Tag Archives: Forest

Beware of vendors selling ice cream in the forest.

What could be more refreshing after a day of knighting around in full armor in the forest than a sweet ice cream treat? But take a closer look at this LEGO scene by Jérôme Barchietto and you will see that all is not as it seems. Is that the Falcon queen disguised as an innocent shopkeeper? And while our good and loyal Lion knights are distracted by dripping soft serve and brain freeze, a group of Falcon knights are slowly closing in for a delicious ambush.

The textured roof with plenty of thatch pieces and the real-world mossy setting combine to make this scene stand out. Also, with so many joyous faces on those Lion Knights, I almost feel sorry for them. What a cold trick to play.

Everyone needs a hobby – even orcs

Do you think orcs ever get tired of warmongering? More often than not, they’re depicted as grumpy, aggressive beings hungry for conquest, but Versteinert posits that they might also be partial to a more peaceful life. This particular one has taken to the forest for its downtime. Which makes sense – if you’ve got all those nice heavy battleaxes, there’s no point leaving them gathering dust between pillages. Might as well put them to good use making some wood. A bit of woodworking is probably a nice way to decompress after terrorising the realms of man, in the absence of LEGO sets. Making a wardrobe or coffee table, perhaps. Rest and recuperation is important, folks! 

The Orc Lumberjack

The everblue trees in the everglow forest

Here in Finland, many of the forests (and there are a lot of forests) are made up of evergreen trees, which stay green all year round. Eli Willsea has created a LEGO scene that could well be in one of the Nordic countries: a reindeer wandering through a peaceful Everglow forest. Wait, everglow? I guess the trees aren’t very green here… And that’s intentional. Eli says this was a LUG challenge to build things in unusual colours. So we have lavender water, light green rocks, dark orange forest floor, dark blue leaves, and a pink frog. It all looks quite mystical, underlined by the glowing fruit in the trees that, presumably, give the forest its name.

The Everglow Forest

What a lovely spot for a hideout

When you want to hide out from the law, a mindless horde of the undead, or your distant relations ready to help empty out your larder uninvited, I can think of no more pleasant location than the woods beside a gentle stream. This scene by Ids de Jong of a wonderfully detailed forest hideout among the fall-colored trees is a perfect example. While the building may have seen better days, the weathered walls, with tree branches intertwined, keeps you well hidden from passing eyes. And a stream for fishing and deep woods for hunting game make it a perfect place to lay low.

Forest hideout

Through Drudgery, Dreams, and Dread

LEGO fans draw inspiration from all sorts of places. Movies, series, books, architecture and travelling are the first things that come to mind. Music is one that we tend to skip over because it is less visible and often more interpretive. However this lovely creation by John Snyder shows how music can inspire an amazing creation. John explains that the music by Lee Muzzy & Ian Spacek has three different themes, using trees as a medium John shows how he interpreted the three different themes.

Through Drudgery, Dreams, and Dread

The first theme sounded slightly eerie, mysterious and industrial. After that came the middle part in which the mood shifted to something more magical, serene and peaceful. This reminds me a bit of Rivendell. The last part of the song gave an ominous foreboding. John surely managed to capture the way he interpreted the music in the brick.

Peaceful snowy campfire

I like how LEGO is a vessel for one’s creativity. You can escape into a world designed by your own imagination. Sometimes, however, it is also nice to just go with the seasons. This creation by Louis of Nutwood matches my current surroundings quite well. Although the Netherlands is not covered in snow, it sure is really cold. Louis created a snowy landscape complete with snow covered pine trees and a minifigure trying to keep warm near a cosy campfire. Although the base of this build consists of mostly dark grey and white pieces, there is a thin line of dark tan between the both of them. This small detail makes the scene look more realistic. You can almost hear the fire crackle and the wind rustle through the trees. After seeing this peaceful scene I am ready for a white winter myself.

Winter Winds

Fall scene in the forest with fall colours

Jake Hansen drew inspiration from the fall colours for his latest LEGO creation and we need to say that it paid off. The little scene looks so peaceful. LEGO has been creating more and more bricks in new colours and at times I am struggling to identify which colours are used in fan creations. It appears this little house is created with three shades of nougat which are greatly accented by the dark orange base and the white and bright light orange leaves. The use of horns attached to the leaves of the tree instead of the base of the tree makes the tree itself look marvellous!

The Old Birch Cottage

‘Tis the spirit of the season

Leaves turning into vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges in the Fall are beautiful in real life and in LEGO. This build from Patrick Biggs showcases the annual changing of the leaves in a big way! There’s the forest itself, with all those little star and flower pieces spreading out across the base of the scene. However, the center of the build is the great stag standing tall over the forest. The giant spirit of Autumn is beautifully sculpted, once again showing off Patrick’s abilities to craft lovely creatures out of LEGO. The spirit looks over the world, paying no mind to the human-made church in the foreground of the forest. It’s a beautiful reminder that Nature doesn’t care what the latest invention of Humanity is. Nature will carry on as it always has, and how lucky we are to be witness to the splendor of our planet!

Autumn's Light

Rollin’ with my crew on the forest moon of Endor

I can almost hear the high-pitched battle cries of this LEGO Ewok trio as it charges into battle! Created by Martin Harris, Wicket and friends look like they’re ready to take down any AT-ST they come across on Endor. The character design here is just grand, with loads of texture on the face and torso. I especially like the use of clips to hold on the Ewoks’ ear tiles at just the right angle. And the weapon-crafting here is adept as well, especially the axe wielded by the figure on the left. It’s perfectly-scaled and totally looks like something that would be improvised amid the forest from a bygone battle. But my favorite bit of part usage has got to the use of this complex slope on the tree trunks in the background. It’s one of those parts that I constantly try to find a use for, but it’s always too big and bulky to fit anywhere. Thank goodness Martin’s here to show me how it’s done!

The one the empire fears the most

Two friendly neighbourhood giants started a forest band

We’ve featured The Birchwood Baron by Steven Erickson before on TBB. Not long after that Steven surprised us with The Red Oak Regent. Now we finally have a LEGO creation that features both these gentle forest giants. Steven’s creation is proof that minifigures do matter. With that I am not implying that a build without minifigures is not that interesting. I am implying that it pays off to carefully put your minifigures together. It is easily noticeable when the minifigures in a creation are just an afterthought. Steven mixes minifigure parts from a broad selection of themes and they are not just castle. We can spot some Disney parts, but also pirates, Lone Ranger BAM and CMF. Speaking of CMF, have you seen our elaborate LEGO CMF series 23 review?

Festive Forest

The final fate of a doomed son of Gondor

Nobody sets a LEGO scene quite like Jesse van den Oetelaar. Just take a look at some of these past builds, and you can find some common themes showcased in this gorgeous vignette of Boromir making his last stand against the Uruk-hai. For example, Jesse’s vegetation is top notch, not to splashy such as to draw the eye away, but definitely providing a closeness to the scene. The twisted tree trunks and overgrown patches of dark green and olive contrast the occasional pile of rocks or red-capped mushroom. And the use of lighting is exquisite! The surrounding forest feels dark and eerie, with the foreground even slightly out-of-focus. Everything about this build pushes the eye to the center of the picture, all to behold Boromir’s final redemption: sacrificing himself so Frodo (and The Ring) can escape.

Boromir's final stand

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.

Everdell Chapel

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!