Tag Archives: Maxx Davidson

This fish out of water should get back in the water right now

We all know the story of the other mermaid who wished for legs so she could woo her prince. This mermaid already has legs—but she may find any prince-wooing to be a tall order, depending on how much he likes kissing fish lips. This horrifying LEGO reversal of the typical mermaid configuration comes to us courtesy of Maxx Davidson. While you’re staring, feel free to appreciate some of the fun parts usage: the eyes of the 21349 Tuxedo Cat, dragon wings for the fins, and smoke plumes for the splashing water. The rock is offset at a nice angle and the curved pearl blue rounded bricks over white make for a great water effect. If only I could look away.

Reverse Mermaid

Engage the forward flavor!

It’s been a while since a LEGO build has made me this hungry. Maybe that’s because I’m writing over lunch, or maybe it’s because Maxx Davidson‘s “Fish & Ships” is so delightful. Maxx is no stranger to creating tasty-looking ensembles involving French fries, but I’ve never seen a meal this swooshable before. Each part of the meal lends itself naturally to the ship, even the collapsible paper container for the ketchup, which serves as a thruster. The fries (sorry, chips) are simple but easily recognizable (and perfectly golden, as all good fries should be), while a series of irregularly placed elements like the “rock with claws” piece give the breading on the fish a tasty-looking crispy texture. Hungry? Better get yours soon; they’re going fast.

Fish N’ Ships

He may not be a prince, but this LEGO frog is certainly worthy of the crown

Building a good LEGO frog can be a challenge, with so many organic shapes, but Maxx Davidson shows how effective some parts can be. Take the surfboard used for both the front and back legs, with the back legs upside-down. The eyes built on a 45-degree angle give this handsome frog a great personality. But as much as I love the frog, the big mushroom competes for my attention.

He’s not a prince, he just found the crown and feels handsome in it!

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.

Pinhead

Hungry? Dive into this delightful diner

Anyone up for a burger and a milkshake? That’s what you’ll surely be asking after studying this fun LEGO diner build by Maxx Davidson. It’s a simple build, but it’s instantly recognizable. And let’s talk about the great parts usage: Wolverine claws for French fries, candles for condiment bottles, and baseball bats for the base of the stools. Enjoy! Just make sure to use the 1×2 tile napkin to clean up after yourself. We don’t bus your tables around here.

The Diner

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!

In the Kitchen

Dueling wizard builds give us something to crow about

Sometimes great minds really do think alike, as evidenced by two rhyming vignettes created for the Summer Joust “Beast Masters” category. Each creation features a brick-built blue spellcaster and their over-sized corvid companion, but despite similar theming, the two models demonstrate very distinct approaches to setting a LEGO scene. First up we have “The Wizard and the Raven” by Ids de Jong. Another admirer described the build as having an “I Spy appeal,” which is a great way to put it, with so many fun elements from throughout the years decorating the scene. The human figure, for which Ids credits the style to Markus Rollbühler, is definitely bringing strong wizard energy with the clever beard technique utilizing Gandalf’s hair piece. I love the personality of of the crow with the nightmare eyes from LEGO Dreamzzz, a good friend who seems eager to deliver scrolls to distant lands.

The Wizard and the Raven

Next is “Rook and Ruin” from builder Maxx Davidson (who’s been on a roll on the site lately with his whimsical creations!). Maxx’s vignette focuses a bit more on story as it captures the warlock mid-casting as his spell rips the ground asunder. I love the inspired use of a minifig arm for the warlock’s nose, the hand gripping a pair or roots to make the mustache. Nya’s Rising Dragon head makes for a wicked torso. The rook mixes smooth and spiky elements with a touch of pearlescent tiles to create some truly lovely plumage. Two mages, two crows, two magical builds!

Rook and Ruin

Respect! Power! Banana (abs)!

Just the other day, I was singing the praises of Maxx Davidson‘s LEGO building skills courtesy of a yellow taxi-crab. However he’s raided the yellow parts bin again, and this time I don’t think I can be as complimentary. Now we’re no strangers to unsettling builds on The Brothers Brick; we’ve featured everything from Eldritch horrors to gory brick-built bloodbaths. After all that, I never expected a muscular Minion to be the thing to give me sleepless nights. I’ll admit, the bananas for chiseled abs are kinda neat. But I don’t like how seductively this guy is looking at me, particularly with that flex going on. Some things, once built, just can’t be unseen.

I’m truly sorry about this one.

Maxx says he’s “truly sorry” about this one. We’ll go and cleanse our minds in our archives of Max’s less-disturbing LEGO builds, and consider it “apology accepted.”

Why crab-walk when you can take a taxi?

Aside from its charming hilarity, one of the best things about the #TimeforCrab LEGO building challenge is the huge potential for a good pun. And when it comes to brick-built puns, Maxx Davidson has form: see last year’s Bic Viper, for instance, or the Stuffed Crust-acean built for this same challenge. This one is clearly inspired by the black-and-yellow crabs – sorry, cabs – seen primarily in New York. The checkered stripes extending to the legs are a big clue for that. The ‘wheels’ in the four legs serve to drive that home, too. But the best – and cutest – detail is the flat-cap adorning that crabby taxi driver!

Taxi Crab

No one out-carcinizes the Hut!

They say that evolution has tended to converge upon a common crab-like shape, and it appears this is true in LEGO as well. All over the brick-built internet, LEGO artists are coming up with crustaceans aplenty during this #TimeForCrab, likely spurred by the Cancer season on the astrological calendar. It’s in this vein that TBB regular Maxx Davidson shows us the carcinization of pizza, a work appropriately titled “stuffed crust-acean.” And that pun isn’t the only thing I’m jealous of here: check out the expert use of the minifigure hoodie part as gooey, melty cheese on this supreme slice of the seafloor. The pizza box is brilliant as well, swarming with baby crabs with carapaces of ‘za.

Stuffed Crust-acean

A LEGO journey through childhood

Once again, builder Maxx Davidson has treated us to some delightful eye candy, skillfully incorporating not only LEGO bricks, but also other assorted elements that might require a deep dive into the internet to confirm their authenticity as “LEGO-branded.” Titled ‘Assorted Childhood Toys,’ the undiscerning eye would be hard-pressed to identify these as toys built out of other toys. However, the builder has expertly used LEGO to transport the beholder to a place of reminiscence.

Assorted childhood toys

Check out more pics of each of the toys below

The most important rover of the day

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then I declare this LEGO bacon and eggs creation by Maxx Davidson to be the most important rover of the day. No, seriously, if you can find a more important rover today let us know in the comments, because I don’t think you will. The bacon and eggs rover is (cleverly) piloted by a chicken and a pig. (It’s their own fault for being delicious!) They are exploring a bevy of breakfast delights including some fruit, a buttered pancake, a hot cup of coffee with some sweetener, and sausage links. Gosh, I hope those are sausage links! Anyway, this was built for Febrovery 2024, which seems to be cooking along nicely.

Bacon and eggs rover exploring a world of breakfast delights! Built for Febrovery 2024