Tag Archives: Castle

Dragons! Knights in shining armor! Trebuchets & ballistas! From enormous LEGO castles buttoned up for battle to peaceful village market scenes, we’ve got your LEGO Castle needs covered right here.

Shrine of Polarized Birefringence

This build by WRme2 is simply one of the most brilliant creations I’ve ever come across:

We’ve featured many castle vignettes before, so what makes this one so special?
It’s the windows. That’s not fancy photoshoping, that’s science!

WRme2 has figured out that due to the manufacturing process of some of the earlier LEGO bricks, when photographed with a polarizer you get that amazing effect which he has so brilliantly used in this build.

Here’s what it looks like with portion of a brick under a polarizer (like sunglasses):

For those really interested, he’s also done an equally impressive job explaining the science behind these colourful bricks.

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Hoth’s Moving Castle?

This cracking Castle-themed AT-AT build by Adam Dodge properly made me chuckle. This wouldn’t be a bad little Castle tower, even without the legs. There’s a nice variety of greys, textured bricks, and jutting roofs to break up the walls. But plonk said tower on top of a set of medieval AT-AT legs, and you’ve got a really fun build. I like the cannons mounted on the side of the “head”, and those flags and line of bunting add a welcome splash of color. There’s even a skeleton hanging in a cage beneath the beast’s belly!

If I had one suggestion for improving this, it would be to change those radar dish elements at the hips. They’re too smooth for my liking. I’d have liked to see something a bit craggier, maybe some big cogs, suggesting hefty medieval machinery at work. However, that’s nitpicking – a minor niggle in an otherwise great model.

I’d like to see this creation in a mechanical battle to the death with one of my own models – this Troll AT-AT from a few years ago. Bring it on Adam! Your Crownies are going down!

Point of no return

Nick Runia’s Bridge of Lost Souls is exactly what you get when you can’t decide on the final design of your brick-built medieval tower; you just build both of them! This diorama, on the one hand, is a massive tower with sturdy walls buried in verdure. On the other hand, it’s a gloomy evil tower surrounded by inanimate rocks.

But what really deserves attention is the bridge itself. It might not be that noticiable considering huge towers on the both sides, but it is the point of smooth transition between good and evil. And the way warm sandy colors flow into cold ones is truly great. Finally, let me point to astounding roofing of knight’s tower and leave you tete-a-tete with the author’s photostream.

Beware the Greye Cliff Fortress!

W. Navarre ended the year with a flurry of activity aimed at the 13th Colossal Castle Contest and might have a shot at the Master Builder prize with the breadth and variety of his entries. My personal favorite is one of his last, this foreboding fortress built into a cliff that appears to be spewing lava!

In addition to the fearsome skull on the front, the fortress has an interior. Behind the door is a working portcullis.

Medieval done right with Luke Hutchison

The Castle theme has a long history within the LEGO community, and builders all over the world have produced magnificent creations in every size, shape, and color. Luke Hutchinson (Derfel Cadarn) is one of the originators of the now-common “ramshackle” style, characterized by the odd angles and an organic approach to the scene. His beautiful creations inspired me to start building with LEGO and posting my creations online many years ago.

So, naturally I was very excited to see a glimpse of his latest creation in a teaser pic a few months back. He continues to improve his own building style, pushing his creations further and further, influencing many other builders in this theme.

We had a chance to talk to Luke more about his creation and his approach.

Carving a castle

Innovative is not a word I often attribute to builds of the ever popular Castle theme. With decades under its belt and endless great builders at its beck and call, one can often feel a sense of déjà vu towards even the most stunning of towers. But this latest piece by ‘Sergeant Chipmunk’ gives the Castle theme something truly innovative and awe-inspiring:

Focused on the peaceful side of medieval life, ‘Sergeant Chipmunk’ depicts in one scene the complete construction of Hailstone Point, a unique tower sculpted entirely from frozen blocks. Surveying the land, extracting the ice, transporting the bricks, and carving the castle–all eloquently done in one beautiful motion. Truly, Castle has never seen this before.

The Wizards’ Guildhall

Only a fool builds his house upon sand. Well, fools and very powerful wizards. This Guildhall sits atop a mountain of sand where the desert meets the ocean. For hundreds of years, the giant sand dune that serves as the foundation to the hall has been buffeted by violent waves. Though erosion would have toppled a non-magical structure long ago, the Guildhall still stands firm. So long as there is a wizard standing guard in one of the tower rooms and warding the hall from nature, the Wizards’ Guildhall shall never crumble into the water.

This is my humble attempt to squeeze in a last-minute entry to the Colossal Castle Contest. The competition is fierce this year with tons of outstanding entries and more than one builder gunning for the coveted Master Builder title. Shake a leg if you’re still scrambling to finish those masterpieces in time for the deadline because it’s tomorrow (December 31st) at 11:59 pm U.S. Eastern Time!

A multitude of medieval manors

As the year winds down to a close, so does the long running Colossal Castle Contest. There have been a pile of amazing entries this year, and it seemed to me that the “Medieval Manor” category in particular had some serious build potential.

First, we have TBB favorite Isaac Snyder and his “Mitgardian Manor.”

The outside is impressive enough, but the builder has included a fully furnished interior as well, which is mind-blowing considering the plethora of facades these days.

Isaac has constructed this massive wintery edifice with his own distinct flair as well. I think it’s fascinating when talented builders develop their own LEGO building style. Both of these guys have made a bunch of creations recently so be sure to check them out!

Next, Henry F took to the contest’s challenge in his usual classic castle style with his Chevalier’s Manor.

If I wasn’t looking at it right now, I would not believe how good a bright yellow building with a bold red roof looks. This is like a perfect blend of the 80’s castle lines with a modern twist.

It’s all downhill for now

This downhill creation from Graham Gidman is one of his entries to this year’s medieval-themed contest Colossal Castle Contest XIII.

The builder describes the scene as ‘Graham leading his men down the mountainside start the fight‘ (I am paraphrasing somewhat). The unusual proportions caught my eye initially as the build is high but of narrow depth and depicts a sloped mountain descent that would be perfect for a spot of single-track mountain biking.

I have favourite and not-so favourite parts in this creation. I will start with my no-so favourite as I don’t want to sound overly negative about this great build. While I like the technique of light/dark blueish-grey slopes and tiles ‘jumbled’ to create the mountainside, it suffers slightly from being very flat and smooth on the facing side. Maybe a little more ‘cragginess‘ next time…

Moving swiftly on to my favourites, the red feathered bird in the nest is great; I think the nest may be Bilbo Baggins hair. I also like the skilfully created sloped tracks — a lot has been achieved without making the terrain look too contrived. Finally, the little collection of overgrown greenery in the middle left area is a nice touch.

This year’s Colossal Castle Contest has been brimming with great entries, you can see others blogged by TBB.

Just an extraordinary day at the harbor

It’s nice to see a middle eastern creation pop up in the Flickr feed now and then. Like many other genres, I think this theme in general has a lot of creative potential yet to be explored. So when an up-and-coming castle enthusiast like Joseph Z gives eastern-style architecture a go, it’s rather exciting to see!

The studs-outs wall texture and the nifty palm trees are certainly worth noting. But I think the unique use of minifigs make this stand-out most to me. I see what looks like a victorian lady carrying her longsword across town, and even those alien musicians from Star Wars. The builder gives us a brief description about the locale but I want to know more about this cool and wacky place!

The hopeless attempt of taking a winter bath

I’m not one hundred percent sure what is going in Simon Schweyer‘s most recent build. Heck, I’m not even twenty percent sure. But I do know, without question, that this scene is superb! The gradation of color on the frozen pond, the irregular SNOT (Studs Not on Top) base, the way the snow hangs on the rocks and tree, and whatever strange feats these minifigs may be attempting — all of it feels right.

A treaty of epic proportions

One interesting thing about the LEGO castle theme is that the characters and factions always seem to be at odds with one another; fortifications and weapons come as second nature to the minifigs of the darker ages. So it quite refreshing to see this diorama from durazno_33, which features a whole bunch of castle minifigs from different factions getting together and celebrating without their swords drawn!

Clearly, this is no ordinary stuffy political treaty signing. It seems like an entire festival has sprung from this single event.

I really like how there are minifigs from almost every year and theme LEGO has created for their long-running castle set lines. Plus, those altBricks leaves give the scene a lively look that would certainly be lacking otherwise. Be sure to check out all the pictures in the builder’s Flickr album.