Tag Archives: Dragons

From Classic Castle, Creator, and Ninjago to Harry Potter and D&D, dragons have long been an essential part of the LEGO mix. Brick-built dragons are also a popular inspiration for adult builders, from medieval monsters to Chinese sky serpents. What type of dragon will you build?

“I am fire, I am death, I am made of LEGO!”

While it’s true that LEGO did offer a version of Tolkien’s iconic dragon, it fell utterly short of capturing the enormity of Smaug the stupendous. Stefan Johansson delves under the mountain and brings forth a fitting tribute to this chiefest and greatest of calamities. It’s a beautiful model with the great dragon too large to be contained by his gold-littered base. Smaug claims his armor is like tenfold shields, but Stefan instead makes excellent use of the pauldrons of a praetorian guard for that nigh-impenetrable belly. The best part of the impressive build is Smaug’s head with that great lower jaw, ready to chomp dwarves and chew scenery with Cumberbatchian gravitas.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Taking down the big baddie, brick by brick

What makes for a great RPG boss fight? There’s the boss, preferably huge. You’ll need a party of heroes, their skills honed on the bones of lesser foes. And of course an epic arena with room to maneuver and priceless artifacts to smash. Dan O’Conner doesn’t disappoint with this Boss Fight Arena in LEGO, a scene packed with masterful technique. First, let’s take a moment to appreciate the SNOT mosaics built from hundreds of cheese slopes and other angular elements. The glowing trans blue pentagram under the caster is amazing! Speaking of caster, the brick-built battle effects are quite effective, from the magic shields to the slice of air from the Gith warrior in the background. The heroes seem to have this battle under control. Of course, a truly memorable boss battle will go through at least three phases, so the worst is likely yet to come.

Watch out for this strange LEGO dragon

Whenever LEGO comes out with new products like the Vidiyo clear rounded box or the bracelets found in some DOTS sets, builders take up the challenge of integrating them into their creations, like this azure dragon by Matt Goldberg which features a flexible bracelet band for the long neck of this upright-walking dragon with lots of the leaf elements from the DreamZzz theme used on the tail and the head. The creature also has some well-sculpted feet which look great for running.

A dragon GBC among the clouds

So what’s a GBC, then? It stands for Great Ball Contraption and, despite the cringe-worthy connotations that name implies, GBC is often a crowd pleaser at LEGO conventions. It’s a mechanical means of moving one or many balls from one location to another. This particular GBC by Andreas Lenander is a feat of engineering with an artful approach. The charming dragon makes a wave pattern as orange balls move through the clouds.

It truly is a captivating work of art to behold. I wish there was some kind of way you can see it in motion. It turns out you can with this short video! Stay toward the end to see the inner workings that give this dragon its hypnotic wave motion.

Massive dragon and tiger pagodas stand over 2 1/2 feet tall!

Lee Nuo has graced us with a pair of pretty pagodas modeled entirely in LEGO! These very real (and very visit-able) pagodas in Kaohsiung, Taiwan are equal parts elegant and exciting with mythical animal-shaped tunnel entrances into each building. The animal theming continues up to the first roof of each tower, with miniature versions of their respective creatures decorating the railing. The big dragon – eating some tourists – has a perfectly modeled fringe made of blue flames and Hero Factory lightning bolts. If you like pagodas, there’s more in our archives, as well as more great tigers and dragons (including a certain recent Build-of-the-Year!) I’ve certainly found Lee’s build inspiring and I’d love to go visit some day. If you went, which animal would you prefer to be eaten by?

The Brothers Brick LEGO Creation of the Year 2024 [News]

Last week, we introduced our shortlist of 10 creations that were in the running to earn a coveted title: that of our favourite LEGO creation of the year. Narrowing it down to that list was hard enough – there is so much talent in the LEGO community! Over the past week, we’ve had the unenviable task of picking out a winner. In our round-up of the TBB readers’ (hey! That’s you!) favourite LEGO moments of 2024, we were struck by how many people had listed conventions as their highlight of the year. After all, that is the best place for community – and to see jaw-dropping builds in person. Our winner this year is one such build, one that made a real impression on us both in the brick and online. It’s epic in size and scale, being made up of nearly 7,000 pieces. It’s wonderfully sculpted, with an entirely brick-built inner frame. And all that in an incredibly limited colour palette: gold!

And after all, it is the year of the dragon. Donny Chen‘s Golden Dragon is The Brothers Brick LEGO Creation of the Year 2024!

Read what else impressed us about Donny’s dragon!

Tiny Badlands dragon has a four-foot high belly

How can an 8-inch dragon also be four feet high? When those feet are LEGO versions of Donkey Kong feet, cleverly worked into the dragon’s scaly belly. Nathan Don (Woomy World) designed this fellow at the Skærbæk Fan Weekend as part of New Elementary’s New Parts Workshop. As guest builder, Nathan guided fans in unlocking the creative potential of new elements. The seed part for the dragon, Donkey Kong’s foot, doesn’t feature easy connection points for such a small build, so the row of feet are rubber banded together, reducing the number of connections needed. Very clever! (Learn more about Nathan’s process at New Elementary).

Nathan has had an incredible year, both winning the Bio-Cup competition and being invited to contribute to the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery. After so many epic creations, it’s a delight to see what a builder can do with just a few weird parts to spark the imagination!

Draconis Scyphozoa – a jellyfish-inspired dragon

LEGO phenom Joss Ivanwood has been building a dragon every month in 2024; Year of the Dragon in case you’re wondering why. It turns out, eleven months into the year, this jellyfish-inspired dragon marks the first instance of creative block. It’s quite understandable, trying to design a dragon based on a jellyfish; I imagine there were several iterations of this magnificent beast, several head-scratching moments and maybe sleepless nights. But the end result is probably my favorite of the entire line. I mean, look at those tendrils made from legions of clips and that arching transparent bell. It’s proof that something can be deadly and beautiful all at the same time. Joss tells us that while he’s aware that jellyfish don’t have brains, he couldn’t resist including the new brain creature piece from the Mindflayer D&D minifigure. That’s a smart use for that brain piece!

We adore Jayfa’s smashing pumpkin dragon in LEGO

Usually, a ripe pumpkin invites you to carve its flesh to make a Jack-o-Lantern, but Joss Ivanwood‘s pumpkin creation needs no help in creating a scary face and it looks poised to carve you up if you get too close! Draconis Cucurbita is the 10th entry in Joss’ Year of the Dragon series of monthly LEGO builds and it’s one of his best. Big macaroni tubes are the star elements here, supplying the ribbed pumpkin bodies – a wonderful technique, with bananas filling in the gaps – and the snaking neck and legs. The long vine-like tail is especially effective at evoking a pumpkin patch. With only two dragons left in the project, we can’t wait to see where Joss will draw inspiration from next!

See this LEGO serpent breach sea at the beach

BigBrickStan is a new face in the online LEGO community, but already the builder is making waves with splashy builds like this LEGO sea serpent. The Chinese-style dragon uses a lush mix of plant elements as scales. I love the variety of orange wings and claws along the creature’s back, splayed irregularly for a more organic look. An array of points and curls in white make for effective roiling water at the dragon’s base. Most impressive is the head shaping, especially the toothy jaws made of Ninjago bone swords and unicorn horns.

A fun guy with a passion for woodland adventure

Sometimes those bright red toadstools appear out of nowhere and you’re like, what otherworldly thing is this? Maybe LEGO creature builder extraordinaire Joss Ivanwood feels the same way when he discovers a toadstool. He’s been building a dragon a month for a long while now and September’s offering is called Draconis Amanita and is inspired by the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria). He tells us he’s always been fascinated by the way so many mushrooms grow from fallen trees, giving them new life. So, he fathomed it would be a cool idea to make the whole dragon as a group of mushrooms growing out of the same log. I bet this dragon’s mycelium network is off the hook! It’s probably the root of all awesomeness! I’ll just let myself out and go spore some bad jokes somewhere else.

This jade dragon won’t leave you feeling jaded

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?

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!