Tag Archives: Frogs

Touch this poison dart mech and you’ll be sorry!

When we last checked in with Zane Houston, the builder bowled us over with a colossal Dr. Robotnik mech. Maybe the Zane spent too much time in the head of Sonic’s nemesis, as now he’s sticking cute animals inside military-grade machines, just like Eggman. On closer inspection, it’s the tiny poison dart frogs who are calling the shots here. The mech shares the bright colors of toxic tropical amphibians, mixing teal, black, and bright light orange. Those triangular missile pods pack a serious punch, but it’s hard to take this mech seriously with those tiny forearms holding a minifig revolver and the pilot frog looking like a clown nose. Uh oh… I seem to have upset the frogs and now they’ve sent out a pair of chibi tanks to get revenge.

Poison Dart Mech

Zane’s mechs never cease to inspire with their dynamic design and top-notch presentation. This Nintendo Switch mech remains an all-time favorite build.

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Dominique Boeynaems pulls a-head with LEGO creativity

The Iron Forge competition just concluded its second week-long sprint where twenty builders were tasked with making creations using the ubiquitous LEGO minifig head as the featured “seed part.” So many delightful builds emerged from the prompt, but one builder kept delivering smiles: Dominique Boeynaems. Each of these builds is worthy of sharing on its own, but together they’re an inspiration to builders and a showcase of what makes the Iron Forge such a wonderful part of LEGO fandom.

The Iron Forge Accordion

Leading with Dominique’s final build, this nearly lifesize accordion came together during a 10-hour sprint and incorporates no less than 44 minifig heads for the keys. Vidyo straps work great for the handles. With the competition name and year worked into the instrument, it’s both a wonderful build and the perfect memento.

Iron Frog - Main presentation

Dominque’s frog uses three minifig heads – two for the eyes and one for the fly. A car hood makes for a perfect amphibian forehead.

Click to see more of Dominique’s colorful and heady builds

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In space, no one can hear you croak

Our amphibious friends have been making great leaps in the field of space travel, as shown by this LEGO model by Julie vanderMeulen. This ship, dubbed the Pond Hopper, was built to help frog-kind see if the water really is bluer on the other side of the wormhole. With a water-lily radar dish on the back, and gold accents throughout the build, any frog will be able to travel in style in a frog shaped cabin. So say it with me, folks: that’s one small step for a frog, one giant leap for froggy-kind!

Pond Hopper

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FrogNation lands at BrickCon 2024

I write this from my hotel room, having just packed up all my LEGO builds at BrickCon 2024 this past weekend. Of the many highlights this year was the headlining presence of longtime attendee and TBB alum Simon Liu. As per usual, a contingent of plastic frogs tend to follow Simon wherever he travels. And this year, an army of his robotic hoppers arrived in this beautiful carrier on the convention floor. There were so many that a miniature version of this robo-amphibian jumped right into my crate as I was packing up my creations (as also happened to may other BrickCon attendees). Thank you very much, Simon!

FrogNation Carrier

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Hitting the bullseye with a poison dart frog

One thing you should know about the LEGO community is that certain animals have something of a cult following in brick form. The crab craze has been well-documented in our TBB archives, for instance. But another favourite is the humble frog. This one comes in all shapes and sizes, from the little green frog piece to more life-sized models like Áron Gerencsér‘s latest amphibian. Áron is a bit of a don when it comes to Bionicle and other ‘constraction’ figure pieces, so it’s little surprise to see them used to such good effect here. The blending of organic shapes is practically seamless. This li’l guy looks about ready to jump off the screen!

Poison Dart Frog

And yes – the frogs, too, have their own Brothers Brick archive. Hop on over to have a look!

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He may not be a prince, but this LEGO frog is certainly worthy of the crown

Building a good LEGO frog can be a challenge, with so many organic shapes, but Maxx Davidson shows how effective some parts can be. Take the surfboard used for both the front and back legs, with the back legs upside-down. The eyes built on a 45-degree angle give this handsome frog a great personality. But as much as I love the frog, the big mushroom competes for my attention.

He’s not a prince, he just found the crown and feels handsome in it!

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Fortunate frog finds finest amphibian comforts

One lucky amphibian has found froggy paradise in this LEGO build by Roanoke Handybuck! With a serene tree, gentle waterfalls and plenty of sunny rocks to sit on, what more could a little frog ask for? All that said, that tree might be more surreal than serene; its leaves are made of minecraft zombie heads! As for the water, the spray at the bottom of the waterfall is made from croissants and the ripples around the rocks are made from official LEGO rubber bands. Finally, the entrance-way to this peaceful pond owes its angular shape to cheese slopes and the 1×2 grated slope. Now that this frog has found the best pond around, do you think they’ll find a friend here too?

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This booty be hoppin’!

Seeing this LEGO creation by EMazingbrix reminded me of the adage that you can’t take it with you. I mean, life can certainly hand you some very delicious lemons but it all has to go somewhere after you’ve crossed the rainbow bridge. Take this pirate captain, for example; he was so darned close to his treasure! I’m no medical expert but I also get the hunch he’s very much expired, thus leaving that luscious booty out in front of God and everybody for someone else to pillage and plunder. Plus, EMazing (can I call you Emazing?) has used twelve frogs in accordance with a build challenge over at Iron Forge, which makes it extra hoppin’. If you’ll excuse me, I need to fetch a youngster in TBB’s IT department to help me set up a TikTok account so I can see all this hoppin’ booty I’ve heard so much about.

The Captain's Treasure

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Twice the helmets for double the NPU

Hot off the heels of featuring in many of our end-of-year lists, Maxx Davidson gets off to a cracking start with his first LEGO build of 2024. Or should that be a… Croaking start? With the latest Iron Forge seed part, he’s crafted one of the cutest amphibians out there: the red-eyed tree frog. Said seed part is the minifigure helmet, and there are actually two variants used here. Both designs have been around for a long time, albeit in decidedly modern colours! The classic spaceman helmet in orange makes up the frog’s toes. Meanwhile, the flowers use a colour variation that’s barely a couple of years old – the ‘newer’ crash helmet in coral pink. I say newer – that part is now 30 years old! (Holy heck, that part is 30 years old?! Where does the time go…)

Red-eyed tree frog built for this year’s Iron Forge! Seed part of a minifig helmet used 14 times.

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Water (and frogs) under the bridge

This saccharine sweet little LEGO scene is brought to you by famed builder Eli Willsea. With adorable frogs under a bridge and equally adorable birds on it, what’s not to love? This is an entry for the ever-popular Iron Builder competition; this time the seed part being the watering can in lime. Eight were used to denote the frog eyes. I especially love that one frog peeking from behind the bridge. It’s just so sweet! Even the wee caterpillar seems happy to be eaten in this delightful little scene.

Frogs Below the Bridge

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The frog mecha-army leaps into action!

Everyone’s got their favourite LEGO element. It might be the popular headlight brick, or something completely rogue like a Clikits flower. (Hey, each to their own!) I have a sneaky feeling that some of Simon Liu‘s favourite pieces are those pertaining to frogs. Why? Well, he’s listed as a Frog King in a group on Flickr, for starters. And the Frog King has assembled an amphibian army to do his bidding! This exosuit for the rank-and-file, for instance, houses a Super Mario frog hat.

Joint Attack Kombat Exosuit (JAKE)

Click here to see what other frog parts have got an armoured upgrade!

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A congregation of croakers

Forget the headlight brick or jumper plate; I can’t think of a LEGO part more beloved by builders than the common frog! And builder/amphibian wrangler Roanoke Handybuck has done a great job providing the infamous hoppers with a spot all their own for a festival of frogs. All the subtle details paying homage to frog-kind in this scene are excellent, from the statues to the door handles. The color choices are clean, with the light blue water, golden leaves, and lavender pennants contrasting nicely with the gray rock surrounding the scene. I love the intricate use of slopes and plates forming the arch above the podium. And overall, this watering hole feels private, as if this is a secret meeting only a few are lucky enough to enjoy.

The Frog Festival

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