Tag Archives: Fabuland

Fabuland Ganesha doesn’t judge you

We’re used to being in awe and maybe a bit flabbergasted by the wild and wonderful LEGO creations of Ivan Martynov. But this time we’re like; is that even LEGO? It’s a computer render, as it turns out, but still a neat concept. Here we see Elton Elephant as Ganesha, the Hindu god of beginnings and the patron of intellectuals, bankers, scribes, and authors. He’s one of those cool, laidback dieties who doesn’t judge your shortcomings because he himself isn’t without folly. I, on the other hand, can be judgemental, at times. I am forever furrowing my brow at the antics of others. If you’d rather we didn’t shake our heads with quiet condemnation at how you treat others then quit acting like an entitled high-and-mighty brat, Karen! (Wow, that escalated fast.) While you’re clamoring to reach my manager, why not take a gander at some other Fabuland creations built by totally fabulous grown-ass adults.

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Fabulous Fabuland AT-AT walks straight into our hearts

When you hear the words “Star Wars,” I bet the word “trilogy” pops into your head. Whether it’s the Original Trilogy, the Prequel Trilogy, or the Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars defines itself by its cinematic trios. That’s why it’s so fitting that Stewart Cromar has created a third model in his Star Wars x Fabuland series – the FAB-AT-AT, or “Fabuland Playhouse.”

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Fabulous Fabuland Homestead

No Fabulous Fabulandspeeder is complete without a Fabulous Homestead. So we are very grateful that Stewart Cromar continued to fabulize Star Wars sets. Whenever you buy a LEGO Star Wars set and you open up all the bags and spread out all the parts on the table you’ll notice that a lot of the parts are light grey, dark grey, or black. Then there are some pops of colour but those are mostly used in the construction of the vehicle and later covered up with light grey, dark grey, or black bricks. Completely the opposite of the Fabuland theme and therefore it is ever so delightful to see these sets get the Fabuland treatment. Some of the original Fabuland parts work so perfectly that LEGO might have to consider recoloring those parts to light grey, dark grey, or black for future releases of Star Wars sets. For instance the mailbox top works perfectly as an arched rooftop and the refrigerator door looks stunning as a front door to this lovely Tatooine Homestead. So LEGO, please consider bringing back some of those iconic Fabuland pieces.

Fabulous Fabulandspeeder

I wish this was an actual LEGO set. I would forgive LEGO for making Luke’s Landspeeder as often as a Spider-Man movie gets shoved down our throats. This makes me wish that LEGO brought back its old Fabuland theme, instead of my own favourite Bionicle. And so does Fabuland super-fan Stewart Lamb Cromar.

Fabuland was a theme in the late 70s into the 80s, which started as a step between DUPLO and classic LEGO. It released a year after the first modern minifigure, as well as the first space and castle sets. The goal was to build a universe of friendly, funny, animal-headed characters that appeal to both boys and girls. The design of the sets were simplified and consisted of mostly primary colours – red, yellow, and blue.

Similarly, Stu built his Fabulandspeeder with the default “Fabuland colour scheme” but with all the detailed goodness that Star Wars builds offer. He also used genuine Fabuland parts, including a loose house door he procured second-hand, as the original piece is built into a big panel.

Check out some more Fabuland-themed builds here!

Fabuland with a modern twist

It’s neat when LEGO builders team up with others to build something truly unique. Lasse Vestergård worked together with his mom to built two Fabuland layouts. This one uses only bricks that existed in the ’80s and nicely represents the whimsy and primary color palette that the theme encompassed during its ten-year run.

This one, however, uses modern pieces and offers a more updated earth-toned palette.

A close-up shot of the paddleboat showcases some of the large kid-friendly pieces Fabuland was famous for, particularly the whimsical arched windows and the one-piece hulls for both the paddleboat and the little rowboat.

Its modern counterpart ups the piece count considerably but gives more depth and texture to the water. Plants and flowers are well detailed but the same Fabuland characters retain their original sweetness. Which do you like better?

Get fabulous with these brick-built Fabuland characters!

Builder Koen Van Der Biest is a master of the brick built figure. His subjects are many and include a range of well-known video game and cartoon characters. This time he goes meta-LEGO with this collection of charming Fabuland characters. I’m a huge fan of Fabuland and these recreations are spot on from Walter Walrus’ anchor to the cat’s cute bow. The faces are nicely rendered and perfectly capture the original characters’ personalities.

I, for one, would love to see LEGO bring this theme back. Maybe revamped with a collaboration with Nintendo for some future Animal Crossing sets? I would be first in line!

...And it all led up to Edward’s Island

You may recall a prior post featuring Dale Harris and his Neo-Fabuland concept. It was Boris’s Post Office, an adorable little scene, and while it may have looked like big, clunky Fabuland pieces designed for littler hands, it was actually meticulously constructed out of “regular” LEGO bricks. Back then he alluded to the fact that it was merely a small module that would eventually be part of a much larger layout. Well, feast your eyes on Edward’s Island! The aforementioned Barty’s Post Office is there about centered on the island but that is accompanied by a whole assortment of adorable Fabuland denizens and their primary-colored buildings.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Who’s a good boy?

It turns out Fabuland has a good boy in charge of fire safety. Markus Rollbühler presents Barty and his shiny red Fire Brigade Bulldog Mech. This is part of Markus’ ongoing campaign to build one mech a week for a year, which is what we call job security at the Brothers Brick. So long as he keeps cranking out quality builds, we’ll have something to write about. No blazing fire (and incidentally no rug either) is safe from Barty’s watchful patrol. Even if he does ruin your one-of-a-kind Persian Fine Serapi Handmade Wool Area Rug, how can you stay mad at Barty when he has a face like that? With him it’s either nice rugs or unwavering fire safety. Make your choice.

You’ve got mail!

Fabuland…pfffft, that was sooo 1980’s! If you want to get with the times you need to get with Neo-Fabuland. But before we do, let’s explain what Fabuland was about. It was a line of LEGO sets first introduced in 1979 that was aimed to fill a gap between DUPLO and “regular” LEGO and featured anthropomorphic animals with names like Roger Raccoon and Freddy Fox. Fabuland sets had a primary color scheme, were simple to construct, and often topped out at under a hundred pieces. Now along comes Dale Harris with this Neo-Fabuland idea called “Boris’ Post Office”.

The most impressive aspect I think is Dale’s ability to replicate the look of big clunky plastic pieces by using lots of not-so-clunky little pieces. What looks like a large one-piece roof assembly are actually lots of these elements in red. These round corner tiles help replicate the signature Fabuland whimsical look over the attic windows. He also incorporated all the pieces from the original Boris Bulldog and mailbox set. It turns out this isn’t Dale’s first go with this Neo-Fabuland idea. Be on the lookout for more as he intends this to be just a small part of a much larger layout. Incidentally, the official Fabuland line ended in 1989, the same year this post’s title became synonymous with early internet users.

Fabulous Fabuland friends take Billy Goat’s Steamboat for a ride

Fabuland holds a beautiful place of reminisce for me and somehow Pete Strege seems to have encompassed that feeling in an incredible new LEGO creation. Billy Goat’s Steamboat is an incredible display of fine colour choice, confined motorisation and great shaping without compromising stability. The dark blue of the cabin walls and hull are framed nicely with white, while the rest of the colour wheel comes to life with a combination of dark azure and yellow. Though please don’t be fooled, take a closer look. Weaved throughout the yellow are trace amounts of bright light orange, which adds some real warmth to the model, as subtle as it may be. There is also a sublime amount of blue pinstriping, which tops off the build high up, with two blue half barrel containers.

Come and check out more of this beautiful steamboat

The fabulous land of bright colours and warfare

The bright colours, cartoony style of pieces and cute anthropomorphic animal characters of Fabuland make for a perfect nostalgic base to build on. And boy do LEGO fans build on it! Here at The Brothers Brick, we have featured over the years fabuland Star Wars, pirates, The Hobbit and even Black Fantasy and Apocalyptic Fabuland. Zilmrud brings another theme to the collection with his over-the-top futuristic military creations sporting the cute characters in completely inappropriate settings. What would Ole Kirk Kristiansen say!

The builder combines cute DUPLO and Fabuland elements with an excessive amount of weaponry, with civilians in the background cheering the armed Fabuland forces. There are many iconic pieces included in the build, like original fabuland doors, windows and even benches! Of course it can hardly be a Fabuland creation without the figures and the bulldog fireman in the tank actually looks like a strangely appropriate choice… The below photo of a bunny mech stealing eggs is especially timely. The style of this one is more tailored to the bunny Fabuland figure than the theme as a whole, but still captures both the feeling of the original theme and what we are used to in mecha. The “chicken’s” nest is particularly inspired, using a DUPLO cupcake cup containing small shrub pieces as the nest’s material.

The last resort in building

Whatever happened to Fabuland – the 1980s animal-character driven play theme from LEGO – appears to be Dutch builder Sebastiaan Arts‘ raison d’être in creating his last habitat in the world. In one of the strangest takes on the post-apocalyptic theme, the various animal-headed Fabuland characters have holed up in the Last Resort, a towering orange residential complex.

See more of this LEGO Space / Fabuland mashup