Lego Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn Custom Minifigures

Baldur’s Gate 2 (Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal) is one of those legendary video games. Developed originally by BioWare and published by Black Isle Studios back in 2000. Recently there has been a resurgence of popularity with the release of the Enhanced Edition and various Kickstarter projects. Baldur’s Gate is one of the most successful Dungeons & Dragons PC games ever. Set in the Forgotten Realms campaign, a high fantasy world made famous by the author R. A. Salvatore. BG2 is an RPG full of tiny details, hidden secrets, and memorable characters.

Justin Stebbins, of Saber-Scorpion, has created a whole collection of custom minifigures. Showcasing most of the heroes and villains in Baldur’s Gate 2. Pictured above are minifigs for Jan Jansen, Keldorn Firecam, Aerie, Jaheira, Imoen, the Bhaalspawn, Minsc, Viconia De’Vir, Edwin Odessieron, Yoshimo, and Korgan Bloodaxe.

Most of these custom minifigures are accomplished with mini decals, stickers, and paint. This custom minifigure for Minsc and Boo ( a miniature giant space hamster) is a perfect example of what can be accomplished with such techniques.

“Go for the eyes Boo, GO FOR THE EYES!! RrraaaAAGHGHH!!!” — Minsc

Even the extremely popular drow (dark elf) Drizzt Do’Urden gets a custom minifig. With some amazing scimitars (from Bric kWarriors, a custom Lego accessory store).

With the release of Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition, came four new characters. Custom minifigures for Baeloth the Entertainer, Neera the Wild Mage, Dorn Il-Khan, and Rasaad yn Bashir the monk. Hopefully some day we will see these characters make it into Baldur’s Gate 2.

You can’t just make 15 minifigs without creating villains for them to play with. A custom Lego Sarevok, Amelyssan the Blackhearted, Jon Irenicus, and Bodhi are ready to terrorize the town of Athkatla and the surrounding lands of Amn.

Justin Stebbins has worked hard on these figures, some of them going through many different revisions. See if you can spot the changes between Jon Irenicus, Bodhi, and Amelyssan the Blackhearted.

Dungeons & Dragons based custom minifigures are becoming more and more common. Lego has been releasing new weapons, accessories, and hair pieces in the recent Lord of the Rings and Hobbit theme that transfer perfectly to other fantasy based themes. Hopefully we will be seeing many more of these type of projects.

Make sure to check out all the custom minifigures for Baldur’s Gate II over at Saber-Scorpion. Including previous versions of some of the characters. http://www.saber-scorpion.com/lego/dandd_baldur.php

Legends of Brickdom: Assassination

“The task assigned to Tarduan was simple enough: kill a certain Platinus commander involved with the planning of invading Daien, and take any intelligence he could while at it. It was good money too. Tarduan’s services usually went to the highest bidder. In these times of war, the government was the highest bidder.

After dispatching the guards, he rushed into the commander’s quarters and slew him with a quick stroke of his sword before his target had a chance to reach for the ceremonial sword on his desk. Flipping through documents, rifling through chests and drawers, he pocketed valuable documents, even ones which were not his target. Those could be easily sold to other kingdoms for good profit. However, something caught his eye. Several maps and aged parchment scrolls describing a certain object. One of the legendary god weapons, named Athor’s Gift. After quickly scanning the description, he was sure that investigating such an artifact would be worth his time. He also noted that the translations had been recorded weeks ago, meaning others would most likely be after it too. Tarduan would have to hurry.” — Legends of Brickdom

An interesting trend has taken hold in the Lego Castle community. The concept of creating a community based fantasy story and recreating scenes and locations in Lego is truly interesting. The Legends of Brickdom is one such story. These groups are currently creating some of the most impressive Lego Fantasy MOCs, vignettes, and scenes. Here is Ryclen’s first entry into the LoB group. The “Assassination” is amazing. Full of details, such as the stained glass, red carpet, the bookshelf, and one very well made desk. This Lego scene looks alive.

Check out Ryclen’s Legends of Brickdom: Assassination on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryclen/9415948279/

Legends of Brickdom group information: http://www.flickr.com/groups/lob-dawn_of_legends/

The Great Neuschwanstein Castle in Lego

Neuschwanstein Castle might be the most famous castle on Earth. A Romanesque Revival castle located in Germany, near the village of Hohenschwangau. The castle construction completed relatively late, in the year 1892. Since then, this little castle has made appearances in the films: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Ludwig, and Ludwig II. But, most importantly it was the original insperation for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

This Lego Neuschwanstein Castle is the creation of T-Bone, who put a whole lot of hard work into it. Not only has the color scheme been carefully thought out, but the details and design are accurate to the real life castle. Every window, door, tower, and room is accurate. Where there should be 5 windows, as on the real Neuschwanstein Castle, there are 5 windows in this Lego MOC. T-Bone even got the tree and pavement details correct.

Also note the extremely well made micro carriage with horses in the castles entrance.

Check out T-Bone’s Lego Neuschwanstein Castle over on Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=514019

Also make sure to check out the castle over on the Lego CUUSOO page: http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/1128

Lego Lake Town Chase (79103) from The Hobbit to be released December 2013

Lego has announced a whole boat load of new Lego sets this weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). One of which is the new Lego, The Hobbit: Lake Town Chase (79103). Featuring a boat, and two Lake Town buildings. The set will include 334 pieces and be priced at $49.99; to be released this December. Five minifigures will be included, Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, Bard the Bowman, a generic guard, and the Master of Lake Town. Lego Lake Town looks like an expensive, but well designed set.

Check out Lake Town on this MTV clip:

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/938730/sdcc-2013-lego-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-demo.jhtml#id=1709970

Check out Lego Lake Town at The Brothers Brick: http://www.brothers-brick.com/2013/07/19/lego-hobbit-lake-town-chase-unveiled-at-sdcc-due-out-dec-2013-news/

Lego Castle: King’s Castle (70404) Reviewed @ Eurobricks!

Lego has recently restarted its Castle theme. This may be the first time that two fantasy based Lego themes have overlapped. Lego Castle and Lego the Lord of the Rings / the Hobbit are both themes that share common designs. It has never been a better time for fantasy Lego fans. The new Lego Castle theme is actually very similar to the previous Kingdoms theme. Almost matching up set for set, with very few new ideas. For collectors of Lego Castle the minifigures are going to be the main draw here.

oo7 has recently posted up a full pictorial review over at Eurobricks of the new Lego Castle: King’s Castle (70404). This is the big flagship set for the theme and seems to have hit all the checkboxes for a Lego Castle. The standard Gatehouse, Kings keep, curtain wall, and two towers all combine to create a great modular castle. Perfect as the Crownies seem to be defending against the included siege engine and Red Dragon minifigs.

This castle comes with the Lego King, Knight, and two Archers. While on the “bad guy” side you will get a Red Dragon Knight and two Raiders. The Lego King usually comes with a chromed sword, but here comes with a pearlized sword. It comes off looking not as regal, but is also not that much of a loss. The best minifigs here are the Crown Knight, and Red Dragon Knight.

As usual the Castle set is modular and can integrate with other Lego Castle sets. For instance adding the Lego Castle: the Gatehouse Raid (70402) to the castle will match the design and scale perfectly. There are a lot of different options that you can choose for the castle layout.

Check out the full review of the Lego Castle: King’s Castle (70404) over at Eurobricks:
http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=84348

You can find the new King’s Castle over at Amazon.

New The Lord of the Rings Lego sets on sale now: 79005, 79006, 79007 & 79008

The second series for the Lord of the Rings Lego theme is now available for sale on Amazon.com. These sets help to fill out a lot of the missing characters from the first release. Such minifigures as Elrond, Arwen, Saruman, Gandalf the White, the Mouth of Sauron, the King of the Dead, and many others. These sets are great, and it looks like the Tolkien themes may have many more updates in the future. You can even get an exclusive Lego Eagle that can help you set up plot holes and your favorite Deus ex machina! (HAHA!)

The Lord of the Rings: The Wizard Battle (79005)

The Lord of the Rings: The Council of Elrond (79006)

The Lord of the Rings: Battle at the Black Gate (79007)

The Lord of the Rings: Pirate Ship Ambush (79008)

Upper levels of Minas Tirith

“For the fashion of Minas Tirith was such that it was built on seven levels, each delved into the hill, and about each was set a wall, and in each was a gate. But the gates were not set in a line: the Great Gate in the City wall was at the east point of the circuit, but the next faced half south, and the third half north, and so to and fro upwards; so the paved way that climbed toward the citadel turned this way and that and then that across the face of the hill.” — The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Minas Tirith: The City of Kings

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is the source of a many My Own Creation (MOC) builds, second only to Star Wars. Every few months a newer and more epic build is revealed to the public. It looks like the recent Helms Deep MOC has some series competition for the title of the greatest Lord of the Rings build. All the credit goes to Flickr user Chairudo, who is responsible for this massive Minas Tirith.

The current status for this build puts the brick count at 120,000 bricks, and roughly 6 feet tall. These 120,000 bricks only represent the top 2 levels of the total 7 that Minas Tirith is composed of. What you see here has taken a little over 2 years to build. Imagine what that means if this thing ever gets finished.

Just look at all the details. From the impeccable rock work, to the White Tree of Gondor. Even the Citadel is completely build up on the interior. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Palantír of Minas Anor was included. This build is epic.

Recently Minas Tirith was on display at Lipno Point in the Czech Republic. If this thing ever goes on tour, make sure to go see it. I have a feeling that we will be seeing many more updates to this build in the coming years.

Check out many more photos and updates on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87198490@N07/sets/72157631651906415/

The Legend of Zelda: Hylian Shield

Although Twilight Princess is not the most memorable game in the Zelda franchise, it is the basis for one of the most memorable Lego MOC. The Legend of Zelda and Lego are a perfect fit. There are many advanced techniques when building with Lego, ways of putting the pieces together that Lego has never documented in an instruction manual. A perfect example of this is Link’s Hylian Shield. Just look at the detail put into creating the complicated pattern on the front. Yep, those are crowbars, space helmets, crabs, dragon helmets, fans, fezzes, and even ray guns all in the red bird motif.

Make sure to check out the Bolt of Blue’s Hylian Shield on Flickr. Now if you will excuse me, I am off to play A Link to the Past.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boltofblue/8050566042