Posts by Simon Friesen

This little Star Wars astromech is bursting with personality

Everyone’s favorite little droid with a huge personality is back in brick form, built in LEGO by Ron McPhatty. Ron has managed to pack an impressive amount of detail into Chopper’s diminutive stature using solid building techniques. That yellow 1×1 tile on Chopper’s chest perfectly matches the original design, and the 2×2 triangular tiles match his patchwork metal plating. Ron also models a variety of Chopper’s exposed internal components with various LEGO pins, bars, and bushes.

MOD 75379 Chopper P4

Even better, Ron has built Chopper to be in-scale with the new LEGO R2D2 set and provided Chopper with some added accessories that model his middle wheel and head arms. I’d argue that hijinks are un-a-droid-able!

MOD 75379 Chopper P3

Amazing LEGO fairy castle stands over 4 feet tall!

When LEGO builders work together, great things happen! Kat (@k._harmon) and Samuel (@darksamishgray) have collaborated to create a stunningly beautiful fairy castle that built out of an old tree stump. Through the crack in the trunk you can see the cozy architecture of the fairy folk. There’s so much detail and great building on display for an observer to dig into. The bluebells (blue flowers) are fastened to their stems by a pair of grass pieces attached through the loop by a twig. The ferns are made from crocodile tails, and I love the little glider made from a variety of LEGO leaves.

Continue reading →

The brick that loved me

The Q-Branch of MI6 in the James Bond series has a real fondness for outfitting flashy cars with even flashier upgrades. One of the flashiest has been captured here by László Torma in their outstanding LEGO model of the famous Lotus Espirit featured in The Spy Who Loved Me. 007 drives his souped-up sports car off the end of a dock and transforms it into a slick two-seater submarine. László has captured the clean lines of both versions of the Espirit. The slim black stripe across the side of the car is created by using a variety of brackets built on their sides. I want to give a special shout-out to the 2×4 bow above the rear wheel; this part has been around for a while, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it used this smoothly! I’m also sure László was happy by the release in 2003 of the 1×6 slope which used to make the clean lines of the car’s hood. All this fantastic comes together to capture the classic silhouette the Bond’s Espirit in the 8-wide form factor of a Speed Champions style model. Maybe one day we’ll get a Jaws minifigure to go with it!

Lotus Esprit S1 - James Bond - Instructions 12

A spherical Star Wars battleship in a vacuum

Say what you will about the prequels, the opening scenes of the Phantom Menace are extremely compelling. The red Jedi cruiser approaches a Lucrehulk battleship – depicted for us here in LEGO by Jonah – for some tense negotiations. Jonah has made use of a number of classic techniques to capture the smooth curved lines of the ship in the notably square medium of LEGO. The center part of the ship is made using the Lowell Sphere, and the wider curve of the arms is made using hinge plates. Jonah has also added plenty of trans-light-blue accents to increase the visual interest of this build! Unfortunately this LEGO model will probably be short lived, as I can see a certain prophesied child in military hardware approaching bring this battleship to an unfortunate end!

Droid Control Ship

Relive the adventure of Jedi: Fallen Order with a LEGO Stinger Mantis

The Stinger Mantis is the iconic hero ship and base of Cal Kestis and his NPC companions during his adventures in the Jedi: Survivor and Fallen Order games. This fantastic piece of Star Wars design is recreated in high LEGO detail in this model by Tim Goddard. Tim has spared no expense, and pushed LEGO’s clutch power to achieve the outstanding greebling (or scientific texturing, if you will) on the ship’s vertical fin. I love the details on the outboard engine; the front of the engine is a white life preserver, while the rear nozzle features a ring of clip-and-tube-holders.

Stinger Mantis

Check out more views of this cool LEGO Star Wars model

In the Shire, there’s always time to take a break from your chores

J. R. R. Tolkien imagined Bilbo Baggins’ door as a circular construction, green and impressive in size (for a hobbit). Peter Jackson ran with the description and the gently rustic feel of the Shire and created an organic-and-tudor style mix that Gus has wonderfully captured here in the blocky medium of LEGO. There are so many details to love in this scene; the fence is made from a pair of whips, while the circular window to the right of the door is a bicycle tire! The organic side of the hobbit style is on full display as Gus has achieved both a cobbled circle for the windmill tower, and a smooth roof-line mimicking the slope of the of the hill – not to mention the striking red of the wood slats in the door. With all of this excellent building on display only one question remains; are these two folks Bagginses or Tooks?

The shire

Imagine a bowling ball, but angrier

“Carcinisation”; a very fancy word that means “some animals tend to look more like crabs over time”. This build by Djokson demonstrates what might happen if even our tanks turn into crabs! Djokson has tone a fantastic job of creating a round rolling shape for the tank using unusual parts. The Crab-Tank’s forehead is made from a handful of rubber handles from the short-lived Vidiyo line, the yellow disks on either side of the body come from the old X-Pod line (oh the nostalgia!), and the little warrior in the cockpit is sporting a old technic helmet for protection. I don’t know about you, but I’d feel crabby if I had to square up against that thing!

Roller

The Castle of the Sword stands at the ready

Despite being named Castle of LEGO Sword, most of the knights defending this fortress are armed with literally anything else. Luckily for them, this build by Yujie Jiang is instead named after the giant stone sword mounted inside the keep. This build has character as big as its gigantic sword. For starters, said giant sword is an outstanding up-sized replica of the classic LEGO sword that was produced in multiple forms between 1978 – 2016. This sword makes excellent use of 4×4 round bricks and is studded with neat little gems. The tower’s design is effective as well, with a door made of tiles mounted inside a 1×6 arch, and the general structure using 1×2 profile bricks, chisled pentagonal shields, and the extra touch of the carved lion head above the door.

Castle of lego Sword (3)

That sword, though, is a thing of beauty. It’s approximately human-sized and can be pulled out by any friendly giants passing by that would be willing to offer a hand to defend the kingdom. Would you be worthy of pulling the sword from the stone tower?

Castle of lego Sword (11)

This owl won’t ruffle any feathers!

Occasionally, an excellent example of great parts usage shows up online. One of the most recent such examples is this Colorful Owl by Nikita Filatov! This artist has done a splendid job of repurposing parts from the Wildflower Bouquet to create this adorable little friend of an owl. The dark purple bicorn hats make up the fluffy plumage of the owl’s wings, while the belly feathers are made of magenta paddles, and the eyebrows, which add so much character to the little bird, are made of wavy swords. If you, like me, didn’t recognize the disks that make up the whites of its eyes, have no fear; in that tan color, they are from the Wildflower Bouquet – and the part was made originally for the wheels of the James Bond Aston Martin. I’m looking forward to seeing more builds from NikiFilik. This one has been a (wait for it…) hoot!

Colorful Owl

Hanging up the sword of Martin the Warrior

Deep in the heart of the Mossflower woods, south of the gently-flowing River Moss, sits the storied Redwall Abbey. And when you need a cozier space to have your meal than the Great Hall, you can pull up a chair in the Cavern Hole, built for us in LEGO by Evancelt. This smaller dining hall is lovingly rendered for us in (plastic) brick form with a hearty feast upon the table. Evencelt here has made excellent use of third party parts for this build. The mouse figures and weapons – including the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior mounted on the wall – are from Crazy Bricks’ Mouse Guard series, and the stained glass windows are excellently repurposed from BRIQUESTORE’s Harry Potter stained glass prints. Going back to 1st party bricks, I love the living edge table made from various curves and arches holding a feast made from various printed tiles and food pieces. The chairs are also an excellent piece of design; managing to look both unique and similar enough to form a set. I hope they have saved a chair for me by that fire!

Redwall Feast

This kingfisher knows all the greatest fishing spots!

With all of the excitement for the new official kingfisher LEGO set, it’s no wonder other builders – like Ryan Van Duzor – are giving us their own unique take on the subject. This LEGO model captures a kingfisher in its most exciting moment as it just hits the water and drops in on those unsuspecting fish. If you’re like me and didn’t recognize those fish right away, don’t feel too bad; those are Duplo fish that were discontinued in 2018. The air-water boundary in this scene is skillfully held together by transparent slide shoes and the kingfisher is crowned with feathers from the Chima line. While this bird may not make a splash, I think the build will!

Five mechs for fighting in the wasteland

Bartosz Sasiński has been busy building LEGO models this 2024. His new line of light-blue mechs are part of a diesel-punk series named “For Fuel!” The hero of this lineup is the sword-wielding M-D1 walker brandishing the golden blade from various Ninjago sets. This build features a number of rarer parts used to great effect: The horns in bright light blue are from 76414 Expecto Patronum, and the gold tubes were only available in two sets from 2021.

Amazing build and massive sword aside, I’d argue the greatest strengths of this walker are two-fold; its outstanding color-scheme, and its party of allied mechs. The medium blue of the armor contrasts with iron brown of the mechanical parts. These fighting vehicles have seen some hard use in unforgiving conditions and the rusty color of the struts and joints reflects that.

M-D1

Continue reading →