Building Instructions Archives | Page 8 of 10

Save Mushroom Kingdom from the Clutches of the Custom LEGO Bowser MOC!

What’s better than a custom Super Mario and Yoshi MOC? Well, but of course – a custom Super Mario, Yoshi, AND a Bowser MOC! Yup, you heard it right, because just after Tyler’s latest super cool Mario MOC from Super Mario Odyssey, now comes the most iconic turtle baddie of all time – Bowser!

To begin with, this custom LEGO Bowser is absolutely spot-on! I couldn’t overemphasize how this next brick-built creation from Tyler is so close to how we imagine Bowser to be. The scale and color combination is superb. Admittedly, it was quite a fun challenge for Tyler and in fact, it took him some time before he got Bowser just right. For example, if you look closely at Bowser’s head, you’ll see a lot of different angles and weird shapes. Coming up with Bowser’s shell is also kind of tough considering the relative difficulty of coming up with domed shapes using a combination of LEGO plates and pieces. Nevertheless, the result was all worth it.

The level of detail that Tyler added to Bowser’s head is very impressive. He even added several hinge pieces for the mouth and jaw to make him look more menacing, plus on the lower jaw, you’ll see that Tyler added a sort of a movable lip to add more expression to Bowser’s already intimidating stare. The mouth completely opens and closes with his teeth and jaw on perfect alignment.

As it turns out, Bowser’s shell is also removable and you can easily replace it with any color that you want. It is made of many LEGO panel pieces that are hinged on a central piece.

Due to the sheer size and weight of this LEGO Bowser MOC, it is understandable that movement along its points of articulation may somehow be limited. Nevertheless, Tyler managed to add some play features that allow some minimal movement on its arms, hip and feet. Bowser’s fingers can also move and his hands can hold a weapon or two if you wish. I love how the hands turned out, with its menacing claws and joints.

In case you’re wondering how this custom LEGO Bowser will fare with Tyler’s earlier rendition of Mario, well, here they are with both MOCs scaled just right.

I would certainly want to see this iconic pair standing side by side on my LEGO workstation. Here’s Tyler with more about this LEGO Bowser custom build.

If you wish to add Bowser to your roster of brick-built Super Mario characters, then be sure to check out Build Better Bricks on how to come up with your own. While you’re at it, be sure to see Tyler’s building instructions on how to make your very own Mario from Super Mario Odyssey, and everyone’s favorite Nintendo dinosaur, Yoshi. Happy building!

Hello, it’s me… LEGO Mario!

If there is any Nintendo game that gets better and better with each release, I have to give credit to Super Mario. I remember the time that I played this 8-bit game on a Nintendo Family Computer or FamiCom. This was my very first dive into the gaming scene, and I was hooked since then. Since its inception in 1985, Nintendo just kept on pushing the boundary of gameplay with Super Mario. With the advent of the Switch, Mario is now taken at a whole new level with a lot of new characters, and an awesome sandbox type of environment to explore. Super Mario Odyssey, which was officially released a few weeks ago, is now considered as the fastest selling Mario game in the US, selling 2 million copies in just 3 days after its release last October 27. It is proof of how the humble plumber from Mushroom Kingdom is still very close to everyone’s heart.

To celebrate the release Mario’s next adventure in Super Mario Odyssey, Tyler got busy again in his studio and the result is short of breathtaking – it is a custom, LEGO Mario from Super Mario Odyssey, together with his new pal, Cappy!

Tyler created Mario in a similar scale to that of his custom LEGO Yoshi MOC which he did before. Though it may look great to have this brick-built Mario mount on the back of Yoshi as an added play feature seen from the video game, Tyler opted not to so we can better appreciate the articulation on these MOCs.

Similar to the Yoshi figure, there are a lot of ball joints in this custom built Mario that added plenty of movement and articulation to this set. From its ankles, hips, arms and neck, you can add plenty of motion on this MOC without compromising its stability. The joints add more life and fluidity to the build, which is only fitting considering how dynamic Mario’s character is in Odyssey. Tyler even added that extra play feature of adding movement to Mario’s mouth using some hinge pieces. It adds a little more expression to his face, together with the head’s movement.

I think one of the best features of this custom LEGO Mario is Tyler’s rendition of Mario’s newest companion, Cappy. Tyler nailed it perfectly when he recreated those pair of wide-opened googly eyes on Mario’s cap, and the cool thing is, you can easily switch back into Mario’s classic cap with its iconic logo. The classic M logo was custom printed on a round tile.

Tyler also added the classic gold coin to give that Super Mario vibe. You can also easily make one using a gold plate and a gold tile, mounted on a clear bar piece to give that floating effect. Here’s Tyler with more on his custom LEGO Mario. Watch this.

If you enjoyed watching this video, then you’ll be glad to know that you can also build one of your own. You can visit BuildBetterBricks to see how you can come up with your own custom LEGO Mario, and with a minimal fee, you can download the building instructions together with a parts list that allows you to easily export to BrickLink and order the LEGO pieces that you need. In fact, you can even get a 20% discount on all the building instructions across the store during this entire month of November when you enter the coupon code BRICKSET at checkout. These, and the rest of Tyler and Sean’s creations, were so cool that even Brickset took notice.

So what do you think about this latest creation from Tyler? Are you a Super Mario fan just as we are? Show the Super Mario in you by adding your comment down below!

Strike Fear (and Fun) On The Hearts of Pirates With This LEGO POTC Dead Men Tell No Tales Mini Silent Mary MOC!

Who says only minifigure pirates can have fun on the high seas? The pride of the Spanish Royal Navy is not the kind to shrink down on any type of challenge – even in a micro-build form! Tyler is back once more for another fun and creative build which will strike fear – or should I say fun – in the hearts of the haughtiest pirate. We saw it first as an official LEGO set when the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean Silent Mary (71042) was unveiled during this year New York Toy Fair, and this time you can add it to your growing roster of custom microbuilds thanks to Tyler.

Based from the most recent POTC film, Dead Men Tell No Tales, this fun, little build is also a bit of a challenge for our Master Builder because of its odd shape and design, unlike the first ones that Tyler did for this series. As you may have seen from the film, this spectre of a ship has been notably lacking in terms of its hull so it’s kind of clever of Tyler to add those clear, round brick pieces to stabilize and make the ship look elevated. The tooth and clip pieces were very helpful to recreate the broken and ghostly, rib cage-like hull of the Silent Mary. It also helps to convey that rotted-out look on Captain Salazar’s phantom ship.

Like we see in the film, Tyler opted to have a play feature added to this Silent Mary microbuild by attaching a hinge on the front portion of the ship that lifts up as it swallows other ships along its path.

On the other side, you’ll also see another play feature where the ship’s mast can be lowered as if it is dangling over the water like the ghostly, dilapidated ship that it is. Tyler also added some cannons on each side using those handy, minifigure binocular pieces to replicate the ship’s armaments. It’s kind of cool of how it turned out actually.

Another fun challenge in building this MOC is how Tyler managed to recreate the Silent Mary’s sails. Unlike the ones before it where Tyler used those curved slope pieces to re-enact the sails, this time, he opted to use several tooth/plate pieces to make it look like the tattered, torn sails which we saw in the movie. Tyler also added a bit of motion in these sails by having it dangling on several clips.

And of course, Captain Salazar can fit nicely in the back, sitting in command of his ghostly, fun ship.

Here’s Tyler once again with this nice, little build.

If you like Tyler’s minibuild rendition of the Silent Mary and would like to create your own chibi-sized POTC set, be sure to drop by at BuildBetterBricks.com to check out its building instructions. While you’re at it, why not complete your roster of POTC mini ships by clicking the other MOCs in this series. Just click on the following thumbnails.

Which is your favorite among these minibuilds? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below. Happy building!

Go Mini in The High Seas With These Custom LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean Queen Anne’s Revenge Microbuild!

It’s a nice Sunday afternoon to conquer that sea of bricks that you have lying around, and what better way to do that than to try this next wave of LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean MOCs from our Master Builder Tyler! We saw the swashbuckling, chibi sized Black Pearl and Flying Dutchman MOCs conquer the high seas, and this time around another of Tyler’s creations enter the fray.

First off, we have another ship straight from 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and at the helm of it is the fearsome pirate, the infamous Blackbeard (well, at least in the film and not in this pretty neat MOC). The original Queen Anne’s Revenge may look frighteningly scary, but this next microbuild from Tyler playfully takes away all of that – I say that even the minifigure version of Blackbeard will have a blast riding on this one.

LEGO actually turned this intimidating ship into an official set when it introduced the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Queen Anne’s Revenge (4195) back in 2011. Coming in at 1,094 this now retired D2C (direct-to-consumer) set is sort of the capstone of the subtheme. Following the tradition of LEGO’s microbuilds, Tyler now presents us a more fun and playable alternative to this larger version.

This next mini-pirate ship is probably the coolest ship of all in the film’s series, especially with all of its red, intimidating sails proudly sailing. That sort of grandness of the Queen Anne’s Revenge was captured by Tyler in cute, LEGO form. He even managed to use several gold LEGO pieces to imitate the colors that adorn the sides and front of the ship.

Similar to his previous POTC microbuild techniques, Tyler recreated the sails using several mudguard pieces to give it that curved natural look. These curved slopes are perfect for these creations and seem to be designed specifically for this purpose.

And of course, Blackbeard’s minifigure fits nicely into this mini Queen Anne’s Revenge as it sails towards its next conquest.

Here’s Tyler with more on this fun build.

If you like to add this custom LEGO Queen Anne’s Revenge micobuild alongside the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman, then be sure to check out how to build and create one of your own by visiting BuildBetterBricks.com. Happy building!

How To Build Your Own LEGO Toys R Us Bricktober Mini BB-8.

This is something that fell off my radar during the past weekend. After the successful launch of this year’s LEGO TRU Bricktober Minifigures, Toys R Us officially concluded this year’s Bricktober promotions with a build and take home event last Saturday at all local TRU stores in the US. KFOLS had the chance to build and bring home a brick-built mini version of one of Star Wars favorite droids, none other than BB-8.

If you missed out this event, and wish to try your own mini BB-8, then you’ll be glad to know that the instructions to build this miniature droid is now available online courtesy of The Brick Fan. You may download the building instructions directly as a PDF file and see if you have the necessary parts to build it, or you may just click on the images below.

Frankly, this particular build is not really that impressive. Pardon me, but I can’t help but think that it actually ended up looking like a roll-on… lol! I feel that BB-8’s head section can be improved even with very limited parts. Here’s how the final build looks like, with photo credits to Rebel Scum.

But who am I to complain, it’s free LEGO after all – and any free LEGO is always a good catch.

You’ll Gonna Love This Nightmarish MOC From Tyler – The Custom LEGO The Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Skellington House!

This next MOC from Master Builder Tyler will make you shiver in nightmarish delight. Alright, I know… enough with the Halloween puns already, since this next brick-built rendition from Tyler will surely add smiles to any LEGO and Tim Burton fan (myself included).

If you grew up in the 90s, then it’s hard to miss out on one of Tim Burton’s classic cult favorite, The Nightmare Before Christmas. For those of you who are not around yet during this time (it was released in 1993), it tells the story of the King of Halloween Town, the self-absorbed, but good-willed Jack Skellington as he tries to take over Christmas and spread holiday joy – but in his own terms. As you may have guessed, that led to some seriously, nasty problems. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I highly recommend that you watch it.

As a tribute to one of the most loved and impressive films of that time, Tyler impressively managed to recreate Jack’s iconic home using a combination of impressive building techniques and a flair of creativity. The result? Jack Skellington’s House in magnificent LEGO form! Let’s take a closer look.

To begin with, let’s try to look at the impressive features of this MOC starting from the bottom, and working our way up. Beginning with its front gates, Tyler managed to recreate the entrance to this spooky house using gate pieces attached to angled columns. On top of the columns, you can see how Tyler cleverly recreated the eerie cat-like statues using a combination of clips and several robot arm pieces. When you open the gate, you’ll see that Tyler has demonstrated yet again, his exceptional building skills when he recreates that rickety, ramshackle of a stairs. Though it was a bit longer, windy, and twisted as you can see from the film, the stairs on this MOC needed to be a bit shorter to make the build stable and sturdy. Nevertheless, Tyler still managed to capture that Tim Burton feel with this set.

Leading on top of the steps is Jack’s one-eyed front door. Tyler added a typical eye piece (I’m assuming it was from a Mixel set) that represents a peek hole which is actually an eyeball embedded on the surface. The door actually opens and leads to a rather narrow corridor, and because of the relatively small space, there is nothing much to add to this section, which is fine since most of the build’s highlights or features are focused on the next part of Jack Skellington’s house.

If you turn it around, you’ll see that Tyler added more details such as holders to place one or two spiders, and a ladder that leads to the upper room of the house. Going back to the front, you’ll see that Tyler also managed to emphasize the house’s shabby, dilapidated look using building techniques that allows for angled columns and roofs.

On the sides, you’ll see another ingenious way on how Tyler achieved those sloped walls of Jack Skellington House, keeping up with Tim Burton’s vision of a gravity-defying structure.

Moving forward, we have a balcony with that same ramshackle feel, and windows on the side that gives you that Victorian, gothic look. The interior is jam-packed with nice details as well, including a chair for a minifigure, Christmas decors and some items that represent Jack’s horrific gifts to children on Christmas.

Now the roof was structurally impressive to say the least and perhaps the most telling feature of this MOC. The odd sloping angles are spot on, and the inclusion of the weirdly twisted chimney, tops it off. But that’s not all – it even opens in the middle to reveal the interior, allowing you easier access to its play features.

And finally, we have our custom-printed, Jack Skellington and Sally minifigures! I really love how these guys turned out – with the fine, ragdoll prints on Sally, and the black and white stripes on Jack. Both of them have side, back and arm printing, while Jack comes with two minifig heads each of which showing a different expression. Perhaps one thing that I would like to see on these custom minifigs are dual printed heads and perhaps, an accessory or two.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s Tyler on his take with the custom LEGO The Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Skellington House.

If you love this one and would like to give it try, be sure to check out BuildBetterBricks.com to see how you can come up with your very own nightmarish creation. Purchasing this set of building instructions allows you access to its full, PDF file together with a parts list and a convenient Stud.io file for easy access and purchasing over at Bricklink.

So what do you think brick fans, will you give this a try?

How to Build a LEGO Motorcycle Sidecar – LEGO City Minis!

We’ve just posted a new video of our most recent City Mini, the Motorcycle Sidecar! It also comes with a small bonus design showing a minifigure trench-coat!

Hopefully this small build can provide some more variety in the motor vehicles bouncing around Legoverse Cities.

And if you missed last weeks video, be sure to check out Construction Barricades. Perfect for any unfinished sector of your city, or disaster zone!

How to Build a LEGO Parking Meter, Maid Mobile – LEGO City Minis!

We are embarking on a new small series called City Minis! Essentially the goal is to create short instructional videos for the lego builder to populate his or her city with. Between the houses and towers, and around the streets and walkways are a multitude of mini build options to personalize your cityscape with. It’s like the mortar between the bricks, or the small details where it often counts the most. So we’ll be building a wide range of things from park benches and parking meters, to bus stops and construction barricades.

So today we are starting our series off with Parking Meters! Check out the video on how to make your very own. Build lots of little meters to place streetside, and even the enforcing Metermaid Mobile!

LEGO Releases Building Instructions for the LEGO Star Wars UCS Millennium Falcon (75192).

Before anything else, I would like to clarify that what I’m about to say has nothing to do whatsoever with the availability of the still sold out, and frustratingly elusive, LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon (75192). However, I’ve been hearing news recently that certain LEGO certified stores outside of the US, particularly in Australia and Singapore, where AFOLs were fortunate enough to pre-order and purchase 50 sets of these brick-built Corellian freighters. The way it seems, it was kind enough of LEGO to set aside at least a few sets for its business partners (certified stores) in various regions where the LEGO VIP program is unavailable.

For those who are still patiently hitting the F5 buttons on their keyboards, and constantly refreshing shop.LEGO.com’s UCS Millennium Falcon product page for the hope of seeing that Add to Bag button, then you may want to check this out first. LEGO has recently uploaded into their servers the massive, 468-page building instructions for the UCS Millennium Falcon (75192). Since I haven’t seen nor held the set myself, I am naturally curious on what the building instructions may contain. If you want to download the full instructions in pdf format – a total of 83MB in file size – just head over to this link. I’ve posted the first introductory pages of the building instructions which you can find below. It provides a background on the history of the Millennium Falcon itself, and the design process involved in creating the largest LEGO set ever, with interviews from the members of the design team.

Tremble at the Might of This Custom LEGO Lord of the Rings Oliphant Set!

If there is one particular scene in the Lord of the Rings trilogy that really sends shivers down my spine is that scene in The Return of the King where the noble Army of Rohan was overwhelmed at the sight of several gigantic beasts looming on the horizon (similar to how the Resistance may have probably felt when faced with a line of formidable First Order Heavy Assault Walkers as we saw from The Last Jedi trailer). Perhaps other than the TLOR classic fight scene between the hellish Balrog and Gandalf (which Tyler impressively re-enacted in brick form with his LEGO LOTR Custom Balrog Battle set), the war elephants used in the Battle of Pelennor Fields is one LOTR scene that I really wish LEGO has included in this theme. Thankfully, Brickshow’s master builder Tyler knows how much we love Lord of the Rings, and has a good grasp of LOTR lore as well. For his third LOTR-themed MOC, we now present to you, the mighty and proud custom LEGO Lord of the Rings Oliphant!

Fighting the Oliphant in battle as seen in The Return of the King, proved to be quite a Herculian task for our heroes. The mere sight of the massive war animal is enough to make even the bravest warrior cast doubt if such a creature can be taken down. This overwhelming feeling of sheer size and raw strength was perfectly captured by Tyler in this custom built LEGO Oliphant. Now honestly, we wished LEGO could have made one, but it was a bummer that LEGO didn’t make that call in adding the Oliphant in the TLOR line-up. So for now, let’s see all the nice features that Tyler included in his latest LEGO TLOR wishlist.

First off, this custom LEGO Lord of the Rings Oliphant has excellent articulation in all of its four massive legs starting with its knees using Technic joint pieces. Tyler also used sturdy ball joints for the ankles which can flex and be posed in various directions. The hips of the Oliphant are also articulated which allows the legs to be rotated at various angles, allowing the behemoth to be posed in different positions.

The Oliphant’s head is attached to its body using a strong ball joint that also acts as a support to counter the weight of the head. It also allows the head to be moved from left to right, creating a swaying motion as seen in the film. This swaying motion of the Oliphant’s head, coupled with its menacing 2 pairs of tusks, is perhaps the most devastating feature of the Oliphant in the battlefield. The trunk and primary tusks are also articulated using a variety of Mixel joints, allowing it a more flexible and fluid motion, while the jaw can also be opened and closed using a hinge.

This LEGO Oliphant also comes with a variety of battle accessories as we see in the film, including a chain connected to its tusks to use in sweeping the battlefield, and the menacing, three-tiered Haradrim tower mounted on its back. The tower also comes equipped with several spear launchers to add an extra punch to the Oliphant’s lethal capabilities.

One of the best parts in this scene is when Legolas single-handedly defeated an Oliphant using a combination of acrobatic moves and top-notch archery skills. This particular scene has been nicely re-enacted by Tyler by adding a simple carrottop piece on the sides of the Oliphant’s legs, allowing Legolas’ minifig counterpart to grab hold of it and maneuver his way up to the tower. As seen from the film, these are actually arrows that got stuck to the beast’s extraordinarily thick skin. It is so embedded in the Oliphant’s skin that the arrow itself can support the weight of Legolas.

Overall, this is such an excellent MOC that LEGO designers may find worth considering. Both AFOLs and KFOLs will certainly appreciate its play features and aesthetic value. Frankly, there is still a lot of potential in the LEGO Lord of the Rings theme that I sincerely wish LEGO will give it a second look and perhaps create more sets than just the 16 builds that they previously came up with. However, if you are impressed as much as I am with this latest LOTR MOC wish set from Tyler (you may also want to check out his LEGO LOTR Custom Balrog and Prancing Pony sets), then you have the option of building one of your own by simply heading over to BuildBetterBricks.com to purchase and download this MOC’s building instructions.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more awesome LEGO MOCs, news, reviews and pretty cool, brick-built stuff. Happy building!