Kris Kelvin calls this creation a small autumn garden and I have to disagree with him on the small part. However, it is a really nice build, and it makes me realize that I probably should attend to my garden a bit more as it looks nowhere near as maintained as this LEGO garden does. Over the years, LEGO has released lots of fruits and vegetables. We’ve got cherries, apples, carrots, bananas, and pumpkins. But what is more fun than building your own vegetable plants? Kris used lavender studs with 3 leaves to create red cabbage or is it lollo rosso lettuce. He also made cauliflower using the same leaves part in green and a white swirl brick. And then there is the egg used as a white eggplant. Last but not least there are a lot of minifigure hair parts used as lettuce or cabbage, something LEGO has been doing for a while now too. I might have it all wrong, but this is how I identify the vegetables in this garden. What vegetables do you recognize?
Next stop, Plymouth Rock
A moment of American history is frozen in time in James Pegrum‘s LEGO recreation of the Mayflower, the English ship that transported the first Pilgrims to New England. The story goes that indentured servant John Howland was swept overboard during a storm and held on until the crew hauled him back to safety. That splash is represented at the center of the build, carefully crafted out of rows of dark blue bricks and white curved slopes among the turbulent waves. The Mayflower flaunts some brick-built masts and beautiful blue accents on her sides. Plus, the rigging is all string and no prefabs — a solid choice for this level of realism.
It takes guts to build something like this
I have resorted to cheap puns to grab your attention with that title but now that you’re here, you’ve got to admit this is pretty cool. You’re looking at (or looking through) a new LEGO creation by Tino Poutianen called Glass Cerberus. The traditional guardian to the gates of hell is fearsome enough as a three-headed dog but the mythical creature has now seeped into nightmare territory. We’ve seen a lot of gutsy creations lately, what with it being close to Halloween and all. Now if only I could gain this hound’s favor perhaps we can find a favorable end to this post. Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good widdle boy? Just kidding! It all ends in unspeakable horror.
It’s a whole new world out there
When humanity finally makes it out into the farthest reaches of space and potentially finds extraterrestrial life, it’s doubtful it would look much like the lifeforms we know. And this alien world scene by LEGO builder Bart De Dobbelaer looks the part perfectly with a thick growth of…something. Plus, with its moody lighting, striking colors, and ominous planetary body in the background, the scene is highly atmospheric (so much so that the explorers don’t have their helmets on!). The large, scattered dark blue slopes make an interesting texture that’s reminiscent of broken shale. Look closely and you’ll spot lots of cool parts being used, but my favorites are the clear rings from Clickits on the alien growth.
TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for October 24, 2020
In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the fourth week of October 2020.
With a little help help from LEGO we find out how to get to Sesame Street! Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.
TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS: This week we took a trip all the way to Sesame Street, checked out Citizen Brick’s new custom minifig parts, made some little Mindstorms robots via a gift with purchase and more!
- LEGO Mindstorms 40413 Mini Robots Gift with Purchase set [Review] – LEGO’s latest freebie set builds these adorable mini versions of the new Mindstorms robots!
- LEGO Ideas’ newest set 123 Sesame Street (21324) takes you back to your childhood – Sesame Street is coming your way with the latest LEGO Ideas set.
- Citizen Brick’s custom LEGO minifigure elements for Halloween 2020 [Review] – Our friends at Citizen Brick (@citizenbrick) have been hard at work during quarantine, but it looks like there’s been an outbreak at the lab…
- Come and Play! LEGO Ideas 123 Sesame Street (21324) [Review] – Who are the people in YOUR neighborhood? The Brothers Brick takes you on a walk along Sesame Street – the latest LEGO Ideas set.
- This isn’t a spaceship, it’s a LEGO brain-teaser – It’s not often that we come across models that truly cause our jaws to drop, but spaceship guru Nick Trotta routinely does so with his mastery of brick geometry.
OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:
- A Dog Photobooth Made Out of Lego, Fstoppers – A cute dog, some Lego, and a camera… I can’t think of anything more perfectly made for the internet than this.
- Adidas and The LEGO Group embark on a multi-year partnership, Brickset – LEGO and Adidas have announced a partnership that is set to last multiple years and continue through various different avenues.
- Denmark is the most affordable country in Europe for Lego sets, CPH Post Online – Indeed, the Danes also rank second in the world with an average price for a Lego set ticking in at 101.04 US dollars
Case and Bunning! They’re hard-boiled cops! Or farm equipment.
As much as I would have loved to have written an edge-of-your-seat cop action drama, this will be about farm equipment. Still, you’ve got to appreciate the love and attention Michał Skorupka gives to these LEGO creations. The red tractor is the International Harvester Case 1455 XL while the blue thingamajigger is the Bunning Lowlander 105mk4. For those of us more versed in hard-boiled cop dramas than farm equipment, the Bunning Lowlander is…a manure spreader. I’m pretty sure I can still integrate that in with some hard-hitting, no-nonsense cop drama dialogue. “My partner Bunning here has a unique set of skills, see? You don’t want to know! So lemme ask ya one more time. You feeling lucky, punk?” In case you are feeling lucky and would like to stick around for a while, why not buckle in and check out our vehicle archives featuring farming vehicles, police vehicles and everything in between.
Guten tag, Raketenwerfer!
The brothers brick regular Andreas Lenander has built a LEGO Ma.K SAFS Raketenwerfer, which I’m pretty sure is German for “launching rockets in a field of olive cheese wedges”. Don’t quote me on that. But that’s pretty much what is going on here. It’s just a small part of what is in store from Andreas in October. I’ll keep an eye out for what this builder is up to and I advise you do the same. This will get you started.
This isn’t a spaceship, it’s a LEGO brain-teaser
As you might imagine, being the managing editor for The Brothers Brick entails looking at a lot of LEGO creations. With space being one of the most popular LEGO genres, I’ve seen my share of spaceships. And while I see plenty of spaceships I love, it’s not often that I come across models that truly cause my jaw to drop, but spaceship guru Nick Trotta routinely does so with his mastery of brick geometry. One of the best spaceship builders around, Nick’s latest creation, dubbed the Heavenly Strike, is a perfect example of how you can fit LEGO pieces together in truly mind-blowing configurations. So I’m going to dive into this one a bit more than we do on our usual articles because I’m absolutely enthralled.
At first, you see a superbly slick spaceship with an impeccable color scheme (with a few gorgeously custom copper-chromed elements). It’s angular and appropriately futuristic without being over the top. And, while it’s easily overlooked, that display stand is quite a nice creation on its own. But look closer, and you’ll start to see that very few pieces align in the way that you’d think they should, and nearly every surface is fitted an odd angle.
Citizen Brick’s custom LEGO minifigure elements for Halloween 2020 [Review]
In addition to excellent custom minifig parts and minifigs inspired by the likes of the Beastie Boys and Bob Ross, our friends at Citizen Brick have begun producing their own injection-molded items. For Halloween 2020 the CB team have released a bevy of creepy custom minifig parts for you to mix and match with your LEGO.
We’ve said before that what’s so awesome about Citizen Brick products is that they’re the sort of thing that LEGO themselves will likely never release, while remaining compatible with LEGO. This makes custom parts produces like Citizen Brick distinct from knockoffs and clone brands that compete with LEGO and are often of inferior quality. Because CB has earned our respect with printing quality that’s indistinguishable from LEGO’s own, it’s exciting to see them branch out to custom parts, allowing LEGO fans to go beyond the confines of the staid bricks from Billund. Let’s take a look at what the mad scientists of Chicago have cooked up.
Read our full hands-on review of this year’s Citizen Brick Halloween release
Building bricks from bricks makes for picture-perfect architecture
The Aarhus Royal Custom House in Denmark is said to be architect Hack Kampmann’s finest work. Now, this massive minifigure-scale tribute may be the finest work of LEGO builder Poul-Erik Borre. The design is exceptionally like the actual building, but it’s even more than that. The color and texture work is impressive. Additionally, there is some awesome parts usage going on to create the angles. As someone who has tried to build complicated roofs before, I know this is no easy feat. The use of the modified 1×2’s with flexible tips to get the right shape for the rounded peaks is my favorite aspect.
There is a Youtube tour of the model promised for the future. In the meantime, take a look at Boore’s medieval village, which is featured in the LEGO House.
This sailboat goes with the motion of the ocean
Barthezz Bricks has a repertoire of highly detailed LEGO dioramas combining land and sea. His latest build is no different, focusing on the historical accuracy of the 15th century Mediterranean tartan ship as a part of a larger ongoing project on 1486 Venice. Let’s dive into some of the techniques used in this build.
The composition captures the rhythmic movement of ocean waves with varying shades of blue underneath translucent cheese slopes and 1×1 tiles. A net technique is used to render the waves, a subtle addition that goes a long way. The hull of the ship features a clever use of two-stud 1×4 plates for just the right amount of texture. Other details include a ragged flag made of 1×1 clips, debris caught in the currents and above all, the magnificent sail of the fishing boat. I don’t know what kind of bar-clip magic is happening behind that sail, but it’s certainly holding together for this photo! Using triangle road signs, Barthezz Bricks has pieced together a wonderful tessellated surface for the sail. Overall, there’s splendid dynamism in this diorama– the movement of the ocean, the flag, the fishermen pulling up their crab traps. Now I can’t help but think that some movement in the sail would have been nice to see, but that might be a greater challenge for another day…
Microscale AT-TE just needs a miniature Ahsoka to be perfect [Instructions]
One of the coolest new vehicles introduced by the Star Wars prequel trilogy in my opinion is the 6-legged walker known as the All-Terrain Tactical Enforcer or AT-TE. Not only is it too low to the ground to trip up with tow cables, but it’s packed with guns, including a massive top-mounted heavy cannon. Jason Allemann has built a remarkably detailed model that not only looks great, but it can also walk on its own.
But the fun doesn’t stop here. You can build one of your own with these instructions provided by Jason, and if you are really ambitious, you might even put yours on a vertical cliff face to re-enact the scene from the Clone Wars animated movie.
And if you want your own Ahsoka Tano, this year’s 75283 Armored Assault Tank includes a gorgeous Ahsoka minifig along with an awesome “Ahsoka Trooper”.