Tag Archives: Toltomeja

One of LEGO fandom’s biggest collabs gets shrunk with New Microshima

Since its debut at Brickworld Chicago in 2023, the New Hashima collab has gone viral, spawning new incarnations at LEGO events around the world. (You can learn more about its origins here.) Builder Toltomeja provided cubes (the modular format from which the city is built) at Bricking Bavaria in 2023 and 2024. Now Toltomeja fuses the cyberpunk city with their talent for microscale with this stunning tribute to the 2024 iteration. At 64×64 studs, it’s quite massive for “micro,” but that’s what it took to showcase the contributions of more than 50 builders.

For reference, here is the full-sized model in all of its glory:

Click to explore more of New Microshima

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Frogust: the bridge between Summer Joust and SHIPtember [Feature]

The LEGO Gods, the powers that be has declared this time to be Frogust. The Grand Frog, Simon Liu has been doing frog-related stuff for years now and it has definitely been noticed. It’s now a thing officially that falls conveniently between Summer Joust and SHIPtember and they invite you to join in on all the fun. You may have noticed this regal entry lately as well as this one. Even the local frogs in my neighborhood seem to be into it. Now that we’re at the dog days of summer- or should I say frog days of summer- let’s check out what others have done. Trevor Pearson-Jones starts out strong with, not quite a frog but it’s warty cousin Chief Toad Gambunta. There might be a little something extra in that pipe he’s smoking. Just sayin’.

Not to be outdone by his first entry, Trevor comes back with a tree frog that takes its name literally. This demonstrates Trevor’s ability to to not only develop great character in LEGO bricks, but also demonstrates a mastery of of building natural elements.

Hop along to see the other frogtastic entries

“You can draw a horse from the front, right?”

Back in the 1300s, sharing hilarious memes was hard. The story was dictated to an artist by some lord or another, then they had to grind and mix their own pigments using beetles and ram’s bladder and stuff, then they transcribed it all as an illuminated manuscript that took years to finish only to be read by a small population of scholars. Take this silly “egg horse” for example. The left image portrays a LEGO creation by Toltomeja and its inspiration to the right is an artist’s depiction of the front view of a -um- horse from L’estoire de Merlin in 1316. The artist likely lacked any real references to horses so you can forgive the silly rendition. Incidentally, this is precisely what sunk my would-be van mural painting career; a total lack of half-naked warrior maidens hanging around my studio and an end result that looked a bit like this egg horse.

A tasty LEGO cyberpunk city block

Cyberpunk has long been an inspiration to LEGO builders worldwide, and there is an emerging trend in collaborative displays at LEGO conventions that takes cyberpunk LEGO to new levels. New Hashima, a collaborative standard in creating staggering cyberpunk cities where builders like Toltomeja create buildings designed to stack together to create cityscapes much larger than an individual builder can accomplish on their own. In this colorful two-block unit, Toltomeja combines hexagonal apartments with a variety of food vendors. But it’s best not to ask where the meat comes from.

If you want to see more featured builds from other New Hashima enthusiasts check out this curated collection.

Barcelona’s most iconic casa is anything but gaudy

Nearly 100 years after his passing, Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi remains one of the most singular voices in design. No trip to Barcelona is complete without stopping to appreciate his iconic buildings, especially the Casa Batlló, which Toltomeja thoughtfully recreates in LEGO for the Marchitecture building challenge. Gaudi decorated the façade of Casa Batlló with a colorful mosaic meant to evoke lilies on a pond, here recreated with clever SNOT brickwork in pastel shades. Building such an organic-inspired design at micro scale couldn’t have been easy, but Toltomeja pulls it off, capturing the many bone-like balconies with inverted goggles and using a mix of horns and boomerangs to assemble the distinctive curvaceous windows on the lower floors. Look carefully at the colorful dragon-spine roofline and you can glimpse the frosting swirls doubling as chimney stacks. Gaudi’s amazing buildings are certified UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but sadly have never been released as official LEGO architecture sets. For now, we have builders like Toltomeja and others paying tribute with amazing micro creations.

Kraków, Poland in microscale LEGO

When tackling a subject as large as a city in LEGO, it’s best to bring things down to microscale. While you’re not able to capture every inhabitant, many of the metropolitan details can be preserved with clever part choices. That’s exactly what builder Toltomeja has done with the city of Kraków. Let’s take a tour of their tiny city, and explore all the sights within.

Take a tour tour of a big Polish city below!

Peach Blossom Lake

When it comes to building with LEGO our creations tend to 3D most of the time. Toltomeja chose to go for a 2D approach with their latest creation. My knowledge about Chinese culture and art is not that strong, so if I use the wrong wording, please excuse me. Toltomeja made a scroll with a decorative landscape painting in Chinese calligraphy style. The artwork is filled with little details and parts used in a very smart way. For instance, there are sausages, horns, a sextant and a t-bar used in Chinese characters.

The horns also get used as a part of the clouds and to represent the flying birds. Which is really simple, yet really clever. There are bananas disguised as a small waterfall. There are also bananas incorporated in the clouds. I do not know why but apparently, frogs are the latest fashion when it comes to foliage. Towards the bottom of the scroll, this creation slowly goes from 2D to 3D. The clouds make this ‘painting’ look very calm jet a bit mystical. And the cracks in the rock give the mountains an amazing amount of depth.

A peaceful house in the Greek countryside

Γεια! — That’s “hello” in Greek, which is what I would say if I were visiting this Greek house in person. Built by creator Toltomeja, the Greek House is a fantastic portrayal of typical dwellings in Greece.

My favorite part about the house is the white walls and stairwells. It’s such a classical look. The tile flooring on the patio is very well done. I appreciate the variety of colors used to indicate foot traffic over the years. An additional sign of the house’s age is the vine work growing up the side of the stairs.

This was a gorgeous LEGO model to look at. If it was a submission on LEGO ideas, I would definitely throw in my support!

The board game Azul comes to life in LEGO

Toltomeja and I share not one, but two hobbies. We both love playing board games. Toltomeja’s favorite game is Azul, a game which I play quite often myself. Their rendition of the game in LEGO bricks is instantly recognizable. Even if you are not familiar with the game you can still appreciate this creation for what it is, an amazing build with lots of interesting building techniques and a very pleasing aesthetic. They even managed to improve the game board by adding insert slots for the little game cubes. To top it all off they even built the table on which the game board is resting, complete with wood grain and everything.

Paris is always a good idea, especially in LEGO bricks

First time travelers to Paris cannot be blamed for spending the majority of their visit strolling the bistro-lined Champs Elysees or marveling at the wonders of the Eiffel Tower and Louvre. While these sites are staples in Parisian tourism, some of the city’s most beautiful spots can be found up the hill in Montmartre. This village within a city is best known for its rich history, bohemian vibe, and engaging nightlife. Legendary artists such as Renoir, Monet, and Picasso once resided here. Focusing on more recent times, Toltomeja has recreated the steep hills and iconic Parisian architecture in this LEGO diorama of a typical Montmartre scene. It’s a colorful and charming build, seemingly brought to life with plenty of little details (the clock is a personal favorite). This scene is sure to stir the heart of anyone who’s ever visited.