Tag Archives: NPU

A beauty and a beast – N.A.B.E._Mocs makes magic with bricks

When a LEGO sculpture can capture emotion, dynamism, and organic shapes without exposing how the pieces hold together, it’s nothing short of magic. Sakiya Watanabe (N.A.B.E_mocs) is truly a sorcerer of bricks, as demonstrated by his latest sculpture of the storm god Fujin. There are so many inspired parts in the head alone – raptor jaws for ears, bigfig fists for cheeks, Balin’s hairpiece for the chin. I can’t even begin to figure out how that hair holds together.

Sakiya based his design on the famous Fujin and Raijin painted screen by Tawaraya Sōtatsu, a national treasure from the Edo period, displayed in Kyoto.

Sakiya Watanabe’s other recent character creation follows

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A golden LEGO field is ready for harvest

Today’s moment of peace and tranquility comes from the Golden Vallé vignette by Rémy (Rilbist). By Rémy’s own description, this family has lived in peace for quite a while at their windmill. I won’t ask Rémy how many plant stems were used, but they provide the most amazing texture for the field of wheat to frame this windmill.

By adding varied height in the vignette, Rémy creates a natural flow to the field while also hiding the base of build itself, leaving the viewer with the texture of the dried wheat field.

This spectacular model came in second place in its category in the Summer Joust. For a full list of winners, catch up with our Summer Joust 2025 roundup.

Remarkable bird, id’nit, squire? Beautiful LEGO plumage

We’ve seen some incredible LEGO bird creations in recent years thanks to the explosion of molds and colors that can be interpreted as feathers, like this magnificent owl from TBB alum Nannan to this soaring eagle from Sakiya Watanabe. Now Sakiya (aka N.A.B.E._mocs) takes wing again with a brilliant scarlet macaw. The starring LEGO element for this feathered friend is the blue thruster blast from the Dreamzzz line, but the NPU doesn’t stop there. Sakiya makes excellent use of shells and feathers for the parrot’s face, with rubber bands on the cheeks and around the eyes for detail. As with the builder’s eagle, the bird is captured in a lifelike, dramatic pose. It’s a beautiful model from a builder with an impeccable eye for shape and form.

To learn more about the young builder and his passion for excellence, check out our interview with talented LEGO creator Sakiya Watanabe.

Mind the gaps in this glorious, shambling LEGO medieval market

A medieval market will always be the busiest at harvest, and Jesse van den Oetelaar has built a scene to make you feel the commotion. While the castle walls are built straight, everything else shows its age and wear, or as Jesse says, “worn down by carts, feet, and time.” I particularly enjoy the low camera angle as it brings us right into the market.

Upon closer inspection, the nice part usage can really be seen. Technic pins with a bar inside create a gathered bundle of grain. The precariously stacked harvest looks ready to topple.

And a mix of hammers and ingots cause an uneven surface for people to travel, as this aging minifig found out the hard way.

Jesse’s diorama marks a welcome return to posting after a two year absence. It’s great to see that the builder has lost none of his talent for half-timbered houses and depictions of bustling medieval life!

A dawn of translucent dark pink

Bart De Dobbelaer uses a stunning mix of only four colors to provide a powerful piece. Illtranor, Tree of Dawn provides us with a story of creation, civilization, and pride. Bart has a wonderful poem to accompany this beautiful build. With only four colors used, they are used very well. Sitting on a dark grey base, a deep back tree trunk provides a strong depth behind the white and translucent dark pink blossoms and branches. And the city that has grown up around the tree so perfectly matches the tree’s color.

A John Deere built as well as the original

In recent years, LEGO has released some new, modern farm tractors, but Christoph Ellermann has delivered us a classic from the 1950’s. While the design is simple and elegant, it is the part usage that cements the look. First, we have a technic gear from the 1970’s standing in for the iconic red wheels.

Next, yellow rubber bands provide the detailed paint job, and finally simple minifigure hands give us the cutting blade.

Building on the wild side with rising MOC star Hodgepodge Builds [Interview]

Every so often, a builder shows up, seemingly out of nowhere, with a creative style so distinctive, complex, and cool that you feel shook – like walking barefoot on a pile of bricks, but in a good way. C, who posts as @hodgepodgebuilds, only started posting LEGO models three months ago, is such a builder. Of course, talent doesn’t come from nowhere. Today we sit down with C to learn more about his LEGO journey and unique style.

TBB: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. Maybe you could talk about your LEGO journey. What was the first set or theme that really excited you?

C: The first theme that really excited me was definitely the 2009 Pirates line, which came out when I was about 5 (and insanely obsessed with pirates). I still think that line is remarkably well-designed. My interest in nautical aesthetics and ships has morphed since then, but is still rooted in my love of it back then. A recent build that speaks to that would be the research vessel ketch sailboat that I built this past winter. It was a full circle moment for me, finally being able to build a ship I was completely satisfied with from a technical and visual standpoint.

TBB: Have you stuck with LEGO continuously or did you go through a dark age before coming back to the hobby? What inspired you to start sharing your models?

C: I’ve never had a true dark age when it comes to LEGO, but it’s always ebbed and flowed for me. It’s always functioned as a sort of calming process in times of stress, especially during the last year as a college English major. It helps me relax and express my creative ideas in a visual sense. Honestly, what inspired me to share my models was the community, I had made the account a few months earlier to follow builders I liked and got very excited by the work I was seeing. I had been building consistently for about 8 months by the time I first posted, so I was also very excited to finally get my work out there (and thank you to my dear friends who encouraged me to post!)

Our interview with rising star HodgepodgeBuilds continues

Every little thing they build is magic

An artificer’s work inscribing runes is no easy task, as recreated in this LEGO still life by greenarj. It requires precision tools, enchanted ink, an ancient tome, and a bottle of mysterious liquid… to steady the hand. Creating a scene this convincing from plastic bricks is another kind of magic, one that grenarj wields like a wizard. That bottle in particular, which integrates Spinjitzu Jay’s cyclone, is brilliant. The blade is filled with NPU, like a silver dish nested between wheel arches for the pommel. Consider us entranced.

Top marks for this bottom-feeder

From the depths of the imagination of LEGO builder Olle Moquist comes an aquatic ambulatory ecosystem that includes LEGO elements as diverse and obscure as the sea life itself.
Olle shares that some of their favourite creative corals “ended up being scrapped as they didn’t quite fit the palette”. I find this very relatable. I know from personal experience that sometimes during the creative process it can be hard to let go of a component (character, scene, phrase, LEGO part usage…?) that is precious to you as the creator but is no longer serving the creation itself.
Olle adds being “quite happy with the bioluminescent coral and the one with the mohawk hair”, both of which you can see in this view, but those who want to take a deeper dive will find dinosaur heads, “giant sausages“, and those janky little fender parts introduced in the short-lived Tiny Turbos theme all put to excellent use.
If this lovely build and all its clever parts usage is the result of creative compromise, I look forward to seeing what Olle has in store for us next!

This robot is the bee’s knees

If you haven’t been following Shannon Sproule, you’ve been missing out on a plethora of delightfully quirky robot builds. Case in point, this Hadal Wanderer minibot that trudges a vast, endless abyss for signs of life. But we don’t have to look too hard for signs of Shannon’s personality, as this build is full of them. From the horse rein eyebrows to the bee hive legs, Shannon always finds unique ways to incorporate the kinds of pieces you might not immediately associate with robotics. For more of Shannon’s special take on sci-fi, check out our archives.

Everyone loves a building kit

To anyone who has built a model kit of the non-ABS type of plastic, you can probably feel the texture of the these plastic frames. I love every ounce of detail that Oshi has included, down to the last sprue. As someone who has built both plastic models and LEGO, it is a great combination of worlds. In looking at the details of the “model parts,” don’t miss a wonderful start to the actual car model. It looks like Oshi has selected “green forest” for the model’s final color. I don’t believe that is an official LEGO color, but I trust the builder that it will look incredible.

Nintendo DS case finds new life in a LEGO sci-fi tower

There are so many LEGO-compatible products and accessories out there, so it makes sense that builders would find fun and interesting ways to use them in their own creations. Kevin H has done just that using a Nintendo DS case that includes some attachment points to decorate as the central element in this fun, sci-fi tower. The use of some stickers to add more detail was a great choice, as well as using a largely monochromatic palette of blue to match the case with some light green and transparent parts thrown in. Another fun detail is a pair of spring-loaded shooter bricks with dual-colored sides at the base, and those gray pyramid pieces add to the brutalist look at the base of the tower.