February is here, which means it’s time for a month of retro space rovers as FebRovery rolls out on planet AFOL. Meanwhile, in the Castle community, Bas van Houwelingen takes the Dragonslayer crown in the Brickscalibur competition. Our friend ABrickDreamer covers these events and other must-see builds, videos, and articles from the LEGO world in the best 15 minutes you’ll spend all week!
What makes for a great RPG boss fight? There’s the boss, preferably huge. You’ll need a party of heroes, their skills honed on the bones of lesser foes. And of course an epic arena with room to maneuver and priceless artifacts to smash. Dan O’Conner doesn’t disappoint with this Boss Fight Arena in LEGO, a scene packed with masterful technique. First, let’s take a moment to appreciate the SNOT mosaics built from hundreds of cheese slopes and other angular elements. The glowing trans blue pentagram under the caster is amazing! Speaking of caster, the brick-built battle effects are quite effective, from the magic shields to the slice of air from the Gith warrior in the background. The heroes seem to have this battle under control. Of course, a truly memorable boss battle will go through at least three phases, so the worst is likely yet to come.
Let’s travel to the Ørestad district of Copenhagen, Denmark, 135 miles (217 km) to the east of LEGO HQ. There you can find the Tietgenkollegiet, a building designed as an ideal student residence. Its boxy rooms are arranged in a toroid, with greenspace in the center. LEGO Masters Denmark finalist Esben Kolind gives this architectural wonder the LEGO treatment in his latest model, and boy does he succeed! The cubic nature of the rooms translates well into brick, while more clever techniques are employed to curve the building through all 360 degrees.
While Esben has many more shots on his Flickr page worth checking out, I did want to also feature the top-down view. It really displays the spectacular geometry he’s able to pull off in this creation.
You can tell someone has fired up the Iron Forge because of so many clever uses for their seed part. This time, we’ve got LEGO flower stems and filbrick pulls it off with style. The large cactus (or succulent) is adorned in your usual green flower stems to create its spines while its smaller prickly friend sports the same part in olive green. There’s even one flower stem in lavender. Finally, a few brown stems creates the unmistakable ruffle around the vulture’s neck. The eye looks as if you can screw that in with a flathead screwdriver but it is a clever use of the wheel bearing part. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been a fan of the pouring un-bricked parts as demonstrated here with the desert ground.
Michał Zapała excels at LEGO dioramas, whether they take you adventuring in the Himalayas or fleeing raiders in the Fallout. This time Michał takes us back to 9th-century Scandinavia where the shieldmaiden Eivor receives an important guest. It’s the first of a promised series of Viking-themed scenes that will take the character across the North Sea in search of plunder. I love the sod roof tucked right into the land, a typical style of the era. The mix of stately trees perfectly captures the last days of summer before winter roars in (Vikings didn’t have time for extra seasons like fall and spring). But it’s in the human-scale details where Michał’s diorama comes alive. The cloud-shaped plate strung up as a sheep’s skin is brilliant.
Michał also shares close-ups of his Viking-era mystics in all their pagan glory. The trio are an excellent bit of figbashing, repurposing headpieces from D&D, Creator 3-1, and The Lone Ranger. Will these characters make a return in the next Vikings diorama? Hopefully Michał will return with the next installment soon.
It wasn’t too long ago that we showed you all a work-in-progress shot of a delightful LEGO bald eagle head, made by the talent that is Sakiya Watanabe. Well, now it’s time to see the work in all it’s proper glory! And as impressive as the design of that head is, I’m slack jawed taking in the entire scene. I love the use of clear elements to simulate a splash of water as the fish (with scales made from pirate ship sails) attempts to plunge back in. But the eagle definitely seems keen on catching dinner, with its plumage made of reddish brown palm leaves and it’s aforementioned head stuck in a glare of determination. This is definitely a creation I hope to see in person soon!
Perhaps no character in folklore has been reimagined as often as Sun Wukong, the mischievous hero of Journey to the West. LEGO has devoted an entire line to reimagining Monkey’s adventures, complete with mechs and spaceships. Builder Psyro TtunTomato presents a Monkey mech that draws on another take on the legend for inspiration – the hit video game Black Myth Wukong. Of course, Monkey wields his magical cudgel, while the head is decorated with opulent tails like the video game version of the character. The builder fills out the scene with excellent spiky trees and dense overgrowth made of vines, leaves, and the sly hairpiece.
Of course, the purpose of a giant mech is to battle other mechs, and Psyro TtunTomato delivers with classic Monkey foe the Bull Demon King. The builder shows a talent for both armor plating and articulation, as the model strikes a dramatic pose. This fearsome mech is more than a match for Sun Wukong, and looks like it could bust a Hulk as well!
February is one of my favorite months in the year to be a LEGO fan. And that’s largely because of all the excellent Space designs that pour out from the community during the annual celebration known as Febrovery. Tons of sci-fi builders bring out their best wheeled creations to chart the surface of alien planets during these 28 days, and that includes Frost. Each year, he unloads a dropship full of rover-y goodness, including this wonderful model showcasing parts from the recent interplanetary LEGO City line. Time to harvest some purple crystals!
The LEGO Art theme promises to give builders a deeper appreciation of great works through the guided creation of their own replica masterpieces. Van Gogh’s Starry Night started as an Ideas project and was soon followed by The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai and DaVinci’s Mona Lisa. For the fourth painting to get the brick treatment, LEGO returns to the Dutch Impressionist Vincent van Gogh with 31215 Sunflowers. Containing 2,615 pieces, it’s the largest LEGO painting in the Art line, and one that the LEGO Company worked closely on with the Van Gogh Museum for maximum authenticity. You can acquire your own copy of this iconic work starting on March 1st for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £169.99. Is it time to invest in a second Van Gogh for your collection? Let’s have a look!
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Read our hands-on review of LEGO Art 31215 Van Gogh Sunflowers
Whenever LEGO comes out with new products like the Vidiyo clear rounded box or the bracelets found in some DOTS sets, builders take up the challenge of integrating them into their creations, like this azure dragon by Matt Goldberg which features a flexible bracelet band for the long neck of this upright-walking dragon with lots of the leaf elements from the DreamZzz theme used on the tail and the head. The creature also has some well-sculpted feet which look great for running.
For a bunch of helpful woodland creatures living a peaceful life at Redwall Abbey, life is usually simple and carefree. Until Cluny The Scourge shows up with an army of rats, weasels, and other nefarious vermin. This LEGO model by moptoptrev does a great job of capturing the terrifying visage of a monstrous rat sporting a long, whip-like tail with a blade on the end. Armed with sharp teeth, sharper claws, and a long sword, this pirate of a rat strikes fear in the hearts of all good woodland folk.
I don’t know if this thrillifying LEGO scene from Wicked was built in one short day, but considering that Bousker created it on a tight deadline for the Iron Forge contest, it couldn’t have taken much longer. Bousker brings the Emerald City to life in every shade of LEGO green, employing Castle-style techniques in a refreshingly different palette. The starring piece in this build is the flower stem, used here as climbing vines and grass, but also incorporated into the emerald architecture. As much fun as the official Emerald City set is, Bousker’s swankified minifig-scale take has me longing for more Ozian builds.
