Tag Archives: Elves

A house fit for a forest elf

You can easily imagine this adorable hut, created by Tobias Goldschalt, hidden away, deep in a mystical forest. The build is oddly reminiscent of the dwellings featured in the Angry Birds films, but this cosy home has more of an earthy feel in its design. The building has a great bulbous shape to it, created by the large segments often used in hot air balloon models. The green wing pieces blend in perfectly with the overhanging leafy roof and the forest elf, from the collectible minifigures series 22, looks more than happy with his new accommodation.

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All your baseplates are belong to us

When I was a kid, LEGO’s raised baseplates were among the coolest parts in my budding collection. But as I grew as a builder, I found myself using them less and less. It’s quite difficult to incorporate a the simplistic features of a raised baseplate into great, detailed model, but you wouldn’t know that from looking at this fantasy tower by Eyrezer. Hiding at the core of this diorama is the massive light yellowish green baseplate from a mid-2000’s Belville set. Combined with whimsical architecture and that huge onion dome from the Raya sets, this elven manor is glorious. See if you can spot all the other innovative parts uses, like the umbrella top, numerous hairpieces, leaf sprues, and even Bionicle statue.

Check out a few other times skilled builders have incorporated raised baseplates.

Art Nouveau book covers

LEGO has been into books as of lately. We got the LEGO Ideas 21315 Pop-Up Book, the Hogwarts Moments books, the Disney Storybooks, the 40410 Charles Dickens Tribute, and more. So as a LEGO fan, why not hop on the trend? That is exactly what Ted Andes must have thought. They created a series of lovely hardcover books with Art Nouveau-inspired cover art to go along with the Wasp-wing Table Lamp we featured a while back.

The blue book looks quite elaborately embellished with golden details which make the satin white jewels pop. The green book uses Spider-Man’s web as a very artistic cloud and the minifigure butterfly wings are used to represent a magical transparent butterfly. Most of all this is a very ingenious way to display minifigures you like and it can be translated to any theme.

This lovely aurora has the aura of Christmas magic

The Northern Lights (aurora borealis) are one of nature’s most beautiful miracles. Recreating it in LEGO is difficult, but I can’t think of a more marvelous idea than dragon wings. Yep, Malin Kylinger has used multiple sets of marbled dragon wings to recreate this lovely phenomena. The rest of her night sky is beautiful too, with raised diamond tiles used for stars. The scene is made complete with an adorable elf cottage, a fire, reindeer, and a decorated Christmas tree.

It’s that time of year where we start to see lots of great Christmas builds. Check out some past wintery creations we’ve featured, and stay tuned for more!

Nature reclaims elven architecture... As it should!

Elves seem to have a knack of building their dwellings harmonious with nature in most fantasy stories. Whether it is an ethereal treetop palace or a hidden valley lodging (very specific, I know), elven architecture is one with its surroundings. Books and films such as The Lord of the Rings made this trope popular – which isn’t a bad thing. However, builder Daniel Cloward shows us that sometimes this is not the case.

An elven city sits on coastal cliffs, built from the same stones, as shown by light grey LEGO elements. However, it is abandoned and has been overgrown with trees, shrubs, and other vegetation depicted by various green pieces. Only the white tree with lavender foliage remains of the original elf-nature harmony, as it seems to be part of the original city. The bright colours of that tree stand out from the grey and greens of the rest of the build. This small diorama really shows off the story of nature vs man-made (or elf-made) structures falling to ruin.

Interested in more elves and their architecture? We have some more elven creations for you.

TBB Cover Photo for June 2021: The Tyrandal Woodlands

Ever wanted to drift away into an enchanted world filled with mystery and wonder? There is no need to venture any further with Isaac Snyder microscale build dubbed “the Tyrandal Woodlands”. This is why we are proud to set this amazing build as our Cover Photo for June.

Click to see how you can get featured

“Elf on the Hunt” by a raging waterfall in this lush build

Paul Rizzi‘s latest LEGO creation is a lush build, focusing on a lone elf hunting a stag in the forest. The bulk of the works appears to be have put in the textured cliffs and the translucent waterfall; I especially appreciate the implied motion of the water as it rolls over the rocks on the bottom. The trees use different shades of green to add some dimensionality, and we have a mixture of brown and white bases to change things up.

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A mine for the blacksmith

If you’re a blacksmith, odds are you have a supplier of ore and metals coming from a nearby mine. In this case, the mine is built by -LittleJohn. Clearly taking inspiration from the new LEGO Ideas Medieval Blacksmith set, builder -LittleJohn made this creation for the Colossal Castle Contest. The Allanar Mine is run by dwelves (dwarves + elves) who offer a warm meal and a soft bed to any travelers passing through.

The level of detail here is staggering. The landscaping, the mine building, and the inn are a work of art. I’d have to say my favorite part of this build is the windows. They’re beautiful! Both paned and double-paned are built so creatively. I’m going to have to see if I can replicate -LittleJohn’s techniques in my next medieval-themed creation.

Elvendale is more beautiful than you realized

The LEGO Elves theme was retired not long ago, and sadly it never quite gained the popularity among adult fans that I think it deserved. Thankfully, though, there are a handful of builders who’ve been designing beautiful creations in the brightly colored world of Elves, and this gorgeous diorama by Stilly Bricks shows how delightful Elvendale can be. They built it a few years ago, but only recently got around to photographing it, which is understandable given that the massive village is over 5 feet long from end to end, and more than 2 feet deep.

Click to check out more details of Elvendale

Vibrantly colored Elven Passage

With his latest creation Chris Perron proves a castle build doesn’t have to consist of mainly grey bricks. It can be vibrantly colored and still look stunning. Chris’s build is sand blue and dark blue with elements of gold. My guess is this windscreen with bubble cutout was the main inspiration for this LEGO creation. Such a smart way to use this part which was designed to be used as a cockpit for a vehicle. The single hinge finger has been cleverly hidden in the base of the model. The model is finished with some lovely trees in funky colors and a diagonal roof pattern I’ve so far only seen used as flooring in other creations. So that’s a nice little bonus right there.

Take a visit to Elvendale in this huge, incredibly detailed LEGO model!

Despite the presence of minidolls, I think that LEGO’s Elves theme was almost universally beloved by adult fans of LEGO (and undoubtedly, many loved the dolls, too). What was there not to like? There were great re-colors of common pieces into bright pinks, blues, and purples, perfect for everything from spaceships to fantasy forest dwellings, there were new hairpieces for more elves, there were dragons, not to mention the great accessories, and perhaps most of all sets that by themselves were great, with nice value for the money, good play features, and cohesive structure. I was a fan. It seems likely that I was never as much of a fan as Ben Arkley, however, if this enormous Elvendale creation is any guide.

Click to see details of this awesome build

Next LEGO Winter Village set unveiled as 10275 Elf Club House [News]

The holiday season is around the corner, which means it’s time for LEGO to reveal this year’s addition to the Winter Village line, 10275 Elf Club House. The perfect sequel to 2014’s Santa’s Workshop, the Elf Club House includes 1,197 pieces, four minifigures, a reindeer pulling a sleigh, toys, gifts, and a Christmas tree. Earlier today we brought you a full, hands-on review of this brand-new set, but here are the official images and press release, along with an interview with set designer Chris McVeigh.

The set will retail for US $99.99 | UK £84.99 | EU €94.99 starting on September 23rd. The eleventh in the series, 10275 Elf Club House is the third fantastical Winter Village set, joining last years’ 10267 Gingerbread House and 10245 Santa’s Workshop from 2014. Continue reading →