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

Too much technology for a barn to handle

Sometimes, a LEGO creation (or any work of art, really) can be vague, with the viewer not being sure what it is supposed to be. Sometimes, creators themselves are not sure what their creation is. This is somewhat true for AdNorrel and his latest build, the “Coordination center.” While it is obvious that the scene is supposed to be some sort of high-tech beacon or communication hub, AdNorrel says he was more inspired to follow a specific image he imagined rather than try to justify it logically.

Moving from top to bottom, the glowing sphere at the apex is slightly reminiscent of a futuristic blue Eye of Sauron. The texture on the tower is interesting, as most builders would just go for an intense mix of hoses, gears and other logical-looking details without much coordination, but AdNorrel focuses on geometric shapes that are only later complimented by all sorts of technical bits. The hoses give the whole creation a bit better of a flow, connecting the tower with the grassy landscape directly. The tower and the barn join seamlessly, but still showing the strange metallic beacon bursted out through the roof at some point. The base needs mentioning too; while it does not really have much on it besides the barn and the … thing, it manages to look good with a smoothed out border and a healthy mix of stones and grass.

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A new beauty born of decay

When I first looked at this picture, I thought to myself that someone really needs to clean up the weeds on their mansion, but then with some quick research it turned out there is nobody to do the cleaning. Château Nottebohm is an abandoned castle in Belgium, which has been uninhabited for over half a century. While the landscape looks more like a savannah than a temperate forested plain, Marion has definetely done justice to the mansion itself.

On the outside the building seems to contain no large bricks whatsoever, achieving intense chaotic textures characteristic of decaying buildings. Textures like these feel more at home in larger creations, but Marion has managed to make them look good even at this small scale. There are complex shapes achieved with more or less legal techniques, for some of which I am not even sure they can be done without cutting bricks, so purists beware! For a better understanding of some of these techniques, I suggest anyone interested to look at the work in progress photos, like this example here.

No army is tiny enough to sieze this castle

I have no idea what the tiny attacking army is thinking, but apparently they are trying to besiege this cute, impenetrable fortress. The scene, built by Timothy Shortell, is as complete as they get. There’s ingenious use of parts in the siege equipment, the dark green plains are dynamic, the castle is highly detailed and, most of all, the intense cliffs at the back are amazing. I have never believed them to be useful in a serious creation, but at this scale and level of texture, the rocky wedges (part 64867) at the left and right ends of the cliffs actually look perfect.

The temple of paperwork

In an office as fancy as this one by Sven Franic, paperwork is no longer a chore, but a joy. Warm earth tones, elegant ornaments, and a comfortable chair make for a great atmosphere. Anyone spending most of their day writing would be envious of such an office.

The centerpiece of the build is literally a piece – the light gray minifig microphone piece, used in ingenius ways throughout the build. Do not think that is all, as there are unique uses for exotic parts everywhere. The radio and typewriter obviously stand out, but I strongly suggest looking at all segments of the scene more closely, because even such background features as the wooden window frame turn out to be tiny little masterpieces of their own.

Prequel back to the Battle of Theed

For obvious reasons, everybody is excited about Star Wars at the moment. I have also been struck by the hype, as well as nostalgia, and both are important elements of Star Wars’ success. KW_Vauban hits the nostalgic soft spot for me, not only by recreating a stunning prequel scene, but giving it an extra edge by titling it Battlefront – Battle of Theed. All the years of playing Star Wars Battlefront are calling back to me…

The architecture is clean and picturesque, with a lot of depth added by the stairway leading into the buildings in the corners. The large flat area is filled up just enough to give the ongoing battle a realistic feel without an overly high density of action, something that plagues many Star Wars LEGO creations. One of my favourite parts has to be the droid lifted up in the air, because the translucent bricks supporting it actually look good as a trace of movement.

Murder in Dead End alley

If you have never heard of Barthezz Brick before, I will not blame you. But after this recent creation of his, “A Cold Day in Hell,” there will be no excuse for that! We rarely feature custom minifigures, which seem to be Barthezz’s strongest point, so there is no surprise he has stayed under the radar for most LEGO fans, but now he has made a definite breakthrough into more widely popular themes.

Not a single stud of space is wasted on this diorama, with a busy crime scene at the ground level and details on every single building, on every level — including the roof.

See more of this fantastically detailed LEGO diorama

Not even death can save you from me!

Video games are a constant inspiration for LEGO builders, as they are sometimes for me. I do try to avoid pop-cultural inspiration in my builds, striving to keep them as unique and imaginative as possible. But for a game that has been with me for about half my life, Diablo 2, an exception could be made. The build is a somewhat loose recreation of the titular final boss, Diablo – the Lord of Terror. The reason for this looseness of recreation is timing, more about which can be read by clicking on the picture, whose description has said information.

I am quite proud of the muscular torso design (let us not speak of the back) and the legs look good on some photos in my opinion, but the arms kind of need a rework, which would be done if time permitted so. I wish there were more pieces in dark red (and that I would own them!) so that I could have done a more gradual transition from black to red, because the current situation makes it nearly impossible to photograph, with black claws, horns and spikes standing out so much, that they get mixed up in pictures.

There is no problem that cannot be fixed by a combat mech

Dealing with the “situation” from an earlier build by Devid VII, the astronauts get their combat mech ready for action. There are so many tools, canisters and other industrial elements everywhere that I feel comfortable trusting them with anything.

While the detailed floors, clutter and minifig action are great, the star of the show is obviously the mech with its beautiful angles and an orange face. I love you, mechy…

Weather the winter in this medieval cottage

Winter is gaining a foothold on the northern hemisphere, and with it comes winter-themed LEGO creations, most notably so in the LEGO Castle theme. A great example is this recent winter cottage built by Andreas Lenander, complete with snow-covered landscape and minifigures going about their daily errands.

Surprisingly enough, the white walls of the upper floor of the cottage don’t blend with the snow too much, an effect achieved by using dramatically different textures for the two. There is just enough details around the base to show that this is more than just a house on a plate, and the landscape spilling out of the borders helps a lot to bring life to the scene. The best part, however, must be the roof – the tiles used are only half-way pushed in to give a very realistic texture, although it is not obvious whether the roof is thatched or just tiled with very bright tiles.

Fresh building techniques make for a very modern medieval workshop

There is no shortage of excellent medieval LEGO creations out there, and at first look this metallurgic workshop by Markus Rollbühler might not stand out. Take a closer look however, and you’ll spot the cobblestone foundation is made out of silver ingots. The cascade of amazing details spirals out of control from here…

The tree is in a league of its own, built from several hundred pieces with every single leaf captured using green feathers. The chest lids used as roof eaves are a stroke of genius, and there are great textures throughout the build. Details like the birdhouse and the wheelbarrow are amazing, but the entire build is filled with ingenious techniques and solutions — well worth a closer look.

See more of this great medieval workshop!

For milling your tiny grain you need a tiny water mill

Microscale is an interesting LEGO building style for a few reasons. It lets a builder recreate ideas they could not otherwise due to the constraints of their collection or time. It also presents a unique challenge of capturing shapes and textures with only a few pieces, which would be easier (but perhaps less rewarding?) at larger scales. With this water mill by Robert4168/Garmadon, the grass and the front face of the house have the characteristic simple microscale charm, but the house’s left wall, the hill with the cute fence, and especially the thatched roof have a texture to them that even larger scale creations would envy sometimes.

Vic Viper or Thicc Viper?

It is the start of December and that means my favourite month project is over. That does not mean, however, that we have stopped featuring recently built Vic Vipers, as you can see here. It seems NnoVVember is attuned to lazy builders, and that means most entries, including mine came in the last week (and apparently there is a wide-spread belief that November has 31 days…). A very unique part of this group is Jussi Koskinen‘s Baryon Vic Viper.

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