Tag Archives: Brent Waller

It’s a trap! Wait...that’s a different movie. (But it’s still a trap.)

Ah, that sweet spot between Cosplay and LEGO creativity. Brent Waller has built the perfect 1:1 scale Ghostbusters trap – and it looks just amazing! All details from the movie prop have been accurately recreated, including the various knobs, switches, and even opening trap doors. Side by side with the actual thing, you’d have to look twice to be sure you didn’t end up facing Slimer with a ABS plastic replica.

LEGO Ghostbusters Trap

It incorporates a few “Non-purist” elements, like tape for the warning stripes…and LED lights for when the trap is sprung. Yes, this is far more than just a static prop. You’re in for a treat, as Brent has documented all the secrets in a great video!

Read on to check out the video!

Gotham’s dark night never looked so good

One of the best things about building with LEGO is sharing your creations with the worldwide community of fans. But in order to do so, you need to take pictures of your builds, and this is where the tricky part comes in. Not all creations photograph well—especially when you build something with black bricks. Getting a good shot is quite tricky, and you tend to lose the details of the build. However, thankfully that didn’t stop Brent Waller from building Gotham at Night with mostly black bricks, and losing some details of the build works to Brent’s advantage here, as it is meant to be a shot of a city skyline at night. I really like how Brent used a mix of yellow and orange to represent the lights burning in the skyscrapers. The different sizes for stars also are a really nice touch, drawing my eyes away from the Batwing covering the moon. This creation really reminds me of a 3D Pop-Up book I used to have as a kid.

Gotham By Night

This LEGO Star Wars mosaic is far from child’s play

LEGO’s foray into the art world, with its various mosaic sets, has inspired fans to create their own fantastic art. There’s even a Mosaic Maker which allows you to upload your own image and create a custom set. I’ve had friends order a few and they always turn out great. But I think builder Brent Waller invested a lot more thought into this textured mosaic of the Child from the Mandalorian. This absolute work of art was created as a gift for his son’s birthday and I have to say that this guy definitely deserves a Great Dad award. Measuring 1 meter wide by 60 centimeters high, this massive mosaic features tons of different pieces and colors masterfully placed and blended to render a close-up image of Grogu in his floating bassinet. But this portrait also has a secret: the Child and the Mandalorian are hidden within all that greebly goodness. Can you spot them? I’m not giving any hints so good luck!

The Child Mosaic

The mosaics in the LEGO Art sets make use of a pixel approach to create images of Darth Vader, the Hogwarts crest, or even Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe. While this technique is quite effective at rendering plenty of different images, the grid pattern is difficult to break and some sharp diagonal lines aren’t captured well. That’s my opinion as an artist, at least. But Brent Waller’s use of a plethora of pieces allowed him to create sharper lines and textured surfaces. These draw the eye in new ways, almost tricking it into seeing aspects of the cloth, or the shadows in the bassinet, that aren’t really there. A vast array of pieces and colors on such a large canvas also allowed for better resolution in the image. From a distance, this barely even looks like a LEGO creation.

The Child Mosaic

I’m sure Waller, Jr. was excited to see this once it was complete. It would be an amazing addition to any room but if I were him, I would put it right above my desk. I can’t imagine this will end up in the scrap pile any time soon though. This is nerd-family heirloom material so it will surely make its rounds in their home for years to come.

“Choose the form of the destructor…”

Brent Waller is no stranger to LEGO Ghostbusters builds. After all, it was his LEGO Ideas Ecto-1 project that brought the license to LEGO in the first place. When Brent saw the Harry Potter and Hermione Maxifig set, his mind began to ponder what other licenses could benefit from the Maxifig-style of building. And, of course, he couldn’t help it. It just popped in there. Something he loved from his childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay Puft. And, unlike the Harry and Hermione Maxifigs, this build is to scale with the rest of the license. That’s because Brent has upscaled the LEGO Dimensions Stay Puft minifigure to a size more suitable for a climactic third act showdown on the roof of a skyscraper, which makes me want to build one of my own. In hindsight, we can all be grateful that Ray picked Mr. Stay Puft as the form for Gozer, or Brent might have been stuck building a giant LEGO J. Edgar Hoover.

Maxifig Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

Finding peace with plant pieces

Nothing says peacefulness like a bonsai tree. And what better way to cultivate the perfect tree than to use LEGO to make it just the way you want it? From it’s beautiful base to the winding trunk, Brent Waller‘s bonsai is a picture of serenity. The shape is gorgeous, especially paired with the clean rockwork. The bridge and little fisherman are cute too!

LEGO Ideas Zen Bonsai

Brent is also the creator of something completely different, but also 100% epic. He’s the fan designer of the LEGO Ideas set 21108 Ghostbusters Ecto 1. Additionally, you’ll need to zoom in on every detail of his incredible Wayne Manor and Batcave.