Tag Archives: Asia

The diverse cultures and complex history of Asia continue to inspire LEGO builders all over the world. China, Japan, and Korea also have large and active LEGO fan communities that contribute to the global conversation through their LEGO models. This page features LEGO models inspired by Asia, coverage of events that happen in Asia, and background about models by Asian builders.

A mysterious warrior takes a moment to reflect

This mystical scene comes from the creative mind of W. Navarre. In the build, we see the silhouette of a figure perched on a rooftop, with the roof tiles cleverly portrayed through the use of ball joint plates. The warrior is overshadowed by a bright moon, which has a great variation of textured pieces representing the rocky surface. Waves crash against the house surrounded by a bamboo forest, featuring the use of tan Technic pins as bamboo stalks. The odd angle of the house mixed with the mystical aesthetic makes this one unique display.

Moon Blade!

The peaceful garden temple

LEGO builds are often quite small-scale compared to minifigures, with buildings occupying the equivalent space of a car, and castles the size of houses. Here builder Andreas Lenander has flipped that script on its head with a temple gazebo scene in a garden that’s the size of many LEGO castles. Unsurprisingly for Andreas, there are lots of lovely details, too, though one of the best might be the minifigure katana holders that make the hanging lanterns on either side of the gazebo.

Asia - Shizuka temple

Peace and tranquility and some forced perspective

When I stumbled upon this creation by W.Navarre I had to look twice to confirm it is made out of LEGO. I recognize the minifigure and the cow as LEGO parts but the total shot looks like it’s straight from National Geographic. W.Navarre created mountains as a backdrop. For the mountains, they used different shades of blue which creates the forced perspective in this picture. The dark blue mountains represent the nearest mountains. The further away the mountains are, the lighter the shade of blue of the mountains appear to be. Just like in real life. Using a mirror as a surface to place the build on creates a reflection of the mountains and mimics water perfectly. The total shot of this creation is so realistic it is absolutely stunning! My guess is there are a lot of parts not connected in this build and that gravity plays a huge part in keeping this together which is perfectly fine!

Asia

Manglegongsa Temple is a sight to see in this multi-layered and expansive LEGO build

Titled “Manglegongsa Temple”, this LEGO build from Jellyeater1 is multi-layered and expansive. Two buildings are perched on top of a mountain, surrounded by lush vegetation.

Manglegongsa Temple

Great care has been put into varying the roofs in this build, from the pockets of colors to the simple black and white design. The use of the gold on the second building is just enough to denote significance without taking away from the rest of the scene. The small courtyard with the tree is a nice, pleasant touch.

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Epic LEGO Forbidden City uses over 80,000 bricks and took over 700 hours to design & build!

Yes, you read the title correctly. Rocco Buttliere has used around 84,000 LEGO bricks, to be more precise. In addition to 300+ hours of building to recreate the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, Rocco also spent 400+ hours designing it first. If that doesn’t blow your mind, it should. That is one giant build of one of the world’s most spectacular architectural sites. Like his earlier LEGO diorama of Ancient Rome, Rocco built this one for a commission for a museum, and boy, does it belong there. The overview picture hardly does it justice, as it all blends together into a blur of flame orange, dark red, and grey, but zoom in and there are as many marvels as in the real deal. Fancy a tour? It’s not forbidden to look at this one, even for a commoner like me.

Forbidden City - 紫禁城 - Beijing

Check out the details of this incredible build

LEGO reveals two new Chinese New Year sets for 2020 that combine into one gigantic festival [News]

LEGO has revealed two new sets to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year: 80104 Lion Dance and 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair. Both sets feature an incredible amount of new prints, recoloring of pieces and a significant amount of minifigures which all combine into a large festival setting. So today we have your first look at the sets and minifigures along with a video for each.

Honoring LEGO’s commitment to offer regional exclusives sets worldwide, the two new LEGO Chinese Traditional Festival models will launch in China and the Asia Pacific region starting December 26, 2019 with global availability beginning January 10, 2020.

Click to see all the details about the new Chinese Traditional Festivals sets

I’m a rhinoceros hornbill. How-do-you-do!

It never fails, someone builds an animal or another and it always makes me smile. What I like is beginning to become predictable. I hope you can be as enthralled by Marco Gan’s rhinoceros hornbill as I am. The rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) is the state bird of the Malaysia state of Sarawak as well as the country’s National Bird. This particular cutey is a charming female as her eye is white with red rims made from a small wheel and tire assembly and a radar dish (males would have red with black rims). My favorite part is the tongue made from a snowboard. The hanging spider acts as a reminder that in the jungle, there is always something alive needing to eat. It is clear that Marco cares deeply about the animals of Southeast Asia, as this isn’t the first time he’s delighted us with jungle creatures. Check out these tapirs of his we featured previously.

Rhinoceros Hornbill

A fishing boat that’s making waves as a great catch

You can find plenty of good seafood in Vietnam, but you need a way to catch your meal. What better way to do so than on the deck of this colorful squid fishing boat built by Hoang Dang? Practicality meets beauty thanks to the body’s bold blue, yellow and red color scheme, and additional ornamentation like lanterns and rigging used as clotheslines suggest this is a lively vessel.

Take a closer look at this colorful fishing vessel

Stressed? Have a cup of tea

Builder Eero Okkonen is no stranger to The Brothers Brick. His large-scale figures are something of a legend around here, often featuring warriors, wizards, and sci-fi women. Today, he brings us a samurai warrior, joined by a maiko, or apprentice geisha sharing tea. He beautifully captures both the modest down-turned visage of the maiko and the tired pride of the old warrior. What makes this build unusual for Eero is that the stunning figures are set in a lush landscape, which features a blooming garden complete with Zen Buddhist shrines and a reflection pool.

Tea ceremony in Japanese garden

I love the way he has used the texture of the undersides of 1×2 plates for the samurai’s armor, along with the decorative flowers stuck to them. The elbow brick in light bluish grey is used to good effect in both the facial hair of the samurai and the three legged shrine in the corner. You also don’t want to miss the golden chainsaw blade used as a hair ornament on the maiko! The whole scene is so tranquil that I wish I could go there and take part. Now where did I put my tea cup?

Tea ceremony in Japanese garden

Epic Chinese characters come to life through LEGO in glorious fashion

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is to Chinese literature what the works of William Shakespeare are to English literature. A semi-historical story set in the time period of the Three Kingdoms (A.D. 169-280), the novel was perhaps written in the 14th century, though specific dates are hard to come by. It tells the story of how the Han dynasty gradually fell apart and became three independent kingdoms and all of the bitter rivalries and infighting that led to that point. Among all of the hundreds of characters in the novel, LEGO builder Jae Won Lee has chosen the main protagonist, Liu Bei, his chief strategist, Zhuge Lian, and the Five Tiger Generals who fought for them. The five generals are depicted in stunning fashion astride charging stallions, manes and tails flowing with the speed of their charge, and the other two men are nobly standing.

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (the Five tiger generals)

The appearances of the generals are inspired by Chinese artwork, complete with the unique coloration of each. The dynamic posing of many of the models puts this a step above most similar builds. There might be more studs showing than some builders would prefer, but it works well with this style. They deserve a closer look!

click here to see each of the generals up close

Center yourself with bricks

Connect with your inner self in this blissful build by Rollon Smith. A combination of red minifigure head pieces and Technic ball joints form the cylindrical columns so prevalent in historic East Asian architecture. It wouldn’t be complete without the bamboo, allowing nature to be a part of achieving a state of zen. I also enjoy the addition of incense burning at the foot of the build, helping the minifigure to meditate better.

Nya's Meditation

Be calm. Be relaxed. Build LEGO.

Nya's Meditation

Take a stroll down a stunning brick-built street

For a Western audience, this collection of buildings by 磊 耿 is a striking break from the more familiar architecture usually seen in a LEGO street scene, with a wonderful variety of styles. But regardless of where you’re from, you’re bound to be impressed by the sheer quality of the building work on display. Pagoda roofs vie with castle spires for attention, and “big” certainly doesn’t mean bland, with an impressive depth of texture and interesting colour schemes across all the structures.

LEGO MOC 作品,古韵街系列作品-檀香竹韵

See more images of these beautiful buildings