About Luka

Luka is a Slovenian LEGO builder and a member of Kocke Klub. He is most well known for building dragons, but does not shy away from other themes when time is right. In the community he goes by Deus "Big D." Otiosus (D. stands for "Destiny") and has been around for quite a few years. He is one of those builders who went through their life without a dark age. Besides LEGO he is a biology student that wastes a lot of time in the local forest or in interesting urban areas. MOC Pages Flickr Bricksafe Youtube

Posts by Luka

Beorn’s beautiful building built by bricks

A few years have passed from The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit hysteria that included an official LEGO theme, but many builders still find inspiration in Tolkien’s fantasy universe. Roanoke Handybuck is one of these builders and his latest creation is Beorn’s house. We can see the party of dwarves accompanied by the Grey Wizard and Bilbo Baggins meeting the master of the house.

The builder uses colours and their combinations to great advantage, especially mixing the dark tan and olive green, which seem to naturally fit together. Do not limit your attention only to the beautifully flowing roof, because the stonework of the house’s walls is quite impressive too, as is a plethora of details spread around the diorama.

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The right place to practice your mystical arts

Enchantments, potions and magic! What else would one need? César Soares sure knows what is important in life – who cares about all that pointless real stuff, right? Joking aside, this is a pretty impressive creation. The builder says he has wanted to build in this scale for quite some time, and I can totally agree. Minifig utensils and the thicknesses of some bricks are often out of proportion with the minifigs they are made for, and that often looks very cartoony. This is not a bad thing on its own, but some times, it is nice to see more realistic Miniland scale creations like this one.

I have said that this creation is impressive, and just being built in Miniland scale is obviously not enough to achieve that. The scene is filled with unique part usage, most notably cloth pieces. Just look at the broom and the unrolled scroll! And still there is more to see, like legs of the chair and table that are tilted off right angles, clever use of the log minifig costume under the table on the right and the wall texture, which uses a technique most often seen as floor, due to how unstable it would be when set upright. I wonder what kind of magic César used to keep it in place!

The ruinous beauty of an earthquake captured in a huge LEGO diorama

At first glance, this ruined city may look a little like a classic post-apocalyptic zombie scenario (like the stunning scene from The Last of Us) but this build by Ralf Langer actually represents an apocalypse of a more realistic and consequentially more threatening type: a devastating earthquake. Admittedly though, the two are visually very similar, zombies and sci-fi gear aside.

The diorama is huge, but Ralf does not merely rely on size to impress. Instead, he makes textures and details so fine that they would make a tiny vignette worth drooling over, let alone a diorama with a surface that could fit a hundred such vignettes. The different angles at which many surfaces of the diorama are set give a very dynamic and organic feeling, and the builder has done it so well, it almost looks like it’s not LEGO. The colours used are perfect too, with various earth tones and realistic colours on the buildings.

Click to see some close-up pictures and a few techniques behind the builds!

A towering mech made out of towers

Inspired by Nexo Knights, LEGO 7 has built a mech worthy of a king. Now, there are official sets out there that explore the concepts of a mechanized fortress or the king’s personal battle mech, but LEGO 7 not only blows those two out of the water, but he also combines the two into a towering sight to deter any invaders, demonic or otherwise.

The astonishing photography, including the clean view basically without reflections, the slightly upward angle and a colour gradient complimenting said angle present the build at a whole new level. The build uses some bricks one would never expect to see together in a single creation, like the large castle building piece as the cockpit in the middle and constraction armour pieces as leg armour. My favourite part besides the photography is the axe the mech is named after. The translucent part and the electricity look so dynamic, and I can almost hear the FZZZZTT!! coming from it!

The violinist villain

I don’t know exactly why, but a villain playing a violin just seems so much more intimidating! Whatever the reason, Leonid An seems to agree, giving a violin to a Bionicle bad guy that is classic in all meanings of the word. Although the builder photographed a number of poses for this villain, named Teridax, this particular photo is what makes it so unique.

The model relies heavily on constraction armor elements, but what they hide is a more complicated skeleton than one would expect, supporting the tuxedo and smaller bits that hide the gaps. The inverted tyres add a nice sense of flow to the figure, and there are just enough little details to break up the black monochromy, most notably the keys on Teridax’s belt and a ring on his finger. The infected Hau mask in the fireplace is an integral part of the photo, giving the Makuta an environment without the need of building a larger scene for it.

This space drone will take your life, not your pictures

Drones are becoming an everyday occurence in our society, as touched upon earlier either to take pictures, or in more tragic examples lives. Considering the progress of drone technology, it is somewhat strange that we still mostly see manned space fighters in science fiction, both LEGO and otherwise. This much needed variation is provided by Marcin Grabowski with his Paladin class Space Drone.

My eyes have been trained to see a microscale capital ship in this, but the weapons add a sense of scale that does not correspond with that initial impression. The spacecraft really does have a very drone-like appearance with a smooth front without a cockpit. Marcin achieved this shape by using a large inverted ship hull piece. The element is blue with a dark gray lining which dictates the colours the builder had to use, although he managed to masterfully combine different grays, black and even a touch of yellow in a situation where most builders would try to exclude one of these additional colours.

Click to see and read some more about the Paladin class Space Drone!

Hobbiton is more than just Bag End!

The excellent photography and advanced building techniques may be what drew my attention to this creation by Patrick B., but they are not the most interesting part to me. What is so unique about this creation is the accompanying description, crediting a handful of builders who inspired Patrick’s Sandyman’s Mill, either by building their own versions prior or as Patrick’s sources for some techniques used. It is normal for builders to both reuse previously discovered techniques and credit their sources, but I rarely see it like this particular example. It almost reads like a scientific publication!

Click to see and read more about the build!

Aedes from Hades

Interestingly enough, Benjamin Cheh Ming Hann starts the description of this creation of a mosquito with a questionable choice of words, “Hate them or love them”. I am either oblivious to a huge mosquito fandom or perhaps I’m right that nobody can love an annoyingly high-pitched flying sound and the endless itching of their bites, not to mention the far more serious world health issues. I understand if many of you are turned away from this creation due to very well justified hatred towards mosquitoes, but you can just imagine it as a male mosquito, which does not suck blood, as the builder very informatively points out in the picture’s description.

All anatomical characteristics of Aedes aegypti are captured perfectly, of which the most difficult looks the subtle curve of the abdomen. Most notably though, the model can stand on its legs as a true insect would, which is hard to do at this scale and with legs as thin as these while still keeping them poseable.

Click to see the mosquito up close, with zero itch risk!

The very beginning of eggsistence

Many people see LEGO building as art, me very much included, but there are examples of creations which take this a step further and fully embrace their artistic potential. Often depending on composition and built for one perfect picture, builds like this symbolic image of the beginning of a new life inspire many builders to keep improving and create stunning art from what is, in essence, a toy. Sad Brick has generated a great deal of interest with his latest creation and it would not be surprising seeing it serve as inspiration for the next generation of LEGO fans.

The build itself is very simple, as there are no more than three bricks connected into any of the elements here, but simplicity is sometimes exactly what we need to portray a message. Of course, this is not a simple image of a microscopic view of conception, because all the cells are replaced with different shapes of eggs. This adds a layer of ambiguity to the picture, and since the builder does not provide a description, only you can decide what the symbolism means!

Living in a desert is no excuse to give up style

While Sarah Beyer‘s Olive Sand House is not what one might imagine when they hear “living in a desert”, it does look both adventurous yet strangely comfortable. Sarah is a master of contemporary architecture in LEGO and has created many unique LEGO houses before. This latest one is not so much unique in an architectural sense, but all the building techniques make it an easy favourite for me.

The Olive Sand House is a treat when it comes to textures. There are grilled sections on the walls and the whole roof has a very satisfying grilled texture to it too. We tend to talk about colour blocking most often in sci-fi creations, but it is very much an important feature of this (admittedly nearly futuristic) building. Another important factor is the landscaping around the house, giving it some context. There are some interestingly used parts as well, most notably BrickHeadz glasses used as fence on the balcony, the same technique that just appeared in the Creator Expert Roller Coaster.

Take time to smell the orchids

I guess there aren’t many orchids in space, but the ones out there would probably look like the StarOrkyD by F@bz. Its floral inspiration with thin, curved surfaces is highly visible, and the spaceship seems to have a bit of a Star Wars’ B-wing fighter look to it.

There is a lot of detail to love here, from obvious things like the bulbous cockpit and nicely flowing curves, but there are some more subtle ones too. Light gray antenna pieces have their tips hidden within the bottom side of a brick to look like very thin tubes. The use of flag pieces at the transition into the large engine makes the shape flow very smoothly.

An Italian restaurant built from Danish bricks

Mediteranean aesthetic, both architectural and otherwise, is not very often portrayed in LEGO, but when it is, builders tend to capture it very well. Mouseketeer111 has done one of these renditions as a modular-style building, and I can say from first-hand experience that this scene reproduces the spirit of an old Italian town perfectly.

There are some simple elements that are important to conjure up the Mediterranean feeling, namely a barrel-tiled roof and Italian flags, but other details like bright colours, overgrown walls and the ice cream shop are what make this creation stand out. My favourite part, however, is the balcony. Not only is it well built, but it is photographed so that the shade looks even more inviting!