Tag Archives: Collaboration

In New Hashima, even offshore slums are epic

In the cyberpunk city of New Hashima, the rich live above the fray (as we’ve seen with this incredible tower) while the have-nots are left to eke out a living in the toxic world below. Brick Ready adds to the massive LEGO collaboration with this artificial island made from shipping containers that shows that there’s beauty even in the city’s slums. The builder brings an eye for detail to the towering creation, such as laundry hanging from windows, splintered wood supports, brick-built graffiti, and broken windows. The shipping container homes might not be luxurious but they feel cozier than many of the neon scenes in New Hashima’s more thriving districts. The transmission tower adds scale and a splash of color that makes the island a triumphant addition to the collaboration that grows more wonderful each year.

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LEGO all-stars bring Edo-era Japan to life in LEGO in epic collab

Each year the RogueBricks community, home to many of Europe’s most accomplished LEGO builders, comes together for a collaborative build. This year’s endeavor is an immersive recreation of the Japanese city of Kumamoto during the Edo Period built atop a whopping 170 base plates (that’s 2.5 x 4.3 meters!). The massive diorama depicts the coastal city in autumn and is packed with details of life during the Tokugawa shogunate, including scenes telling the story of the famous samurai Miyamoto Musashi.

Attendees were treated to motorized elements and integrated lighting, as well as informative plaques describing the history captured in bricks. As a bonus easter egg for young visitors, 10 Ninjago charaters were hidden in the build. Like 2023’s Rogue Odyssey collaboration, the project took home first prize for collaborations from both jury and audience. We’ve highlighted several contributions in recent weeks, but only now can we share the complete build thanks to Hannes Tscharner. Extended highlights and builder credits follow.

Read on for a full tour of this tour de force!

LEGO Shinto shrine offers solace in the snow

I’ve never visited Japan in winter, but it sure looks lovely in LEGO in this scene from BrickiboT. The Shinto shrine is entered via a gate in the rōmon style, which BrickiboT achieved in LEGO using 10 nets sandwiched between 1×1 red tiles on the bottom and 1×1 curves on top. (that’s over 3000 pieces just for the curved roof sections alone!) Inside the gate stand brick-built statues of Fuijin and Raijin, the gods of wind and storms.

A look at the full complex reveals more details of Shinto tradition, like the wooden ema tablets where wishes are written, strung up, and later burned.

BrickiboT created this scene as part of the Roguebricks LUG 2024 Rogue Ronin collaboration at Bricking Bavaria. We also loved these entries from Mark van der Maarel and felix-workshop.

Gotta cast them spells, Pokémon!

Mainline Pokémon games are iconic RPGs with all of the stats, XP, and leveling up you expect from the genre, so fusing Pocket Monsters with D&D is a perfect fit! That’s just what builders Dan Ko and Gino Loshe teamed up to prove with this character collaboration called Dungeons & Pocket Monsters. Dan was responsible for giving Pikachu and Bulbasaur their mage makeovers, while Gino tackled Squirtle and Charmander. Created for the Brickscalibur competition “Elemental Emergency” category, each character wields a different flavor of magic matching their Pokémon type. Even more impressive, each sports a different type of wizard cap! Join them as they travel across the land seeking the power that’s inside.

Magnificent Moorish tower with a modern twist

Blake Foster has been wowing us with epic builds for over a decade. His M-Tron Magnet Factory remains the most epic tribute to that retro LEGO Space theme I’ve ever seen, and just last month we highlighted his towering contribution to the New Hashima collaboration. Blake is back with another tower for an upcoming near-future Middle Eastern city collab with the Mehmet Agha Mosque, named for the tower that inspired it on Rhodes. In modular fashion, Blake situates the mosque next to a multilevel urban structure containing a street-level carpet shop and a rooftop hookah bar.

The model is a big departure from the SHIPs and sci-fi works we’ve come to expect from Blake, with a focus here on Moorish architecture and urban decay. The cracked plaster is brilliantly done, and the exposed brickwork strikes the perfect balance between fragility and permanence. I really appreciate how Blake combines at least three architectural styles here, capturing the nature of old cities to develop in layers, while also making the model exciting to study (much like the upcoming Tudor Corner modular!).

As an easter egg, the rug seen hanging through the ground floor doorway is a custom printed sticker modeled on a rug Blake owns, and that’s his sigfig tending the shop!

Blake’s tower will be joining the epic Medina al Musawrah collab that we highlighted earlier this year. You can see the work in person at BrickFair NoVa 2025.

Fall leaves when snow falls in LEGO

There is so much to appreciate about Mark van der Maarel‘s Edo-era Japanese diorama in LEGO, but it’s the red leaves against the newly fallen white snow that draw me in like an ukiyo-e woodblock print. The central cottage is charming and full of details of everyday life. A bundle of reeds over the window made from broom elements is a great touch. Towering over the cottage is an incredible wall made of interlocking brick-built stones (Mark gives credit to collaborator Marshall Banana for this technique). Down by the river, a woodcutter kneels as a samurai approaches on horseback. While Mark doesn’t offer a story, I imagine the woodcutter has a blade hidden in the cottage and soon leaves won’t be the only red splashes in the snow.

Mark’s build was part of the Rogue Ronin collaboration displayed at the Bricking Bavaria event in Germany where over 30 members of the Rogue Bricks community participated. We also adored felix-workshop’s award-winning contribtion.

Remote Dantooine outposts make for an effective demonstration of LEGO craftsmanship

Dantooine is first mentioned in the very first Star Wars film, a throw-away bit of worldbuilding that made George Lucas’ galaxy feel so much more lived in. Since then the world has shown up in games and books, and now, thanks to builders Jonas G and WG Productions, we can explore the outer rim world in LEGO form. First up, Jonas shares an industrial farming outpost run by Republic sympathizers. Jonas absolutely aces the monolithic Imperial architecture with gorgeous curved corners, a thin window, pinstripes of red, and a mandatory dose of greebles. The massive Blba tree is just as impressive, insanely dense with leaves. Minifigs tell a story of resistance with Republic troops securing thermal detonators, while a Sith helm is used on a scarecrow.

While Jonas’ many Star Wars builds focus more on the galaxy’s heroic forces, WG Productions favors the Dark Side. Here we see the Sith troopers seizing a transport station for the Sith Empire. Using dozens of rollers skates for the rail is a brilliant technique. Both builders coordinated on the terrain to ensure consistency in the Dantooine ecosystem.

Dantooine seems like a lovely planet, whatever side you’re allied with. What a relief the planet was too remote for Grand Moff Tarkin to use as a demonstration for the Death Star’s power.

Ben Brickson dreams of electronic greebles

One of the most exciting attractions at LEGO conventions over the past two years is the massive Cyberpunk collaboration of New Hashima. An array of builders contribute cubes or toppers to the modular megacity that keeps growing and evolving. Ben Brickson is one such collaborator and he recently shared a wonderfully detailed gallery of his residential Hex Home Block. Capsule homes slot into a honeycomb grid of girders like a high-rise hive.

Jack in and see Ben’s block up close

Fire Breathing Fortress reforged in epic collab from LEGO pros

In their professional capacity as LEGO designers, Chris Perron and Wes Talbott have collaborated on some of the best fantasy sets ever released, including Rivendell and the Red Dragon’s Tale. So what do these friends get up to when they’re off the clock? How about an epic reimaging of a beloved ’90s castle with modern building techniques and design aesthetics? The massive build debuts at the upcoming Skærbæk Fan Weekend event, but for those who can’t make it to rural Denmark, the builders graciously offer a detailed tour of this house of the Dragon Masters.

Click to explore the reforged Fire Breathing Fortress!

Middle Eastern megacity is a triumph of LEGO collaboration and creativity

Every day we see incredible LEGO creations built from one person’s imagination and collection of bricks. When builders come together for collaborative LEGO builds, not only are we blessed with scenes of incredible scale, but the mix of builder styles harmonize to create to create something truly special. One such collaborative project debuted at BrickFair 2024. Organized by George Hawes and Michael Willhoit, the “Medinat Al Musawrah” collaboration depicts a fictional Middle Eastern walled megacity. The other contributers are Brian O’Leary, Intense Potato, Detroitika, Evan M, Renobricks, Ryan K, Skooby C, and Zach Bean.

This impressive scene captures the sort of 80s urban sprawl that inspired sci-fi works like Blade Runner. (Fittingly, many of the collaborators also participated in last year’s truly epic New Hashima cyberpunk collab at BrickWorld Chicago). But it’s real-world cities, like Cairo, Algiers, and Kowloon that inspire the grounded sense of place.

Continue on our tour of this epic Middle Eastern megacity collab.!

Award winning builders are back with a champion LEGO diorama!

A team of elite historical LEGO builders have come together to create a sprawling diorama! Natelego_, Carson, Hunter E., Noah, Max, Matt, Hunter C., and Gary have taken on the Battle of Isted fought in 1850 between the Danish forces and rebels from the local provinces at the village of Isted. This build was displayed at BrickFair VA 2024 where it won Best Battle Scene! Take a look at the partially demolished church on the right side. While there’s one window still standing, the wall has collapsed leaving only the windowsill and part of the frame of the second window. And be sure to gander at the wider landscape too! Building hills and dips in the terrain one plate at a time must take a lot of patience. All of the lush vegetation really brings this scene to life, too.

Take a look at more closeups here!

Bionicle Mask Makers reforged in darkness

While not all LEGO fans have embraced Bionicle, there’s no denying that for a generation of builders, Bionicle was a gateway to both a world of construction and deep lore. For a recent collaboration between top Bionicle builders in the community, participants re-imagined characters from Bionicle Generation 2 utilizing the latest constraction techniques. We were especially struck by the pair of Ekimu and Makuta, The Mask Makers, as designed by Toni A.

Toni cites Dark Souls and H.R. Giger as influences, which might seem an aesthetic jump for Bionicle, but perfectly fits the lore of these bio-machine gods. Ekimu, wearing the Mask of Creation, is the culmination of 3 years of iteration from Toni and the effort shows with some of the most impressive dark fantasy sculpting I’ve ever seen in a character. Makuta, wearing the Mask of Control (inverted), came together quicker and perfectly compliments his brother with a devilish Victorian aesthetic.