Each year, we get to see some amazing LEGO building techniques on display during the part count-restricted Rogue Olympics. Mark van der Maarel keeps it well under 100 with this great magic lamp. And if you’re like me, your first wish will be figuring out how those white disks fit together to make such a great puff of smoke!
Each year the RogueBricks community, home to many of Europe’s most accomplished LEGO builders, comes together for a collaborative build. This year’s endeavor is an immersive recreation of the Japanese city of Kumamoto during the Edo Period built atop a whopping 170 base plates (that’s 2.5 x 4.3 meters!). The massive diorama depicts the coastal city in autumn and is packed with details of life during the Tokugawa shogunate, including scenes telling the story of the famous samurai Miyamoto Musashi.
Attendees were treated to motorized elements and integrated lighting, as well as informative plaques describing the history captured in bricks. As a bonus easter egg for young visitors, 10 Ninjago charaters were hidden in the build. Like 2023’s Rogue Odyssey collaboration, the project took home first prize for collaborations from both jury and audience. We’ve highlighted several contributions in recent weeks, but only now can we share the complete build thanks to Hannes Tscharner. Extended highlights and builder credits follow.
Read on for a full tour of this tour de force!
There is so much to appreciate about Mark van der Maarel‘s Edo-era Japanese diorama in LEGO, but it’s the red leaves against the newly fallen white snow that draw me in like an ukiyo-e woodblock print. The central cottage is charming and full of details of everyday life. A bundle of reeds over the window made from broom elements is a great touch. Towering over the cottage is an incredible wall made of interlocking brick-built stones (Mark gives credit to collaborator Marshall Banana for this technique). Down by the river, a woodcutter kneels as a samurai approaches on horseback. While Mark doesn’t offer a story, I imagine the woodcutter has a blade hidden in the cottage and soon leaves won’t be the only red splashes in the snow.
Mark’s build was part of the Rogue Ronin collaboration displayed at the Bricking Bavaria event in Germany where over 30 members of the Rogue Bricks community participated. We also adored felix-workshop’s award-winning contribtion.
What’s gray and white and red all over? This build by Mark van Der Maarel. The dramatic simplicity of its colors is striking enough, but the red house nevertheless also contains a variety of textures that keep it interesting: flippers mounted on walls for little architectural flourishes, Technic pins protruding from walls, and 1×2 ribbed bricks stacked atop each other, to name a few. The bright color and details of the building contrast starkly with the blank gray figure painting it. It begs the question: what happens when the creation is more vivid than its creator? Ponder on that the next time you build.
Natural forms abound in this outdoor LEGO scene by Mark van der Maarel. Birch trees topped with dark green foliage stand in the foreground of a massive stone archway, overgrown in places with creeping vines. A brilliant medium blue stream babbles through the scene, highlighted in round while plates and slopes to give the water a level of unease. But one figure stands alone, quite out of place with its environs. A visitor, clad in white, ponders the beauty of a brave butterfly. With no indication of how this extraterrestrial nomad arrived or what its intentions are, the viewer is left to fill in the gaps on their own. And its that mystery which makes this work truly outstanding in my eyes!
When considering what LEGO creation to write about there were the usual offerings of a cool spaceship, castle diorama, Star Wars something or other…and a pretty mustachioed man vacuuming. Then I was like; hell yeah, this is the one I want to write about! Upon closer inspection, I realized this little scene built by Mark van der Maarel looked a bit familiar and recalled that it depicts the Queen video for their song “I Want to Break Free”, showcasing the entire band in drag. Freddy looks particularly ravishing in a pink top, heels, and a short skirt as he sings about how he’d like to be free from a toxic relationship. We’ve all been there, right? I mean the toxic relationship part. Also the vacuuming in heels part. I mean seriously, I’m like two bags of female-packaged M&Ms, a bag of Cracker Jills (not Cracker Jacks), and a Bud Light away from totally making this my Friday night thing.
Using only 101 parts, Mark van der Maarel has produced his version of everyone’s favorite drummer, and it absolutely rocks! I don’t know if I’ve seen someone evoke Muppet fur with so few LEGO pieces before. And his part usage skills go well beyond the feather plumes. The sausages as fingers, the elastic bands on Animal’s wrists, even the choice of the bulbous eye pieces are spot-on. Contrasting that with the clean lines of a black T-shirt, it definitely evokes the controlled chaos that is Animal playing his drums.
In the beginning, there were just troubling shades of grey. But then there was an industrial accident of some sort. And then OSHA came along. And then the company had some heavy fines levied against it as they refused to install adequate safety railings. At least, I think that’s the story this scene by Mark van der Maarel is telling us. There’s probably more to it. But whatever happened, LEGO minifigures were never quite the same ever again. There are lots of fun details here, but my favorite has to be the X-Pod lid that forms the base of the yellow pool. That splash is pretty sweet, too.
This creation uses only 51 elements, easily qualifying it for the 101-max requirement of the RogueOlympics. There have been a lot of great builds coming out of that contest, so be sure to check out our archives for even more quality minimal-part creations!
When was the last time you raised your eyes to the sky? There could be so much hidden above the clouds, for example, a community of brave aviators hopping between mountain peaks in their agile airplanes. A breathtaking collaboration project by amazingly talented German LEGO builders, Vaionaut, Ben Tritschler, Marcel V., Mark van der Maarel, Markus Rollbühler, Sylon-tw, and Willem (Steinchen), called Skytopia, is full of steam- and dieselpunk vibes, including huge propellers, flying boats and tons of wood and metal.
Click here to take a closer look at some models…
The retro future of LEGO transport has a lot of options available to experience, including this cloud skimming, Dieselpunk Boat by builder Mark van der Maarel. His use of curved slopes and modified plates to form the smooth shaping of the hull is simple but exemplary, as is the chosen colour scheme. The rusted and worn look of such a craft, along with the eccentric crew, screams of adventures aplenty.
The deck crane brings the functionality needed for this sky trawler, though the highlight for me is another simple addition for the sake of detail: the boat hook. This necessary piece of equipment adds a nice touch of realism despite only being constructed from two pieces, a pirate hook hand and a rigid hose. It makes me kind of curious to know what he is puling in at such a height.
This mini-windmill model, built in collaboration between Mark van der Maarel and his son, resonates with positive energy. It’s wonderful to see the pieced-together building style normally associated with post-apocalyptic creations being used to covey a green message. The salvaged sails and junkyard components of the windmill are offset by wonderful foliage and neat tulips formed from lever bases. Nature is thriving here, a theme that resonates with LEGO’s recent plants set made from sustainable plastics.
