Today we take to the skies on a journey to one of my favourite themes in the wonderful world of MOCs. It´s time for a technique spotlight on (drumroll please…) LEGO floating islands!
I think floating islands are just amazing, so I´m very happy to share with you some very cool examples of them from around the community. Why, you may ask? Well, as with all the technique/theme-spotlights we’ve featured here on BrickNerd, I hope they serve as inspiration so you can build your own.
But before you run away and start building, stick around for a little while to make sure you got a good base to stand on.
As always, let´s start off with a bang! Here is probably one of the my favorite floating islands ever, and no surprise it’s Cesbrick who’s the creator. And keep in mind he posted this thing in 2015… unreal…Presentation aside (which is flawless), the build features his signature roof-look and some great rockwork, but it´s the combination of colours and placement of the buildings that brings everything home for me.
Moving along we have the build that actually inspired me to write this article in the first place. I’ve seen pictures of this floating island on Flickr before (seriously, every time I search for “LEGO floating island” it keeps popping up, and I can´t help myself from having a look for the 100th time… ha!). I was fortunate enough to see it recently in person as the builder Kofi had it on display at Skaerbaek Fan Weekend. It was just as stunning, if not more, in person!
Speaking of Skaerbaek, the island below was on display there last year and was just as breathtaking. The use of chains was a big inspiration for a build I made recently (we´ll have a look at that shortly). The size of this build was truly impressive and I really like how First Order Lego used the clouds as a sort of “invisible“ support structure.
So after seeing that massive island last year, I was really inspired to build a floating island with chains myself. (As surprising as it may seem, this may actually be one of the most stable builds I´ve ever done! I know that doesn´t say much but thought I´d mention it anyways.)
Now of course not all floating island have to be big. This next one is a smaller version by Marcel V that still captures the aesthetic of a classic floating island. So don´t be scared to jump in on the fun, even though you may not have the biggest LEGO collection out there. A small floating ship can go a long way to selling the scene.
Just have a look at this next floating island one by Lego Monkey (which was also on display in Skaerbaek this year if I´m not mistaken). The different levels look great, with almost invisible connections. It was built for Summer Joust, which again shows how contests and challenges in the community help inspire people to build amazing stuff. The stair stepping of the composition also helps sell that magical feeling.
Speaking of contests, I built this floating island for Brickscalibur last year (which reminds me, that contest is starting again soon so I might need to start planning some stuff…). For all those that wonder, this build doesn’t even crack the top ten in terms of stable builds from yours truly… Everyone hold your breath!
Most LEGO floating islands seem to be in the more medieval style, but there´s of course nothing stopping you from building something a bit more modern. Like this one from BrickNerd´s own Geneva Durand. I love the pool—makes me want to go for a dip!
But going back to the medieval theme, I’d be doing you all a disservice if I didn´t include this beauty of a floating island from Joe. It was built for RebelLUG´s Archipelego collab (as well as for Summer Joust) and according to Joe, it´s comes in at 124 studs tall and weighs over 22 lbs! It might as well be a medieval SHIP. The whole build is just stunning—I mean it´s got a windmill AND a castle on it.
Speaking of that Archipelego collab, this floating island from Hypolite Bricks is another great example of going horizontal rather than vertical, accentuated by another flying boat. It features some beautiful rockwork as well as a fantastic looking tree. The story rings clear when you look at this build that the flying vessel is ready to visit another floating island, just like we are!
Of course, we can´t really have a rundown of floating islands without mentioning Wandering Skies—which you can read more about here. They´re hosting a new contest right now so hopefully we´ll see a few more builds in that world in the coming months. But for now we can have a look at this one from last year by frequent BrickNerd reader and contest winner Okay Yaramanoglu. I like the more whimsical nature of this one, with the rope bridge dock and slight steampunk vibe. Plus check out that nice rockwork NPU using a very obscure part.
This LEGO floating island by JakuBricks Workshop might as well just be surrounded by fluffy waves on a beach instead of clouds. It´s got some excellent rockwork as well as a great section of clouds at the bottom. And it was probably a little easier to balance than the others on this list. As always, photo editing the background is your friend!
If you´re in a rush and don´t have time to read that awesome Wandering Skies article right now, there a few examples in there of other collabs involving floating islands. Like this one from builders extraordinaire Tyler and NannanZ. I love the pope of color in this build which is more a community than a solitary floating island. Adding the purple towers throughout the build help give it a cohesive look, and I love how each island has a purpose.
Closing out our journey to the skies, my own LUG Swebrick did a community build with floating islands called Aetheria (which might have been inspired by the builds above by Tyler and NannanZ—how’s that for community?). It featured a lot of different builders and was actually the first collab I ever was a part of.
If anyone out there is looking a great theme for a collab, I highly recommend going for floating islands. You can create basically any type of world you can imagine, and it is a REALLY easy thing to join. You can have people build large, insane things as well as tiny, little things so pretty much anyone can join! And to sound a bit cheesy, isn´t that what a community build is all about?
The final collab included the two creations aboves from Oscar aka o0ger (also from BrickNerd). One thing I like about his builds is the amount of character he packs in a creation. I highly recommend checking out this video to get a better feel for the whole collab.
I know there are tons of other amazing floating islands out there, and I apologize for not including all of them (because again, floating islands are amazing!). But hopefully you got a feel for some of the different styles you can build in. Now I look forward to having more awesome creations popping up in my Flickr feed in the months and years to come.
Best of BrickNerd – Article originally published October 5, 2023.
Have you ever built a floating island? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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