellow supplement the theme’s classic combo of white, blue, black, and trans-neon orange. Of course, this being Ice Planet 2024, the builder includes a pair of the new collectible minifigures and their penguin pals, who seem right at home on the ice.

Tiny talons are major minifig feat

Thanks to the newly-released Dungeons and Dragons Collectible Minifigures, filling out your LEGO scenes with fantasy races and epic loot is easier than ever. Kamil Karpiński picked up a couple of Aarakocrans (aka birdfolk, aka “Jarnathan”) and using just 13 tiny elements built new legs to amplify their avian qualities. As wings and quivers clash, Kamil gives his ranger a hip solution.

Kamil’s fantasy-focused creations show how even minifigures can become the foundation for clever building techniques. (His take on Sauron rules them all!)

Little LEGO spirit in the big forest

According to Japanese animist traditions, Kodoama are tree spirits, part of a rich and very real world of spirits that exist in the objects and phenomena all around us. Outside of Japan, they’re best recognized as the bobble-headed forest spirits seen by the hundreds in Princess Mononoke, the brutal and beautiful animated masterpiece from Hayao Miyazaki. Builder Martin Klein pays tribute to Miyazaki’s take on Kodama with a “life-sized” LEGO model. Martin perfectly captures the pale spirit’s eerily asymmetrical face with just a trio of 1×1, 2×2, and 3×3 round tiles in black. I wonder if the head rattles when shaken? The Kodoma is paired with a leafy branch that buzzes with insect life.

While Martin also photographed this lovely model in a studio setting, I think the Kodoma looks best in its natural forest habitat.