When he’s not busy designing LEGO sets like 40505 LEGO Building Systems, Markus Rollbühler finds the time to make creations of a less-official variety. His latest is an entry into this year’s RogueOlympics, a competition where each round’s entry must clock in at 101 bricks or less. And with this limited palette, Markus still tells quite the story, full of forced perspective and hard-to-use fabric pieces. But I think the real victory here is the integration of some of the oldest LEGO trees, circa 1960.
Tag Archives: Fairy Tales
Read up on a classic fairy tale
The aptly named Larsvader has discovered the formula for LEGO success with this brilliant creation emerging from the pages of a large book. It depicts the story of Rumpelstiltskin. As the Grimm fairytale goes, the little gnome, situated in the lower left by the campfire, strikes a deal with a beautiful young maiden citing that he can spin straw into gold in exchange for her first born child. She’s rather receptive to the gold part of the deal as it has made her a very rich queen but decides to renege once she bears her first child. She tries to reason with the weird, oddly-named gnome and he strikes up a counter offer; if she can guess his name within three days, she may keep her child. All seems at a loss for the queen until someone overhears a premature celebration of the gnome thus learning his name and delivering that info to the queen. It’s a tale that bears a powerful message, that being; rich people are better people and if you’re short and ugly, you’re gonna get the shaft. Or something. I don’t really know what the fairy tale is about. Still, there’s no denying the amazing layout that Larsvader created here. Here’s to hoping we see more from this builder soon.
Nothing’s hipper than see-thru slippers
Thomas W had planned a different build for his contribution to a fairy tale collaboration but had to shift gears at the last minute. The result is a happy ending worthy of a fairy tale. This vignette, with its impressive tomes and frog-occupied wishing well, sets the imagination racing with all kinds of storybook adventures. But the real work of art is that glass slipper. There’s a limited number of bricks available in the trans-clear color, but Thomas transformed them into something special anyway, as easy as turning a frog into a prince.
This tree stump is very much still in the game
Sometimes a LEGO build doesn’t need to be really big to be impressive. Small creations can be just as wonderful! gGh0st created a beautiful little tree stump that also functions as a home to a little woodland critter. When building really small almost every part of the build is visible and, therefore, noticeable. Seemingly single use parts are a lot harder to ‘hide’ in the build. Because it is so small they will stand out more. This didn’t scare gGh0st from using spiral stairs as a part of the tree stump. It does not only stand out because of the texture, but also because of its colour. And yet it blends in perfectly with this creation.
A fairy and a hedgehog walk into a bar
Sometimes something looks familiar and you just can’t understand why it does. This happened to me when I came across ‘Hedgehog and Elf’ by James Zhan. I knew that little hedgehog looked familiar but I wasn’t sure from where. As a primary school teacher, you get exposed to a lot of children’s literature. So that could be the source. It sure looks like it could have walked straight out of a fairy tale. I still couldn’t pinpoint it. After googling ‘hedgehog’ and ‘Pokemon’ I must conclude that it looks familiar because it reminds me of the Pokemon Shaymin. And to be honest, that one looks like it is straight out of a fairy tale.
The story of the house on the chicken leg and the witch on the big broom
Marcin Otreba drew inspiration from the classic folklore tale of Baba Yaga. And he’s not the first one to use this story as an inspiration for a LEGO creation: we’ve featured numerous chicken-legged cottages throughout the years. Marcin’s is special because it’s so tiny yet so packed with details. It’s so small it almost has you wondering if the witch will actually fit into the cottage. The answer is yes, of course! It is a magic cottage, you silly! The arms with pins introduced in the Super Mario LEGO sets are used to create all sorts of odd angles, and the fact that the cottage is asymmetrical makes it even more aesthetically pleasing. But the most hilarious thing about this creation is the fact that Baba Yaga is riding a Belville broom which is far bigger than her house.
Check out more Baba Yaga creations here!
Everdell Chapel in the brick
Next to LEGO I am a huge board game nerd, and I love it when hobbies collide. Isaac and John Snyder drew inspiration from one of my favourite board games. Everdell is a worker placement game in which you build the homes of the many forest critters that inhabit the forest of Everdell. The artwork was done by Andrew Bosley and Dann May. The playing cards depict forest locations but also its inhabitants. The illustrations on the cards look truly as if they came straight out of a fairy tale. I can surely see why Isaac and John would draw inspiration from it. In this creation we see the Everdell chapel which is built on a rock in a foggy lake. A grey Belville tower roof has been incorporated in the landscaping and to me it is mind boggling that this large piece blends in with the scenery so well.
The resemblance to the source material is really amazing. The Tudor style is done exceptionally well, and including yellowed and damaged white bricks to depict the decay of the building is really clever. On the playing card there are no animals included but it is nice to get some forest critters in there to make the scene appear more alive. They even get cute custom outfits made out of capes and rubber bands. I am curious to see if these two will keep drawing inspiration from this lovely board game. One thing is for sure, I wouldn’t mind!
Picture perfect fairytale furniture
These delightful LEGO furniture pieces from Brickdesigned bring charm to the cottage in which they reside. No one knows who lives in the cottage, but who wouldn’t want to live in such a cute environment? Perhaps if we take a closer look at the items we can discern some things about the owner… The clock is built into a felled tree with accompanying wildlife, while the hat indicates they enjoy frolicking in the woods, too. The tree’s wide base is cleverly achieved with a brown minifig torso! Moving on to the bed, we see they like to keep things tidy with a made bed. The checkered pattern is lovely, and I particularly like the tree branches for the bedposts. The standout pieces here are the red minifig hands making up the frill of the throw rug.
The snacks on the table suggest the owner likes sweets balanced with just a touch of health! The table and chair speak of comfort without too much fuss. Honestly, that chair looks more comfortable than many wooden chairs I’ve used myself. Finally, there’s the fireplace. The mantle is chock full of cool items: a message in a bottle, books galore, a tea set, some coins, and a cool hourglass. I love how the mantle and the fireplace are constructed! The studs-not-on-top (SNOT) approach for the logs supporting the mantle is charming. The cauldron cooking over the fire is a nice touch, too. We may not know who lives in this space, but we do know one thing–they live happily ever after.
Nostalgic little mushroom home
This LEGO creation by Jonas Kramm really reminds me of the Smurf toys I used to have as a kid. It is simply amazing. Jonas was inspired by the Forest Elf minifigure and I can totally understand why. It is by far one of the cutest minifigures ever produced by LEGO and it goes along with this creation wonderfully. This model features a big mushroom which is used as the elf’s home. The vibrant blue color used for the door and the windows is a nice contrast to the red mushroom cap. It even comes with white scales.
Next to the mushroom home there is a smaller mushroom growing. (Maybe it’ll be someone’s home in the near future.) This little mushroom features the plate with crown leaf as the skirt of the mushroom. Jonas’ eye for detail is truly remarkable. I do have to admit that we featured the snail build before, but it goes along great with this creation and I understand why it was included as it is still a wonderful build. Using the foot plate in trans clear is a smart way to mimic snail slime. I want at least half a dozen of these, preferably with different hood colours and little blue minifigures.
Tiny tall tales
Working with a limited number of LEGO pieces can be a real challenge, but builder Dan Ko rises to meet it with this tiny but awesome build! Building with as few pieces as possible really pushes you to get creative on how to represent your subject, and Dan shows us the way with all the clever parts usage. For example, minifigure skater helmets make up Alice’s shoulders while mugs make up her hair. Orange leaves stand in for the Mad Hatter’s hair sticking out from under his hat. I love the use of shuttle bay doors for the book’s pages! Minifigure hands make up Rapunzel’s flowing hair, which acts as a bookmark of sorts for the open book. And there’s particularly crafty usage of the transparent handle as the heel of the glass slipper. Go ahead, take a closer look and see what wonders you’ll find among these tales!
These elves give the old shoemaker the boot
Builder Lego_nuts has cobbled together yet another stunning LEGO model, this one direct from the pages of a Brothers Grimm classic: The Elves and the Shoemaker. It’s good to see their expressive figure design from this Van Gogh piece reused here for the shoemaker and his wife. Putting the humans in this scale both makes for some adorable minifigure-scale elves, but it also allows for such magnificent detail in the rest of the build. You can see the scraps of cloth strewn throughout the workshop, all of the official parts from a LEGO set. And there’s the intricate nature of the sewing machine and grandfather clock, excellent builds just on their own. But what really gets me most about this design are the 19 different shoe designs hiding throughout it!
And in case you’ve already started counting the shoes, there are technically 21 unique shoe styles, not 19. You can see the shoes worn by the shoemaker and his wife in this accompanying video, even though they’re not visible in the final photo. In the video, they walk through all the components of the build, from heel to toe.
A fairytale takes root! Magic beans not required
Once upon a time there was a builder named Andreas Lenander who created a magical book whose story came to life through LEGO. This Jack and the beanstalk build is truly a sight to behold! The story spills over the pages, starting with the micro-scale farm grounding the build. The stalk stretches skyward from the heart of the book, its internal structure concealed within the beautiful foliage. The stalk’s zenith reveals a kingdom adorned in silver and gold that promises fortune and adventure. The dragon hidden at the beanstalk’s top crowns the parts usage, adding its scales to the vegetation’s textures. A mythical detail that inspires the imagination the way fairytales often do!