Yearly Archives: 2016

Target acquired, awaiting instructions

Sci-fi master builder Tim Goddard‘s latest LEGO creation is a mean-looking mech with a cyclopean face. I can just imagine the noise that black iris makes — contracting into merciless focus when this bad boy spots his prey. The tan color scheme feels unusual for a mech — in my head this stuff is nearly always gray (apologies to colorful mech-builders out there). The black greebling is excellent, and the blue stripes and white highlights add a touch of glamour.

Inferno

As well as the big four-legged critter, Tim has put together a range of mechanical drones in this livery. I’m a fan of this bipedal variant. Check out those toes! It took me a while to figure out the use of hot dog sausages to get the toe angles just right.

Firestorm

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LEGO clockwork robot winds itself up

Dvd has created a clockwork robot that will wind itself up. It’s a great build, as well as some allegory for many human conditions. Inside of the retrofuturistic exterior is a simple mechanism in which the left arm turns, setting off a system which turns various objects on the head of the build.

Immortal Clockwork Robot

Luckily there’s a video to go a long with it which you can view below. The clever bit is that DVD keeps up the illusion of a self-winding robot by making the whole robot self-contained, with no exposed wires or controls. The back of the ‘bot gives nothing away either, and incredibly, DVD even lets us look into the robot’s heart.

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2016 LEGO Advent Calendars: Day 8

Welcome to Day 8 of your digital LEGO Advent Calendar! Each day, we’re revealing the day’s calendar model for the LEGO Friends, City, and Star Wars Advent Calendars. We know some of you want to be spoiler free, so you’ll need to “open” the day’s post to see the models by clicking below!

Click here to see Day 8!

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LEGO Star Wars 75153 AT-ST Walker from Rogue One [Review]

Back in October, LEGO released its first batch of LEGO Star Wars sets from Rogue One without a whole lot of fanfare. We’ll be reviewing those sets around the movie’s release in just a couple of weeks, but one of the sets stands on its own without reference to its place in the forthcoming film — the new 75153 AT-ST Walker is the same vehicle seen throughout the Classic Trilogy, and it’s currently 20% off from Amazon (that’s $31.99).

75153 AT-ST Walker-1

75153 AT-ST Walker includes 449 pieces with 3 minifigs and retails for $40.

Read the full review after the jump

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Is it a spaceship? Is it a mech?

An odd little build has been brought to us from SweStar: a spaceship that’s also a mech. This isn’t a transforming build like Macross or a Transformer, it’s both at the same time. A Classic Space style mech with a circular cockpit and a long protrusion at the end which is a weapons platform, but that also looks like a tail from a helicopter.

LL42

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Everything is awesome in the LEGO village

Back in my childhood days a rich collection of LEGO road baseplates was the hallmark of wealth and loving grandparents. The more plates you have, the larger your playground becomes. Unfortunately, we don’t find road plates in official LEGO sets any longer, but Krešo Krejča brings them back with a vivid diorama that could easily fit into an official LEGO catalogue.

Farm (3)

The builder brilliantly combines some classic City genres: farm, logistic services, construction site and a rural cottage. This diorama is not about advanced creations, but is amazingly full of life and motion. Go ahead and have a look at lots of perfectly executed shots revealing the everyday life of LEGO minifigures.

Farm (32)

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A Baltic blizzard blasts from this Bionicle build

A cold front has clearly influenced this build entitled Valtias, The Blizzard Tyrant by Dave Foreman. Although dominated by Bionicle parts, Dave has also used cold, icy parts from Chima and Hero factory to complete his build. The character started as a head using the Frost Beast mask from set 44011 Frost Beast and then borrows some armour and weapons from 8982 Strakk. A lot of frosty imagination has been used to complete this chilling tyrant. I particularly like the explosive blast of jagged shards extruding from his central chest and those sharp trans-blue claws on his hands and feet, that resemble built-in crampons.

Valtias, The Blizzard Tyrant

Just don’t expect this tyrant to wash his hair – Dave admits that his huge chest has resulted in a rather limited shoulder movement. Despite the limited shoulder movement, Blizzard is still able to deftly hold those axes and is certainly not limited in charisma, as you can see from this ‘Joker-like’ pose.

Valtias, The Blizzard Tyrant

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Classy castle in a creaky casket

Marcel V. has built a wonderful microscale LEGO castle in a box. The fortress itself has hints of Disney in its soaring spires and color scheme, but for me it’s the classy brown and gold of the casket which elevate this model into something special. The silky lining within the box lid — achieved with a nice pattern of curved slopes — is excellent. It’s so good when a microscale creation is more than “just” a tiny version of something else. Here, the micro-ness fits with the setting to conjure up something altogether more magical.

The casket

I had a go at building a LEGO kingdom in a box myself a couple of years back. However, Marcel’s brick-built box is much cooler than the slightly scabby wooden chest I used for mine!

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LEGO DC Super Hero Girls: 41230 Batgirl Batjet Chase and 41231 Harley Quinn to the Rescue [Review]

Let’s mix up The LEGO Batman Movie reviews a bit and bring in something new and exciting: the LEGO DC Super Hero Girls line. LEGO sent us a few of the sets, and we’re pleased to bring you reviews of 41230 Batgirl Batjet Chase (206 pieces; $24.99 USD) and 41231 Harley Quinn to the Rescue (217 pieces; $29.99 USD), both available now.

Click here to read the review!

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.

2016 LEGO Advent Calendars: Day 7

Welcome to Day 7 of your digital LEGO Advent Calendar! Each day, we’re revealing the day’s calendar model for the LEGO Friends, City, and Star Wars Advent Calendars. We know some of you want to be spoiler free, so you’ll need to “open” the day’s post to see the models by clicking below!

And if you want to build your own LEGO Advent Calendar, you can win big prizes by building tiny creations in TBB’s Create a Calendar Contest.

Click here to see Day 7!

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.

Living the high life

Heikki Mattila is on a roll. This excellent high-rise bedroom scene comes hot on the heels of a fabulous LEGO sauna. It’s a follow-up model to Heikki’s cool sitting room we featured previously, with a similar city skyline visible through the window. But it’s no less impressive for sticking with a theme. The bed with its cushions and attendant tables is nicely-built, and the abstract wall art looks fabulous. I also like the plant and the way it stands out against the microscale cityscape beyond the glass. However, it’s the imaginative use of a reversed baseplate as the bed’s headboard which makes the scene for me.

Bedroom

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An Avalonian home and gardens spills over the border

In the peaceful rural setting of Avalonia, there is a grand old house called Königsfeld Manor. Life in the village of Avalonia is normally peaceful, but this spring a visit from an old friend brings worrisome tidings. This diorama by Patrick Massey is the perfect antidote to the current wintry conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. There is a lot to admire in this scene with its engaging mix of landscaping and architecture. My favourite part is definitely the overspill of landscape beyond the black border, I think this may be the first time I have seen this technique used so effectively.

Königsfeld Manor

The main house has some lovely architectural details and surprisingly it appears to be built on stilts; perhaps the monsoon season brings flood water. The decorative roof ridges are not the usual village design so I wonder if there’s a more sinister character living here. There’s another small building under construction with just a wooden frame on show at the moment. Perhaps it’s a storage barn or a granny flat to stop granny hassling those who live in the main house… ‘Have you seen my glasses?’, ‘Can you pass me the scroll?’, ‘These carrots are undercooked!’…

manor4

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