Not long ago, we featured Joel Short‘s screen-accurate LEGO X-wing. As great a replica as it was, it had nobody to chase it around. Enter Joel’s latest creation (well, actually an update of an old creation, but it’s a great update): the legendary TIE fighter. I don’t know if you can hear a picture, but I look at it and hear a TIE’s distinctive roar.
Can’t shake the fighters on your tail? Let’s get a little closer.
This giant LEGO ant carrying the entire Earth by Plaåtart’s Creations doesn’t seem so farfetched considering that ants can carry 100 times their weight. That would be the equivalent of me lifting a semi-truck! Meanwhile, here I am straining to get a gallon of milk out of the fridge like a weak wussy-man. Unless this is a well-known builder in disguise, this appears to be the first time we’ve featured their work here so let’s give them The Brothers Brick Bump they rightly deserve. With build quality this (ahem) strong, we look forward to seeing whatever else this builder will lift up in the future.
Over 25 years of LEGO Star Wars, we’ve seen at least 10 different Tie Fighter variants but the beloved X-wing has only ever come in two flavors: your classic T-65, or the modestly upgraded Resistance era T-70. True, the “good guys” have a veritable alphabet of other craft, but surely the flagship fighter deserved a bit more variety? Builder Don Wilson imagines a New Republic-era fighter that takes a bolder approach to upgrading the X-wing design. Based on a fan design from Corellian Customs, the “Thumper” Heavy Artillery X-wing trades curves for sharper angles and muscle car power.
Click to lock S-Foils in closed position and see more of this sleek fighter!
The end of August (and summer) signals the start of many countdowns. Some will be eagerly awaiting spooky season, while others will already be counting down the days until LEGO sets are wrapped under the Christmas tree. But just like Ciamosław Ciamek, I, too, am looking forward to winter – but not for the festive season (which shouldn’t start until December anyway, if you ask me). Winter brings snow, and snow means the ski season starts again! But Ciamosław’s build presents us with a cautionary tale. Even if skiing is a bit like riding a bike, it’s always worth giving yourself an easy slope first up to dust off the cobwebs. Don’t go straight for the double-black-diamond. Otherwise, you could end up making an unintended intrusion into someone’s piste-side cabin….
Cecilie Fritzvold is no stranger to building Nintendo mascots with LEGO. She brought Mario Kart to brick form long before there was an official license (and revisited it in adorabuild form!) For a recent Smash Bros collab, Cecilie chose her fighter from the constellation of Mario characters: Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy. The celestial maiden and adoptive mother of the Lumas became a fan favorite, injecting more sadness and story into the Mario formula. Cecilie perfectly captures Rosalina’s charm in brick form, from the half-covered face to the pre-spin pose with the Star Cursor. The design of Rosalina’s partner, Luma, is equally impressive from just a handful of parts, especially the floppy point made from a cattle horn. While the pair might look sweet, especially in LEGO, don’t underestimate them in the Smash Bros arena or they just might blow you to star bits.
Keep your Mustangs and your Harley-Davidsons. For me, nothing captures the spirit of the American road like a semi-truck. German LEGO builder Eugen Sellin pays tribute to the American freight truck with a gorgeous diorama that pairs his highly detailed vehicle design with an enormous warehouse. The truck is built in the 9-wide* scale of newer Speed Champion sets, which allows for smooth lines and great detail in both the cab and the freight pallets being pulled (love those Octan cylinders). The warehouse is just as impressive, elevating a simple box design with wonderful textures, great use of color, an asymmetrical base, and attention to detail from the ventilation units to the papered-over windows. I especially appreciate the care taken to the road and concrete barriers. Even in the face of infrastructural decline, blue-collar workers keep on truckin’.
Building a good LEGO frog can be a challenge, with so many organic shapes, but Maxx Davidson shows how effective some parts can be. Take the surfboard used for both the front and back legs, with the back legs upside-down. The eyes built on a 45-degree angle give this handsome frog a great personality. But as much as I love the frog, the big mushroom competes for my attention.
If there’s one thing you should know about me in this wonderful LEGO hobby, it’s that I love a good brick-built anthropomorph! So this trio of summertime fruits getting their chill on by Palixa And The Bricks really speaks to my core. First up is an adorable watermelon slice relaxing in a lawn chair. There’s nothing like a refreshing beverage to cut through that summer heat, and there’s no doubt this little dude needs to hydrate. While simple, the Converse-style shoes here are everything! But if you desire something more technical, the design of that LEGO folding chair is absolutely wicked.
We’re just getting warmed up. Check out the other two summer fruits below!
There’s a truism among artists that horses are impossible to draw. In life and imagination, they’re majestic beasts, but as soon as you try to recreate that unique form, the proportions are all off. Capturing a horse’s distinctive majesty is doubly difficult in LEGO, but brick artist Vincent Kiew stepped up to the challenge with a splendid steed drinking from a stream. Vincent nails the horse’s muscular build with excellent shaping from head to hocks. Samurai helmets make for a very clever solution for the horse’s hooves. A detailed patch of meadow rounds out the scene with lovely flowers, brush, and ladybugs adding to the pastoral beauty.
Would you be brave enough to step into the unknown? This scene by Bousker was inspired by the BBC adaptation of The Silver Chair, the fourth book of C.S. Lweis’ Chronicles of Narnia. For such a small scene, it successfully captures the ominous and majestic mood. Between the scale of the wall relative to the tiny figure at the center to the river flowing from the crack in the wall to the stark black border of the scene, it feels a bit like an open book about to slam shut. One of my favorite details is the use of several curved shield elements as flat rocks to shape the flowing river.
When someone has a knack for gardening, you might say they’ve got a green thumb. How should we describe someone with a knack for LEGO building? Plastic pinkies? Hmm, doesn’t have the same ring to it. Either way, Julius von Brunk has definitely got both in this wild sculpture! The hand is apparently modelled on his own left hand, so there’s an element of still life here. But the composition of the piece is just as good. That red brick in the middle really pops against all the complementary green. I find myself searching for some sort of meaning behind it… What do you reckon that could be, readers?
Before Tieflings or Githyanki, before Strahd took his first bite or Tasha so much as hideously chuckled, there was the Advanced D&D Player’s Handbook adorned with a red demon idol with jewel eyes who sparked the imaginations of a million young adventurers. Derek Bourgeois pays tribute to the OG D&D icon with a LEGO model of D.A. Trampier‘s classic illustration. Derek deftly captures the mix of menace and grandeur in the demonic statue, putting macaroni tubes to good use as fingers that clutch the flaming brazier. Third-party lighting elements make the flames dance for extra dungeon ambiance. Those jeweled eyes look quite tempting for treasure hunters. Perhaps a party of heroes from the new Dungeons & Dragons Collectible Minifigures will attempt to pry them free.
