Posts by Norm Harper

Even Decepticons deserve a holiday

The reaction to the Transformers movie series hasn’t always been glowing, but there’s no denying that Michael Bay’s modern vision for those old 80s robots resonated with some viewers. Case in point, Student Scissors is celebrating summer 2025 by depicting Megatron and Devastator – specifically as seen in the 2009 film Revenge of the Fallen – on a festive day at the beach. And, you know what? Good for them. The “Bayformer” designs aren’t easily replicated in LEGO, and to see them rendered recognizably in these stripped down, almost chibi-style versions is a delight. In fact, the next time I get the urge to revisit one of those movies, I think I’m just gonna spend a couple of minutes scrolling Scissors’ feed.

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This gargoyle is stone cold cool

Gargoyles are often thought of as monstrous and scary, but Jule is out to rehabilitate them with Noxalas, a gargoyle creation that couldn’t look friendlier. Sure, by day Noxalas is a stone beast, but by night this friendly winged creature is keeping evil at bay and protecting the city. You rock, Noxalas.

This terrible toddler tramples the town

Kaijune has come and gone, but we can’t get too far into July without celebrating this adorable baby Kaiju by Maxx Davidson. This precious little lizard is hard at work learning how to flatten cities on his puzzle themed playmat, with wooden blocks standing in for some unfortunate metropolis. Let’s hope he tires himself out, otherwise getting him down for a nap is going to be a big job.

We can’t take our eyes off this microscope

Kamil Banasik has been hard at work in the LEGO lab, and the result is this magnificent tribute to the microscopic world. The microscope at the center would be a note-worthy build on its own, as a near perfect 1:1 scale recreation of the real thing. But the way that it’s framed, with those LEGO particles climbing up the those angled arms, takes it from a clever piece of engineering to to a work of art.

The only thing that troubles us is that when you peer into this microscope, it looks back up at you. Someone call Ant-Man, I think the Quantum Realm might want a word with us.

A Millenni-YUM Falcon

Summer is here, and everyone loves a juicy slice of watermelon to help beat the heat, even in a galaxy far, far away. So Maxx Davidson is helping deliver that treat to the furthest reaches of space with this fresh take on a classic Star Wars ship. Maxx has made perfect use of various shades of green to capture the look of the melon rind, and those diamond tiles as seeds on the front mandibles are inspired. But my favorite detail is the round fruit slice tile serving as the cockpit window. Delicious.

This robot is the bee’s knees

If you haven’t been following Shannon Sproule, you’ve been missing out on a plethora of delightfully quirky robot builds. Case in point, this Hadal Wanderer minibot that trudges a vast, endless abyss for signs of life. But we don’t have to look too hard for signs of Shannon’s personality, as this build is full of them. From the horse rein eyebrows to the bee hive legs, Shannon always finds unique ways to incorporate the kinds of pieces you might not immediately associate with robotics. For more of Shannon’s special take on sci-fi, check out our archives.

Have you ever wanted to hug a brick so much in your life?

We all know you can build anything out of LEGO, but the builds we feature do trend towards certain repeated themes; spaceships, mountain sides, sports cars, robots… In other words, hard, solid stuff. That’s why this teddy bear by Simon Küntzel delights us so much. We know it’s not soft. We know it’s a solid chunk of hard plastic. It weighs more than 13 and a half pounds. But, gosh, does it look soft and huggable. Simon has perfectly captured the curves of a plush toy. And it’s no wonder, as Simon devoted 200 hours to the construction.

Delight at these dashing dachshunds

We just took a look at some stellar spaceships from Ted Andes, but that not all he’s been building lately, and the subjects are so polar opposite it felt right to highlight his work again. In a re-work of a previous build, Ted has made his horse racing derby run smaller. And in perfect form for a smaller build, he’s replaced the horses with adorable tiny dachshunds.

If you were at Brickworld Chicago, you might have had a chance to see these hounds race in person. But, if not, check out the video below!

This Jurassic Jeep has us jumping for joy

When Jurassic Park hit theaters in 1993, the special effects changed filmmaking – and the public’s perception of dinosaurs – forever. And while those effects still hold up today, I’ve also come to respect the way the non-dino production design of the movie has endured. Take this latest build from Jerry Builds Bricks. Just a quick glance at the gray Jeep Wrangler with slight red highlights probably put the John William’s theme into your head. You don’t even need to see the logo to know this vehicle is park property. And, while LEGO has released official versions of the film’s classic vehicles, Jerry has raised the stakes with a build that packs plenty of clever technique into an 8-stud wide package. Note the inverted cheese slope wheel wells, the gentle slope on the sides of the vehicle’s hood, and the way the roll bar structure flows right into the slightly angled windshield. It might not be as impressive as cloning a dinosaur – or even rendering one in the computer – but I’d still call it movie magic.

A picture-perfect portrait parody

If you were going to take set 31213 Mona Lisa and turn it into anything else, what better subject than the artist known for taking someone else’s art and turning it into something else? And that’s what Trevor Pearson-Jones has done with this fabulous rendering of the king of parodies, “Weird Al” Yankovic. Trevor has made fantastic use of tiles and wedges to capture Al’s trademark curly locks and wardrobe. And he’s set a few piano keys into the frame as a nod to Al’s musical career. Not to mention that two accordions flying over Al’s shoulders, one with angel’s wings and one with a demon’s. I imagine the angel accordion is all, “Make this song about food” and the demon accordion is like, “No, make this song about reality TV.”

An aquatic bird breaks new ground by flying high

Have you ever dreamed of flying? Me, too. And Matt Goldberg wants to remind us that’s a dream we share with some birds. Matt has done an amazing job of imbuing this brick-built penguin with plenty of personality. You can practically hear it squealing with delight. And I appreciate the little details in this build, like the tiny brown straps going just under the wing to indicate how the rocket pack stays on. Make sure to check out more of Matt’s creative creature work in our archives.

Explore Endor in this epic Ewok Village

Back in the 80s, I remember the older kids always showed a certain disdain for Ewoks. But I was just young enough when The Return of the Jedi came out that a giant alien treehouse manned by warrior teddy bears seemed like the coolest thing ever. And Simulterious has made my inner child beam with delight at the sight of this amazing Ewok village build.

Click through to check out the full build!