Tag Archives: RogueOlympics

I want to break free!

When considering what LEGO creation to write about there were the usual offerings of a cool spaceship, castle diorama, Star Wars something or other…and a pretty mustachioed man vacuuming. Then I was like; hell yeah, this is the one I want to write about! Upon closer inspection, I realized this little scene built by Mark van der Maarel looked a bit familiar and recalled that it depicts the Queen video for their song “I Want to Break Free”, showcasing the entire band in drag. Freddy looks particularly ravishing in a pink top, heels, and a short skirt as he sings about how he’d like to be free from a toxic relationship. We’ve all been there, right? I mean the toxic relationship part. Also the vacuuming in heels part. I mean seriously, I’m like two bags of female-packaged M&Ms, a bag of Cracker Jills (not Cracker Jacks), and a Bud Light away from totally making this my Friday night thing.

"I want to break free!"

There Lived a Hobbit...

To build a delightful LEGO version of something truly iconic and remarkable you got to be more than a good builder. And if you you going to do so in under 101 bricks, you got to be Mbricks. His hobbit-hole is an amazing masterclass in organic shapes. Take a closer look and you’ll notice how each and every piece either carries a specific shape or forms one along with other elements. And if you are really attentive, you might notice an alligator tail — a famous garden decoration popular with hobbits!

There Lived a Hobbit...

A miniature meeting of the Middle-Earth minds

There’s so much Nice Parts Use (NPU) in Dan Ko‘s adorable LEGO Lord of the Rings wizards that I don’t know where to start. Look at Gandalf the Bley here. His beard consists of upturned eggshell pieces, and the top of his staff uses a skeleton leg. His nose is also a rounded 1×2 plate, which may not necessarily qualify as NPU, but it’s a great choice nonetheless. As for Radagast the Reddish-Brown, his beard uses an arch piece to give some shape to his face. In the hat, you’ve got an ingot flanked by the frankly genius choice of a pair of minifigure chairs. They give him so much character! Dan has even repurposed some wood stickers to add detailing to his cloak. That is NPU par excellence! Do we need a new acronym for this? NSU – Nice Sticker Use?

The Secret Meetup

Aren’t you a little cute for a gangster?

Isn’t the mythology around gangsters odd? Although they were criminals, they do seem to make for fascinating characters in novels and on screens. In fact, as Versteinert demonstrates, they can be excellent subjects for LEGO creations! And if you’re going to depict a gangster, you might as well depict the gangster: Al Capone. For someone who was designated public enemy number one, there’s a lot to love about this build. The parts usage is great – I count at least four alternate uses for things like bananas and stud shooters – but the characterization of Capone is what makes this build. The tilted fedora and cigar off to one side give him heaps of personality, and I daresay he almost looks cute!

Al Capone - Risky Business

Signing off from the internet!

There’s an appeal to signing off of all social media and the internet for a weekend or maybe even a month. Some people sign off and never look back. The rest of us might miss their intriguing content or hilarious memes but, in logging off, they find peace of mind for themselves. That’s exactly what is going on with this LEGO creation by Markus Rollbühler. Look how happy that little minifigure feller is; just throwing out that phone like he hasn’t a care in the world! He’s about to go do something totally analog, I can tell. Maybe he’ll fly a kite, pet a dog, listen to some records or even…build some LEGO. Can you name all the websites he has just said goodbye to?

Signing off!

Never ending fun in the sun

It’s that time of the year again when the Rogue Olympics contest sweeps the LEGO community. The first round’s theme is “Above the clouds”, and builder Dan Ko delivers this wonderful scene from the 1984 film The NeverEnding Story. Coming in at 27 parts, the scene features Atreyu and Falkor flying through the sky, an iconic and immediately recognizable scene from the movie. What I really like about this build is Falkor. The luck dragon’s body comes together with a series of battle droid bodies. At this scale, they work well to bring the Falkor’s face and body to life.

Die unendliche Geschichte

A picturesque bowl of tasty noodles

This soba noodle bowl looks so good it’s hard to believe it’s made of LEGO! This creation comes from builder John Snyder for the annual LEGO contest RogueOlympics hosted by Roguebricks. John started with an idea for how to build the radish slices, and the rest came together from there. Bicycle wheels inserted into inverted radar dishes comprise the bright radish slices. Arm pieces from the LEGO Friends toy line make up soba noodles, which is a pretty cool use of parts I haven’t seen before. Even the chopsticks are brick-built! Of course, part of what makes well-crafted food look so good is the plating, and John doesn’t disappoint. The color balancing stands out, allowing the eye to pass over each part of the soup in a wonderful flowing movement. I don’t know about you, but now I’m hungry!

Soba Noodle Bowl

The fastest pizza delivery driver in the West

Don’t you hate it when you order a delicious takeaway pizza, but it takes way longer to arrive than it said it would? I doubt you’d have this problem with Versteinert‘s pizza delivery hot rod! This is his latest entry into the Rogue Olympics, where builders are limited to creations with 101 LEGO bricks. As you’d expect, with such a limitation on part numbers, you have to get creative with your part choice. The main body of this breadvan-style vehicle is a DOTS bag tag, the engine features (among other things) ingot and lipstick elements, and a saxophone doubles as a side exhaust. Talk about tuning your engine!

(I’ll get my coat…)

Pizza Taxi

TBB cover photo for May 2021: Domino Rally Diorama

Watching dominoes fall is fun. It’s mesmerising. In addition to the time and concentration spent setting them up for that sole purpose, it’s satisfying watching the art form of them tumble into each other. It’s better when the layouts are intricate and imaginative, full of varying levels and moving gizmos that further demonstrate reactions. As a part of the RogueOlympics 101 parts challenge, builder Ben Tritschler built a small layout resembling wooden building blocks that every small child seems to have had. And it functions too! Ben also uploaded a video where he topples the dominoes and it’s oh so satisfying! Fun fact: That’s Stretchy from Little Robots, and he is genuine LEGO, as he comes from an old Duplo set.

Check out more builds from the RogueOlympics contest here!

Stretchy's Domino Rally Paradise

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Mission Impossible: Prospector Edition

With a skillful use of only 101 elements, Markus Rollbühler takes a deep dive into adventure with 101 Bricks: Dangerous Descent. There are tons fun details, but did you recognize the rocky Bionicle baseplates (turned on their side) that form the walls? I also love the use of monochrome minifigures as carved statues in the background. Looks like there’s some history behind the golden T-Rex. (Hold on. How did an ancient culture know about T-Rexes? Man, this build is just full of mysteries.)

101 Bricks: Dangerous Descent

This build is actually a continuation of the story Markus started in 101 Bricks: Discovery. The part limit comes from the RogueOlympics, a contest that has lead to a lot of great featured builds. Check our archives out for more compact goodness from the event!

A breath of fresh air. Sorry. I meant fire. A breath of fire.

Transparent LEGO elements are the best LEGO elements. Fight me. Or better yet, fight this amazing flaming dragon by Markus Rollbühler . Using only 64 bricks, this is one build that’s hot hot hot. The flame elements in the wings are easy to recognize, but there are also some more uncommon parts in there, too. Look close and you can spot a saw blade in the base, snakes, more snakes, and a minifigure flame headpiece.

101 Bricks: A Breath of Fire

This is an entry into the third round of this year’s RogueOlympics, a contest that challenges builders to stay under a 101 part count. We’ve seen a lot of really clever creations coming out of this competition, so check our archives for even more  featured builds!

Good to the last drop

In the beginning, there were just troubling shades of grey. But then there was an industrial accident of some sort. And then OSHA came along. And then the company had some heavy fines levied against it as they refused to install adequate safety railings. At least, I think that’s the story this scene by Mark van der Maarel is telling us. There’s probably more to it. But whatever happened, LEGO minifigures were never quite the same ever again. There are lots of fun details here, but my favorite has to be the X-Pod lid that forms the base of the yellow pool. That splash is pretty sweet, too.

How it all started

This creation uses only 51 elements, easily qualifying it for the 101-max requirement of the RogueOlympics.  There have been a lot of great builds coming out of that contest, so be sure to check out our archives for even more quality minimal-part creations!