While I have no fear of ants in general, this one scares me to bits becomes of its huge size! I’m not sure what Leonid An was thinking when building this monstrosity. Like me, I bet many of you right now are instinctively reaching out for a rolled up newspaper or a boot to stomp this bug. Nevertheless, I can’t wait to see if the builder churns out more of these realistic looking creepy crawlies.
A magical place is how Jonas Kramm describes this serene little home tucked under a tree. What’s interesting is how there’s a particular element that belongs to the LEGO Duplo family that’s part of this build. If you’ve not spotted it yet, it’s the green grass element that forms the roof of the home. I wonder what beings live in this fairy tale wonderland — earth fairies, or ground trolls, or was it the home of Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy? I’ve got my eyes on that hole in the tree trunk, just waiting to see what pops out of the curious-looking land.
When in need of whacky (and some times unsettling) creations, Fedde Barendrecht‘s photostream is always a good place to start, with fresh material being added on an almost daily basis. If you are interested in finding out more about Fedde’s work, I recommend reading the interview we did with him recently. His latest creation is a strange combination of the ancient demonic god Cthulu and the famous videogame character Pac Man. The result is a strange, funny-scary monster with some nice part usage and techniques, most notably the teeth inside the spherical Death Star piece.
Beware the Ides of March – so warned the soothsayer in Julius Caesar of the traitorous act committed on the 15th of March, 44 B.C.E. Performed by Marcus Brutus, made infamous by William Shakespeare, the betrayal is now immortalized in LEGO by legophthalmos. The builder has chosen the perfect expressions to represent the characters: Caesar appears regal and pensive while Brutus looks devious and cunning. With Senators looking grim as they rush towards them with swords drawn and the Roman guard running towards the fracas in very soft focus, there’s no mistaking the inevitable conclusion.
After more than a decade of hit-or-miss Harry Potter movies, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them quite as much as I did. One of my favorite early scenes is the niffler popping around New York stealing every jewel in sight and secreting them away in his infinite, Doraemon-like pouch. Tyler Halliwell takes a break from his usual macabre fare to bring us an adorable, life-size LEGO niffler, replete with coins and treasures.
The creature looks quite pleased with himself, though his fur appears to be a bit ruffled after being chased and cornered by Newt Scamander. 50 points to whatever house Tyler belongs to for the brick-built LEGO wall and floor.
Builder Serge S really really gets his money’s worth out of the LEGO sets he buys — especially the 10242 Mini Cooper. Last year he shared his alternate builds of the set that produced an elegant sports car and a monster of a truck, all from the very same set. This year he’s back with the same pieces to share with us a slick-looking two-propeller monoplane that includes a base stand. If there’s one thing I can learn from Serge, it’s that creativity gives birth from constraints, and perhaps all of us should whip out our older sets and give alternate builds a go!
Even though this oriental bazaar creation by Scottish builder Colin Parry uses LEGO pieces introduced as recently as 2016, there is a strange 2008-like essence to it. Maybe it’s the use of all yellow minifigs (flesh tones have been more predominant in recent years) and amongst them many older head prints. Or maybe it’s how clean the design is, as opposed to more contemporary high-detail castle building trends. Whatever it is, I like it and I think it’s important that we do not get so wound up in progress as to forget how much more there is to be done in styles that fell out of fashion years ago.
While there is much to love in the architecture and other details like the boat or canvases, the real star of the show is probably the minifig action. Minifig posing is an art most people ignore when making dioramas, but it can be the difference between a good scene and an amazing one. After all, what is a diorama without life?
As any child of the 1990s (or their parents) can tell you, Nickelodeon television shows were simply the best. And Aaahh!!! Real Monsters is right up at the top of the list of best cartoons from that decade. And judging by this terrific LEGO version of Krumm, it seems that Julius von Brunk agrees with me. Just look at Krumm’s signature armpit hairs (so stinky), his blue lips (terrifying), and his hand-held eyeballs (where will he roll them next?).
Here’s hoping Ickis and Oblina are right around the corner (or hiding under Julius’s bed).
The Château de Chenonceau is a historic building in the Loire Valley in France, spanning the River Cher. The current château was built in the early 1500s on the foundations of an old mill and was later extended to span the river. While not the original owners, the château was acquired by the Menier family, who are famous for their signature chocolates, and they still own the château to this day. Isaac Snyder has managed to capture the architectural essence of this beautiful, grand building in LEGO microscale.
The complex collection of varying roofs that depict the chapel and library areas at that Northeast end of the château are very nicely built, but my favourite section is definitely the multiple archways with the flowing river below.
For proponents of the art of LEGO character building like myself, LEGO’s new Brickheadz pattern is somewhat horrifying – from an aesthetic standpoint. But it looks like a lotta builders are jumping on the bandwagon and creating their own, so I guess these neckless, mouthless wonders are here to stay! Anyone who was around for the 2010 explosion of Angus MacLane’s (imho superior) Cubedudes probably knows how all this is going to play out. And while some builders have tried to counteract this movement with nicer templates, I decided to see how low I could go. And I think I may have succeeded…
You can almost smell the clinical environment and hear the beep… beep… beep of the heart monitor in this hospital-themed build by Finnish builder Eero Okkonen. The IV bag hanging from the drip stand seems to contain the infamously yellow vitamin B infusion with a tube leading down to a rather frail looking hand on the bed. The pulse oximeter is hooked up to a large monitoring machine with a glowing display. Additional details like the “Get Well Soon” card and a couple of bottles of tablets are a lovely touch.
What is particularly impressive about this build is the ingenuity of the part that Eero used as the screen display for the monitor — it’s actually the underside of the current seed part in this round of Iron Builder, namely the Duplo part Fire/Grass/Ice 1x4x2.
I have to admit, when I first saw LEGO’s new BrickHeadz, I wasn’t so sure of it being a loveable theme. But once again the LEGO fan community has proven me wrong. How could you say no to these bright and colorful Winnie The Pooh characters by builder Bob Chai. He even extends this lovely build to include a themed base that spells out “POOH”. While the Pooh has a cute extended tummy, what tickles me is how Tigger is balancing on his signature tail bounce!
