About Mansur Soeleman

Mansur Soeleman, nicknamed "Waffles," is our resident lover of the LEGO colour teal, and all things greebly. An art school grad, he is more of a builder than artist, and a new one at that. While he has just started building seriously a few years ago, he has risen to be among the ranks of talented LEGO builders, and has recently become a part of the fan community. Currently residing in Edinburgh, he has lived in Amsterdam, Budapest, London, and Chicago. Besides procrastinating on LEGO projects, Mansur likes waffles, lots of coffee, riding his bicycle everywhere, any music with trumpets, and did we mention teal and greebling? His LEGO creations can be found on his Instagram and Flickr.

Posts by Mansur Soeleman

Schloss Drachenburg in LEGO: Here there be dragons!

There are castles that are blocky grey fortresses, and there are castles that look like fairytales come to life. One such castle is the ornate Schloss Drachenburg, which bears resemblance to the more famous Neuschwastein. Just a few miles south of the German city of Bonn, this 19th century villa was the passion project of builder Caleb Schilling who replicated this building with an attention to accuracy. A range of earthen tones dominate most of the exterior, while the dark grey adorns the top sections. The overall appearance of this build already satisfies my hunger for beautifully built architecture, but there are plenty of details yet to savour.

Click here to take a closer look at the many architectural details!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Chicago’s hockey legend is padded up in LEGO

Here come the Hawks, the mighty Blackhawks! I am not a sports guy, but I respect athletes who have brought a semblance of glory to their hometowns. Especially when I have lived in that town for over a decade, and exceptional athletes become the local heroes. Teacher and LEGO artist Dave Kaleta has built a large sculpture of a Chicago Blackhawks player Jonathan Toews. Being a Chicago native, Kaleta chose the Blackhawks team captain as the subject to commemorate the new hockey season. This build not only serves as cultural imagery for hockey fans and Chicagoans but as just a realistic and detailed representation of a talented sportsman. In addition to the dynamic posing of the skating Toews, this massive sculpture is packed to the brim with interesting building techniques.

One can examine the photo for at length to see how he has assembled the details like the numbers and the Blackhawks logo. Since I don’t have much to say about hockey, I can talk about the build itself!

Read about the details and a little bit of LEGO-related hockey trivia I could conjure up!

Tealpunk dance revolution

Anyone who has met me knows that I am a sucker for the colour teal. Some even joke that I disregard anything LEGO which does not include teal. In which case, the talented Simon Liu has earned my respect with his small cyberpunk robot. Not only do I approve of the gorgeous colour scheme, but also the ingenious usage of my favourite elements throughout. For example, the “espresso handle” in the knee and elbow joints and the Overwatch gun in the lower legs. The robot clips make for strong shoulder and hip joints, and the round 1×1 plate with hollow stud is very useful when attaching these to a proper LEGO stud connection. Last but not least, let’s not forget about a fairly new part: Monkie Kid’s headphones as shoulder armour.

By adding a neon gridded base and dynamic pose, this small build became Simon’s homage to another similar pink-haired cyberpunk robot that we have previously featured.

Wake up samurai, we have some hot dogs to burn!

Up-and-coming builder Aubrey Beelen presents a detailed cyberpunk street scene with a food vendor. While the scenery appears desolate, it is colourful and packed with stickers that enhance its futuristic nature. The fun, rugged minifigures also reflect the genre of the build alongside the vibrant speeder. In addition to a detailed exterior, the food stall includes cooking appliances and Power Functions LED lights that brighten up the kitchen.

Read about the details of this cyberpunk street scene!

A voodoo-head from the time before time

Waking up on a tropical island has become a familiar premise to many LEGO fans familiar with Bionicle. Awesomenessborn brings us an odd tribal figure on a small sandy landscape dominated by a stone head statue. It may not look like the colourful mechanical warriors of Bionicle, but instead it resembles the prototype figures from the theme’s development phase. Originally nicknamed Bone-Heads of Voodoo Island, the figures looked more innocent and less war-like, which the builder captures very well. The proportions of the figure’s body, with its thin waist and protruding stomach are reminiscent of earlier Bionicle sets.

The statue on the other hand, is terrifying compared to the figure. Overgrown with plants and vines, it resembles a weathered skull that contrasts the smooth raised baseplate from an old pirate set which is used as the small landscape. To complete the foreboding mystery of this world, there are also some spiders on top of the statue. One can even spot a nasty surprise crawling out its mouth…

Groundbreaking hovertank seems to defy gravity

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you, this hovertank is indeed hovering! Space enthusiast Ben Smith has created a floating hovertank inspired by the fan-favourite Galaxy Patrol from the LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series 7, that not only looks awesome with a rugged colour scheme, but breaks the laws of physics. The boarding ramp is the only point of contact with the sand blue terrain, which raises the question: How is a ramp on the front of the vehicle able to actually hold it up and not collapse?

Find out more about how it floats!