Tag Archives: Frogs

A celebration of the humble LEGO frog

When I first joined the online LEGO community about 20 years ago, I had to choose an avatar to represent myself online. I decided to draw the LEGO frog in MS Paint and use it as my avatar. The frog piece was released in the year 2000. Over the years some LEGO parts get redesigned. It is however my honest opinion that there is no way to improve the iconic little frog. For its time it is very detailed and still very cute. Four amazing builders decided to celebrate the piece and I could not pass it up the chance to take a closer look at them.

Roanoke Handybuck’s frog is currently visiting the Swamp with a lovely dock featuring some paint brushes and a beautiful architectural sculpture using red parrots.

Read on to see the rest of the models

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This frog prince isn’t waiting for a kiss…

Simon Liu has a history of building mech-style creations with unconventional operators. When he saw the Frog Mario upgrade from LEGO’s Super Mario Bros. line, he knew pretty immediately that he wanted to use the hat in such a creation. But instead of a sci-fi type mech, the creative process took him in the direction of a fairy tale frog prince in shining armor.

The final result is both adorable and imposing. This regal frog is ready to leap into battle with armor that looks custom made for his amphibian anatomy, thanks in large part to the ample use of Overwatch Reinhardt shoulder pieces.

Hopefully it provides enough protection that he won’t croak in battle.

This frog is a (paper) cut above the rest

When it comes to mixed-media LEGO creations, we can all take a page from takamichi irie.
The papercraft body of this amphibian draws the eye, while the friendly smile and cherry-based toes showcase just what plastic can do. Inspired by a calendar page, this model brings joy to even the most dreary day.

The underside shows off more of the traditional “LEGO construction” in play. Clever use of minifigure posing stands attach the rear legs at an unusual angle, and rounded 1×2 modified plate gives the front legs articulation, too.

If you find this frog as adorable as I do, you’ll want to check out some of Takamichi’s other paper-LEGO hybrids, a crab and a bull. Or maybe explore the full range of his creations we’ve featured previously.

That one frog from the poster!

One of the most famous frogs in the world is the red-eyed tree frog. This gloriously rainbow-colored amphibian has graced many a poster. In fact, I had the one with them stacked on top of each other hanging on my own wall growing up. What I didn’t realize at the time was that those cute little ones definitely aren’t babies… Anyway, Joffre Zheng continues the admiration with this roughly-lifesize LEGO sculpture. Simple but adorable. Fun fact: their vibrant colors are mostly for attracting mates, but also safety. They try to keep the colorful parts of their body hidden while they rest on leaves. Then when a predator comes, they open their eyes and flash those legs to startle the would-be killer.

Another fun fact: the scientific name for this rainforest creature is Agalychnis callidryas, and the species part of that name derives from Greek words meaning “beautiful tree nymph”. Fitting, right?

You can check out more cool animal builds in our archives, as well as more creations by Joffre.

Diamonds on the water are falling from the sun

Those are lyrics from a song by Enya that I was listening to when I saw this diamond-shaped spaceship build by Roanoke Handybuck. This build is very fitting to Enya’s music, as both are beautiful, ethereal, and simultaneously dark and light. The spaceship is bright, smooth, with just enough greebling, and is adorned with gold cannons, antennae, and engines. The shaping is definitely alien; not scary and menacing, but rather welcoming and beautiful. With a small yellow frog as the pilot, I doubt this poses a threat. I like to imagine the frog is also listening to Enya inside the cockpit.

The builder packed this small ship full of interesting techniques to give it a unique look. The end connections of croissants form 45º angles with rounded edges, so that the diamond shape of the ship isn’t too sharp. A smooth windscreen that sits flush on top of the ship, and blends well with the smooth surface. The bright ship hovers above a dark maze, which provides a contrast between vehicle and the environment. The end result is truly a work of art. It makes me want to listen to Enya’s music, hoping the spaceship I build will be just as beautiful.

Something to do before you croak

In these dark times, I’m all about seeking out wisdom to brighten the world. Jake Hansen has presented us with an interesting option: The Frog Council. Perched atop graceful columns, these three wise amphibians invite the viewer to ask questions. Questions like “How did Jake come up with the idea of using baseball caps for egg cups?” Or maybe “Are those minifigure hands adding details to LEGO vines?” Oh sure, you could ask them something important like “How can we improve the world?” Or even “Why did LEGO get rid of the classic grey color?” But, c’mon. They’re frogs. There’s probably an upper limit to what they’re willing to share.

Where did these frogs gain their secret wisdom? Maybe it was from perusing our frog archives. But probably not.

Frogger’s Revenge

Builder Cecilie Fritzvold is on a roll with dynamite-based creations lately, and this may be the best one yet. The Strawberry Poison Dynamite Frog dwells deep in the rainforests of IBlandia, or so it’s said. It’s possible that this is just a flight of fancy. It’s possible that adorable little frog isn’t a clever combination of LEGO rubber bands, dynamite, antenna bases, and cherries. Or that the lush greenery of the forest isn’t minifigure palets, capes, grill tiles, and even more dynamite. But I’m not about to venture into the jungle and find out. Better safe than sorry, these days.

If you’ve haven’t seen Cecile’s other TNT-centric builds, be sure to check them out!

Frogzilla for the win

Step aside Godzilla, there’s a new monster in town! And she brought offspring! This LEGO amphibian by alego alego is one the best I’ve seen. It has excellent shaping, and those helmets for eyelids are awesome! Green cherries were a great choice for toes, too. But the nifty parts usage doesn’t stop there! As your eyes wander around the scene, you can make out garage door elements and crates/containers giving texture to buildings, and 1×1 dark green round plates with holes attached to upright paintbrushes for tiny trees. Not to be forgotten, the 1×1 plate with a printed square is perfect for adding depth to the smaller buildings.

Check out more of this excellent builder’s work by visiting our archive.

Where’s your mother, little one?

This piece by Tino Poutiainen is titled “where’s your mother, little one?” Little one’s mother, as it turns out, is right behind our protagonist. She’s the size of a St. Bernard and has razor sharp tentacles, but let’s not spoil that little surprise. I’m not sure if that’s malicious intent or motherly pride in her giant bugged-out eyes, but I, for one, would like to see how it all turns out. Despite how this debacle may unfold, what we are witnessing here is an endearing act of kindness. Tino is participating in sort of a Secret Santa creation exchange in which he has built something for Aaron Van Cleave who tends to hide little frogs into much of his work. We’ve done our research and the story pans out.

But can we have square lily pads? You betcha! Bob Ross, who was the very personification of endearing acts of kindness, says so. In your world you can have anything you want. There are no mistakes in your world, only happy little accidents. Let’s go crazy and build some happy square lily pads right in there, shall we? Yeah, that’s great!

I’m a frog-mech. What are you?

If life was like the Frogger game, this frog-mech would likely run over you. Without a reference of scale, it is hard to tell if Mitsuru Nikaido intended for this to be a delicate little mech, or a kaiju behemoth capable of toppling over the mightiest of city towers. Just to be safe, I’m going to err on the side of assuming any encounter on the road would lead to a car being totaled. What is clear, however, is this mech is fully posable and the shaping is just perfect. The spool for an eye is an excellent touch.

It would seem that white animal mechs with gray, black and yellow accents are totally Mitsuru’s thing as there are several more like it in his photostream. Here are previous times we featured a crocodile, a dragonfly, a lemur and a crane and locust creature double-feature, along with another picture of the frog mech, just for good measure.

This Bioni-frog is one wild amphibian

LEGO constraction (construction action figure) themes like Bionicle have introduced a broad range of parts, which many builders have leveraged to create organic-looking creatures. Such is the case with this lovely Ghekula Frog built by Djokson, which they describe as “an amphibious swamp-dwelling Rahi.” I suspect the red-eyed tree frog inspired the build, as is evident in the lime green body, white underbelly, and red eyes. Of particular interest are the feet, which utilize blue robot arms and minifigure arms as toes. The end result is one lively amphibian.

Graceful and deadly mech

Building articulated mecha at a small scale can be a challenge. But it is a challenge that Dead Frog Inc has measured up to quite nicely with this flying mech. The gun arms made from just a few parts look deadly, and the angled panels used for wings have an angelic quality that looks graceful and strong. Another very nice part use is the bucket handle attached to the shins with simple tension.