Builder Mihał Ch regularly wows us with epic scenes from fantasy and folklore. Inspired by the “Dwarf Tales” category of this year’s Brickscalibur contest, Mihał crafts a massive 64-stud square slice of a Dwarven fortress under siege from a colorful crew of goblins. While short in statue, these Dwarves put up a mighty fight with cannons and spell blasts echoing through the hall.
Delve deeper for more pics of this epic Dwarven hall under siege
The wonders of the seafloor are on full display in this entrancing build by BardJaskier, where the variety of ocean flora and fauna represented is matched only by the variety of elements used to build them. In addition to using standard LEGO molds like crabs, octopi, rays, and fish, BardJaskier gets creative to fill out the rest of the marine life. The flame-and-umbrella pairing to create jellyfish is inspired, as are the simple but effective combinations used for the coral polyps. I can also pick out carrots, broomstick ends, purple minifig hair, and tan samurai swords. Go ahead—take a closer look and see what else you can spot. Just make sure to hold your breath.
If there’s one thing I’m a sucker for in LEGO creations of mystical worlds, it’s floating rocks. And had Mihał Ch (AKA BardJaskier) just shown us this serene scene of floating rocks and waterfalls, that would have scratched that particular itch. But he’s gone one further and thrown in another favourite of mine in the shape of a majestic jade dragon! I must confess that I first thought it was a Pokemon called Rayquaza – and in my defense, I think it does bear a passing resemblance. But its presence does lead to some questions; primarily, what is that mysterious figure at the top doing? Although he has a sword in hand, it all seems quite peaceful here, at least for now. Has he come to seek the dragon’s guidance, or challenge it? Or has he just stumbled across it by (mis)fortune?
We all need to unwind and blow off some steam sometimes. And if someone’s form of recreation involves bleeding a caged victim to make a nice little wading pool, who am I to judge? Mihał Ch‘s creepy vampire pleasure den imagines such a scenario in LEGO. The scene itself makes my stomach crawl a little, but I can distract myself from the visceral reminder of my own fragile mortality by checking out those cool building techniques. I love the way simple 1×2 bricks are stacked at slight angles to make the columns, and the trans-red antenna stands in for the steady drip-drip-drip of the victim’s blood into a viscous pool below. I hope that poor victim gets out soon, but it doesn’t look good.
The forest awakens! When the forest is threatened, who speaks for the trees? If you’re lucky, maybe you get a lecture from a fuzzy orange Lorax, but if you’re in the primeval forests of Poland, you might have to contend with the wrath of pagan god Leshy. Builder Bard Jaskier‘s vignette depicts the Slavic force of nature in a style inspired by heavy metal art, with fearsome antlers, goat eyes, a mantle of flowers, and a body that blends bark and bone. As impressive as the central deity is, Jaskier packs the rest of the scene with detail and clever build techniques. Who would have guessed that palm fronds and bamboo could make such perfect dark forest pines? I’m always excited when LEGO fans take inspiration from a specific culture and use their models as a way to bring topics to a new audience, which Jaskier does here with Slavic folklore, just as he has with Polish history.
Sure, you might be cool. But are you chasing-conquistadors-on-a-pteranodon-through-the-jungle cool? Oh, you’re the guy who bulit this – Mihał Ch (BardJaskier). Then yes, you certainly are! Those Imperial soldiers probably didn’t sign up for fighting flying dinosaurs. I’d say they want to watch where they’re running, though. Mihał’s jungle is well-built and dense with vegetation. If it can conceal a creature that’s supposedly been dead for millions of years in its canopy, I dread to think what’s lurking in the river that they’re running straight towards…
Even if your aim’s so terrible that you can’t hit the broadside of a barn, you can certainly use one to hide, as we see in this LEGO vignette by Mihał Ch (BardJaskier). With an army dressed similarly to the 10297 Boutique Hotel staff hiding in the foreground, my attention is drawn to the expect expert techniques used in the granary. Brown brick-built doors look sturdy as can be and the foundation is appropriately cobbled. But it’s those thick black lines framing the structure that really make the building pop. Make sure to zoom in and check out the cheese slope technique used to get those smooth diagonal lines.
The Lord of the Rings is full of scenes perfect for adapting into LEGO for the LEGO Ideas challenge “Explore the Middle-earth”. Builder BardJaskier chose one of the most iconic scenes to adapt — the Bridge of Kazad-Dûm. This scene features Gandalf the Grey standing in the way of a mighty Balrog to buy the Fellowship time to escape from the Mines of Moria. To say the Balrog towers over Gandalf is to do a disservice to the presence of the foul being. BardJaskier does a great job of capturing the dreadful power of the Balrog as it wields its fiery sword and whip. And those wings! They’re majestic and terrifying at the same time. They feature fantastic parts reuse from the Ninjago set 71753 Fire Dragon Attack. And let’s not forget the rest of the scene! I do love the techniques and design of the bridge and the surrounding mines. They do a good job of conveying the wear of time.
War elephants are cool and all, but up here in the frozen Nordics, they wouldn’t stand a chance. BardJaskier has envisaged how warriors might have moved around in the last Ice Age with this imposing LEGO war mammoth. The brick-built beast looks great, featuring a neat use of a walnut-print tile for the eye. There are plenty of spikes to ward off attackers, although they’d have to be pretty brave – or foolish – to go near this thing. For one thing, they’d have to make it through the throng of angry Northmen at its side. Along with the surrounding frozen landscape, they’re a great complement to a fantastic build.
The ongoing Pi-rat competition has yielded a lot of interesting pirate ship builds. But Bard Jaskier has gone in another direction and constructed a brick-built buccaneer with a treasure chest full of delicious Swiss. Bard’s mousey marauder is not just adorable, but makes good use of pirate ship pieces, like the crow’s nest barrel halves that make up the legs of his shorts.
Sometimes a LEGO creation comes along and immediately you’re like; I totally want to live here! That’s how I felt when I saw this new piece built by Bard Jaskier. Who wouldn’t want to live in a flower-treehouse among a world inhabited by this much whimsy? I love the sparkling flower, the toadstools, the ladybug, and all the blue tulips. (Or are they Forget-Me-Nots?) As sweet as those blue forget-me-jiggers are, the star of the show has got to be the purple bug delivering honey to the inhabitants to feast on in what could be called…a honey bucket. Heh, honey bucket. Get it? OK, I’ll just let myself out. While I make my shameful exit, why not check into why we think Bard Jaskier is as sweet as honey.
Have you ever seen a march of different races of cold-blooded LEGO creatures from the jungles of the land of Lustria? Well, thanks to Michal, now you have. The highlight of this creation has to be the priest sitting on its throne. Have you seen those cute chubby cheeks and that extruding belly button! That isn’t the only creatively used LEGO piece in this creation. It is nice to see the old fashioned dragon arms used even though it is quite old. For the feet hot dogs were used to represent the long frog toes. The foot folk uses a nice combination of Ninjago and Chima figures with grass for used as the tail. If you look closely enough at the chopped-down tree you’ll notice that Jaskier went through the trouble to give the centre of the stomp a different colour than the bark of the tree.
