Tag Archives: NPU

A duck hunter ready for dwagon season

Dan Ko‘s dark duck knight might be deththpicable, but his clever use of unexpected parts is truly divine. Who else could have thought to build a dragon’s jaw from Lloyd’s Avatar Arcade Pod? The finger leaf fronts as the dragon’s frills are easy to identify, but did you catch the three leaves in sprues as neck segments? Daffy’s minifig head looks surprisingly menacing with the Fright Knight’s helm spun around. Using a slider disc instead of a minifig shield is an inspired accessory that accentuates the toon vibes. Dan once again shows it’s not the number of parts that count – it’s how you use them.

The Deththpicable Dark Knight is Dan’s entry in the “Capturing Character” category of the 2024 Brickscalibur competition, which runs until Jan 15, 2025.

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LEGO tiger burning bright

Although I like both cats and dogs, I’m definitely more of a cat guy. And of all the cats, my favourite has to be the tiger. Now admittedly, keeping a tiger in my one-bedroom apartment is a recipe for disaster, but I’d settle for this stunning LEGO big cat built by DeRa. With its menacing demeanour and the nimble joints that DeRa worked into the build for posability, it looks ready to knock my LEGO collection off the shelves, just like a real feline.

At first glance, the technique used for the stripes is not dissimilar in places to LEGO’s own incredible tiger set. But DeRa has really cranked up the detail and realism with some savagely clever parts and techniques. I spy a spider, croissants, Islander crests, and even whole roast turkeys in that furry face. It may look like an apex predator, but I still want to pet it.

Corny builds as smooth as butter

Competition is cooking in a new Iron Builder duel between returning champ and prolific builder Duncan Lindbo and a fresh face on the scene, Ari “loafbuilds” Hytti. Per tradition, a challenger takes on one of four reigning Iron Builders to build models based around a surprise “seed part.” This time the seed part is the unikitty tail piece in bright light orange. “Allez Brick!”

Ari is a builder whose public LEGO creations have mostly focused on Bionicle and character builds, like his compelling entries in the 2024 Bio-Cup. You wouldn’t guess that from Ari’s first salvo, a brilliantly life-like pair of corn cobs that use 82 tails to create the truthy kernels, wrapped in complimentary sand green husks. It’s an ingenious use of the part that should serve Ari well in the competition.

It’s an iron builder tradition to respond to your competitor’s build with one that rhymes. Duncan ripostes with a playful scene of produce gone bad. Corn returns in miniature, with palm leaves making great husks at this scale. An appealing friend, perhaps resting his bones for a Fortnite, joins in the kitchen carnage. We can’t wait to see what these two builders cook up next!

Perfect LEGO furniture for the modern minifig

Gone are the days when a set of pre-molded seats and an elevated plate was all that a minifig needed to furnish a LEGO home. Thanks to techniques innovated by builders like Michael Jasper and introduced into official sets with the Modular line, a minifig’s home can be filled with as many build-it-yourself designs as an Ikea showroom. Oshi Builds assembles a cozy set of bedroom furniture with muted colors and compact forms that would look great in a Copenhagen studio. Leaving in a few specific molded parts, like the laptop, guitar, and desk drawer, elevates how elegant the custom builds are. Be careful on that rug, though. It looks a little slippery.

The Charrus is SHIP full of delightful parts

During SHIPtember, when LEGO Space builders race to complete a ship at least 100 studs long within a month, the biggest challenge is finding the time and parts to get it done. But almost as hard is finding a unique hook to make your SHIP stand out. Andre Odyssey‘s OSV Charrus is a slick cargo ship with very few studs that draws on an eclectic range of parts. The ship’s deck is made from road plates, alongside race car spoilers and City ship parts. For cargo, Andre uses Mario mushrooms, lavender barrels from the Friends line, a brilliantly employed Vidyo box full, and a brick-built sand green container. The new “jumbo macaroni” tubes make excellent manipulator arms at this scale. The result is a ship that is both an impressive resupply vessel and a fun celebration of the mix-and-match potential of LEGO themes.

Fallout boys create Panic! at the vault door

Fallout wrapped its first season on TV, and a Fallout 5 game is still years off, but the post-apocalyptic world of Vault Dwellers and Nuka Cola lives on thanks to fans like Cube Brick who spent 8 months bringing the beloved universe to life in LEGO. The scene depicts a Raider camp built on the doorstep of Vault 27 in the Mojave Wasteland from wood scraps and rusty refuse. Cube Brick’s diorama is packed to the ghouls with incredible details lifted from recent games, while also sporting some innovative techniques to bring the wasteland to life.

Suit up and venture into the Wasteland for a close-up look and more surprises!

See this LEGO serpent breach sea at the beach

BigBrickStan is a new face in the online LEGO community, but already the builder is making waves with splashy builds like this LEGO sea serpent. The Chinese-style dragon uses a lush mix of plant elements as scales. I love the variety of orange wings and claws along the creature’s back, splayed irregularly for a more organic look. An array of points and curls in white make for effective roiling water at the dragon’s base. Most impressive is the head shaping, especially the toothy jaws made of Ninjago bone swords and unicorn horns.

Magnificent painted owl springs to life

It’s the rare creation that can make you forget you’re looking at LEGO bricks while also making you love the LEGO medium even more. I know that the stunning “One Fell Swoop” from TBB alum Nannan Zhang is a LEGO model, but all I can see is a vibrant painting of an owl coming alive, so perfectly is the concept realized. The explosive creativity can literally not be contained!

Looking closer at the technique on display, the owl’s feathers are the flashiest. Chima wings in earth blue, mech swords in gold, surfboards in minifig and mindoll scale in vibrant coral make for a striking mix of plumage, and the dark red ruff of chima armor plates is magic. I love the shape of the eyebrows and especially the addition of boomerangs for extra dimension. The pale yellow eyes are a fun connection to the painting theme, sourced as they are from the Van Gogh Starry Night set.

Perhaps my favorite technique is the subtle gradient peeking through grille plates. That, as well as the tube of yellow paint and the unpainted moon, sell the illusion of a painting in progress. Hot dogs and cables used for motion lines further play with the mix of flat images and dynamic sculpture. It all adds up to a masterpiece that makes the most of LEGO form, colors, and connections.

Love is in the air and on the stairs in this medieval LEGO village

She was a high-town girl, raised in comfort. He lived in low-town, busking for coin. She hears a hum on the whispering wind. Could it be love? All that keeps these two apart is a short flight of stairs. Tomasz Bartoszek captures this romantic moment in LEGO with a scene that is packed with medieval detail and incredible parts usage. The brickwork throughout features some lovely SNOT (studs not on top) techniques, especially on that heavy wall through which the staircase rises. My favorite details are the large door that uses gaps between bricks to look like wooden planks, and the slate roof that integrates capes for a truly ramshackle look. The distinct colors and building techniques for the high and low towns make this scene of star-crossed lovers really shine.

Tomasz’ build won the runner up spot in the 2024 Summer Joust Competition “Stairway Tales” category.

Medieval bathhouse is a clean build indeed

LEGO models from Eli Willsea feature clean lines and smooth surfaces where studs have been all but scrubbed away, which makes a medieval hammam (public bathhouse) the ideal subject for his immaculate building style. I love the variety of arches stacked and nested the give the build an airiness, complemented by the bits of greenery around the scene. Of course this wouldn’t be a ForlornEmpire build without some mind-blowing parts usage. DUPLO brooms are a truly unexpected part that fit so naturally into the scene. Droid arms and binoculars link so neatly into the arches, it’s hard to believe LEGO didn’t design them for just that purpose. The greatest trick in the scene has to be the water effect, made from upside down transparent baseplates, creating the perfect bubbly surface.

Fairy and toad are friends

Prolific builder Eero Okkonen is the Geppetto of the LEGO community, crafting detailed characters with such personality that they seem ready to come alive. His latest model of a blue fairy isn’t inspired by Pinocchio, however, but by a fairy tale from Eero’s native Finland, Pessi and Illusia. Eero employs his usual panache for NPU (nice parts usage), with the highlight perhaps the Queen’s Dragon heads used as Illusia’s skirt. As lovely as the fairy is, it’s Pessi the adorable toad who steals the show here, with those perfect saucer eyes and sporting a wonderful wicker basket of interwoven flex tubes. The scene is rounded out by delectable cloudberries on stems that incorporate foam leaves, appropriately enough, from the Belville Flower Fairy Party.

Magical LEGO owl says give a hoot, don’t transmute

The Wizard’s Emissary from Nathan Don (Woomy World) is a truly magical build that pushes LEGO to its limits. Woomy’s owl showcases the builder’s usual panache for NPU (short for Nice Parts Usage, but “nice” doesn’t seem sufficient!), cherry picking parts from across LEGO themes and eras to create organic shapes with a highly tactile mix of textures. The sand blue feathers from the LEGO Kingfisher set are the starring plumage, supplemented by a mix of wing elements and other eclectic parts to create a perfectly-proportioned owl. I love that Woomy has given the bird its own fur-trimmed cape. The staff is equally exceptional, showcasing an octagonal canopy as a gem. As a final fun detail, Woomy hides a Kanohi mask amongst the crystals.

The Wizard’s Emissary was created for the second round of Bio-Cup tournament and was the winning entry under the Wizard category. Keep up with competition in our Bio-Cup archives.