Any fan of pirate history knows the legend of the Jade Eye’s Return, and how young Duke Wavewalker and his ragtag crew fell into the hands of the nefarious Captain Hutt while fleeing the Imperial armada. Joe (jnj_bricks) pays tribute in LEGO to the memorable scene on the shoals of Cancun where Duke and crew were taken by skiff to the all-meaty shark pit. Joe’s clever mash-up was made for a challenge to blend Star Wars with history, so taking the plank-walking Sarclaac scene back to the golden age of pirates is a perfect fit. The skiff’s brick-built hull is a lovely design and Joe’s technique for partially submerged sharks is brilliant, nesting the upper jaw over a grey dome and using triangular tiles for the dorsal fins. What sells the scene is the excellent remix of minifigs. Of course, pirate Chewie would use Hagrid’s beard.
Tag Archives: Joe (jnj_bricks)
Microscale LEGO Mount Olympus is fit for the miniature gods
When I imagine the mythical land of Mount Olympus, home of the Greek gods, I picture dazzling gold and expansive vistas. But Joe seems to have a bit more of a down-to-earth vision in this microscale vignette. There is still a fair amount of gold details among the roofs and statues, but the dominant palette is tans and terra cotta nougat. The use of large curved slopes attached sideways creates some great rockwork with a grand scale while many small smooth tiles and slopes gives the landscape a weathered look you would expect high among the clouds.
A honey of a village shows the sunny side of the dark ages
Joe (jnj_bricks) has impressed us many times with his immersive medieval LEGO displays, whether in winter, by the harbor, or across the Pelennor Fields. For his latest epic build, created over 3 months to show at Brickworld, Joe takes us to Honey Crest Village, an idyllic hamlet bursting with color. Half-timbered homes are quite popular among medieval builders, and Joe is master at rendering the style in LEGO with a great using SNOT techniques (Studs Not On Top) for cracked plaster and finding creative parts (like hot dogs!) for the timber. The color scheme for this build is reminiscent of the Inn Plain Sight building from the Dungeons and Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale set, but Joe has been here before.
What makes this build such a delight, beyond the technique and scale, is how packed with delightful details of village life and crowd-pleasing elements. Joe’s trademark shirtless Woody is there, of course, as are at least 11 types of animals, including the LEGO frog in all 16 available colors. (To find them all you have to visit Joe’s instagram gallery). I’ve only located 4 so far. How many can you find?
From the annals of Iron Builder comes the Iron Carousel
It seems our contestants over at Iron Builder are wrapping up their competition and LEGO phenom Joe (jnj_bricks) is going out with a bang. They needed to use the golden handcuffs as their seed part and Joe makes great use of them a whopping 73 times!
I’m not sure if my favorite carriage is the frog or the boat. Check out the video to see this magnificent carousel in action and let us know in the comments what your favorite detail is and also let us know how you think this round of Iron Builder will pan out.
Dinner starts promptly at six. Bring handcuffs.
Sometimes it’s nice to dine in an exquisite setting decked out in a shirt, tie, jacket, nice shoes, and handcuffs. Wait, what? Let me explain. This opulent LEGO dining room was built by Joe (jnj_bricks) for the Iron Builder competition. The seed part this time is golden handcuffs, and Joe used twenty-eight of them here. So it’s not so much a Fifty Shades of Gray thing but more of a Fifty Shades of gold thing. Look at all that gold! I’ve spotted several pairs of handcuffs in the chandelier, the backs of the chairs, and even comprised of the curtain ties. Have I missed any? I particularly enjoy the very three-dimensional portraits along the walls. The older gent I presume is the patriarch of the household and a bit of a grouch who uses the word “indubitably” on occasion. Perhaps that’s a word I should try out at my next formal gathering. More butter, Lino? Indubitably!
This medieval-themed skyrock is made of over 22 pounds of LEGO
I wouldn’t have said that you could fit all the fixings LEGO Castle onto a single floating rock, but here Joe (jnj_bricks) has done just that! Clad in dark bluish gray brick, the multi-layer marvel begins at the bottom with a darling windmill. The use of balloon flaps as sails on the mill is a great touch, with its scooped form catching the wind from more complex angles than your standard land-based model. The fortification at the apex of the rocky mass is beautiful, utilizing some great techniques to form the walls of its towers. While impressive, the castle fits in well with the rest of the build, and doesn’t take attention away from the rest of the structure. This allows us to enjoy all the great minifigure scenes hidden throughout. Just check out the fella free soloing up the rock above the mill!
Shack up for a long cold night
Is it just me or is there something kinda thrilling about staying indoors? This LEGO creation by Joe (jnj_bricks) has me wanting to pack a good book, some hot chocolate, and maybe a few board games to spend the night in this cozy cabin. Sure it’s a breathtaking winter wonderland outside but there’s blankets and a fireplace on the inside. Plus you really can’t dig into six hours of playing Eldritch Horror if you’re outside building a snowman now, can you? I mean, sure, you should probably admire the amazing build techniques and snowy textures on the outside but the inside of this stunning little cabin; that’s where the whiskey is at. Am I right or am I right?
Across the fields of Pelennor, Gandalf rides to Minas Tirith
The city of Minas Tirith in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (especially as depicted in Peter Jackson’s movie adaptations) is a fairly popular subject for LEGO microscale builders. But Joe (jnj_bricks) takes his LEGO build to the next level — or seven levels, if you count all the rings in the city — by creating a multilayered scene that places Gandalf astride Shadowfax in the foreground, the Tower of Guard in the middle distance, and the White Mountains against grim clouds in the distance. It’s often tempting to photograph your LEGO models from a high three-quarters view to show off all its details. While Joe has certainly built plenty of detail into his White City, he avoids that temptation by placing the viewer at Gandalf’s level in the foreground, looking up toward the city, with the Citadel of Gondor and Tower of Ecthelion reaching toward the lowering sky. The overall effect is magical.
If you’ve enjoyed Joe’s forced perspective LEGO version of Minas Tirith, be sure to check out an even more detailed microscale LEGO Minas Tirith by Koen that we featured nearly 5 years ago.
A hard place that totally rocks
I hate to interrupt a person in mourning, but I have to geek out over this absolutely gorgeous resting place. Joe (jnj_bricks) collaborated with W. Navarre to pay homage to the game Plague Tale: Requiem. And, I have to say, rarely has nature rendered in LEGO looked so, well…natural. The various rock faces come together at dazzling angles. Grass and weeds are perfectly suggested with minifigure claws and chopsticks. And that out-of-focus, forced perspective background gives an epic scope to the whole thing. What I wouldn’t give to visit this place…I mean, other than burying my brother here. Sorry, Amica, I’ll let you get back to that…
The many perspectives of medieval art
It’s always fun to see LEGO builds explore art history, such as this medieval scene from Joe (jnj_bricks). This build explores those fun and strange perspectives found in Europe’s medieval artwork. If you look up some of the art, you’ll find paintings and drawings where the foreground and background scenes are sort of pushed together with perspectives not achievable in reality.
This build of a monk busy with penning a manuscript shows off such angles between the front and back scenes. This allows for great detailing in both the foreground and background. The monk and his surroundings are chock full of incredible details, like the billowy robes and the tapestry behind the scribe. The castle through the door stands out with the texturing of its walls. This is an incredible idea, and a further example of LEGO as an artful medium.
A big city on a peaceful island in microscale
What I love about LEGO microscale builds is how it can shift how we see the smallest of LEGO parts. Joe (jnj_bricks) brings this build to life for this year’s Brickscalibur contest in the Medieval Micro category. The city does feel alive with movement from the waterfalls and the vibrant greenery throughout the cityscape. Taking a look at the staircases, they have nice usage of the grooved brick piece at an angle for the stairs. There’s also some nice usage of the 1×1 horizontal clip piece in the buildings and their details. Stacked, the part offers some cool textures to the walls of the leftmost building. My favorite parts usage, though, comes from the battle droid legs for some fine arcing details. You can spot them on the highest spire and the causeway behind the winged minifig statue. There are many more details, so take your time exploring the build. Can you spot the Woody hat?
A lone pop of colour in a lonely village
We love a good LEGO creation that uses about double the amount of LEGO pieces to be built as you’d expect. This creation by Joe is composed of a lot of small little pieces to create patterns and structures. The scene depicts an abandoned village with one sole visitor. The visitor is apparently the only living soul in the town, just as the blue door is the only thing with colour in the town. Your eye gets drawn to the door due to the vibrant colour, and the door itself is exceptionally well built. But if you look past it, you’ll notice that the rest of the creation is as well. All the walls are made by slopes, tiles and plates to resemble woodwork. The use of the paled fence for windows is quite clever. Throughout the entire creation there are a lot of fangs, horns, angled bars, plates with a handles, and small windows used to represent snow and ice. Of those four, the last two are most resourceful.