From samurai and ninjas to giant mecha like Gundam or the beautiful films of Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese history and culture inspire LEGO builders all over the world. With contributors fluent in Japanese, The Brothers Brick also brings you coverage of the people and events in the large LEGO fan community in Japan itself.
Brickshelf user LakMause built a barracks from ancient Japan. The scaled golden roof is a gorgeous feature, but there are plenty of small details that you shouldn’t miss. Check out the pond, the training ring, and the building interior. This would make an excellent contribution to our Big In Japan collaboration project for BrickCon 2010.
Ken Robichaud built this lovely Chokutō for the Classic Castle Weapons Challenge. I love that engraving on the blade.
This samurai is astounding. The plethora of unusual pieces meshes perfectly together. Genius, I say. Pure Genius. You can color me a fan of the builder. His name is Cameron, by the way. And, yes, this is the type of thing we would love to see in the Big In Japan layout at BrickCon this Continue reading →
A LEGO zombie apocalypse is so last year (and the year before that). We’re pleased to announce that the collaborative display that The Brothers Brick will be coordinating this fall at BrickCon in Seattle will be inspired by the rich history and culture of Japan. Like these wonderful characters from Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro Continue reading →
かわいいレゴずき (I Love Cute LEGO) has a great roundup of New Year’s best wishes from our LEGO friends over in Japan, starting with one of their own: Here are a few more of my favorites. muntax has built a tiger truck (“寅っく” for a lovely bilingual pun): Hiro’s tiger burns bright in the forests of Continue reading →
Rod Gillies (2 Much Caffeine) applies his skills to medieval Japan with his latest creation, “The General is summoned to war”. The stone wall has a great texture, and the green roof isn’t something you see that often in LEGO samurai/ninja creations (though they certainly exist in real life). My favorite detail is the fountain.
This shrine, by gtahelper, is top notch. It’s packed with all sorts of incredible details, including the first Shishi odoshi that I’ve seen. Make sure you check out the video too, the fish are very cool. Thanks to Bruce for pointing this out to me in Classic-Castle’s chat room last night.
In a feat of LEGO naval engineering rivaled only by Malle Hawking’s USS Harry S Truman and Ed Diment’s HMS Hood, Jumpei Mitsui (JunLEGO) completed his World War II battleship Yamato today. LEGO battleship Yamato has some very impressive specifications: Length: 6.6 meters (22 feet) from bow to stern Width: 1 meter (3 feet) at Continue reading →
Although winners of the 7th Original Model Contest (sponsored by Japanese LEGO specialty store clickbrick) won’t be announced until March 7, some great photos of the LEGO creations entered in the contest are now available. Entrants are free to choose their own theme, but are restricted to 20×20 studs and 30 cm tall, and they Continue reading →
Finding a cool set of names for a series of LEGO creations can be hard. RAMM builders take advantage of the German propensity for concatenation, while Jacob (Memory) has been borrowing from Japanese mythology for his decidedly futuristic walker.
Check out this impressive Japanese Castle by Nathan / Mister 007. The walls, the roof, the whole thing is great!
Chrispockster‘s scene of ancient Japan has a ton of interesting building techniques and cool minifigures to look at. I like the vines on the trees and the broken stone steps leading up to the torii gate.
Like his recent test pattern, Nelson Yrizarry has been taking a break from the minifig-scale creations he’s known for, to build LEGO on a more sculptural scale. Daruma are Japanese dolls most often used to make a wish or keep oneself focused on a goal. You paint one eye when you make the wish or Continue reading →
As a continuation to his tea house, Nathan has posted a lovely Zen garden. The beauty of the leaning tree is likely to distract those seeking to clear their minds, while the perfect torii evokes thoughts of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism — but we won’t go there. ;-) And now for something completely different. A Wells, Fargo Continue reading →
The new LEGO Star Wars Clone Wars sets will be available soon, but attendees at Star Wars Celebration Japan got an early look at some of the sets — and the minifigs in particular. Edge (エッジ) over at レゴ系 (The LEGO System) was there, and took a bunch of pictures of the LEGO Star Wars Continue reading →
