A regular on our pages, LEGO builder Eero Okkonen brings us this delicious-looking spread of sushi, made entirely from brick. From the windscreen used as an ultrathin slice of salmon for nigiri, to the Ninjago sail used as a napkin, everything looks spot on. My favorite feature, though, is how the studs on the white plates work perfectly to imitate the lumpy texture of the vinegared rice.
When I first took a glance at this scene by Eero Okkonen a week ago, I assumed the glowing eyes of the monster, called Uku-Li by the builder, were simply the result of some interesting building techniques, lit up by a light from below. Interesting? Yes. Technique? Maybe. Built from LEGO bricks? No, because as I realized upon closer inspection, that is indeed an actual cat back there, in fact, it’s the builder’s newest cat, Ukuli.
Star of the show aside, I always love to see modern takes on old LEGO themes, this particular build is a modernization of the Orient Expedition subtheme of the Adventurers line. We can see Johnny Thunder on the right, evidenced by his signature hat, Dr. Charles Lightning at the center, and Pippin Reed taking photos on the left. And don’t miss the use of a Duplo grass piece as vegetation in the top right corner.
Guys, have you ever seen a Eurasian Pygmy Owl? If you haven’t, you need to look it up because they are one of the most adorable animals on the planet. Between their tiny stature and sweet expressions, these little predators swoop in and snatch your heart. This LEGO version is built by none other than the incredible Eero Okkonen. It’s a slight departure from some of the characters he’s known for, but this bird is just as lovely. How can you resist that little face?
If you’d like to see more owls, check out this fierce flyer and these builds of Hedwig.
Meet Amunna, Eero Okkonen’s latest elegant LEGO figure. I’m continually flabbergasted with the apparent ease with which he brings these characters to life. This time we have an Egyptian-inspired woman loaded with expert parts usage. Bo Peep’s cane to decorate the legs? Check. A surfboard and treasure map printed tile on the staff? Yep! And what about a little coral flare, treasure chest pouch, and colorful wing skirt? You got it! Dying to know what’s on her bust? It’s a printed radiator element that was only found with this print in one set: 7411 Tygurah’s Roar. (The open area above the curves is carefully hidden by her hair.) Throughout, an appealing color palette abounds, and from head to foot, this is one cool chick.
If you’re craving more, take a look at all of Eero’s builds that we’ve covered by visiting our archive!
Proving he’s no slacker when it comes to building posable LEGO figures, Eero Okkonen is at it again. This time he has conjured up a female warrior in stunning blue and gold armor. Her skirt is of particularly sweet part usage and her bright blue plume is four Bo Peep staffs found only in two sets. While everything is quite impressive, I’d like to call special attention to the morning star itself. The dangerous-looking flails are headless blue bats. That’s just…wow! You can find that part in only the Shimmer and Shine Sparkle Spa, a set that was wholly passed up by me because…I fancy myself more Team Jacob than Team Edward.
Is there ever an inappropriate time for Twilight jokes? Probably not. But my guess is if you crack jokes of any kind around this warrior her morning star and plume of bright blue just might be the last things you see before going nighty-night forever.
Give Eero Okkonen a challenge and he delivers. In a New Elementary competition, builders were tasked with using the latest marine-life parts to create something interesting. He definitely didn’t disappoint with this lovely character. She’s a fan for another of his figures, a speederbike rider. The coral creatures adorn multiple areas of her costume, but the best parts usage might be the clever placement of shark surfboards to create a skirt!
Eero also recently created an entirely different character with a hockey stick beard. And perhaps one of my favorites is his version of the extraordinary Captain Nemo.
My plan for this article; no matter what the title shall be, I’d add “also hockey sticks” beside it. This build had me searching the interwebs for a snappy Scottish proverb and I found “if ye like the nut, crack it”, which roughly translates to; if you like the reward then you must accept the effort involved to achieve it. A fitting proverb for any LEGO builder, although I see now that a choice of words involving cracking nuts and hockey sticks can be a rather tender subject juxtaposed with a guy in a kilt. But my own inner coding states that if hilarity ensues, even unintentionally, then go with it. That may or may not have been the motivation for Eero Okkonen when he built this charming Highland Shepherd.
Everything from the bottom of his brògan to the top of his tam o’shanter is all Scottish Highlander. That epic beard consists of the aforementioned hockey sticks, which is not a Scottish invention but can crack some nuts if given the effort. Consider yourselves rewarded.
Majestic and mysterious. Those are just a few choice words to describe this LEGO model of Jules Verne’s enigmatic submarine captain by Eero Okkonen. Nemo, or Prince Dakkar, pilot of the equally mysterious Nautilus submarine, is adorned with gold trim, and that olive green turban even has a nautilus tile in front. By far though, the star of this build is his richly textured mustache and beard, made from such choice parts as Star Wars pistols, minifigure hands, and “raven” wings. He would make a fearsome foe indeed.
It should come as a surprise to no one that I am an expert bassist. And by expert I mean I can play that one riff from “7 Nation Army”. Over and over again. For like nine hours at a time if you request it, and I sincerely hope that you do someday. An array of cool petals would only make the experience that much sweeter because variety is the spice of life, after all. As enriching as that would be for all of us, despite my best intentions, I don’t think I could look as cool as Zinnia Superfuzz while doing it. She’s a new creation by Eero Okkonen and everything from her stance to her rocking flower power clothing and awesome yellow bass says she’s going to take expert to a whole new level that would put me to shame, I’m sure.
Still, if you care to be dazzled, I am also fairly proficient at that one intro riff from “Smoke on the Water.” Just putting that out there.
Sometimes you got to take a break from cracking rib cages and crushing skulls to stop and marvel at the beautiful miracle of life. That is the scene that Eero Okkonen has presented us today with a piece he calls “Munburr, the proud father”. With armor still on and the left side of his face covered in what might be blood or warpaint, this murderous dwarven beserker takes pride in the tender little life he had helped bring into this world. While a proud papa, Munburr, like many new dads, appears rather perplexed at the bundle of joy in his gauntlet covered arms. His expression seems to say, “If you can’t kill it and you can’t eat it, then what the heck can you do with it?” They’ll figure it out over time as the baby will likely grow up to be a murderous dwarven beserker just like his dad and they’ll go off on dwarven beserker adventures together, the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon and all that. Isn’t the Circle of Life grand?
The world of Magic: the Gathering is, despite its cheap fantasy storyline, a treasure trove of characters and other motives. Some (far too few, if you ask me!) LEGO builders like Eero Okkonen take inspiration from it and create amazing works of art. This recreation of The Wanderer is a great example of a builder capturing the original artwork perfectly. The Wanderer is a clichéd mysterious character in the lore that would be quite interesting if it was in any other story.
The build is mostly what one would expect from this master character builder. The real highlight is the incredible accuracy to the source material. The exotic colours like pink, gold and sand green are not the easiest to work with in LEGO, but Eero stretched his collection to the limit and successfully recreated the character, with all her challenges. The most interesting part usage to me was the Technic figure scuba flipper used as the ends of the hair. To read more about the building process, check out Eero’s own blog post on Cyclopic bricks.
LEGO builders have often explored the theme of “speeder bikes” – flying motorcycle-esque vehicles with a grand and glorious racing tradition. (Or, for those looking for the possible origins of the trope, a callback to the forest chase scene in Return of the Jedi. Although usually built in minifigure scale for maxium swooshability, there’s no reason that one couldn’t make a larger version. In fact, Eero Okkonen has done just that in Kiirus Ögonblick and The Carp Speeder, mixing skill in large figure builds with…a fish. Not just any fish, though, but a carp. A blue and orange, jet powered, mechanical-hybrid carp….Because why not?
