LEGO builder Ted Andes brings us a more upbeat take on the dystopian cyberpunk future with a gorgeous sculpture he calls the Shrine of the Cyber Tree. The tree is made of stacked Vahki head elements from Bionicle, and their angular lines and matte finish creates a striking use for that rarely used piece. The sculpture is surrounded by a simple but elegant stone garden wall, which has great details like one broken egg post cap.
Some LEGO creations we feature are really big and elaborate. Others, like this one by Geneva Durand, are rather small. But that does not mean that they are less impressive. When you build on a smaller scale, everything is in focus. This means everything that you put into your creation has to be thought out thoroughly because everything will be much more noticeable. Idyll by Geneva is a very good example. As the name highlights the creation is meant to look idyllic and it does. It gives you a sense of calm which I love. The autumn leaves give this creation a big pop of colour and I love the addition of the coral pink. Using black or dark brown for the tree, the wooden frame of the house, the shrine, and the minifigure accessories balance out the vibrancy of the fallen leaves. If this doesn’t get you in the autumn mood, I don’t know what will.
Ever since the pandemic I haven’t been on a holiday. So my expectations when it comes to holiday destinations have become very high. I almost expect them to look as magical as this LEGO subterranean Dragon pagoda in a cave by Jaap Bijl. I have to be honest, English being my second language, I had to look the word subterranean up. And it turns out to mean ‘done under the earth’s surface’ or ‘secret/concealed’. And now I am not a bit closer to understanding whether this Dragon pagoda is either under the earth’s surface or very well concealed. So I decided that this Dragon pagoda is secretly hidden underneath the earth’s surface.
What strikes me about this creation is the use of colour. The cave is dark grey, the base of the temple is grey, the water is sand green and the soil in the cave is sand blue. All muted colours go great with the lavender foliage and the details on the pagoda. They almost make the lavender look a bit greyish. And then bam in the centre of it all there is this light blue pagoda roof which really pops. The pillars supporting the bright blue roof are adorned at the top and the bottom with stone carved dragon heads. You really have to zoom in on the temple to spot them but they are done exceptionally well.
When I take in this LEGO God of Nature by builder Konstantin T, the first thing that comes to my mind is balance. I don’t necessarily get the vibe of a god solely focused on flora and fauna, but rather a deity representing the balance of the cosmos, of the “nature” of all things. And while this includes plants, animals, the elements, and even the visiting pilgrim, the angular, metallic nature of the altar leads me to thoughts of how those “organic” entities live in harmony with the natural world.
There is some truly breathtaking Bionicle craftsmanship in this design! The ability to use such large, single-purpose parts for tree trunks, stairs, and wisps of energy emanating from the god is outright stellar. But the peak of this build has got to lie in the design of the wandering pilgrim. Here’s a better view of our world-weary traveler below.
As I’m sure you’ve read in other posts on here recently, we are smack-dab in the middle of another round of Iron Builder. Here is one more entry featuring the red canopy seed part from LEGO builder Jake Hansen. What really stands out to me in this build, besides its Crash Bandicoot-inspired color scheme, is all Jake’s interesting parts usage. The use of upside-down green baseball caps for leaves is genius, as is sticking those 1×1 curves onto the ends of roller skates at the base of the altar. I’m an absolute sucker for a design that connects parts in atypical ways. I also love the texture change in the base of the model, from the rolling curves of the jungle vegetation to the blocky stone of the path leading up to the altar. And as for that tree in the background, I’m definitely not not stealing the tube-filled trunk design for my own builds. The Iron Builder gods will be pleased!
Everyone needs an escape at some point. For Marius Herrmann it’s the game “Ghost of Tsushima”. Inspired by the beautiful world of Tsushima, Marius created the Arrow Peak Shrine in LEGO. There is a lot to love about this build. Making this creation took its fair share of time due to there being so many rocks that had to be built. There are a lot of fun little details hidden in this creation. Let’s look at a couple of them. The Wizarding World wand is one of the parts that LEGO fans have been getting very creative with. The same goes for Marius. In this creation, the wand is used as a fence in the temple. The pathway towards the temple has to be created with a LEGO net, I do not know how you would otherwise manage to create such an organic-shaped pathway. The shrine next to the pathway uses a minifigure shortbeard and there is a gingerbread skirt hidden in the torii gate. The tree in this build really is something else. It features almost everything except the kitchen sink. There is a Gallimimus body hidden in the trunk and one or two big giants lost their muscles. Quite worth it if you ask me.
Sometimes it’s all about getting the right camera angle… And maybe some fantastic vaulted ceilings. This monochrome shrine, built by David Hensel, is an exceptional marriage of LEGO architecture and photography. The lighting gives the whole scene a sense of somber and noble peacefulness. And the way that the pieces mesh together provides an element of age. It’s bold yet austere. If you have never tried to build curves like this, take a crack at it. This style requires a patient hand!
David recently made another completely different monochrome build. This time photography comes into play in a different way. Also take a look at some of these other awesome monochrome creations in our archives.
