2025 was a rocky stretch for LEGO Star Wars fans, but the year ended on a high note with Gingerbread Vader spreading joy across the galaxy. Pascal Hetzel upscales the sweetest Sith lord and his peppermint saber just in time for Christmas. Vader comes bearing not just gifts but a Death Star grey tree to place them under. The upscaled classic tree design is the best present of all.
Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.
We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!
Click here for spoilers of today’s builds!
You may wonder, what is a Sennebogen? Well, I did not know what it was either, until I started searching for a suitable new model to add to my collection of minifigure-scale Lego trucks. All I wanted was to rebuild my Mercedes Actros tractor in a new livery, when I found that Kuiphuis, a Dutch crane rental company, one of whose cranes I built a few years ago, uses one to pull trailers carrying telescopic handlers. This would make for a neat combination.
A telescopic handler (or telehandler) is a multifunctional construction vehicle. It has a telescopic arm and combines the functions of a forklift, crane or cherry picker, depending on the attachment mounted on the end. Sennebogen is the German manufacturer of one of the types that Kuiphuis operates. It is an odd-looking contraption, but perfect for minifigures who need to work in high places.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and nothing feels better during this chilly season than a warm cup of hot chocolate. LEGO Masters Season 5 winner Ian Summers built this wonderful little mug of cocoa (appropriately accompanied by copious amounts of marshmallows and treats). All of the little details are fantastic, and the way he was able to represent a Santa-themed mug at this scale is very impressive. Our favorite detail is the NPU of the fan-favorite Candy Cane piece to represent a festive straw – it works so well and adds such a nice visual element to the build. This is just the drink I was looking for, and I think I’ll have another.
In previous builds, Luke (cathedralofbricks) has taken us to fairy tale castles, swashbuckling seas, and even Middle-earth. The builder’s latest wonder transports us to Marrakech at the height of the Saadian Sultanate. As he hinted at in our last interview, Luke has at last applied his gift for archways and grandeur to Moroccan architecture. It’s an incredible diorama that impresses in both scale and detail.
Most striking is the color, as Luke moves from his usual greys into brick yellow, white, and azure. Classic tiling and SNOT techniques form intricate mosaics on both the walls and the courtyard floor.
Join us for a closer look at Luke’s Moroccan palace
Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.
We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!
Click here for spoilers of today’s builds!
First there were Classic Space sets – only they weren’t called “classic” as they were the hot new thing from LEGO. Later afols would reimagine classic colors as Neo-Classic Space, amping up greebles and incorporating more modern elements. Edgeofhearing takes things in a different direction, stripping away greebles and leaning into a look best described as Space Brutalism. Lately, the builder has been on a tear, making brutalist outposts in a variety of colors and themes, like this slick Blacktron base. The landing pad is inspired by a design from bradk918 with the SNOT heavy outpost building on edgeofhearing’s distinctive aesthetic.
The builder doesn’t stay confined by Space for retro inspiration. Their latest is this Paradisa outpost, a perfect stopover on your way to intergalactic pool parties. I love the sci-fi palm tree with its metal coconuts.
Disney’s Maleficent is one of the all-time great baddies – so great that she eclipsed her Princess and created her own franchise and became the face of Disney’s Villain empire. The witch’s dragon form has appeared in LEGO before as an official set, but at a scale that didn’t scream Mistress of all evil. Bob DeQuatre gives Maleficent her due with this towering tribute to the film’s final confrontation. The dragon is spectacular, making excellent use of a wide range of slopes in purple and black to match the cartoon curves. Poor Prince Philip doesn’t stand a chance. My favorite section, however, is the crumbling bridge and creeping vines. Bob’s best known for his incredible space and Star Wars builds, but after seeing this scene, I’d love to see him play more with castle creations.
I think it’s safe to say that we all love a new interpretation of a classic LEGO set. But those efforts are so often given to space or castle themes. Which is why it’s refreshing to see Jack Lockhart come along and give Johnny Thunder a boost with a new take on Mr. Thunder’s ride from set 5998 Pharoah’s Forbidden Ruins. If you remember that set at all, there’s a good chance it’s for the old hot air balloon build. But it also came with a truck that’s much more suited to an adventurer’s needs.
Jack has retained the classic hallmarks of Thunder’s pickup; the wood-paneled bed and the six wheels. But there have been a bunch of modern touches added, like the angled engine block and a windscreen that goes all the way up to the roof. Check out the new model compared to the original, and tell me which one you’d rather trek out into the desert in.
Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.
We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!
Click here for spoilers of today’s builds!
When LEGO phenom Nick Trotta comes out with a new spaceship, we sit up and take note. Not least because more often than not they come equipped with great honking guns which we don’t want to get in the way of. We’re only watching out for ourselves, you know. But it does give us a chance to take a good look at the complex angles and mechanical details that have become Nick’s signature. And my word it looks fantastic.
Step this way to see more of this angular awesomeness!
Let’s be honest, the Lamborghini Lambo V12 Vision Gran Turismo might be too futuristic. The concept car got translated into a Speed Champions set that’s been capturing the imaginations of builders as they conceive of more fantastic roads for it than just a racetrack. We just took a look at a space-bound rebuild of the set that geared the car up for space travel, and now we’ve got another one from Geneva D that looks like it’s coming down hard on an alien planet. But maybe that’s where it belongs. After all, with that angular windscreen and the mix of olive, black, gold and just a hint of azure…frankly, we think it’s time the good folks at Lamborghini just admit that they built a spaceship. And, if you pick up set 76293, you can, too.
