Tag Archives: Fantasy

Amazing LEGO fairy castle stands over 4 feet tall!

When LEGO builders work together, great things happen! Kat (@k._harmon) and Samuel (@darksamishgray) have collaborated to create a stunningly beautiful fairy castle that built out of an old tree stump. Through the crack in the trunk you can see the cozy architecture of the fairy folk. There’s so much detail and great building on display for an observer to dig into. The bluebells (blue flowers) are fastened to their stems by a pair of grass pieces attached through the loop by a twig. The ferns are made from crocodile tails, and I love the little glider made from a variety of LEGO leaves.

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This Warhammer-inspired LEGO diorama is fast in friendship and in enmity

What do LEGO dwarves have to be resentful of? Well, elves got their own fondly remembered line, orcs featured prominently as Castle foes for a spell, and dragons appear in multiple themes and get their own zodiac calendar year. Oh, the indignity! We can’t know what animus brings motivates the dwarven king in Illia Zubashev‘s grand diorama, but chance are it involves gold, elves, or grudges. Probably all three.  Illia calls this creation The Hall of Grudges of Karak Izûm, a sacred site for dwarves of the Warhammer ilk. It’s a truly grand scene where a lone minifig king and the holy Book of Grudges are dwarfed by a hulking statue and a towering wall of brick and stone, showing the immense scale of the underground dwarven empire. Illia employs a solid mix of profile bricks, offset tiles, and SNOT work (studs not on top) in the impressive wall and floor. The chonky statue of dark grey and gold makes impressive use of 2×3 rock tiles for a chiseled beard. But perhaps the most striking element of the  scene is the diamond window of jutting trans light blue crystals.

The Hall of Grudges of Karak Izûm. Night

The evenly lit scene represents the hall at night. Even more striking is the daylight version, where light shining through the crystal window transforms the underground scene.

The Hall of Grudges of Karak Izûm. Day

Dance to your Death with Sekiro’s Corrupted Monk

LEGO and video games have proven to be a powerhouse of family-friendly fun, but combat in LEGO games is a pretty basic affair. If punishing action is more your speed, perhaps you’ve wondered what a LEGO Souls-like game would look like? If it’s anything like Marius Herrmann‘s Corrupted Monk from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it would be a beautiful game indeed!

The Corrupted Monk from "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice"

FromSoftware, makers of Elden Ring and Dark Souls, are known for their amazing enemy bosses that combine punishing difficulty with breathtaking dark fantasy character design. For many, the Corrupted Monk is the pinnacle of boss encounters, as dueling this demoness requires total mastery of the game’s robust combat system (unless you cheese the boss — no shame in that!). Marius’ model employs some incredible parts usage to capture the Monk’s haunting appearance, like the use of an inverted Ninjago Anacondrai helmet for a mouth and a frog for a nose. There are hand-strung beads made of eggs and flowers, as well as a vintage LEGO Scala pearl necklace for this classy lady of darkness. The color is striking, especially the draping tiled fabric in gold, yellow, and black. Given the vibrant colors, this is clearly the “True” version of the Corrupted Monk. Sekiro also features a spectral version of the boss, but I suspect creating a model this incredible using only translucent parts would be too punishing a challenge for even the most hardcore LEGO builder.

A fantastic build in more ways than one

My favorite LEGO set of last year (and possibly of all time) is the LEGO Lord of the Rings 10316 Rivendell set. I could wax verbose about that set, but I don’t have to — because everything I loved about Rivendell is back here in this piece, which builder Martin Gebert calls “Rivendell-inspired.” You can certainly see the official set’s influence — the organic blending of nature and masonry, the pastel greens and whites, the otherworldly architecture. And yet this build manages to take the fantasy even further — look at that lovely hanging fountain and the perfectly irregular smoothness of that outcropping. Best of all, this model (entitled “The Arrival of an Old Friend”) is just chapter 1 in a series, so be sure to follow Martin and keep exploring this incredible slice of a fantasy world.

Chapter I - The Arrival of an Old Friend

In the Shire, there’s always time to take a break from your chores

J. R. R. Tolkien imagined Bilbo Baggins’ door as a circular construction, green and impressive in size (for a hobbit). Peter Jackson ran with the description and the gently rustic feel of the Shire and created an organic-and-tudor style mix that Gus has wonderfully captured here in the blocky medium of LEGO. There are so many details to love in this scene; the fence is made from a pair of whips, while the circular window to the right of the door is a bicycle tire! The organic side of the hobbit style is on full display as Gus has achieved both a cobbled circle for the windmill tower, and a smooth roof-line mimicking the slope of the of the hill – not to mention the striking red of the wood slats in the door. With all of this excellent building on display only one question remains; are these two folks Bagginses or Tooks?

The shire

Medieval marvels and fantastical realms – where does your mind take you?

Since May 2010, when the first LEGO collectible minifigure series was released, enthusiasts have eagerly awaited the introduction of new characters with each subsequent minifigure lines. Some characters readily fit into past or present LEGO themes, like the Vampire Knight, while others evoke thoughts of a whole new world. Salt_city_bricks has brought imagination to life with one of the characters from Minifigures Series 25.. The structure in this build carries us to a world of fantasy and mystical wonder. However, if you were to remove the Mushroom Sprite from the foreground, the building would undoubtedly fit in wonderfully with a castle or other medieval-themed build. Titled “Curvy,” do not let your thoughts wander too far before appreciating the builder’s lack of square edges in this creation.

Curvy

Powerful princess of the Saphire Sword

Fantasy-flavored minifigs might be all the buzz right now thanks to LEGO’s new D&D partnership, but prolific Finnish builder (and TBB regular) Eero Okkonen is here to take the crown with his latest swords and sorcery inspired brick-built character. Eero makes clever use of the latest plant elements, like the lavender breastplates sourced from a new mold in LEGO Friends 42620 Olly and Paisley’s Family Houses. One of my favorite elements of the creation is how perfectly the opalescent sword pieces work as both hair and skirt. There are so many details to admire, like the Prince of Persia dagger of time as a brooch, Gungan shields on the belt, and alien cocoon thighs. Like most of his characters, this one is highly-poseable, so be sure to dive into Eero’s Flickr page for a full gallery and build insights.

Princess Sapphire

Looking for more of his great character creations? We’ve got plenty of Eero Okkonen’s LEGO builds in our archives.

LEGO Ideas 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale – One-shot wonder or a critical miss? [Review]

This year, we celebrate a very important anniversary in the LEGO community. And no, I’m not referring to the 50th anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons, although that’s certainly an epic milestone. Instead, I’m talking about the 25th anniversary of Star Wars LEGO sets. For it was all the way back in 1999 with that star-crossed fusion of intellectual property that some of us first believed we could see our favorite bricks paired with D&D. Well, it’s finally happened with LEGO Ideas 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale. Coming in at 3,745 pieces, this set is based on the contest-winning design by fan Lucas Bolt, and sculpted into the final model by LEGO designers (and huge D&D fans) Mark Stafford and Jordan Scott. The set will release on the LEGO website on April 1st for LEGO Insiders (April 4th for everyone else), and retail for US $359.99 | CAN $469.99 | UK £314.99. But will Red Dragon’s Tale pass the TBB constitution check, or are we headed for saving throws? Read on to find out!

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Delve further into the dungeon below!

What woes will this willowy wyvern to weep?

Your first thought of dragons, wyrms and wyverns might be scary mythical beasts. But with adept use of his LEGO pieces, Joey Klusnick reminds us that dragons have feelings, too. It’s named the Weeping Wyvern – clearly named after its resemblance to weeping willows. But the poor guy is actually weeping! But why? There is a missing goat poster pinned to its left ankle. Perhaps someone used too big a nail, or the goat is this wyvern’s pet? It’s anyone’s guess, really. The only other plausible explanation is that it’s seen the eye-watering prices of the original goat on the LEGO aftermarket…

Weeping Wyvern

These elves literally turn the tide of battle

In the realms of fantasy, it seems like there’s always a horde of orcs taking on a band of elves somewhere. And in this Tolkien-inspired LEGO scene by Graham Gidman, these two groups are at it once again. But this time the battle appears to be more fluid than normal, and I mean that literally! There’s a rush of trans-clear bricks about to knock those orcs right off the bridge. But the shaping of this “water” is only one part of Graham’s brick-built mastery on display in this scene. The smooth white curves of the Elvish architecture feel perfectly at home here, projecting a regal tone. And every bit of plant life dotting the rocky landscape is inspired. But my favorite detail in the whole scene has got to be the darker shade of tan used on the waterlogged portion of the bridge. It’s quite the excellent, and easy-to-miss, detail that sets this build apart!

Attack Goes Awash

An undead LEGO army marches on Skaerbaek Fan Weekend

This past weekend, LEGO fans from all over the world converged on Skaerbaek, Denmark for the ultimate builder gathering (that also happens to be in LEGO HQ’s metaphorical backyard). Builder and LEGO designer Wes Talbott featured this fantastic horde of baddies at the Fan Weekend, about to pass through their nerco-powered portal to attack their sworn foe, the Moon Elves. The intricacies of the portal are spectacular, from the organics growing out of its side to the stone dragon heads sitting atop it. But my favorite part has got to be Wes’s integration of bones and skulls into the structure, using the 1×1 round plate with bar. The part really gives those skeletal minifig heads a jaunty slant, evoking the makeshift/natural/ritualistic nature of goblin magic. But don’t let the glowing green gateway distract you from the brilliantly-crafted army surrounding it. Specifically, that big, boney behemoth in the background is a masterclass in character creation and choice part usage.

A peek behind the Wall: building a 200,000-piece LEGO Game of Thrones diorama [Guest Feature]

LEGO builder extraordinaire Anu Pehrson joins us to give an inside perspective on how she built this enormous 200,000-piece minifigure-scale diorama of the Wall from Game of Thrones. If you’re not familiar with Anu, she likes to build big. If you happen to be in Denmark soon, check out her huge model of the Greyjoy Stronghold, which has been showcased in the LEGO House for the past year. She previously gave us a behind-the-scenes look at her 20,000-piece rice plantation diorama from The LEGO Ninjago Movie, but now she’s gone ten times bigger. So read on as Anu walks us through the entire process of building the Wall from early concepts to finished model.

Building the Wall

As builders, most of us are inspired by things we encounter in our everyday lives, travels, and other interests such as books, music, etc. I immensely enjoyed reading Game of Thrones and was inspired with several ideas for building. The Wall was an obvious choice but a very daunting task and would require me to get several tens of thousands of white parts. I started the process of collecting parts specifically for this project in 2012. Nine years later, I finally started building in 2021, and it has taken me over two years to finish it. The model is 5 x 5 feet and approximately 4.5 feet tall, and in the end, I used close to 200,000 pieces.

My thought process here was that the Wall would be the central grounding factor, with several structures added to both the south side of the Wall and the area beyond the wall to the north as described in the books/show.

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