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

Get ready for a thrilling rafting adventure

Nothing spells adventure quite like whitewater rafting. David Zambito captures the action of the scene with the dynamic water made of clear plates, and the minifigs’ facial expressions add to the immersion. The water really warrants further inspection, with the subtle breaks in the rapids, especially the top-most one. The landscaping around the river may be simple, but it works.

The background edited into the photo makes the whole thing look real, but LEGO purists may be disappointed by this decision. In the end, if it looks good, I think it was worth it.

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Lead the charge with a sick metal tune

How does one person go from creating How I Met Your Mother vignettes to building an epic Mad Max: Fury Road Doof Wagon? We may never know, but the fact is, Speedyhead did it. I have yet to meet a person who did not like the latest Mad Max film, be it for the insane vehicles and action or the underlying theme of equality and freedom. The Doof Wagon is many people’s favourite “character” of the film. I can’t imagine many things more awesome than a metal concert riding into battle on a huge postapocalyptic truck.

All the details are in the right places and the whole thing is just like in the film. It has everything from the weird guitar-flamethrower player to the huge speakers. The base adds a lot to the presentation too, and even some sense of motion and power.

The ancient ruins of a forgotten civilization

If the builder of these ancient ruins seems similar, you would be right, because Mark Erickson is one of the best castle builders out there, and very active to boot. There are a bunch of details to see in this with architectural texture being the most important one. I am fascinated how well the builder managed to make all the buildings look similar, even with different techniques used throughout. The palm trees also deserve a closer look, as they get thinner towards the top, an effect achieved by transitioning from palm trunk pieces through brown fez pieces to 1×1 cones.

There are no rodents at the Osterode town hall

The original name of this creation is “Osterode Rathaus”, which means town hall, not “building containing rodents” as some might assume at first. Multilingual puns aside, this is some quality architectural work. There are many buildings like this one in town centres in my country, so I can confirm from first-hand experience that this creation is very accurate. The builder, Przemysław Czarnik, has filled this build with great textures and details, and I’m especially impressed by the simple yet effective roof.

The capital of the Woodland Realm

It has been a while since the last part of the Hobbit film trilogy hit the cinemas, so the trend of LEGO Hobbit and Lord of the Rings creations is slowly declining. But that does not mean we do not get amazing builds like this one every now and again. This diorama of Halls of Thranduil by German builder Jonas Kramm was made for the 2016 Comic Con in Stuttgart in June. and I really envy everyone who had the privilege to see it in person. On the pictures, it seems like a digital render at first, and even a close look at the main picture did not really convince me. I had to look at some detail shots to be sure this was real.

The details are superb and Jonas has really captured the balance and combination of natural landscaping and Elven architecture perfectly. A carefully set amount of clean surfaces contrasting rough terrain makes for a very interesting build to explore. The use of bars and tubing for architectural detail is inspiring. And while the foresty exterior with simple yet effective large trees is a stand-out build in its own right, it pales in comparison with the complex architecture of the cavern and the giant root path and throne. The cave floor is also nice to look at with the clear streams, nice subtle colours and a natural subtle slope.

Angle-intensive starfighter, just waiting to be swooshed

There are wings and portrusions of unknown function sticking out of this starfighter by Perig Perig and I am totally cool with that. Unique shaping like this is becoming more and more the standard of spaceships lately, which is comparable to extremely detailed stonework in castle creations. There is a great balance of smooth surfaces and technical looking details, which together with great colour blocking and splashes of contrasting colours come together into a very memorable little fighter. It looks very swooshable too.

And very good presentation (combining two angles on the same photo) really invites a closer inspection. My only complaint is the “windshield”, which is not integrated very well into the white frontal area.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaru, the three wise monkeys (or three mystic apes as they are also known) represent the Japanese Buddhist proverb that reminds us to avoid evil and not to spread it. Jimmy Fortel went for the classic interpretation, although some other versions include a fourth monkey that adds an additional message to the proverb. The build uses simple colours and shapes, focusing on the message of the build instead of advanced techniques, even though there is still some nice part usage with the rubber pegs for eyes.

Skyrim’s Bits and Pieces store made of bits and pieces

Even though this medieval store by Isaac Snyder uses textures and techniques we see very often in medieval builds lately, it still manages to look unique; first by its complex layout and secondly by its use of dark gray as the stone bricks, which is for some reason rather uncommon. While the model is called Sigurd’s General Goods and is not a direct recreation, it is obviously inspired by the Bits and Pieces general store in Solitude, from Skyrim.

Isaac’s shop even has a full interior.

See more of this delightful Skyrim building

The monstrous Vengeful Spirit

A “SHIP” is a large scale LEGO spaceship, specifically one of at least 100 studs in length (or height!). They are a popular theme to build, especially for convention displays. This specific SHIP by Tim Clark appeared at Brickworld 2016, but apparently the photos had to travel for seven months to reach the internet. Worth the wait? It sure is!

The builder has created quite a few SHIPs over the years, which you can see in his MOC Pages album, but this one is his largest so far at amazing 164 studs of length. It is also his first one that is not mostly light gray, which is a colour all too often used on large builds. Tim used many of his already tested techniques that he used in his other capital ships, but the larger scale called for new implementations of these techniques for more stability. The overall shape is what is the most important in large spaceships, and the Vengeful Spirit hits the nail on the head here. The small details like trans light-blue elements and turrets are the cherry on the top.

There are many more detail photos on the builder’s MOC page of the Vengeful Spirit, as well as the inspiration picture.

Nothing better than some intimidating mecha to start a day

Today we take a look at two great LEGO mech builds by exceptional builders. They have some similarities, like darker colours and menacing looks, but each in its own unique style.

We will start with XF56DAL3 Stingray by Moko. I have a soft spot for Moko as a builder, since he was one of the first builders I was exposed to when I discovered the online LEGO community, and he’s still active! As far as the build goes, there is a good balance between clean surfaces and greebling. My favourite details are the mech’s menacingly sharp head, and the hoses made of gold ring pieces from LEGO Lord of the Rings. But what makes this mech a truly amazing model is the posing and photography.

Continuing on, we have this industrial-looking THR-01 Droid by Marco Marozzi. The colour blocking is spot-on and I could easily imagine the mechanical function of each individual detail. While not as complicated and large as Moko’s build, it has no less character or spirit.

Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest, yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

This amazing pirate-themed collaboration between Grant Davis and Eli Willsea was built in just three weeks. The gorgeous diorama features excellent rockwork, moving features in the waterfall and the ancient stone calendar, as well as lighting inside the temple. One more very important aspect of the build, in my opinion, is the ratio between the land and sea, which adds a lot to the overall impression of the creation.

I highly recommend you check out the many closeup photos showing all of the incredible details in this build, as well as the following time-lapse video which highlights some of the moving features:

LEGO Primitive Technology tiled roof hut

To an untrained eye, this mud hut by Magma Guy might seem like just another medieval farmer’s house, but I assure you, this is placed in current time, in our world. Inspired by the Youtube phenomenon Primitive Technology, Magma has recreated the focal point of the Youtube channel’s most popular video, Primitive Technology: Tiled Roof Hut, which has over 21 million views and shows the process of building a simple structure completely from scratch. The model has all the details captured exceptionally well, from the ceramic roof tiles, to the rock and mud walls, as well as the stone foundation and a picture-perfect recreation of the stick door. The scenery is also complete with some ceramic pots and the “Primitive Technology” guy with a resin torch.

As a great fan of the videos myself, this creation means even more to me personally, especially the extra photo showcasing some of the creations from Primitive Technology’s other videos.