About Jennifer

Jennifer Spencer received her very first LEGO set, 6419: Rolling Acres Ranch, at age six. But she found the instructions far too complicated and so she forced her father to build (and rebuild) the set for her. He must have grown weary of looking at that instruction booklet because Jennifer did not receive another LEGO set for several years. Jennifer builds her own sets now. She has been active in the online LEGO community since 2011 when she first discovered The Brothers Brick. She’s also a member of her local LEGO users group, NEOLug. You can check out her original LEGO creations on Flickr.

Posts by Jennifer

One duke you don’t want to cross

Isn’t this stern-looking fellow by Wookieewarrior extraordinary? I’m not sure what it is that makes him seem so formidable. Perhaps it’s his shapely and spiky battle armor or his lace-up, butt-kicking boots. Maybe it’s the way he so casually holds his axe or his relaxed posture while sitting on his Erebor-esque throne. Most likely though, it’s his impressively bushy, yet perfectly manicured beard and his downward-tilted eyebrows that makes me want to avoid his gaze.

Be sure to check out all of Wookieewarrior’s creations on Flickr. Also, if you’re curious, you can see how Wookieewarrior cleverly attached the Duke’s eyebrows here.

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Cleveland’s Harkness Chapel recreated in LEGO

Ohio builder Zachary Lewis is known for creating incredibly detailed and accurate LEGO models of real-life buildings, such as the suburban house we highlighted last fall. His most recent build, the interior of Cleveland’s Florence Harkness Memorial Chapel, is a prime example. Zachary has perfectly captured this historic landmark’s neo-Gothic interior. I can’t get over the beautiful wood paneling surrounding the stage. And of course, everything from the wooden rafters down to the carpet on the floor is spot on. Don’t believe me? Check out photos of the actual building on Flickr and see for yourself.

Class is in session, in space

I love when a builder places minifigs in unexpected or unusual settings, and that’s exactly what justin_m_winn has done here. Rather than piloting through space or roving unknown planets, these minifigs are occupied with a higher purpose: Learning. (Though I suppose they’re probably learning how to pilot through space and rove upon unknown planets). Justin’s diverse class of space students is comprised of minifigs from across LEGO’s various space themes and is packed full of fun details. My favorites include the teacher’s futuristic pointing stick, the stadium seating, and the smart board.

The not-so-hidden, hidden stairs to Erebor

I vividly remember sitting in the theater watching the second part of The Hobbit and seeing Peter Jackson’s cinematic version of the hidden stairs to Erebor for the first time. His stairs were so much cooler than what I had imagined reading the book and I instantly knew I wanted to build them out of LEGO. It took a couple of years, but I finally got around to it.

What finally motivated me you? The Middle Earth LEGO Olympics on MOCpages! For those of you who haven’t heard of this contest, it’s an annual challenge that puts builders in head-to-head, single-elimination rounds to find an ultimate champion. The first round (the qualifier) runs through April 3rd, so there’s still plenty of time for you to build a Hobbit-themed entry of your own!

LEGO Ninjago 70604 Tiger Widow Island [Review]

By now, everyone is familiar with Ninjago’s new Skybound theme. We’ve already reviewed Zeppelin Raid and Misfortune’s Keep and today, we’d like to share our review of 70604 Tiger Widow Island. The set includes 450 pieces, 5 minifigs, and retails for $49.99. The instructions were clear and easy to follow and, except for the tricky chain connection holding up the “teeth” of the cave, the build was relatively straightforward.

Click through to read the full review

To be highly organized is, I should fancy, the object of man’s existence: 5 tips for keeping your LEGO collection sorted [Essay]

The quote above is from The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde and it’s the epigraph for The Ideal Order, a recently published novel written by Christoph Bartneck. (You can find my review of this book on Goodreads.) The story is centered around the life of a troubled AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) named Rob, who, like all builders before him, eventually realizes that his LEGO collection is virtually useless when stored in one big cardboard box and thus sets out on a quest to find (you guessed it) “the ideal order” for sorting his LEGO collection. (Spoiler alert! No such order truly exists.) I sympathize with Rob’s predicament, because I’ve been there. There’s nothing worse than trying to build an old set by fishing pieces out of the rainbow-colored abyss of plastic that is an unsorted box of LEGO. So we sort.

The possibilities are endless when deciding how to sort a LEGO collection and what’s right for one person is not going to be right for another. However, there are certainly some agreed upon standards that most builders share when sorting. For example, sorting by color alone just doesn’t cut it. On the other hand, it’s nearly impossible to have a separate space for each unique piece. So what is the best method?

Click through to read about LEGO sorting tips

Accurate LEGO Mayflower will teach you about the famous voyage

This extraordinary LEGO Mayflower was built by kaitain for Warren Elsmore’s new book, Brick History. The ship is gorgeous (especially those sails!), but what really makes this build stand out is the incredibly detailed map-like base that the ship floats on. Inside the circle, you’ll find the shorelines of Europe, Africa, and North America. Also, there’s a compass, a school of fish, a whale’s tail fin, and of course, ocean water, which is made up of 22,000 tiny translucent blue dots.

Furthermore, each of the base’s four corners depicts a different scene related to the Mayflower’s journey. The northeastern corner shows the Mayflower loading supplies in London. The southeastern corner shows the Mayflower and leaky Speedwell leaving Dartmouth for their second attempt at the crossing. The southwestern corner shows the landing in Cape Cod and the northwestern corner (my favorite) shows the Plymouth colony.

Check out more of kaitain’s photos on Flickr.

Lord of the Rings foosball: 1st team to 5 points wins the One Ring!

Hot on the heels of Jonas’s pinball machine comes another amazing Lord of the Rings themed game. But this time it’s tabletop football! (Or as we call it in my house, foosball). Balbo, a long-time builder of Lord of the Rings themed LEGO creations, says that he was inspired by the Iron Builder to make a tabletop game of his own. If you look closely, you’ll see that each player is a different character from the film and that the “turf” has mosaics of Bag End, the Black Gate, and the Eye of Sauron.

My only concerns with this awesome build would be its durability (foosball games can get pretty heated and I’d hate to see LEGO pieces flying across the room) and the amount of space between characters (especially over the Eye) which could lead to frequent dead balls. But still, I’d love nothing more than seeing Lord Elrond slip a soccer ball past Saruman to end the War of the Ring.

You can check out the rest of Balbo’s awesome LEGO creations on Flickr.

Rebel attack on the Empire’s deflector shield generator

Check out this iconic scene from Return of the Jedi where the rebels attack the secret back entrance of the Imperial bunker on Endor. Dunedain98‘s build packs a ton of action and detail into a small space. The various plants, particularly those spot-on Redwood tress, are impressive. But why is Chewie with the ground crew instead of inside a stolen AT-ST? Han will never be able hot-wire that door! Oh wait, nevermind. The doors are already open. Phew, that was a close one.

In the garden of brick, honey. A plastic butterfly.

I’m not sure if these delicate looking flowers actually need pollinated, but if they do, then this stunning butterfly by Moko should be able to get the job done nicely. Moko’s heavy use of transparent pieces gives this build a pleasing, glass-like appearance. And those whips make for a perfect proboscis and antennae, don’t you think?

Functioning LEGO pinball machine bounces you from the Shire to Mordor [Video + Interview]

We’ve posted several impressive LEGO-built games over the years (including LEGO versions of Settlers of Catan, Trench, Go, and even a LEGO Star Wars pinball machine), but Jonas‘s Lord of the Rings-themed game is truly jaw-dropping. This one hundred percent LEGO, fully functioning pinball machine includes microscale scenes from all your favorite Middle Earth locations, including Hobbiton (the ball shooter lane), Helms Deep, Ortanc, Weathertop (a bumper), Fangorn, Minas Tirith, and even the Black Gates of Mordor (each gate is a flipper!)

The machine is over two feet long and a foot wide and tall (or 62cm x 32cm x 36cm to be precise) and Jonas says it took him twelve straight hours of work and more than 2000 pieces to create this arcade masterpiece.

Watch the video below to check out the game in action and remember, no shaking or nudging allowed!

Click to read the interview with Jonas

Some journeys take us far from home

And some adventures lead us to our destiny. Dwalin Forkbeard built the iconic wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia that leads to the magical land of Narnia. Though the professor’s home on the back side of this build could use some more furniture and maybe a rug, I’m in love with the Narnia scene and the wardrobe itself. The snowy landscape and those coniferous trees are stunning and the new LEGO satyr makes for a perfect Mr. Tumnus.

Dwalin captured a beautiful, out-of-focus-foreground photo of the wardrobe and beyond, presumably depicting the Pevensie children’s first glimpse of Narnia. He also built an 8 by 8 vignette version of this build for a sweet contest over on Eurobricks where you can win an entire set of the new Series 15 Collectible Minifigures, including the Satyr and (everyone’s favorite) Left Shark! The contest ends on March 10th so there’s still time for you to follow Dwalin’s lead and submit an entry or two of your own!