Anyone who grew up on first-person shooters like Doom or Quake should recognize a few things in Steve Marsh AKA Rubblemaker’s LEGO build: the industrialized aesthetic, the glimpse of some otherworldly monster just waiting to be riddled full of bullets, and of course the giant minigun.
Tell the monster to wait a second while you inspect the build a little more.
Fresh off the heels of the epic Dune vignette we featured a few days ago, builder Gus brings us another iconic movie scene: the confrontation with the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Arthur, King of the Britons, has momentarily defeated the enemy knight, whose arms have been comically shorn from his shoulders. (He’s had worse.) The scene is instantly recognizable, thanks to authentic details like cream puffs standing in for the coconuts Patsy claps together to simulate a horse’s hooves. Now Arthur, believing his foe vanquished, prepares to cross the bridge. After all, what’s the Black Knight going to do, bleed on him?
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In the bowels of a dreary-looking office building, life shines in the intriguing “Blue Screen” by Loïc Gilbert. Let’s let the builder tell the story behind this LEGO enigma:
The building had stood abandoned since 1992. …fluorescent lights flickered to life, joined by the faint whirring of old desktop fans. Then came the soft, steady drip of water. He glanced at the dim blue glow coming from an old monitor, but something felt off. The desktop wallpaper wasn’t static—it was gently rippling.
The mystery of the computer screen aside, my favorite aspect of the build is the way every mundane detail is brought to life with ordinary LEGO elements: the post-it note the mouse, the scissors, the ranks of tiles archived away in crates. I’m pretty sure I had that exact computer sitting on my desk back in 2002. Mine never came to life with a mysterious blue screen, though.
Need some LEGO cargo hauled across the galaxy? Michael Thomas‘s ACC-312 Cargo Transport “Esperon Express” can get it done. No streamlined curves here, and that’s what’s great about it. The ACC-312 is purely functional, from its landing struts to the bridge tower to the angular stacks of cargo containers. A pair of white-suited spacemen oversee the cargo from platforms both fore and aft.
Here it is with the cargo containers removed (and the crew on shore leave). I love the stark, clean lines of the NASA-meets-Nostromo aesthetics. It all looks very dependable: rain or shine, asteroid or solar flare, the ACC-312 will deliver the goods to Alpha Centauri on time or you’ll get your money back.
There’s a lot to love in this dramatic depiction of Paul Muad’Dib’s final speech before the battle of Arrakeen. Builder Gus (aka Faëbricks) captures the moment just before Paul launches the family atomics to destroy the Shield Wall so well you can almost hear Hans Zimmer’s throbbing soundtrack. But aside from the faithfulness to the movie moment, two things stand out. The first is the stunning arrangement of the rock pieces, which jut out at impossible-looking angles to make a truly natural-looking cliff for Paul to stand on. The second is the perfectly round base, achieved by stacking rows and rows of plates on their sides, each one just slightly tilted, until they reach full circle. Forget desert power—it’s the power to create angles like this with LEGO bricks that’s really impressive.
We all know the story of the other mermaid who wished for legs so she could woo her prince. This mermaid already has legs—but she may find any prince-wooing to be a tall order, depending on how much he likes kissing fish lips. This horrifying LEGO reversal of the typical mermaid configuration comes to us courtesy of Maxx Davidson. While you’re staring, feel free to appreciate some of the fun parts usage: the eyes of the 21349 Tuxedo Cat, dragon wings for the fins, and smoke plumes for the splashing water. The rock is offset at a nice angle and the curved pearl blue rounded bricks over white make for a great water effect. If only I could look away.
Miniaturizing a large set (either for budget reasons or just because a microscale version looks so darn cute) is a common enough practice among LEGO builders, but most of the time the miniature versions don’t stay at minifig scale. “Eldoradito Fortress” by. Ciamosław Ciamek keeps most of the major features of the larger 10320 Eldorado Fortress (itself a remake of the classic set of the same name), so it stays true to its storied pedigree despite its smaller size. We’ve got the winch, jail, tower, cannons, dock, stone ramp, rowboat, and palm tree. There’s even a solitary guard, though he looks as though he’s probably overdue to be relieved. The only feature that doesn’t make it into the smaller version is the ship (which would be tough to shrink down much further anyway).
What’s gray and white and red all over? This build by Mark van Der Maarel. The dramatic simplicity of its colors is striking enough, but the red house nevertheless also contains a variety of textures that keep it interesting: flippers mounted on walls for little architectural flourishes, Technic pins protruding from walls, and 1×2 ribbed bricks stacked atop each other, to name a few. The bright color and details of the building contrast starkly with the blank gray figure painting it. It begs the question: what happens when the creation is more vivid than its creator? Ponder on that the next time you build.
It’s been a while since a LEGO build has made me this hungry. Maybe that’s because I’m writing over lunch, or maybe it’s because Maxx Davidson‘s “Fish & Ships” is so delightful. Maxx is no stranger to creating tasty-looking ensembles involving French fries, but I’ve never seen a meal this swooshable before. Each part of the meal lends itself naturally to the ship, even the collapsible paper container for the ketchup, which serves as a thruster. The fries (sorry, chips) are simple but easily recognizable (and perfectly golden, as all good fries should be), while a series of irregularly placed elements like the “rock with claws” piece give the breading on the fish a tasty-looking crispy texture. Hungry? Better get yours soon; they’re going fast.
The creak of rusted metal. The faint groan of boardwalk underfoot. The whine of the wind. All these sounds come to mind when I look at this atmospheric LEGO Western scene by Oshi (called “The Frontier”). Violence is about to break out on the streets of this dusty town, with the sheriff and his two deputies keeping their eyes on the outlaw and their guns at the ready.
While the scene is clean and detailed, the build itself is simple enough without many flashy elements, at least until you notice the way the siding on the building is slanted subtly outward to give it a realistic texture. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look. See if you can spot how the builder accomplished the effect:
It may take a long time to say anything worth saying in Old Entish, but you can describe this LEGO Ent by brickbuiltjosh in just one word: impressive. Treebeard (aka Fangorn) of The Lord of the Rings carries Merry and Pippin on his shoulders, probably a few stanzas deep into a really long song about leaves or something. His bark-like skin is captured in a wonderfully organic way, full of whips, curved elements, and dinosaur tails. His hands are handlebars, allowing for his fingers to spread. Each piece is arranged into an asymmetric whole that just works. Treebeard’s pose conveys a ponderous sense of weight and motion. According to the designer, large ball joints form the knees, hips, and shoulders, while his elbows are brick-built double hinges.
What do Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, and a brave Wookiee warrior have in common? More than you think. Take this visually arresting build by JustAnotherTFOL, which gets the award for the best use of Chewbacca legs since . . . well, Chewbacca’s legs. The parts from the buildable Chewbacca figure make a great tree trunk.
But the great parts usage doesn’t end there. The golden curl piece gets to shine as both the vine that grows around the column and her curly hair. It all flows together organically, which is a good look for a goddess like Demeter.
