Tag Archives: ABrickDreamer

Warning! Dungeons & Dragons can be habit(at) forming

For many LEGO fans, each new series of Collectible Minifigures is a creativity prompt to assemble minifig habitats to house each character, and one of the most prolific and inspired of these builders is ABrickDreamer.  The latest Dungeons and Dragons series of minifigs is arguably the hottest set to date, with each character bringing deep lore and delightful accessories to inspire habitat builders. Let’s take a look at ABrickDreamer’s take with 12 fantastic habitats!

LEGO D&D Habitats - Part 1

The Dragonborn Paladin lead the pack housed in an elegant castle courtyard with a lovely double archway. The Dwarf Barbarian camps atop a mountain pass, joined by a goat to match her gruff demeanor. The Mind Flayer and its Intellect Devourers suck life from a deep dungeon. Minifig habitats follow a few basic rules – the base should be 8×8 studs,and the walls 8 bricks high, offset halfway by a stud to help them interlock. Often the best habitats, like those of ABrickDreamer, bend the rules with elements that spill outside the rigid form, as we see with the Dragonborn’s tower and the Dwarf’s rocky terrain. My favorite technique of this trio is the repurposing of the printed baseplates on the wall behind the Mind Flayer.

LEGO D&D Habitats - Part 4

Next up: a trio of named villains. Witch queen Tasha laughs hideously in her workshop. Strahd poors a glass of “I don’t drink wine” while chilling on his throne, while next door Szazz Tam performs a ritual with whatever it is Strahd is drinking. Szazz’s habitat is the standout here, with blood that refuses to be contained by the 8×8 grid, and once again printed base-paints serve as a backdrop, in this case the starry ones from the Series 26 Space collection.

Delve deeper for a peek at the other 6 D&D habitats!

To the Batcave, Rachel!

Christian Bale will always be Batman to me, and the Dark Knight trilogy remains my definitive version of the Caped Crusader’s career. So of course this Tumbler build by ABrickDreamer leaped out at me, so to speak. I love the Tumbler itself poised in mid-leap as it returns to the Batcave (presumably with a heavily drugged Rachel Dawes in the backseat), but as far as parts usage goes, the real MVP is probably the waterfall itself. Power blasts, trans clear minifig stands, rods, and the minifig “flying” stand all work together to give the impression of water cascading from different heights.

Batman Begins Tumbler Diorama

Here’s a view from the back, complete with a burst of flame to propel the Tumbler through the opening. Will it be fast enough to save Rachel from the Scarecrow’s toxin? Well, go watch the movie.

Batman Begins Tumbler Diorama

This murder scene will have you seeing red

The Film Noir Detective from LEGO Collectible Minifig Series 25 appeared in shades of gray, but he came with a colorful accessory: an actual red herring. This clever vignette by ABrickDreamer makes masterful use of the same two-color motif to create an arresting crime scene (no pun intended). Each splash of red is dramatic and eye-catching, like the mysterious red-handed man watching through the window, the woman in the flowing red gown fleeing the scene, and the blood tricking into the river. But whodunnit? The answer to that question is a little less stark: Is it the man with the blood-red hands? Is it the fleeing woman? Are they accomplices? Or was it the snake all along? Hopefully, our intrepid detective can get to the bottom of it soon.

The Crime Scene

90’s Space minifigures get a LEGO habitat of their very own

LEGO Classic Space has had a few upgrades in recent years, and with the launch of the most-recent collectible minifig series, LEGO fans now have a whole new crew to build habitats for, like this trio from ABrickDreamer. They feature a few of the sub-theme characters and sometimes-rivals of the Classic Space minifigure. M-Tron features the red and black color scheme, Blacktron II appears in white and black with an alien planet background, and Ice Planet 2002 surveys some icy terrain. I really like the subtle inclusion of the striped background with stars inspired by the LEGO Ideas set 21340 Tales from the Space Age.

LEGO SPACE cmf 26 Habitats (part 1)

This LEGO barrel ride is making quite a splash

Riding down a river on a barrel may not be the most efficient way to travel, but ABrickDreamer manages to make it look like a pretty fun ride in this vignette which reminds me of the iconic barrel ride from The Hobbit without the angry elves taking pot-shots. The builder made excellent use of multiple transparent power effects and other elements for the splashing water, and that waterwheel really packs in the details at such a small scale.

The Barrel Accident

Miniature architecture for the discerning multi-millionaire

Are you the owner of a successful tech conglomerate looking for somewhere to live? Do you have a penchant for being a superhero in your spare time? And are you barely more than a LEGO plate in height? Then ABrickDreamer has just built exactly what you may be looking for! It’s a stylish architectural piece, featuring excellent use of flex cables to accentuate the Avengers’ tower’s curves. Everything the discerning millionaire – nay, billionaire – superhero could need is there, from city views from the penthouse to parking for your tiny Quinjet. And all it costs is a few LEGO pieces!

Avengers Tower

Prefer something a little less ‘only-exists-in-comic-books’? Then lucky you, this builder has you sorted there too! This is a microscale rendition of the Interlace condo in Singapore. Check out those trees! I doff my cap to you, ABrickDreamer, and then I can put it on one of your trees.

Interlace

Even by Ewok standards, this village is really small

This year celebrates a very important Star Wars anniversary. One that brought the Ewoks and their home on the forest moon of Endor to everyone’s living rooms. Huh? Return of the Jedi? What’s that? No, I’m obviously talking about 10236 Ewok Village‘s tenth birthday! LEGO builder ABrickDreamer knows what I’m talking about. To celebrate, he’s recreated this legendary set in a more diminutive form. The original is pretty expensive on the aftermarket, so this is definitely a more wallet-friendly alternative. It’s a faithful recreation, even including the catapult and a very cute little speeder bike alongside the iconic treetop village. Happy birthday, 10236! If you want to keep celebrating Star Wars anniversaries, why not peruse our Return of the Jedi archives?

Microscale LEGO Ewok Village

A ghostly greeting in a green garden.

A black knight encounters a white ghost in this garden scene, but the only color you’ll see is green. ABrickDreamer took on the gradient challenge for Summer Joust, and this wonderful little vignette is the result. Eight shades of green are used to give life to this delightful little garden. And the limited color palette forced some excellent parts usage, like those Hulk bigfig arms making up the little hill.

A Spooky Encounter

Miniature habitat is big on tranquility

Building a relaxing and tranquil scene doesn’t have to use a lot of parts, as is clear from this Japanese temple scene by ABrickDreamer, which features some nice part usage in the shoulder epaulets on the roof of the temple. The tile waterfall is a great color choice and that cherry blossom tree made from just 4 parts is perfect. Another great detail is the pair of red roller skates used at the top of the temple.

LEGO Microscale Japanese HABITAT

From Star Wars: Visions comes a duel in motion

Star Wars: Visions is a testament to what imaginative and unbridled creativity can do with Star Wars storytelling. This LEGO build by ABrickDreamer continues in this same spirit of creativity. The scene, from the short film The Duel, focuses on the two duelists–Ronin and the Sith Bandit Leader. Both wield their crimson blades with skill while perched upon a log headed for a waterfall. The Sith Bandit Leader deflects a rocket meant to destroy her while one of her bandits watches from the riverbank. This build is all about motion! There’s a flow from the tree in the back to the waterfall in the front, near the Ronin’s side of the log. The water’s movement is achieved through alternating how the transparent clear and blue pieces are positioned. The flower petals in the water also help show the river’s flow.

Star Wars Visions The Duel 2.0

The log’s shape comes from a pretty cool method–there are flex tubes linked together at the log’s core. The sides and top are clipped on the core, creating the stage for the epic duel. The riverbanks have some nice variations of green in with the greys to capture mossy river stones. A cool little Easter egg is the little brown piece floating in the water behind the log. It’s actually from a broken reddish-brown plate! Above it is some fire dripping from where the log was cut by a lightsaber. The wonderful piece used is from the minfigure blast effects pack, same for the explosion splash by the Sith Bandit Leader. If you want to take a closer look at this LEGO creation, check out this video where ABrickDreamer talks about the build and how it’s constructed:

These microwaves won’t reheat your leftovers

We’ve covered tiny boats by A Brick Dreamer before. But boats don’t get much smaller than this six-piece schooner. What’s most impressive, though, is that this minuscule mariner gets rocked by waves that actually work, thanks to some tricky Technic techniques. Good thing that lighthouse is there to warn it away from the microscale cliffs.

Microscale LEGO with Working Waves

Have a look at how the full model functions in the video below.

A LEGO Titanic that won’t break the bank, or your display shelf [Instructions]

When LEGO introduces a big, expensive, and beautiful set like the new Titanic or the Typewriter, it isn’t long before someone in the fan community takes a crack at building a microscale version. The moment I saw this instructions video by A Brick Dreamer I wanted to give it a try since there was no way I was going to be able to buy the official set.

It turned out great. The instructions even include tiny stands. You too can follow along and build the perfect miniature model of the infamous ship that will fit very nicely on your desk, or bookshelf. Check out the video instructions below: