Tag Archives: Ghalad

Tributes roll out for set designer and pillar of the AFOL community Markus Rollbühler [Feature]

Markus “Rolli” Rollbühler is a force of nature in the LEGO world. Having made the transition from AFOL to professional set designer in 2016, Markus remains a community icon, generously giving back to and creating alongside a global community of builders. Some of his “hobby” roles, even as he designs sets (like my all-time favorite set Ninjago City Gardens), include organizing epic collabs with the amazing Rogue Bricks LUG, contributing to BrickNerd with Contest Roundups and other community spotlights, co-hosting the Iron Builder competition, offering set design commentary on BrickSet, and providing brick-built trophies for the Brickscalibur competition.

At last week’s Brickworld Chicago convention, some of the builders who have gotten to know “Rolli” over the years paid tribute to the legend with mouse-themed MOCs in reference to the tiny animal that has come to symbolize the big-hearted builder.

Kit Nugent recreates a Tom and Jerry gif with some wonderful parts usage for the popped kernels and mouse ears. Kit remembers the first time they encountered Iron Builder challenges with the crazy amounts of oddball parts – and not long after Kit would go on to compete in the competition as well!

The tributes keep rolling after the fold

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Ghalad’s red dwarf is a LEGO giant built from 15,000 bricks

No stranger to big fantasy characters, from his Aztec shaman to this Warcraft-inspired orc bust, Steven Wayne Howard even has a Dwarven King currently residing in Billund in the Masterpiece Gallery. For his entry in the Brickscalibur Dwarf Tales category, Steven returns to the LEGO mines and digs deeper than ever to create his largest character yet. Weighing in at over 15 lbs and built from roughly 15,000 pieces, the Red Dwarf is a truly imposing figure, especially when lights are dimmed to let the integrated custom lighting shine. This monster build just looks heavy with all that brick-built chain mail and a beard made from rubber tires. Steven finds brilliant uses for a wide range of parts, from rail ties in the helmet to vintage wheels on the belt and shins, to Combo NEXO Power Shields on the belt buckle and shoulders. At this rate, Steven’s next LEGO character build is likely to be life-size!

This LEGO troll means serious business

Is it a coincidence that Steven Wayne Howard shared this spectacular LEGO troll bust on the same day that World of Warcraft unleashed The War Within? Even though Steven isn’t a WoW player, his Day-Glo-colored troll, Ves’Panak, has so much personality that it has me itching to roll a new Zandalari Troll of my own. Steven was inspired to create this troll in light royal blue after acquiring a copy of LEGO Creator Expert 10298 Vespa 125, and only parts from that set are used for the blue skin. NPU (Nice Parts Usage) abounds throughout the build, from the dragon wing mohawk, dino tail tusks, frog teeth, and Banshee wing torso. My favorite element has to be the dark grey skulls, accented with orange eyes, teeth, and tusks.

This isn’t Steven’s first Horde-inspired fantasy bust, and hopefully, it won’t be his last. Perhaps a Tauren next?

“Orange you glad I didn’t say red panda”

Amid the social media universe of artists, there is a creative prompt known as the color wheel challenge. The artist must complete a separate piece for each wedge of a color wheel, typically consisting of red, orange, yellow, green, teal, blue, purple, and pink. And LEGO character builder extraordinaire Steven Howard (aka Ghalad) has taken up the challenge in brick form with this first submission for the orange slice. Despite the misnomer, it’s fair to say that a red panda is quite the orange beast. But I’m pretty sure (and feel free to fact-check me on this one, dear readers) that a red panda has never presided over a fiefdom in the history of the animal. Nevertheless, fiction or not, this is still a dynamite character exuding all the regal glory that Ailurus fulgens can muster. Very much looking forward to the next wedge, Ghalad!

And if you’d like to see more of Steven’s awe-inspiring work, please take a look in our archives.

A LEGO character creation with explosive potential

Ever since a History of Science class my freshman year of college, I’ve read so many books on the history and discovery of radiation. But nowhere in those pages covering everything from the Curies to Chernobyl did I ever come across a scientist like the one depicted in this LEGO bust by Steven Wayne Howard. With the clever implementation of the Ninjago Spinjitzu canopy, we’re able to see all the nuclear reactors sticking out of this mad scientist’s cranium. An array of creature wings make up his wild facial hair, and his sinister visage is driven home with that skeletal bowtie. And the whole thing sits on a plinth that is, quite frankly, the bomb. The whole thing is downright maniacal, and gives me the chills!

Remember to take a break sometime–the cost could be deadly

This LEGO build comes to us from builder Ghalad through the Digital Iron Builder competition this year. It features the use of the SPIKE Prime color sensor, wonderfully used for the eyes of the skeleton and on the headphones. Every detail of this build is great with so many parts usages from Technic to the more classic LEGO pieces. I don’t know about you, but I really like the use of Mixel joints for the framing of the collarbone. I’m not particularly familiar with the finer details of skeletal anatomy, but this skeleton looks to be fairly accurate, which is something I can appreciate. I know this is a digital build, but this would be awesome to see IRL just to look at it from every angle.

This LEGO bust isn’t trolling

LEGO’s given us lots of science fiction busts of Stormtroopers and comic book characters, but how about a fantasy creature? This amazing sculpture by Ghalad is epically awesome and exactly the sort of crazy fantasy sculpture I’d love to build. From the impressive tusks to the teal warpaint, the model is expertly realized, and the large plinth with a skull and crossbones just sets the mood. It’s also possibly the best use of the 1×1 tooth plates that I’ve ever seen–they’re being used as the teeth, but the scale feels spot on to give this troll a disdainful growl.

Ghalad Grommash the Bust

Much like orcs, some builders get attention by just existing. While Orcs face any number of judgments about their character and culture due to their appearance, builders like Steven Howard garner a fandom by making intensely detailed models. A spaceship and figure crafting legend, Steven is an accomplished builder with a seeming ability to perfectly render his ideas into LEGO models. This bust, loosely based on Grommash Hellscream from World of Warcraft, is somewhat of a first for Steven, since he usually crafts full bodies for his characters too. Not that he doesn’t plan on trying to build one eventually, once he can get ahold of all the parts. After all, this orc’s head is not small by any since. I’d wager this whole build is probably bigger than the upcoming Mighty Bowser and it packs a bigger visual punch to show it.

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From the desert comes an awesome build

The Book of Boba Fett gave us plenty of memorable moments, especially when it tied in with other Star Wars properties. The event that generated the most buzz was almost certainly Cad Bane making his long-awaited live-action debut, an event which has been immortalized in LEGO by Steven Howard. The shaping is great and every little detail has been captured, from the bandolier and wrist pads to Bane’s menacing red eyes. His perfectly poised fingers are represented by saucepans, albeit in a colour that only exists in the digital realm. Despite its digital format, the creation still manages to look dynamic – look at how his overcoat billows in the gentle Tatooine breeze!

“This Captain America mosaic is super, soldier.”

It makes sense that when LEGO launched their new Art theme, they’d start their Marvel offerings off with Iron Man, the hero who gave birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At least, he birthed it from a movie release date perspective. But Steven Wayne Howard hasn’t forgotten that the real first Avenger was Captain America. This tribute to Steve Rogers was created by fusing the pieces from Iron Man and Sith mosaics (with a handful of extra 1×1 red plates thrown in). So, it should be no problem to recreate yourself if you have both of those sets on hand. And if you’re looking for a great spot to hang it, I suggest the wall on your left.

Out of the Mouth of Sauron

You ever ask yourself “what if Lord of the Rings was a space epic?” Well, builder Steven Wayne Howard certainly entertained the thought. Another SHIPtember contribution, this space citadel was named for the dreadful Mouth of Sauron. Commanded by the lieutenant of the Barad Dur system in the Middle Space galaxy, this terrifying craft laid waste to planets and systems in the name of Sauron’s dominion. With a face like that, it’s no wonder it’s rumored to be the remnants of the galactic tyrant himself. The mouth, spinal cord, and brain are now repurposed under the watch of the black hole known as the Eye of Sauron.

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Imperial Soviet Nuclear TIE Bomber

Yes, you read that right. And your eyes are not deceiving you. LEGO builder Ghalad managed to combine an obscure nuclear seaplane from the Soviet Union with a classic Star Wars TIE fighter. The resulting digital build is something you could have expected to appear in the sequel trilogy of Star Wars films.

It’s unlikely you’ve heard of the Lun-class Ekranoplan, a Soviet-era seaplane capable of launching nuclear warheads through tubes based on top of the plane. It was developed before the age of ballistic submarines, filling the gap between land-based nuclear bombers and sea-based launch platforms.

From Wikipedia

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