Announcing the BRICKNADO building contest winners!

The Brothers Brick BRICKNADO building contest is now over. The contest was in celebration of the cinematic masterpiece Sharknado 2: The Second One, which for our US readers premieres on the SyFy channel tonight at 9pm (8pm Central).

Thank you to all the builders that were brave enough to take part – in the end we had 24 shark-tastic entries. With the chainsaws now put away, the sidewalks hosed down, and a tally of the fallen taken, The Brothers Brick are pleased to announce the winners:

1st PLACE
“I love New Yaaaargh!” by nolnet

2nd PLACE
“NYC Subway Sharknado!” by El Barto

3rd PLACE
“Sharknado!” by SuckMyBrick

We also have a couple of “honorable mentions” for some other entries that we loved too… So big shout-outs go to M<0><0>DSWIM for “Fin Rides the Sharknado!” and Uno Brick for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fisherman”.

  

While our three winners are now faced with the solemn task of making their prize choices, we’ll leave the rest of you to settle in behind the couch and brace yourselves for the coming storm…

LEGO chess set honors The Brothers Brick’s 9th Anniversary

Magma Guy has posted a really lovely chess set in honor of our 9th birthday! Built in Brothers Brick colors, the set really pops. I am a big fan of brick-built chess sets and the quality of this one is top-shelf. I especially like how the designs of the two sides are quite different but maintain a similar style. The board itself is simple yet elegant. The use of brown as a highlight really ties the green and white together as well. I would love to play a game or two, Magma Guy!

TBB chess

Angus MacLane’s Wall-E achieves 10K supporters on LEGO Ideas [News]

Earlier today, Angus MacLane‘s LEGO Wall-E model achieved 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas.

LEGO WALL•E 3.0

I’ve commented before about how way too many projects on LEGO CUUSOO/Ideas aren’t based on ideas associated in any way with the person who initiated the project. This one’s different. As long-time readers will recall from our interview with Angus MacLane back in 2008, Angus works at Pixar and was the Lead Animator for Wall-E. Given Angus’s close association with Pixar and the source material, I’m very hopeful that this wonderful model will end up as a future LEGO set.

Good luck during the review process, Angus!

Check out the ABS on that!

Since creating the air hockey table we featured a while ago, Turkish builder Sinan Bitişik has taken to accurately reproducing all manner of real-world machines using LEGO, including a weed wacker, record player, road paver, AC unit and even an oven. But I particularly love the attention to detail in his latest piece, a brick-built lat machine…

…of course, it’s crying out for a Miniland scale body builder to put it through its paces!

John and Ian channel the 80s

Or so John Moffatt (John Moffatt) and Ian MacDonald (ABS doohickies) say. I think they’re just channeling awesome in this collaborative build. There are so many great details on this ship. My favorites are the ring (electromagnet perhaps?) on the front, the radar dish, and the engine arrangement itself. This ship has utilitarian workhorse written all over it (in gray). Make sure you check out some of the detail shots to get a good feel for this lovely bit of monochromatic space.

Channeling the 80's - Scott Kubrick Inspection Craft

Archangel LCAM-01XA from Gundam SEED

While it’s fair to say that a lot of characters in the vast Gundam franchise run around dressed as giant robots (sorry, “mobile suits”), some of them do also use spaceships. And among the more iconic of those is probably the Archangel from ‘Cosmic Era’ spin-off Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, recreated here in mega-swooshable LEGO form by lisqr.

A monument to the Age of Steam

Ordo is a multi-theme builder whom we haven’t featured nearly enough, I think. (Frankly, I suspect the broader LEGO builder community tends to overlook fellow builders whose primary theme is Star Wars — it’s a bit unfair, and I admit to passing over some pretty good Star Wars models myself from time to time.)

Ordo has begun dabbling with steampunk, and this little vignette is packed with detail — as both steampunk and vignettes should be.

The age of steam

The small steam-cycle and robotic drone are nice little steampunk builds in their own right, but it’s little touches like the key on the vignette’s base and the scattered pink flowers that really distinguishes Ordo’s work from so many other builds in the genre.

Be sure to check out Ordo’s photostream if you haven’t already — there’s lots to like.

211 in progress! Suspects are armed and hilarious!

Apparently, I’m not the only one who finds the LEGO Simpsons Collectible Minifigures vaguely unsettling. Nooroyd has put the Krusty the Clown head to good use as rubber masks hiding the identities of a pair of bank robbers. Beyond the use of these minifig parts, the scene is wonderfully photographed, with overhead and ambient lighting.

Bank Robbery by Nooroyd on Flickr