Monthly Archives: August 2013

Seek! Locate! Exterminate!

Yesterday, the BBC announced who’ll be playing the Twelfth Doctor. While I’ve appreciated both David Tennant and Matt Smith, I’m looking forward to seeing what Steven Moffatt and team will do with an older Doctor. And as amusing as the olive-drab Daleks were in the service of Churchill during World War II, I didn’t really like the primary-color Daleks introduced in the same “Victory of the Daleks” storyline. Perhaps we’ll also see a return to some of the classic villain designs from earlier series.

Speaking of older Doctors and more-classic Daleks, though, Steve (LegoAvon) has built a trio of menacing Daleks in the classic dark gray of the 1970’s.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

“I’ve really let the place go since you killed me, by the way. Thanks for that.”

We could fill pages and pages here on The Brothers brick with excellent LEGO models inspired by the Portal universe. In fact, we have. Joining the ranks of wonderful LEGO Portal builders is Gabe Umland, whose dilapidated Portal 2 test chamber includes some excellent technological decay — something hard to do well in LEGO.

Speaking of GLaDOS, I quite enjoyed seeing Pacific Rim last week, and I’m surprised we haven’t seen more LEGO creations inspired by giant robots fighting giant sea monsters from another dimension…

Bring it on!

It has been my distinct pleasure to spin the tunes for you this weekend, but I’m going to hand it back to my Brothers and enjoy an unplugged Sunday night. Of course I can’t leave you without one for the road. This one is from Joriel “Joz” Jimenez and he calls it Bring it on…again. Cloned-cheerleaders and aftermarket guns; what more could you ask for?

See you next weekend.

“Greetings. The Master Control Program has chosen you to serve your system on the Game Grid.”

1982’s Tron and it’s 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy have produced outstanding LEGO models over the years and I thought it was high time to compile the best examples into a single post. The films might not be the strongest in terms of logical plotting or dialogue, but they are inspirational eye-candy for many sci-fi builders. This list is far from comprehensive and you, constant reader, have no doubt seen many of them before. If I have omitted any key models in the genre, please let me know in the comments and I’ll add them to the post. So put on your Daft Punk soundtrack, grab your glow-in-the-dark Frisbee and get ready for some action.

For many fans of Tron, it all starts with the light cycles, like this one from Ewok in Disguise….

…or this one from Abathar…

More Tron action after the jump!

Under the sea, under the sea...

Continuing with our Pixar theme for today, here’s a great model by Joshua Morris (I Scream Clone) of the the dentist’s fishtank in Finding Nemo. Sharkbait Ooh-ha-ha!

Things are looking Up

It’s always great for adult fan builders to show their awesome creations to the public, and one of the more regular ways the public is exposed to fan builds is through the community windows at official LEGO stores. For her local community window, Melanie F. built this delightful rendition of the house from Pixar’s beloved Up, in partnership with fellow fans CleverLittleMinx and ROOK.

“It’s a grave error to think the Way of the Samurai consists of nothing but a show of strength.”

Since it’s just the two of us, constant reader, let’s jump into the way-back machine again and set the dial for 2011. Even though the build can’t be considered new, the builder (LEGO Suzuki) is new to me and perhaps to many of you too. The reason for all this fussy time-travel is to show you Suzuki’s outstanding Samurai battle gear display set, which is detailed enough to make Miyamoto Musashi proud.

Lighters up! FateHeart is back.

Every time I see a model from FateHeart I’m reminded not only of how brilliant his work is, but also of a terrible 80’s hair-metal cover band here in Vegas. The kind of band that plays so far off The Strip that it might as well be in Arizona. So put your lighters up in the air for the better FateHeart and two of his latest models that somehow slipped under the TBB radar in early 2013.

First up is the magnificent United Earth Federation – MA-02F2R Seraphim III (refit) from April of this year. The model has a long and interesting history of previous versions that stretch back a decade, just go down the digital rabbit hole, Alice and follow the links in the photostream if you are interested.

And as an encore, enjoy the brand new power ballad White Knight.

Sparrow vs. Turner

Our next model isn’t a vignette by the strictest sense of the LEGO nerd definition, the footprint is well over the prescribed 8 x 8 stud rule, but it still has the feel of one. The subject matter is the duel in the blacksmith shop from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Ian Spacek is the responsible party, and although he doesn’t have any specific detail that will illicit cries of “NPU bro!” on Flickr, the scene is just about perfect. I’m not sure how faithful it is to the original, but just taken as a LEGO construct it has a wonderful simplicity. Ian also has some nice work in his photostream from a Willy Wonka themed BrickWorld collaboration he participated in earlier this year.

“Who you tryin’ to get crazy with ese? Don’t you know I’m loco?”

I can’t let a Saturday slip by without something for the train-heads out there, the venerable grandfathers of the organized hobby we enjoy today. Tonight’s serving of fresh ballast comes courtesy of Serge Las (inquisitor88) who would like to share his latest build, the Norfolk Southern Loco. When it comes to this particular genre, I like to include a photo of the real-deal for comparison with the model whenever possible. In this case, I’d say Mr. inquisitor88 nailed it.

“This all happened because you took my bike for a spin.”

Weekend regular F@bz brings you the next featured model on TBB with the speedy Honda Exile. This futuristic beast would look right at home on the streets of Neo-Tokyo circa 2019. The model also sports Chima Wheels which Brother Chris so eloquently and accurately referred to as “transfixing” a few days ago. Chima wheels are the new hot commodity; Brick Link vendors will no doubt adjust the price accordingly. Is nothing cheap anymore?!

Punch it, I think the clowns are onto us…

“But don’t go swimmin’ with a mermaid son, if you don’t know how to swim.”

Cpt. Brick returns to the Brothership for the second time this year with his latest scene that is sure to delight your pre-school aged daughter as much as it did mine. This has been your official TBB Mermaid update. Now back to your regularly scheduled boilerplate…

And yes, I know you can see a hint of the trans-clear support for the tail, but Kate didn’t care and neither should you.