Tag Archives: Vignettes

Vignettes are like the haiku of the LEGO world. Usually built on a base 8 studs wide by 8 studs deep, vignettes show a little scene or a moment in time. But like written poetry, there’s plenty of variation on the basic theme.

Aragog, the king of arachnids

In my opinion, one of the most terrifyingly fantastic beasts in the Harry Potter series was found in Aragog. Although he was friendly to Harry and his friends, he was still a giant spider and that’s just all sorts of freaky. LEGO builder CheeseyStudios brings us a small vignette of the entrance to Aragog’s lair, making me wish any of the several official LEGO sets had looked half this good. The massive toppled tree has the heft it should, with lighter color wood exposed where it cracked. And Aragog himself feels more spindly and spider-like than his official counterparts, But the best detail, in my opinion, is the little mushrooms sprouted from the log. They’re a simple design combining a radar dish and a beveled gear, but together they make the smooth top and fluted undersides perfectly. Combined with a black sausage for a curving stem, and you couldn’t ask for a better LEGO fungus.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Terlet on the fritz? That’ll cost ya!

Indoor plumbing is the best invention since…well, indoor plumbing. You can flush away all your troubles and it all goes away-somewhere. Out of sight, out of mind, right? But sometimes your troubles come back to haunt you. That’s when you got to call in the professionals. They’ll charge you an arm and a leg but…whaddaya gonna do? Martin van Wezel has built a dynamic LEGO vignette of a scene we can only hope will never happen to us. The good news is if you were looking for a dramatic water fountain in your bathroom like rich people have in their gardens, then this scenario has you covered. It looks like Martin simulated the water gush using energy effects; parts currently only available in five sets in this color.

If you’re going to create a portal, make sure you know where you’re going

My favorite LEGO builds are always ones that contain story, humor and lots of color. Builder Victor hits all three of these points perfectly and throws in a little absurdity for good measure. As the story goes, Diogenes Trexler ordered a pizza on his home planet that smelled so delicious it attracted the attention of a giant worm. Plotting his escape, our pizza-loving hero created an ill-advised portal that opened on to the bathroom of one very surprised bather.

The landscaping and colorwork in this piece are gorgeous and there is a minimum of visible studs, giving it a very slick look. The worm really pops with its blue colors and excellent shape. The alien fauna is colorful and appropriately weird and creepy. The portal is nicely rendered with transparent pieces and the change between the two universes is wonderful, going from organic shapes to the clean tiles of a modern bathroom. The surprised bather, caught in mid blow-dry is the perfect punch line with his terrified face and hair blowing toward the ceiling. In my opinion, it’s little touches like these that make the difference between a good model and a great one.

Check out the model from another angle to see all the details

Don’t leave me hanging

One of the hottest LEGO fads right now is tensegrity sculptures. These builds use tricky physics to create models with sections suspended in mid-air with no obvious means of support. I’ve seen a lot of different approaches, but captainsmog has come up with one of the best. Invocation features a giant flying dragon, suspended in the air by taut lengths of LEGO chain. There’s no Photoshop trickery here. It’s just science. But I’m willing to admit there’s just a bit of magic, too.

Even if there wasn’t mind-bending suspension going on, this would be a great build to look at. The dragon’s belly is constructed of minifigure arms, creating an eerie organic feel to that armor. And the invocation platform is pretty swanky, too. I like the use of minifigure beards to create different versions of drippy candle wax, and the use of glow-in-the-dark tile for lines of mystic power is inspired. There are even tiny little touches, like the candle flames all blowing outward from the downdraft from the dragon’s wings. I love that attention to detail.

LEGO Star Wars 40407 Death Star II Battle is this year’s May the Fourth giveaway [Review]

Every year for the increasingly merchandised “May the Fourth” Star Wars holiday, LEGO has produced an exclusive item to include for free when you buy other Star Wars products. This year’s promotional set is 40407 Death Star II Battle, a microscale vignette from Return of the Jedi featuring an A-wing and TIE Interceptor skimming the battlestation’s surface. The set includes 235 pieces, and will be included with Star Wars purchases between May 1 and May 4 from LEGO’s website over US $75 | CAN $75 | UK £75. LEGO is also offering double VIP points on all Star Wars purchases over the same timeframe. LEGO lists the set for US $14.99 | CAN $19.99 | UK £13.49, but it isn’t available to purchase directly, and likely won’t ever be unless LEGO ends up with a lot of extras after the promotion ends.

Click to read the full review

When you gotta go, you gotta go

While it’s best to stay indoors, sometimes you just need to go outside. Particularly when you need to “go” outside. This slice of modern LEGO life from Crises_crs is just cute enough to not be super-depressing.

There’s just the right hint of disrepair to the scene. The mix of exposed studs and 1×1 round tiles has the grass looking a little ragged. The pavement has a similar mix, leaving it just a little cracked. But both the dog and owner look pretty happy in their protective gear, all things considered. You have to wonder where they found that toilet paper, though. My local shops have been out of stock for a while.

Same form, different functions

With the release of the latest LEGO Ninjago line, we’ve received a cool new collection of arcade pods. Builder Xennethy has transformed the oddly shaped “game cabinet” shells into some awesome vendor stalls. In particular, this collection features news, hat, and vegetable stands.

The cabinet alone is a pretty awkward and cumbersome element, but a handful of simple accessories gives it a whole new life. It’s easy to imagine them in any city or park scene. Click the link below to see close-ups of the nifty builds.

Continue to see more

Cursed be the island rich with spoils

The Pirates LEGO theme is one of the most cherished of all time. It makes sense that even though it is long-retired, fans continue to build fantastic tributes to their epic crusades. Letranger Absurde is one such builder, and has delighted us with this pirate hideout. The shipwreck, complete with cannon, broken mast, and shredded sails, is excellent. I’m also fond of the helmet on a frogs back to make a turtle.

If you’re a fan of pirates, check out our Pirates archives! And if you like Letranger’s style, take a look at these exceptional builds!

Depth is just an illusion

As I have undoubtedly said before in these pages, and will almost certainly say again, I love immersive LEGO scenes, the sort that fill every corner of the image with LEGO (or a neutral sky background, as often I’m not too fond of brick-built skies). There’s something magical about being able to step into a creation that way. But it takes a lot of bricks, usually, and some meticulous planning of angles to make it work. There is a more natural way, and master-builder Markus Rollbühler shows us how: build a fantastic vignette that fills the frame and then put an iPad behind it with the rest of the scenery.

Some simple techniques in the build go a long way, such as tiles pushed down only partway to create a weathered brick arch, loose bricks on their sides for cobblestones, and some of his signature bushes made of grass stalks and leaves. The perfect lighting, the minifig posing, and the iPad’s added depth all lend themselves to a delightful scene. And no fancy Photoshopping required!

What wonders does this shop hold?

I’m all about a good seek and find, particularly when it involves unique LEGO pieces. Personally I prefer finding those parts in a bulk brick bin, but looking at them from a distance is still cool, especially when they’re arranged in such a lovely fashion! This little potion shop built by Sebastian Bachórzewski is loaded with exciting finds. Those fancy shelves are pretty neat too! I spy, anyone?

Be sure to check out some of Sebastian’s other builds, including two different stacked cities.

A rural office location for a different kind of paperwork

Brick or human, when you need to go, you need to go. We humans have a place to go around every corner (the less hygienic take “every corner” a bit too literally though), but the plastic brick people have a much harder time to find an outhouse. Or at least they would, if SuckMyBrick had not built this outstanding LEGO outhouse.

The build is visually simple, well photographed and composed. The ramshackle style is captured perfectly with tiles pointing in angles just odd enough to not be 90 degrees and the front door uses a few closely related colours to give a fading impression – but according to the builder, the creation is not as fragile as it looks. The base completes the build with details like fragrant flowers in the back and curved slopes that really add to the cartoony style.

When you’re near a sarlacc, everything’s the pits

With the recent release of The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars builds have been multiplying faster than Star Wars spin-offs and sequels. For me, none of the sequels/prequels/spin-offs comes close to the magic that is the original trilogy, though I am always happy to see more of the galaxy far, far away; yet the builds inspired by it all are getting better and better. Take this microscale build of Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge from The Return of the Jedi by Okay Yaramanoglu. It captures all of the essential details, from the sarlacc to the bantha and the smaller skiffs, all within a 16×16 stud footprint. Some true fans may object to the beak on the sarlacc, but it is still well done. Perhaps we can edit it out later, when the special edition is released.

The rowboat is an inspired touch for the sail barge, recreating the hull shape so effectively I am shocked to have never seen it done before (or perhaps I’ve just been living under a Krayt dragon skeleton for too long, and it has been done before). The red sails could use some dust or sand on them, since everything on Tatooine is dusty and sandy, but the simple pieces imitate the shape perfectly for this scale. The old Technic toothed plates give some clever connections for the skiffs, and the hair for the bantha is amazing. All in all, I think this is a great Pit of Carkoon.