Tag Archives: NPU

We’ll pause for a Hollow hold here

Whenever I’m building small, I often refer to Dan Ko‘s builds for incredible detail using the smallest Lego pieces. Here, Dan has built a small vignette inspired by the game Hollow Knight featuring the Knight and Hornet. Using the new cape piece from the recent Doctor Strange sets as one of the bodies really injects a splash of colour to the build! We see a lot of nice part usage on the heads, with the expression of Hornet speaking volumes through the position of the half-circle tiles, whilst the staff is topped with a subtle collar detail. And did I mention those white croissants for horns? Inspired!

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Frogs on candlestick pond

There really aren’t enough candlesticks in the world. Well, LEGO candles, anyway. They’re so useful! Take this wonderful build by Eli Willsea, for example. It uses over 50 of them to create the look of bulrushes. Excellent execution! But that’s not the only excellent parts usage here. I love how he used those 1×2 hinge plates to create adorable frog eyes and the center of the waterlily. Those flies and that incredible tongue are awesome too!

If you like these techniques, check out more builds by Eli (AKA Forlorn Empire). Also, if frogs are your thing, we even have a collection of builds that feature frogs!

There’s so much to do in Grandpa’s attic

As the LEGO inventory of pieces grows each year, we often end up with parts that can seem too specific to have versatile uses. But a great way to transform parts that might seem too specific is to use them in a different scale, as César Soares demonstrates with this attic scene that’s full of innovative parts usage. The potted plant on the right of the scene is made from two Carnival Dancer headdresses. The legs of the hat rack are minifigure monkey tails. And the plant next to the telescope repurposes yet another minifigure hat for its leaves. But perhaps the most innovative technique is building a hole in the floor and filling it with chopsticks to create a shag rug.

After you’re done exploring this attic, take a look at some of the other innovative LEGO parts uses we’ve highlighted right here on TBB previously.

Release the TIE fighters!

Well, those are a different kind of TIE fighters… Dan Ko built the most striking microscale spaceship for a Space Jam contest. I’m in love with it, and that may or may not be because of the teal – my favourite colour. The colour scheme with the purple highlights somehow feels like it belongs in an established universe. Whether it be LEGO Classic Space, or any sci-fi franchise, this carrier appears to swoosh straight out of it. The part usage is also worth noting – teal coloured brick separators and the little bow ties that represent the tiny starfighters.

Want to see more builds with teal? I sure do! We have a whole collection of them here!

Bröther, may I have some L-00-P5

Sometimes you see a few interesting LEGO pieces want want to build something from them. We do it all the time. So do official LEGO designers like Chris Perron. While the old big basketball hoops may be the standout pieces on this mech titled L-00-P5, Chris based his build around the triangular vehicle tipper end.

The tipper end parts are at the top of the mech, and those allow the front and rear paneling to be attached at an angle. This gives this brightly coloured mech an aggressive feel that its armaments – a big gun and a small knife – enhance. But it is really the legs that drew me in. The orange and white colour scheme become scarce as the dark grey mechanical bits are exposed. Chris assembled the feet with subtle greebling which allow full articulation.

Check out more of Chris Perron’s! builds here.

MPU: mammoth parts usage...

We like builds with NPU. They showcase the limitless creativity of people when it comes to utilising a weird LEGO element in a unique way. Character builder Eero Okkonen is no stranger to odd but innovative parts in his wonderful builds. And he is no stranger to Bionicle either, from which his myriad of character builds originate. This time he takes this opportunity to include a part many had difficulty integrating into their creations: the Rahkshi back. And it works so well that I will now think of that part as “Mammoth forehead.” Thanks Eero!

And also thank you for planting the idea of Bionicle x Ice Age crossover in my head.
It was Scrat who awakened the Bohrok swarms…

A good crust makes the pie

As any baker knows, a good pie starts with the crust. Now, what a good crust is can be debated, but the creator of this culinary confection definitely did something right. Aside from the masterful latticework overlayed on the filling of translucent reds, builder Timofey Tkachev kneaded out a crispy crust of baguettes. This nice parts usage was made possible by wedging the baguettes onto flags built into the structure of the filling. A little friction helped place the rest, achieving a nicely textured outer edge to the pie.

Keyed into culinary display techniques, Timofey gave us wonderful details like sprigs of herbs, a dragon wing as filling oozing out onto the table, and stray bits of the crust where the slice of pie was cut.

If this has your mouth watering, check out some of the other desserts hanging out in the bakery. Just remember that, like the food in commercials, brick-built food is strictly inedible.

So, head or no head?

Guys only want one thing and it’s disgusting. However, in the world of praying mantises, that doesn’t always work out. It’s the lady who gets the head — literally. Expert builder Djokson sets the table for a romantic candlelit dinner, with fancy tablecloth and a glass of wine. Lady mantis appears to have been stood up by her suitor, until her meal is served on a big platter.

While this is a fun scene, we have to talk about NPU when we write about Djokson’s many ingenious creations. For example, Lady mantis wears pieces of cloth that can only be from either Scala or Belville — two old LEGO themes full of large dolls. It’s just hard for me to pinpoint which cloth piece is from which. However, the eye sockets of each mantis are the shoes of said dolls, with the good old minifigure arms wedged inside them. Other pieces include the rubbery Krana and Kraata from Bionicle, which Djokson uses in the head and stomach respectively. I also enjoy the use of the fantastical key element from LEGO Elves, which gives the elbows a spindly look.

I guess you could say Djokson’s builds make me… lose my head.

Thinking outside the box with a friendly landspeeder

My friends and I buy each other small LEGO sets that do not compute with the space-y things we build. We buy LEGO Friends, Trolls World Tour, DOTS, and the like. It’s all a joke of course, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t try to build from them. I (Mansur “Waffles” Soeleman) received LEGO Friends: Andrea’s Bunny Cube from fellow builder Gubi, and I knew I had to use the big cube pods in a build. Previously I used a Ninjago arcade pod in a Classic Space build, and the medium blue of this bunny cube wasn’t going to be that off-putting. I just had to hide the bunny face…

The Friends cube offers plenty of connection points both inside and out. Having one facing up and one facing down provided a good start, as one of them would be the cockpit. Hiding the hinges at the side is always a challenge, but it was nothing that greebling couldn’t fix. The addition of side engines also hid the irregularities of the cubes. One thing that seemed cooler in my head was the inclusion of the cloth pieces representing the “bunny’s ears”. They add more colour despite their texture and shape clashing with the mechanical nature of the landspeeder. After the struggle of attaching the engines from the top section which hides the printed bunny face, I could finally relax and go all out with the underside greebling…

TL:DR; Even the strangest of LEGO pieces can serve as the foundation for a good build. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

In space, no one can hear crickets chirping

As a builder, I always strive to push the limits of LEGO building, with techniques and parts usage. Combined with my arts and design training, I’ve spent years studying elements and how they fit together. Despite my self-declared expertise, there will always be creations that just stump me. Especially small ones. Especially small ones built by my friend Tom Loftus (Inthert).

I first saw this spindly teal-and-white spaceship in person when we displayed creations together at the last English LEGO exhibitions before the COVID shit hit the fan. He explained to me in great detail how he built this small ship. He even took it apart and showed me an in-depth breakdown of how he built it. I didn’t understand a single thing. It’s like his builds have an IQ-lowering effect on me. Even two years later, after more and more breakdowns via calls and messages, I still don’t understand it. Do you though? I’m not sure, your mind may be just as blown as mine.

Check out more mind-blowing builds by Tom here!

Felt cute, might bring down a Super Star Destroyer later

I love it when LEGO builders use unexpected pieces in their creations. There’s even contests revolving around using a seed part in a variety of builds. After all, LEGO is all about creativity, and thinking outside the box. I (Mansur “Waffles” Soeleman) grew up with Technic and Bionicle, which both contain strange LEGO parts that you don’t see mixed with the usual building system. However, I am a firm believer that even the most unconventional LEGO parts can fit perfectly with the common ones. That was partly my inspiration in building a perfectly minifigure-scale RZ-1 A-wing Starfighter from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Find out about the build process and the weird parts Waffles used to build his A-wing!

I spy with my little eye... some clever parts usage

This one might be worth zooming in for a second. There’s a lot of fun stuff packed into this little LEGO build by Roanoke Handybuck. Where should we start? We’ve got chain links for the water wheel, bridge, and windmill. There are also hands, horns, and wands galore used for a variety of things. We even have full arms (minifigure and tauntaun) here as part of the cobblestone pathway. Let us not forget the reddish brown crown in the tower. That part only came in the 71040 Disney Castle in that color. Finally, can you find the paintbrush and frog?

Actually, those aren’t ALL the cool things. But I encourage you to see what else you can find on your own. Just the colors and shape of the base are fun by themselves. The only negative points for the purist in me are the cut-up pieces used for the grass. Added points, though, for the fact that apparently the water wheel and windmill spin! By crankshaft? We’ll have to stay tuned for a video! In the meantime, check out more of Roanoke’s work in our archives.