As part of the Iron Forge competition, gGh0st is putting LEGO leaves to work in as many places as possible for this kitchen vignette. From the curtains to the tablecloth, and even as spilled orange juice on the floor, there’s almost nowhere you can look in this build and not spot a leaf piece. But the real kicker is the wall construction, which allows for a framed portrait of Kermit the Frog in an almost Haunted Mansion-style effect.
When the Forest Elves need weapons and armor, they come to this forge crafted by gGh0st. With vertical and horizontal tooth plates galore, the building itself almost looks like it’s wearing scale armor. Not only is the result beautiful to look at, but I bet it makes any orc armies think twice about invading.
I have reason to suspect our very own Mansur Soeleman must be a wizard. Why? Well, look at his latest LEGO creation. Not only is it a super rendition of Spike Siegel’s Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop, it looks to be held together with magic. I’d be worried about breathing near this for fear of something falling off. There are so many pieces that look like they’re barely hanging on to each other, but it works so well! And what pieces they are, all in such a tiny package. Wheel arches, the venerable sausage piece, a rubber ring and of course, the sword at the front. Well, it is known canonically as the Swordfish II, so there had to be one in there somewhere, right?
A LEGO builder with the clever name of EMazingbrix has created a little diorama using six Minifig swords. Now, this is a conundrum because, for the life of me, I can only spot five. I see three trees, the serrated ridge to the far right, and the little boat sail. I’m still stumped on the sixth. There’s probably a passage in a survival manual somewhere stating that not spotting a weapon in plain sight is counterproductive in terms of longevity. Still, I’m flummoxed. OK, EMazingbrix, I give up. Where’s the sixth…(Schick!)…oooooh!
Builder Justus M. has really put his latest LEGO creation to the sword. Or rather, he’s put the sword to his latest LEGO creation! Quite a lot of swords, in fact. The build is a quaint little tabletop diorama of a junk ship being chased by a sea dragon. The swords are used everywhere: in the detailing for the ship, as part of the dragon’s headdress and on its back, and – most cleverly of all – as the stands. It’s these golden blades used as feet, along with the compass in the middle, that give this build an air of something more than just a cool LEGO build. It looks designed to be on display. Perhaps it would take pride of place on someone’s mantelpiece, in much the same way some real swords do.
When creating your own builds with LEGO, one of the major hurdles is seeing a specialized piece as something other than what it was intended for. gGh0st demonstrates that here perfectly, turning a bevy of staffs and blades into a serene pavilion. The conical roof is cleverly constructed, and the shades of blue pair beautifully with gold and green to perfectly complement the stylish minifigure.
It’s a cold winter here in the US, and as I look out the window I can only wish that the snows would be replaced with the warmth and sun suggested by this lovely botanical creation from Andreas Lenander. Oh, sure, this Piranha Plant from the words of Super Mario may be classified as an invasive species, but look at the great detailing and construction here! From the fun flower pot/pipe, to the organic-yet-spiky stem, to the “V for victory” mouth, there’s just a lot to love. Its enough to make you forget that this plant wants you, and everyone who looks like you, dead.
Built as part of the Iron Forge completion, Andreas has gone one step beyond by also sharing a great video that shows just how this chompy friend was constructed!
You know, Andreas wasn’t the first LEGO builder to take inspiration from the worlds of Mario. Check out some other super Mario-related sets and creations in our archives!
Daniel Cloward is no stranger to builds with a storybook sensibility. But his latest creation is one of the most impactful pieces of LEGO storytelling we’ve seen. This ramshackle space is the cloud-based home of a pilot who needs to fix his airplane so he can return down to the world he’s left behind. But the pilot can’t bear to face the people below that he has wronged, and so his plane sits broken and incomplete, as does his life.
There are so many details in this space that speak to the lonely pilot’s state of mind – the pictures of old friends on the wall, maps of places once explored. And there’s a ton of great technique at work here: the arching entrance way, the blend of bars and tiles in the floor, the use of forced perspective. The genesis of this build was an Iron Builder round with antenna base and handle pieces as the seed part. They may not be immediately obvious, but there are plenty of them buried in this build. Try and pick them all out.
LEGO builder Francis Wiemelt has aptly named this piece So it begins. This is apt because it is a new year and this is Francis’ first entry into the first Iron Forge competition of 2022. That’s a lot of firsts! He goes on to tell us that the seed part is a lever (base or antennae), used here twenty-three times in the Uruk-hai army, and eight times in the fortress itself. Iron Forge competitions mean frantic building and stress for a chosen few intrepid builders, constant entertainment for you, and job security for us. Kinda like The Hunger Games. Good luck, Francis Wiemelt and may the odds be ever in our favor…or something.
Most of us have a few brick separators lying around, but Gino Lohse takes things a step further by building a human-scale chainsaw that seems ready to take apart just about anything. Built for Iron Forge‘s April Tools monthly challenge, this 1:1 scale wonder isn’t based on a specific real-world inspiration. I think that makes it all the cooler, as there’s no question that this could be something you’d find on the shelves of a LEGO-universe hardware store. My favorite details are the modified 1×1 pate with clip/cheese slope teeth on the chain, the tires forming the handles, and the pull-cord starter. The photography deserves some recognition, too, as this is one model that really benefits from a “lifestyle” setting.
Cool additional fact: We learned about Gino’s creation on our Discord server. Head on over and join the discussion with fellow Brothers Brick fans! Or maybe seek some inspiration from other featured Iron Forge creations.
We all know you can build things out of LEGO, but “building something that you build something out of, out of LEGO” is a sentence that I don’t get to write all that often. Brickleas gave me the chance with this fun diorama of in-progress model building. It makes use of the clip-flag seed part from Iron Forge a whopping 30 times, and finding them all is a fun exercise. My favorites are the bird’s beak, the dab of paint, and the blade in the well-built craft knife. The rest of the scene has some great details, too. I’m fond of the interesting texture in the hobby mat from the dark green tiles. And the branch the bird is perched on makes use of the minifigure tree disguise. It might be obvious in retrospect, but it feels clever to me.
This year’s Iron Forge has gifted us with a ton of interesting builds, as our archives show. Go take a look!
As a LEGO fan, reusing seems like second nature, but reducing can be hard; instead, the desire is always for more, more, more, right? Recycling is something that LEGO fans do, too, taking the same ideas and making them again and again, in slightly different forms, or else taking parts from one build and using them in another. In my case, I took parts from a Star Wars Eta-2 Actis-class Jedi Interceptor and turned it into a Vic Viper-style racing ship. The central cockpit stays, the sloping side wings stay, but the engines get an upgrade (and it needed a hyperdrive, of course) and of course a giant fin gets put on the back. It looks faster than the basic Interceptor, ready for some serious space racing. I added a large space gate, too, so that it had something to fly through, marking the space race course.
This was built for the Space Jam racing team collaboration category, as well as for the Iron Forge. So many contests. But while you are here, you should check out our collection of LEGO spaceship builds and make Benny proud.