Tag Archives: Iron Builder

The movie Hellraiser is always a model of pain and pleasure

In each Iron Builder competition, two world-class LEGO builders go head-to-head creating models that highlight the assigned “seed part.” The summer 2024 match-up between Maxx Davidson and Jonah Shultz, featuring the baseball bat in metallic silver, has skewed decidedly wholesome, with cute animals, milkshakes, and cozy crafting themes. For his ninth entry, Maxx captures the twisted truth that fuels this venerable contest: pain and pleasure. The agony of being chained to making models at incredible speed without getting repetitive, and the ecstasy of finding the perfect use for that devilish seed part. Pinhead, Clive Barker’s horror icon, proves the perfect canvass for no less than 40 of those metallic bats. The sculpting of Pinhead’s pale-white face is top-notch. Now that Maxx has solved the Cenobite puzzle, he must be feeling pretty good right about now.

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I spy a builder making blocks from LEGO bricks

Nostalgia bomb, incoming. This delightful build from Jonah Schultz is three things in one: a tribute to timeless preschool toys, an homage to the ubiquitous I Spy puzzle books from the ’90s and a showcase of an Iron Builder‘s ingenuity with LEGO bricks. There are so many details to love, from the perfectly proportioned BRIO trains in primary colors to the wonderful debossed lettering on the alphabet blocks, to the judicious use of specialized elements like the Bellville teddy bear, Duplo balls, and Race Car Guy accessory to complement the studs-free build. The most impressive feat of all is how the seed part – baseball bat in silver – is incorporated into the build as train axles, domino pips, and a camera button. And it’s a hidden object puzzle! Can you spy all of the secrets hidden in the picture?

Cooking up a storm in the Iron Builder competition

There’s another round of Iron Builder going on at the moment between Jonah Schultz and Maxx Davidson. As you’d expect, they’ve both been knocking it out of the park, and that’s at least partly helped by the seed part: a LEGO minifigure baseball bat! Maxx’s kitchen is what’s caught my eye. There’s some nice retro styling here, and of course you can see the bat used in the fridge handles and as a utensil handle in the pot. Less conspicuous, but no less ingenious, are the uses as an oven tray and what I believe is a pepper mill or grinder. The latter also makes clever use of a Technic clutch part in red!

If I ran the zoo, it would be filled with LEGO animals

Something’s not right in this LEGO scene by Jonah Schultz. Maybe it’s the fact that these zoo animals should be in their enclosures. Maybe it’s that evil look we’re getting from the giraffe. But most likely, it’s the baseball bats that have been fashioned into a wonderful turnstile. Jonah pushed the limits of that part thanks to the ongoing Iron Builder competition between himself and Maxx Davidson.

A shell for protection – just like the Koopas

You may remember gGh0st‘s first build in his Iron Builder duel with Sandro Quattrini: a katana. Here’s a refresher, if you need – it’s worth seeing again. Well, he’s come full circle with his ninth and final build. And just as the shell seed part protects a Koopa, the shells protect this samurai warrior, making up the armor and helmet. But I’m liking some of the other building choices too! In particular, the tile pieces for the plating around the waist, and the Bionicle mask make a great men-yoroi (the face protection that samurai wore). Only time will tell whether it’s enough to win this battle – but it’s been fantastic watching these two builders face off!

Let the shell games begin!

Iron Builder competitions are one of our favorite sources of delight as we seek out new LEGO creations to highlight and share. These playful competitions highlight some of the most creative builders in the hobby while also showing how much potential is packed into a single eccentric LEGO element. The latest Iron Builder just kicked off between TBB regulars Sandro Quattrini and Gerrit Gottschalk, and the “seed part” is the green Koopa shell with spikes. Sandro fires the first salvo with a majestic green dragon, which uses 34 shells to achieve the snaking, scaly body. The head design is very effective, especially the sculpting around the eyes using minifig arms and frogs for an organic shape.

gGh0st strikes back with an elegant Japanese sword display, using koopa shells for the hilt. There are plenty of other nice touches in the still life scene, like the life buoys on the tsuba blade guard and the perfect curvature of the blade and scabbard. But the best touch of all: gGh0st’s sly nod to Sandro’s build, incorporating the unmistakeable green dragon design into the sword stand. That playful back-and-forth is another reason why Iron Builder competitions are so much fun to spectate.

Sandro keeps the dance going in his follow-up, riffing on the Japanese theme with a beautiful kimono featuring a whopping 87 koopa shells. Mama mia, that’s a lot of koopas! Who knows where the game will go next?

All hail the peacock’s plumage

The male peacock is one of the prettiest animals in the entire animal kingdom. Sorry, ladies but that bro is has got it going on! Even the LEGO frogs know it; just look at them, basking in his magnificance and glory. This bit of cross-species love is brought to you by gGh0st who is competing in the Iron Builder competition. The seed part is the watering can and they’ve used twenty-five of them here. I’m sure there’s a watering can pun I could have used here but I’m just too in awe of this pretty peacock to think of it. Let me know in the comments if you have some because otherwise my watering can is dry.

What’s the best Christmas film to be rendered in LEGO?

December is a little over a week away, which means we will soon have the annual debate over what the second-best Christmas movie is. Wait, second-best? You heard me! You can keep your Home Alones, your Nutcracker adaptations and your Die Hards (if you’re that way inclined). As Eli Willsea clearly knows, The Muppet Christmas Carol is the undisputed festive film champion! It’s wholesome, it has some great songs, it’s not too cheesy (Muppet cast notwithstanding), and it inspires creative use of LEGO watering cans. What’s not to love?

A hungry LEGO caterpillar with a can-do attitude

If you thought a LEGO watering can wasn’t much use outside of setting a scene in a garden, you have not seen an Iron Builder competition. In the contest, an unusual seed part is used in each build, to challenge the builder to think creatively. gGh0st does not disappoint with this caterpillar, whose many segments use the watering can in lime to great effect. The spout makes the perfect leg, clinging to the branch. But I do wonder what this would look like from any other angle…

Cactus makes perfect

I love a bit of meta in a LEGO build. Eli Willsea is taking part in Iron Builder, where the challenge is to use the watering can piece in new and unusual ways. Now a watering can is a tool to help keep your plants alive. So Eli has used it to bring a plant to life in brick form! But why not go further? Why not choose a plant that is famous for not needing a lot of water, like a cactus? Now we’ve got a hint of irony involved too! Pretty much all that’s missing now is a good pun. What to do for that, I wonder…

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.

Home is where you hang your hat…or sometimes it just is the hat.

The Iron Builder competition has already taken us on a LEGO tropical vacation. But Duncan Lindbo is upping the ante with a natural beach setting for this hermit crab build that uses 8 of the required red Technic Rotor Blades. But this crab isn’t content with your everyday shell. He’s making his home in a brick-built replica of the Rebel pilot helmet from Star Wars. Makes you wonder what’s on that note in the bottle. Perhaps the plans to a secret weapon the Empire is about to bring online?