Builder Jan Woźnica has a strong reputation in the world of LEGO space builds. Case in point, you may remember LEGO Ideas 21340 Tales of the Space Age, a set soon to retire from the slate of available sets on the LEGO site. While this isn’t as minimalist as those great pieces of art, this take on a Martian space elevator is stellar, featuring some forced perspective that’s out of this world!
Extraterrestrials have generally been projected as quite the “grabby” culture, be it in film, literature, or LEGO. With a reputation for taking things, via tractor beams and all kinds of abduction tech, they’re no doubt to blame for my missing socks and car keys. Just look at them trying to make off with a microscale castle in this vignette by Zapalski! The details in this creation are superb. I appreciate the small field made of grill plates, and the large chunk of rock exposed by the flying saucer lifting the castle. And what a tractor beam it’s using, using a Ninjago Spinjitzu piece to great green glowing effect!
Okay, so maybe the ancient Greeks didn’t celebrate the Lunar New Year, but they certainly loved the Zodiac, and when it comes to snakes, who better to usher in the new year than everyone’s favorite gorgon, Medusa? James Zhan recreates this monster of myth with her writhing hair of snakes in LEGO as the figurehead of an ornate mirror, fusing whimsy and functionality. Perhaps it’s a warning not to get lost in your own reflection (or just a sly wink to Medusa’s fate in Clash of the Titans). James rounds out this beautiful and functional model with a microscale version of Olympus above and a Greek city below.
As a bonus, James created an alternate profile for Medusa with an open eye that can be swapped in should you dare to meet her gaze. The spikey vine works brilliantly in both orientations as Medusa’s eye lashes.
Sometimes a “sketch” of a bigger LEGO project can turn into stunning work in its own right. That’s certainly the case with Roanoke Handybuck‘s towering pirate village, where using stilts in place of terrain creates negative space that heightens the fantastical architecture of arches and overhangs, accentuating the surreal beauty. Maybe the results can inspire you to find a hidden masterpiece in your own unfinsihed LEGO projects.
Jeff Friesen has been delighting LEGO fans with his microscale cityscapes for years, maintaining a clean isometric look that looks rendered but is very much real bricks. For his first build of 2025, Jeff erects a gilded city of waterfalls and aqueducts that could have been pulled straight from the beautiful Monument Valley mobile games. Like all of Jeff’s cityscapes, it’s an immersive experience that rewards peeking around every arch as you imagine life in this fantastic place.
If you’re curious about Jeff’s process and inspirations, our interview with the prolific builder is a great place to start.
Capturing the spirit of the subject, conveying detail at scale, and cleverly using parts are the holy trinity of a LEGO microscale builder’s goals. Builder Christian Rau scores the trifecta with this remarkably faithful LEGO model of the Jesuit Church in Lucerne, Switzerland. While the actual church took over a decade to construct, Christian finished much quicker, using parts from across many decades of LEGO history – notably the 1x1x2 windows introduced in 1956, and the versatile 1×2 inverted arch which are less than three years old. Offset building techniques throughout the model are especially effective in illuminating the towers’ shapely onion-tops (which are also square in real life!) and spot-on color choices harken the building’s characteristic façade.
The building I work in started life as a Romanesque Revival style church, and I frequently imagine modeling it in LEGO. Perhaps I will take a page or two from the book of Christian’s techniques…
Sometimes it’s the tiniest LEGO builds that stop you in your tracks. That was definitely the case with this vignette of two pixie-sized ships fleeing a wave of mutilation from builder Louis of Nutwood. Take a moment to appreciate Louis’ brilliant ship design, with croissant sails and frog bows. The gradient of water, from inky black to white sea foam, as well as the irregularly shaped base, add to the drama.
BetaNotus has been working hard to put together a lovely series of microscale LEGO train stations from along the Philadelphia main line. While the real life train moves through space, Notus’ builds bounce backwards and forwards through time to show off Philly’s architecture through the ages. Our first image spans almost 150 years of railroading history. Wynnewood and Bryn Mawr date back to the 1870s, while Merion and Haverford are dated to the 2000s (although Merion was actually built in 1918). Due to the micro-scale nature of these models, Notus has built with admirable delicacy. All the roofs of these stations are only a plate or two thick. The grand staircases up to Bryn and Wynnewood are built of half-plate-offsets
See some more micro-goodness here!
I know if a giant red skull, like this LEGO one by Tino Poutiainen, was hanging over my city, I’d be sounding the alarm. But to be quite honest, the big guy looks almost as surprised as we are. That skull looks like it might have been built by Sentai Fortress as it shares a lot of stickered parts with the Grand Titan. Below the skull, Tino created an excellent sense of scale by building a neat little blasted cityscape. He weathered it by mixing old and new dark grey bricks, and situated it on a dead sandy hill only available from the Loot Island set from 2009. If they’re looking for names for the skull, I’m going to throw out Yor-brick. What would you call it?
LEGO Star Wars fans of a certain vintage may remember a set named 7754 Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser. I certainly do – to this day it’s one of my favourite sets. But that remains the only rendition in the brick of Home One, the Rebel Alliance’s de-facto headquarters in the Return of the Jedi era. Even then, it was only the inside! In 2025, we get to see the MC80 depicted in all its bulbous glory thanks to 75405 Home One Starcruiser and its 559 pieces. Part of LEGO’s fledgling Starship Collection, it is available for pre-order now for US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £59.99, and will ship out from January 1, 2025. After that date you might also be able to find it on sites like eBay or Amazon. Will this be another entry into this writer’s pantheon of favourite sets? Read on to find out!
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Click here to read our full review!
Right now, one of the biggest LEGO Star Wars sets you can buy – one of the biggest LEGO sets full stop, in fact – is the colossal 75367 Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser. But what to do if you don’t have the funds or space to make such an investment, yet still want a brick-built Republic capital ship? Well, for a fraction of the footprint, you could pick up the 450-piece 75404 Acclamator-Class Assault Ship starting from next January 1! This midi-scale vessel is a fraction of the price, too, with pre-orders open now for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £44.99 (oh, and it might show up on eBay or Amazon after its release date). But just because it’s cheaper doesn’t automatically make it a good deal – read on, and see if we think it is so…
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Click here to see our full review!
Microscale models of official LEGO sets aren’t hard to come by, but microscale tributes to original builds are much rarer and more personal. If ever a personal build was worthy of a microscale spin, it’s Bridgetown by Markus Rollbühler. Christian Rau lovingly adapts Markus’ masterpiece with the ace architectural artistry the builder is known for. Markus’ build was itself inspired by an illustration from Leo Hartas. Who will be inspired by Christian’s build and where will that creation end up, I wonder…?
