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I first started paying attention to the gallery of Rob D. (a.k.a. agaethon29) when he posted the photo below. It perfectly captures the anticipation and excitement of LEGO Classic Space fans when the #21109 LEGO Ideas Exo Suit was released. (If you have been around here for a while now, you know it is my favorite LEGO set.) The caption reads as follows: “Captain Kayden Knight and a few of his space friends huddle around the computer late at night trying to order the #21109 LEGO Ideas Exo Suit. Fortunately they got lucky and where able to snag one from the LEGO Subspace Network Store.” 🙂

LEGO Classic Space Story by Rob D.

The #21109 LEGO Ideas Exo Suit set created a flurry of activity amongst young and old LEGO Classic Space fans, and for the following months a number of excellent LEGO Classic Space style models were shared at LEGO fan sites, blogs and galleries. Rob continued to impress the LEGO fan community by assembling an updated and upgraded LEGO Classic Space crew. He designed the waterslide-decals for the uniforms himself, taking inspiration from the original LEGO Classic Space design, as well as LEGO Galaxy Squad, Batman’s spacesuit, and the LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 1 Spaceman.

LEGO Classic Space Story by Rob D. Minifigs

Rob called his new LEGO Classic Space crew the Nova Team and started to develop a story for them with accompanying photos. The picture below was the first one in the series, posted back in August of last year. Here we see Nova Team’s Captain Knight about to partake in a test flight of the new prototype long-range tactical starfighter, the LL-962 “Arrow” while various engineering and maintenance staff are prepping the craft for launch.

LEGO Classic Space Story by Rob D. Arrow

Taking a little detour from the Nova Team, as they travel the galaxy on to their next mission, Rob then introduced us to life aboard the Deep Space Outpost Arcturus (which is still part of the main Neo Classic Space story). Here everyone from military personnel, explorers, scientist and civilians of the Federation live and work aboard the asteroid-based outpost stationed in the frontiers of space. Below are a few pictures from their daily life – again, the photography is excellent, and the minifigures and settings are awesome.

LEGO Classic Space Story by Rob D. Gallery

According to Rob’s latest update, the story will now continue with the adventures of the Nova Team, after their sensors detected strange readings from a planet in an unexplored region of space. Members of the team follow the coordinates of the signal, that leads them into a strange cave. With a mix of excitement and trepidation the explorers enter the cave, which is illuminated by an unusual yellow and green lighting powered by some unknown energy source. Rob shares that the color and lightning of this photo was heavily inspired by the interior of Borg vessel’s from Star Trek – in particular from Voyager episodes – which he always found quite eerie with its yellow-greenish lighting and foggy haze.

LEGO Classic Space Story by Rob D. Nova Team

Rob plans to continue the series over the next few weeks, so if you would like to find out what happens with the Nova Team, you can visit Rob’s flickr gallery for updates. I always liked story-based LEGO creations, and Rob’s story with his custom Neo Classic Space minifigs and excellent photography can capture the imagination.

What do you think? How do you like the story, the photography and the Nova Team? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below! Rob is very happy to receive comments and feedback, so don’t be shy. Also, if you like LEGO Classic Space based stories, I highly recommend LEGO Space: Building the Future by Peter Reid and Tim Goddard. It is my favorite LEGO book. 😉

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Custom LEGO tree houses & tree house sets

Some of the most enchanting buildings in both real life and in LEGO are tree houses. Although tree houses may not be the most practical, there is something magical about having a house in the trees! Many childhood stories, fantasy novels and movies include tree houses, and most of us have considered living in a tree house for real. Today we will explore the world of LEGO tree houses that come in official LEGO sets, as well as some of the sweetest tree houses built by LEGO fans (tree house below by Legopard). For the purpose of this collection we would consider both dwellings made inside the hollows of trees and houses built in the trees as tree houses. 🙂

LEGO Tree House by Jonas

LEGO CREATOR TREE HOUSES: LEGO has released a number of tree houses through the years. The #31010 LEGO Creator Treehouse from 2013 is probably the most well known (see below). While the tree in this set doesn’t have a full canopy, it could easily be built up with extra pieces. If you don’t know where to start with building a LEGO tree house, this is an excellent set to start with. Unfortunately it is no longer available directly from LEGO, but you can find it on the secondary market, or just download the instructions to built it on your own. There is another LEGO Creator tree house coming later this year; the #31053 LEGO Creator Tree House Adventures which gives you three different LEGO tree house designs. It should be available this summer.

LEGO Tree House #31010 LEGO Creator Treehouse

LEGO ELVES TREE HOUSE: One of the most beautiful and enchanting tree houses that comes in an official LEGO set is the #41075 LEGO Elves Treetop Hideaway. This tree house is actually built on top of two trees with a little bridge in between. The constructions of the tree trunks and the bridge gives you excellent examples of tree-building with LEGO. Here also the canopy is quite rudimentary, but you get some very unusual colored leaf pieces and many other beautiful elements for building a magical tree house. This is another excellent starter set for building tree houses. It is still available under the LEGO Elves section of the Online LEGO Shop.

#41075 LEGO Elves

LEGO FRIENDS TREE HOUSES: The LEGO Friends theme has the largest number of tree houses to date. They are excellent as starter sets for learning how to build tree houses. One issue is that the colors are more in the pink/purple range, but they could easily be swapped out to other colors. The tree constructions themselves are solid designs, and building the tree is usually the hardest part of any LEGO tree house. You can consider getting one of these sets to star out with your own LEGO tree house, or you can just download the instructions for learning how to build them. LEGO Friends tree houses include the following sets: #3065 LEGO Friends Olivia’s Tree House from 2012, #41059 LEGO Friends Jungle Tree Sanctuary from 2014, and the most recent #41122 LEGO Friends Adventure Camp Tree House from 2016 (see below). You can find the currently available sets under the LEGO Friends section of the Online LEGO Shop.

LEGO Tree House #41122 LEGO Friends Adventure Camp

LEGO STAR WARS TREE HOUSE: If you need a lot of parts for building tree houses, you may consider the #10236 LEGO Star Wars Ewok Village. This set is quite unique because it comes with four tree houses connected by an above ground platform, bridges and ladders. If you remove the Ewoks, you can easily turn this set into a treetop village for elves and other forest dwellers. While the trees in this set don’t have much of a canopy and you would have to get pieces separately, there are plenty of brown and tan pieces for building trees, and the constructions methods are very interesting.

#10236 LEGO Star Wars Ewok Village

OTHER LEGO SETS WITH TREE HOUSES: There are a number of other LEGO sets that come with some form of tree dwelling that you can use for inspiration. For example the old LEGO Castle Forestmen sets from the 1980s contain some of the earliest – and by many, considered the best – LEGO tree houses. The #60071 LEGO City Hovercraft Arrest includes a small, but very nice looking tree house (see below). And you could also consider the hobbit house in the #79003 LEGO The Hobbit An Unexpected Gathering as a great starter set for tree houses.

LEGO Tree House #60071 LEGO City

As you can see, there are a number of LEGO tree houses released by LEGO that you can use as examples, as starter sets for getting the elements you need and for learning various building techniques. But for real inspiration you would want to check out tree houses built by the LEGO fan community. Below are some of my favorites (click on the names for full albums). The first featured tree house below was built by LEGO fan tiberium_blue. It has everything you would want from a tree house; big tree, cozy tree house, and large tree canopy. There are a number of very unique building techniques used here, including the roof and the walls of the house.

LEGO Tree House by tiberium_blue

We have discussed the LEGO fairy forest previously (see: LEGO Fairy Forest – Enchanted & Magical…). It is a very large diorama with a number of excellent examples for tree houses. You can see more detailed pictures at the flickr album of Siercon and Coral.

LEGO Fairy Forest by Siercon & Coral

Below is Link’s tree house from Legends of Zelda built in collaboration between Joseph Z. and Siercon and Coral. Before journeying off to save the Kingdom of Hyrule, Link lived in a large tree house on the outskirts of Ordona Village. The kids from the village often went visit Link to watch him train and ride his horse Epona. Next to Links house, the Spirit spring of the Ordona Province blesses the area with the power of the Golden Goddess Farore.

LEGO Tree House by Faron

Another enchanted tree house by ‘Torgar, inhabited by elves. Besides the beautiful trees, also check out the excellent rockwork and the waterfalls.

LEGO Tree House by Torgar

David Hensel is well known for his crooked storybook-like houses, and here he shows a good example of a little hut perched on top of a big old tree.

LEGO Tree House by Legonardo Davidy

Cesar Soares built his LEGO tree house in a similar storybook style, with little debilitated dwellings all around and up this beautiful autumn tree. It’s a whole neighborhood in the trees!

LEGO Tree House by Cesbrick

The tree house below by Legopard is a more modern style that brings back childhood memories. Notice the swing, and the crate to pull up items for a picnic in the trees.

LEGO Tree House by Legopard

Here is another modern tree house, this time by Blake Baer. It was inspired by the novel The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. The tree here incorporates an interesting design with studs facing out, instead of bricks built on top of each other.

LEGO Tree House by Blake's Baericks

The following LEGO tree house is a collaboration between BuildFiend and Nunki-psi posted on LEGO Ideas. They wanted to design a tree house that was both attractive, playable, and packed with fun features. If you would like it to become an official LEGO set, you can vote for it here.

LEGO Tree House by BuildFiend

The Death Star treehouse is what builder Hen Peril always imagined living in as a kid. It uses a unique technique for the tree canopy, giving the tree a weeping willow type look.

LEGO Tree House by Hen Peril

I’m sure you recognize this one; Pooh’s little house in the Hundred Acre Woods, built by JK Brickworks.

LEGO Tree House by JK Brickworks

Yes, you are allowed to think outside the box! For this tree house by oLaF LM the LEGO house was built on top of a real bonsai.

LEGO Tree House by oLaF LM

I hope you like this collection of LEGO tree houses, and they may even inspire you to build your own. What do you think? Do you like any of the official LEGO tree house sets? And how do like the custom tree houses built by LEGO fans? Do you have a favorite? Are there any other ones that you found and really like? Did you ever build a LEGO tree house yourself? Feel free to share in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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