If Earth ever gets invaded by aliens, you’ll want to look to the LEGO Voltes V by Marco de Bon for the defense! This giant robot equipped with the Sword of Heaven (the hilt sits across its chest in the jagged red line) packs enough punch to defeat any monster the alien Boazanians can throw at it. But that’s not all – this LEGO creation holds a secret!
Come see what this robot can do!
Over at New Elementary, the results are in from the “Mind that Banana” contest that challenged builders to make creations featuring any of LEGO’s banana elements. Filbrick crawled into the bunch of first-place builds with this mellow yellow iguana. As the builder mentions, yellow iguanas do exist as the typically green lizards appear yellow if born with albinism. Bananas are featured as spines, toes, eyelids, and the tip of the tail. Speaking as a former Iguana owner, the anatomy here is spot-on.
Creating a lifelike lizard with limited colors is no easy feat. Here’s a behind-the-scenes pic of how Filbrick found this scaly friend in a sea of yellow.
The Crash Bandicoot tribute that we spotlighted last week also made it into the beautiful bunch of banana winners. Congratulations to everyone who participated, and thanks to New Elementary for such an a-peeling competition!
Mike Sinclair had a lot of medium nougat LEGO bricks lying around (probably leftovers from a gingerbread LEGO creation of his that was on display at the LEGO House in Billund), so he did what any festive-minded LEGO builder would and built an upscaled gingerbread person minifig. The “upscaled” part, of course, means it has the same proportions as a regular minifig, just a lot bigger. Such a scale allows for greater brick-built details, like the white croissants as dabs of frosting that serve as the gingerbread’s eyebrows. Greater detail in turn means greater expressiveness. All in all, they just look like a sweet gingerbread guy or gal. It’ll be a shame when it comes time to be eaten disassembled.
You know Star Wars and Harry Potter and City and Friends . . . but do you recall the most festive advent calendar of them all? Deborah Higdon‘s LEGO hearts calendar, a response to LEGO’s #BuildToGive campaign, yielded this adorable little wooden reindeer on day 7. The sweet little guy (or gal) looks ready to guide Santa’s sleigh tonight—or just hang on your tree. Take a look at the builder’s Flickr page to follow along as the merry advent calendar continues till Christmas.
Love is a lot of things to a lot of people. To First Order Lego, it’s apparently a sword stabbing a metal arm clutching a white heart bursting with foliage. The artist declines to explain the meaning of the creation, instead inviting the viewer to take what they might from it. It’s the sort of thing that invites both inspection and introspection, letting you ponder the meaning of love even as you examine the clever parts usage. The dripping white elements in particular add a sense of motion and life to the piece. So is hope on display, or does the art reveal a more cynical view of love? That’s up to you.
In 2001: A Space Odyssey the appearance of a black obelisk turns apes into tool users in a rather violent way. Victor imagines an alternate spark of inspiration – a 2×4 LEGO brick! Confronted by this mysterious object, would the apes be inspired to use their newfound reasoning for creative pursuits instead of aggression? Or is the evolution of the stud-shooter inevitable? Victor’s model is a clever tribute to the classic Kubrick film with an upscaled brick looking suitably imposing against a studless sky. Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a toy swapped into the iconic scene (Hi, Barbie!).
There’s a lot to love in this LEGO Parisian subway built by Renaud Petit. The “Miniland” and “LEGO Shop” signs tell me this is my stop and I should get out and explore a bit. I particularly like the extremely Parisian man with his typical French striped shirt, French neckerchief, French bread, French beret, and French bulldog. He’s looking disparagingly at a sleeping French hobo, which I believe is a clochard in French. I don’t know if this is a cultural thing or not but everyone in this composition seems a bit upset. Perhaps everyone needs a good French press coffee and a croissant to take the edge off?
There’s a chill guy who’s been making waves on our internet feeds lately. That, of course, is LEGO builder Maxx Davidson (I haven’t met him personally, but he seems pretty swell). Oh, I guess there’s that meme doing the rounds too – and funnily enough, that’s just what we have here in Maxx’s latest creation. The translation from 2D cartoon to 3D LEGO build is admirably done – everything is perfectly placed. He’s got some black sausage eyebrows and mouth, giving him a laid-back demeanour; and that grey sweater and blue jeans combination looks perfect for relaxing in. He makes it look so easy. What more is there to say? It’s literally just a chill guy.
Sachiel, the third Angel, has arrived in LEGO courtesy of Sakiya Watanabe (N.A.B.E _mocs), and I don’t think it brings good tidings. Sakiya employs some devilish parts usage in this recreation of the Evangelion enemy. Strings of rubber tires give the limbs an organic effect. Black wing elements tightly tucked into the torso are nearly invisible until you zoom in to appreciate the subtle texture. A white cloth cape for the face is especially unsettling. Sakiya has only recently begun sharing Bioncle and constraction builds but is already finding fans. The builder’s hockey mask tiki tower was one of the most popular builds with readers this year!
How can an 8-inch dragon also be four feet high? When those feet are LEGO versions of Donkey Kong feet, cleverly worked into the dragon’s scaly belly. Nathan Don (Woomy World) designed this fellow at the Skærbæk Fan Weekend as part of New Elementary’s New Parts Workshop. As guest builder, Nathan guided fans in unlocking the creative potential of new elements. The seed part for the dragon, Donkey Kong’s foot, doesn’t feature easy connection points for such a small build, so the row of feet are rubber banded together, reducing the number of connections needed. Very clever! (Learn more about Nathan’s process at New Elementary).
Nathan has had an incredible year, both winning the Bio-Cup competition and being invited to contribute to the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery. After so many epic creations, it’s a delight to see what a builder can do with just a few weird parts to spark the imagination!
It may be winter where you are, but in the Imperial City of Ids de Jong‘s imagination, fall is still in the air. Ids LEGO scene captures a slice of steampunk life as the leaves turn. The steam-powered mulcher is a nice touch, showing how newfangled technologies are good for more than airships and gyrocars! I’m a huge fan of the steampunk accents on the brick buildings, like those rickety drainpipes, the corrugated metal bay window, and the chunky metal tubes for piping in steam.
Ids built this service station for the annual Wandering Skies competition in the Seasonal Bliss category.
Blake Foster has been wowing us with epic builds for over a decade. His M-Tron Magnet Factory remains the most epic tribute to that retro LEGO Space theme I’ve ever seen, and just last month we highlighted his towering contribution to the New Hashima collaboration. Blake is back with another tower for an upcoming near-future Middle Eastern city collab with the Mehmet Agha Mosque, named for the tower that inspired it on Rhodes. In modular fashion, Blake situates the mosque next to a multilevel urban structure containing a street-level carpet shop and a rooftop hookah bar.
The model is a big departure from the SHIPs and sci-fi works we’ve come to expect from Blake, with a focus here on Moorish architecture and urban decay. The cracked plaster is brilliantly done, and the exposed brickwork strikes the perfect balance between fragility and permanence. I really appreciate how Blake combines at least three architectural styles here, capturing the nature of old cities to develop in layers, while also making the model exciting to study (much like the upcoming Tudor Corner modular!).
As an easter egg, the rug seen hanging through the ground floor doorway is a custom printed sticker modeled on a rug Blake owns, and that’s his sigfig tending the shop!
Blake’s tower will be joining the epic Medina al Musawrah collab that we highlighted earlier this year. You can see the work in person at BrickFair NoVa 2025.