Lording it up in a lakeside castle

LegoLord says he hasn’t built anything for four years, but this impressive castle shows those skills haven’t grown rusty through misuse. The landscaping and lake are nicely done, and the fortress itself has a realistic feel, as if it had been built over centuries, reinforced by a succession of nervous Lords. Far too many LEGO castles are starkly symmetrical, whereas this build has different heights and styles of tower dotted around the external wall.

Dawn Lake Castle

Zooming in on the details pays dividends — don’t miss the central keep atop its plug of rock, tan walls and red rooftops offering a nice contrast to the surrounding gray and brown. But it’s this close-up view of the walls which reveals the effort LegoLord has gone into to avoid the dreaded BGW — “Big Gray Wall”. The buttressing, the scattered inclusion of textured bricks, the nicely-placed patches of foliage — all come together to create a convincing impression of weathered stonework.

Dawn Lake Castle

Illuminati Confirmed

George Washington was a time-traveling Mason sent back to help Benjamin Franklin undermine the revolutionary currency agenda. Am I doing conspiracies right? Well, no matter how far out you go on the conspiracy train, you can always have fun with LEGO. Unless maybe that’s also a conspiracy to make you oblivious to the lizard people among us? As we await our reptilian overlords to save us from Nicolas Cage, check out this build by Alex THELEGOFAN that totally confirms the Illuminati are among us.

LEGO illuminati

Crafting war for 12 years

World of Warcraft (WOW) is celebrating its 12-year anniversary this month and there’s no better way to celebrate than by building chibi-versions of the game’s most iconic characters with LEGO. Mike Dung built a downright cute Illidan Stormrage and an even more adorable Lich King.

Chibi Illidan Stormrage

These little guys are chock-full of amazingly accurate details, from the Lich King’s iconic helmet to Illidan’s rockin’ bod. I also love the simple, yet effect way Mike build these guy’s weapons (Arthas’ Frostmourne and Illidan’s warglaives). I think I better log in now and run a few daily quests.

Chibi Lich King

Money may not buy happiness, but I’d rather cry in a Ferrari than on a bus

Everything I know about expensive sports cars can fit into a single Duplo treasure chest (with a bit of room to spare). But I can appreciate the beauty of these two Ferraris, especially since they have been transformed into stunning LEGO mosaics by Ryan Link.

The mosaic above features the Enzo Ferrari and is 60 studs wide and 27 bricks tall, while the mosaic below is the Ferrari 625 TRC which is 50 studs wide and 16 bricks tall. Ryan used a “studs not on top” (SNOT) building technique with both horizontal and vertical plates to achieve these high-resolution mosaics. The end result is so beautiful that I may become a classic sports car fan after all (Just don’t try to make me drive stick shift).

Sky high tide

The fantastic sky boats of Ian McQue continue to inspire LEGO builders far and wide. This latest iteration from Dwalin Forkbeard freshens the style by using different angles than we’ve seen before. The bow of the craft uses long slopes at an angle that resembles a Viking ship — a motif that is reinforced by the tires hanging off the sides like rune-covered Norse shields. Meanwhile, the cabin of the ship has a jaunty lean, reminding us that this style is just as much fiction as science. And of course the mechanical details are great throughout. Plus, it doesn’t smell like rotting fish.

Cloud Catcher

What does the fox say?

Nothing. It’s too dang cold for this beautifully crafted LEGO animal to waste energy on words. Instead, it waits patiently for a morsel of protein to sally forth from a hole in the snow. Although the woodland creatures of Miro Dudas are breathtaking to behold, don’t forget to notice the expertly detailed tuft of grass yearning for spring, or the complex topography of the pristine frozen landscape. Winter has come.

Winter Fox Hunt

And what does the wolf say? Something along the lines of “Arrr-ooooo!” Which, strangely, is also what a pirate says when he sees a nice boat.

Call of the Wild

Jolly shenanigans at Pirate Cove

Master of the colorful LEGO scenes Letranger Absurde (whose atomic blast we featured this summer) is at it again with this diorama featuring a merry band of buccaneers. Showing only part of the pirate ship, the real stars are the clouds hanging in the bright sky above the skull island. The door hinges are also noteworthy on the ship itself, as is the brick-built rope ladder.

Pirate Cove

Living in a house of bricks

We’ve previously featured Terez trz‘s ongoing project of creating a LEGO version of their own home. Now we have more images to pore over — a wonderful sitting area.

Homesweethome

Whilst the building is cool, once again it’s the quality of Terez’s photography which elevates the models out of the ordinary. The images wouldn’t look out of place in a fancy interiors catalog. Whilst the diorama doesn’t feature any people, I think it avoids sterility with the sense of lived-in clutter created by touches like the pile of mail by the door and the organic messiness of the pot plants.

Homesweethome

When you can’t find the sports car of your dreams, you build it yourself

Malte Dorowski, who is a huge fan of Porsche sports cars, rolls out a magnificent copy of Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Despite being built out of System bricks, it looks much more complicated than its bigger brother from the Technic Technic Porsche 911 set. From the very first sight you know that this little beauty is much more complicated on the inside than on the outside.

LEGO Porsche 911 GT3 RS (991 2016)

Malte builds his cars with astonishing level of detail, including elaborate inner workings in his models. It’s not only about the interior, but about all the nodes and joints. I had no idea how all these parts could be assembled into one car, but the longer you observe the dismantled vehicle, the better you see some truly mind-blowing solutions Malte used to keep the tiniest of slopes and tiles together.

LEGO Porsche 911 GT3 RS (991 2016)

Venice, 1486: an Assassin’s Creed II scene in LEGO

Assassin’s Creed II is a video game I consider a must-play, with its incredible interpretation of Renaissance-era Italy, fun and simple stealth gameplay, and Ezio Auditore being my favorite assassin in the series. Builders Jonas Kramm and Brick Vader met up and collaborated on one of the most incredible dioramas in LEGO I have seen — one that undoubtedly does justice to a great game. I spent plenty of time admiring just how much attention to detail these two builders have in their Venice scene, and my favorite details captured have to be the gameplay aspect of Assassin’s Creed brought to life. The facades look climbable, the black pole appears perfectly aligned for a swing into a double assassination on the guards, and of course a cart of hay that make a leap of faith from any height safe.

Venice 1486

Even if one hasn’t played Assassin’s Creed II, one can still appreciate the iconic, beautifully constructed Venetian architecture and canals.

Venice 1486 - Detail

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