Tag Archives: DeRa

A LEGO builder earns their stripes by re-visiting a fan favourite

Last year, we featured a terrific LEGO tiger from DeRa that was so good it made onto our Creation of the Year shortlist. As it turns out, that was just the latest iteration of a design that DeRa has been gradually improving over the years. Now, we have another update to investigate! In some ways the changes are subtle. The overall shaping is just as good, and its excellent posability has been retained. But the devil is in the detail, and that’s where this big cat truly shines.

Click here to see what upgrades DeRa has made to their feline phenomenon

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DeRa celebrates Kitano Ijinkan-gai landmark Weathercock House with LEGO modular masterpiece

Japanese builder DeRa has created some of the most spectacular MOCs of recent years, such as this entrancing LEGO tiger and brick-built Godzilla. But while mecha and monsters have been the builder’s calling card, DeRa’s academic focus as a university student is architecture. For their latest build, DeRa brings an AFOL’s perspective to the iconic Weathercock House from Kobe Japan’s Kitano Ijinkan-gai, a neighborhood where foreign residents created magnificent manors of Western design in the early 20th century.

Sticking to LEGO modular conventions, DeRa builds atop a 32×32 and 16×32 stud plate while allowing between 4-6 studs for sidewalk space. This pushes the build into stylized space, with both exterior and interior designed around minifig scale. But DeRa’s design holds another secret.

Like an ornate puzzle box, this modular slides apart into 12 separate modules!

Read on for details on the build process and pictures of the interior

LEGO Godzilla Minus One is ready to rock your world

Godzilla, the OG kaiju, has been enjoying a resurgence of late in both Japan and Hollywood, but it’s the grounded back-to-basics take of Godzilla Minus One that most captured the hearts of fans and critics alike. It’s this version of Godzilla that inspired builder DeRa to bring the beast to life in LEGO and the results are as striking as an atomic blast. Once again, DeRa demonstrates an unmatched talent for blending LEGO sculpting, texturing, and articulation to create a model that pushes LEGO to its limits.

See more of DeRa’s impressive beast and learn about the build process below

DeRa’s LEGO RX-78-2 is Gundam perfection

The RX-78-2 mech from Mobile Suit Gundam is up there with the X-Wing and Optimus Prime as one of the most enduring subjects for LEGO builders. But as we’ve seen with models like this brilliant X-Wing from last year, even if a subject’s been built a thousand times before, new parts, new techniques, and a fresh pair of eyes can still yield exciting takes that improve on perfection. That’s definitely the case with this remarkable mobile suit from DeRa.

As we saw with this ferocious LEGO tiger from last year, one of DeRa’s builder superpowers is a knack for articulation. This Gundam can swap armaments and strike any pose from the classic anime, like the best gunpla model kits.

Click to see more of DeRa’s Gundam masterpiece in action

Slithering into a prosperous new year with DeRa

According to the Chinese horoscope, 2025, Year of the Wood Snake, promises to be a year of prosperity and financial success, thanks to the snake’s charisma and cunning. In that spirit, builder DeRa offers a New Years’ greeting featuring the zodiac snake in a traditional motif atop a bag of gold coins. The coiled snake is definitely a charmer, but it’s the bag that has me in knots with its incredible shaping. DeRa certainly has a knack for zodiac animals. The builder’s majestic tiger made our short list for best creations of 2024.

Shortlist announced for TBB Creation of the Year 2024 [News]

We cover loads of amazing LEGO builds over the course of a year on the Brothers Brick. In fact, over the course of the past 12 months, that’s over 700 individual creations! Now they’re all great, obviously – but every year, a handful really stand out to us, and we like to bestow upon one of them the Creation of the Year crown. It might be a creation that uses parts in a new and interesting way. Perhaps it’s a collaborative build, combining the talents of multiple builders to reach new heights (just like last year’s winners!). Maybe it’s so epic in scope and scale that we simply couldn’t stop thinking about it. One thing’s for sure: it will have taken our breath away! The TBB staff have trawled through their memory banks and our site archives to draw up a shortlist of 10 of our favourite builds. These won’t necessarily be the most popular – keep an eye out for that list in the coming days! – but we will announce the winner on New Year’s Eve. Read up on our nominees, and check out our previous winners in the archives!

Without further ado, let’s meet our nominees!

LEGO tiger burning bright

Although I like both cats and dogs, I’m definitely more of a cat guy. And of all the cats, my favourite has to be the tiger. Now admittedly, keeping a tiger in my one-bedroom apartment is a recipe for disaster, but I’d settle for this stunning LEGO big cat built by DeRa. With its menacing demeanour and the nimble joints that DeRa worked into the build for posability, it looks ready to knock my LEGO collection off the shelves, just like a real feline.

At first glance, the technique used for the stripes is not dissimilar in places to LEGO’s own incredible tiger set. But DeRa has really cranked up the detail and realism with some savagely clever parts and techniques. I spy a spider, croissants, Islander crests, and even whole roast turkeys in that furry face. It may look like an apex predator, but I still want to pet it.

Chainsaw Man: the demon-hunting lumberjack’s superhero

The best thing about Japanese anime and manga has to be how absolutely bonkers it can be. One minute you could be watching a heart-wrenching coming-of-age film that will bring you close to tears, the next you’re reading about a man with a chainsaw head and limbs who hunts demons. This beautiful madness is captured superbly in LEGO form by DeRa. Although Denji – the titular Chainsaw Man – does have saws for arms too, we’re presented with just the head here. That does mean the scale can be upped and we get the fantastic detail like the teeth and, er, teeth. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the helmets and busts we’ve had in LEGO sets for the past few years. Except a tad more eye-catching. Just a little bit.