Henry Selick’s Coraline is an animated masterpiece that gets better with every viewing, scary and beautiful in equal measure. The young heroine’s design with her blue hair and yellow raincoat pops on the big screen and in LEGO courtesy of Kaylie (ohlego). The builder captures Coraline’s skeptical and childlike spirit with the offset mouth, and the asymmetrical hair. All she’s missing is some button eyes – then she can be happy forever!
Predators and Aliens are both having a moment with Predator: Badlands, Predator: Killer of Killers, and Alien: Earth, each giving the sci-fi staples a jolt of creative energy. Of course, these two franchises never go out of style as inspiration for LEGO creators. Haru_bonks is the latest AFOL to tackle the movie monsters. The builder incorporates elements from Bionicle, Hero Factory, Knights Kingdom, and Technic alongside System details.
The Predator’s head and shoulders are my favorite part of the build, packed with detail and excellent shaping. The Hero Factory insect mask for the Predator’s helmet is an inspired choice, as is a One Ring decoration on one of the locs. Of course a Predator this armed to the teeth needs something to hunt…
See Haru’s Alien and the inevitable face off after the break!
LEGO’s Belville dolls are such strange and wonderful creations – a product of the late ’90s that looks like they came from a much earlier decade – which is probably why the dolls work so well in the amazing nostalgia-steeped dioramas of Victoria Worsley. They’re especially perfect in Victoria’s homage to ’60s set Little Shop of Horrors where she depicts the climactic confrontation as Seymore suddenly stands up to the alien plant. The larger scale allows ample space for potted plants, and of course, the diva plant herself, Audrey II. Hero Factory cocoon shells work perfectly for the petals around Audrey II’s mouth.
Flip the scene around and you can see what happened to demented dentist Orin Scrivello. His ride is the conveniently scaled Creator 3-in-1 Vintage Motorcycle. It’s great to see the Fabuland garbage bin is capable of holding severed limbs.
Victoria’s model is currently on display in the lobby of the LEGO Campus in Billund, along with her darkly delightful Belville tribute to the wives of Henry VIII.
LEGO has been on something of a Gen X nostalgia kick lately. We’ve had sets from Transformers, Jaws, and now, we have a throwback to a comedy-horror classic from the ’80s. It’s thanks to the Ideas line this time – specifically, the ‘If We Could Turn Back Time’ building challenge. Fan designer Terauma took the grand prize with their model of Gizmo from the iconic ’80s flick Gremlins. As a reward, it got turned into an official set! 21361 Gizmo contains 1,125 pieces, and when it launches on October 1, it will retail for US $109.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99.
There are more pictures and info after the jump – although there’s no word on when you should feed it…
The anime film Suzume, written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, premiered in 2022, in the midst of the pandemic, and was a wonderful escape that won critical acclaim. So it is certainly not surprising that it has inspired LEGO builders around the world, like Jean-Philippe Leroux, who has recreated the image from the promotional poster in stunning detail. The weathered white door set in a broken brick wall serves as the central focus, while the round building with rib-like frames curving upward in the background perfectly captures the source material.
The LEGO Ideas program lets the community vote on which concepts might become official sets. Adapting fan designs into an official set always involves changes – both compromises and upgrades. The next fan-designed set, LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, announced today, introduced many unique challenges for the design team. You can read our review here or keep reading to see more official pics of this sweet set and learn some behind-the-scenes stories of how the design team arrived at the finished model.
Learn more about LEGO’s delicious new Ideas set
The Princess Bride, the classic film based on the book by S. Morgenstern William Goldman has it all: Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles… It’s a wonder we don’t see more tributes in LEGO. Thankfully, FS Leinad has stepped up with a fabulous build of Westley and Buttercup fleeing through the Fire Swamps. There’s a lot to love in this compact model, from the dense forest of dark grey tree trunks full of odd parts like Bionicle joints and jackhammers, to the evocative flames made of carefully twisted trans-orange chains to the spot-on minifigs. Having escaped the Lightning Sands and figured out how to avoid the Fire Spurts, the only other hazard these true lovers need worry about is the R.O.U.S.es. But the Rodents of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist.
It’s only fitting that FS Leinad return to The Princess Bride, as the builder’s first shared creation was an Ideas tribute to the film that made it to the 10k club. It’s impressive how far Leinad has grown as a builder in the years since.
The recent trend of collectable popcorn buckets has divided film fans – you either love them or hate them. But henry_gouw has solved the debate amongst the crew at The Brothers Brick by building the bucket from LEGO. But, of course, we’re all in total agreement about The Fantastic Four’s adorable robot sidekick, H.E.R.B.I.E., present with his ticket to enjoy the show.
Hong Kong-based studio Three Zero creates incredibly detailed designer action figures for a premium price, like a deluxe version of CHAPPiE that would have set you back $230 if you’d ordered in time. Too rich for your blood? Then consider making your own from LEGO, like Wang Juan, a builder who only just debuted on socials. Wang’s character builds are incredibly detailed and articulated. For Chappie, the builder works mostly with System parts to recreate the Three Zero version of the character.
Wang’s account includes a mix of incredible character models – mostly renders – inspired by games and street art. We’ve reached out to the builder to learn more. For now, as a fan of Neill Blomkamp’s gritty South African mash up of Short Circuit and Robocop, let’s help Chappie live again.
Hi there! I’m Aidan, you may know me as @stuntmanbrick on Instagram, and I’m fortunate enough to be TBB’s guest writer today. A little about myself – I’m a screenwriter based in Los Angeles and I just graduated from USC with a master’s degree in writing. I write mostly family/adventure/sci-fi-type features, and I say all this because film is one of my two passions – the other, of course, being LEGO.
A lifelong fan of the plastic, I’ve been running my LEGO Instagram page for about six and a half years now, accruing over twenty-thousand followers in that time. My work mostly focuses on recreating pre-existing characters from movies and television, whether it’s 1902’s A Trip to the Moon, this year’s Sinners, or anything in between. With that, let’s talk LEGO customs.
Corey and Rebecca Maxfield travel the world together, sigfigs and kids in tow, but in between voyages they find time for original creations. Corey’s tribute to Singing in the Rain certainly puts a smile on my face as the brick-built figure sings a happy refrain. The travelling couple’s next stop? LEGO Masters Season 5.
Just the other day Theo asked about the role that LEGO plays in peoples travels. No doubt Corey and Rebecca have plenty of stories to share about that playful combination!
This is part of our series on MOCs of the Masters where we preview the work of the newest batch of LEGO Master contestants. Have a look at creations from other builders in the lineup.
In 1981, one movie dominated the box office and launched an enduring and often imitated franchise. That film of course was Raiders of the Lost Ark. Even LEGO got in on the imitation game, though they waited until 1998 to introduce us to Johnny Thunder (AKA Sam Grant or Joe Freemann, depending on where you grew up.) LEGO builder adotnamedstud expertly brings this memorable “Indy-flick” moment to life, using detailed textures, effective vignette-style worldbuilding, and by taking full advantage of all the printed tile elements exclusive to LEGO set 10359 Fountain Garden.
Small but impactful choices throughout the build really add up, such as the weathering on the door, a well balanced color palette, and little callouts to other moments in the movie, like Marion’s frying pan. LEGO “Director” Minifigure (unofficially Steven Spielberg!) would approve.
