Yearly Archives: 2016

Sky high tide

The fantastic sky boats of Ian McQue continue to inspire LEGO builders far and wide. This latest iteration from Dwalin Forkbeard freshens the style by using different angles than we’ve seen before. The bow of the craft uses long slopes at an angle that resembles a Viking ship — a motif that is reinforced by the tires hanging off the sides like rune-covered Norse shields. Meanwhile, the cabin of the ship has a jaunty lean, reminding us that this style is just as much fiction as science. And of course the mechanical details are great throughout. Plus, it doesn’t smell like rotting fish.

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.

Guy Himber launches new Mascot Bricks Kickstarter campaign [News]

Author, artist, and all-around mad scientist Guy Himber has launched his latest Crazy Bricks Kickstarter project, centered on unique character accessories for LEGO minifigs. Mascot Bricks has just over two weeks to go toward its $15,000 goal, which will result in these entertaining characters — Mr. Slice, Pugs, Gentleman Nut, and Mr. Toast.

TBB generally doesn’t endorse specific Kickstarter projects, but Guy has a strong track record of successful projects that have resulted in real, interesting products. I’m personally most excited by the pug hat. LEGO + pugs — what’s not to love?

What does the fox say?

Nothing. It’s too dang cold for this beautifully crafted LEGO animal to waste energy on words. Instead, it waits patiently for a morsel of protein to sally forth from a hole in the snow. Although the woodland creatures of Miro Dudas are breathtaking to behold, don’t forget to notice the expertly detailed tuft of grass yearning for spring, or the complex topography of the pristine frozen landscape. Winter has come.

And what does the wolf say? Something along the lines of “Arrr-ooooo!” Which, strangely, is also what a pirate says when he sees a nice boat.

LEGO V.I.N.CENT. goes in, through...and beyond

Pascal explores the depths of space with this awesome rendition of V.I.N.CENT. (Vital Information Necessary CENTralized.) from Disney’s The Black Hole. The Black Hole has not aged well, in my opinion, but V.I.N.CENT. has always been one of my favorite movie robots. Pascal has managed to capture his essence quite well. You can almost hear Roddy McDowell’s voice coming over the speakers. The expression of the eyes and studless build technique are perfect. One also has to love the presentation, using the same black hole graphic as in the movie.

Fifteen years of evolved combat: A LEGO Halo roundup

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of both Halo: Combat Evolved and Microsoft’s Xbox console. Halo has had a massive impact on console first person shooters, game storytelling, multiplayer, and sales of the Xbox, but today we’re looking at another aspect of Halo’s influence. We’ve rounded up a small selection of the amazing builds the adventures of Master Chief has inspired LEGO fans to create. Pause your sixteen player LAN game on Blood Gulch and explore some of the best of LEGO Halo.

“That… is another Halo.”

First up is Catsy [CC] with his microscale model of the ringworld itself, spanning nearly 5 feet across.

Click to see the rest of the Halo LEGO models

Drat, drat and double drat! Why is Wacky Races not an official LEGO theme yet?

Like Medabots, another cartoon from my childhood has now been turned into an amazing LEGO model, thanks to British builder redfern1950s. This time it’s the “Army Surplus Special” tank / old timey car / steamroller from the classic Saturday morning cartoon Wacky Races. The builder has even created a custom scale of brick-built figures to pilot this machine. They don’t look much bigger than regular minifigures, so I’m sure some custom figs would fit perfectly in the cockpits too.

This build not only makes me want to watch Wacky Racers (and, by extension, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines) again but it makes me wish LEGO would adopt this show. A giant one-off set with all the racers would be ideal, or a short theme with each racer as their own set would be even better.

Which Wacky Racer would make the best set in your opinion?

Jolly shenanigans at Pirate Cove

Master of the colorful LEGO scenes Letranger Absurde (whose atomic blast we featured this summer) is at it again with this diorama featuring a merry band of buccaneers. Showing only part of the pirate ship, the real stars are the clouds hanging in the bright sky above the skull island. The door hinges are also noteworthy on the ship itself, as is the brick-built rope ladder.

Living in a house of bricks

We’ve previously featured Terez trz‘s ongoing project of creating a LEGO version of their own home. Now we have more images to pore over — a wonderful sitting area.

Whilst the building is cool, once again it’s the quality of Terez’s photography which elevates the models out of the ordinary. The images wouldn’t look out of place in a fancy interiors catalog. Whilst the diorama doesn’t feature any people, I think it avoids sterility with the sense of lived-in clutter created by touches like the pile of mail by the door and the organic messiness of the pot plants.

When you can’t find the sports car of your dreams, you build it yourself

Malte Dorowski, who is a huge fan of Porsche sports cars, rolls out a magnificent copy of Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Despite being built out of System bricks, it looks much more complicated than its bigger brother from the Technic Technic Porsche 911 set. From the very first sight you know that this little beauty is much more complicated on the inside than on the outside.

Malte builds his cars with astonishing level of detail, including elaborate inner workings in his models. It’s not only about the interior, but about all the nodes and joints. I had no idea how all these parts could be assembled into one car, but the longer you observe the dismantled vehicle, the better you see some truly mind-blowing solutions Malte used to keep the tiniest of slopes and tiles together.

Venice, 1486: an Assassin’s Creed II scene in LEGO

Assassin’s Creed II is a video game I consider a must-play, with its incredible interpretation of Renaissance-era Italy, fun and simple stealth gameplay, and Ezio Auditore being my favorite assassin in the series. Builders Jonas Kramm and Brick Vader met up and collaborated on one of the most incredible dioramas in LEGO I have seen — one that undoubtedly does justice to a great game. I spent plenty of time admiring just how much attention to detail these two builders have in their Venice scene, and my favorite details captured have to be the gameplay aspect of Assassin’s Creed brought to life. The facades look climbable, the black pole appears perfectly aligned for a swing into a double assassination on the guards, and of course a cart of hay that make a leap of faith from any height safe.

Even if one hasn’t played Assassin’s Creed II, one can still appreciate the iconic, beautifully constructed Venetian architecture and canals.

Nothing is true; everything is permitted.

More LEGO Creator sets unveiled for 2017 [News]

We got our first look at 5 of 2017’s new Creator sets last week, and as we suspected, that wasn’t the full lineup. Here are two more Creator set sure to delight fans looking for something more than vehicles.

31063 Beachside Vacation, 275 pieces

The Beachside Townhouse follows in the vein of getaway homes, such as this year’s Lakeside Lodge (currently 36% off on Amazon), and is very similar to last year’s Beach Hut (currently available on Amazon). Meanwhile, Park Street Townhouse continues the scaled-down modulars style of Creator sets, like this year’s Corner Deli (currently 25% off on Amazon) and 2015’s Toy & Grocery Shop (currently 16% off on Amazon).

Check out more brand new sets:
2017 LEGO City sets
2017 LEGO Nexo Knights sets
2017 LEGO Technic sets
LEGO Technic BMW R 1200 GS set
2017 LEGO Friends sets
2017 LEGO Creator sets
2017 LEGO Ninjago sets
2017 LEGO Batman Movie sets

Continue reading →

Gorgeous fan-built LEGO Technic Porsche 919, the 2015 Le Mans winner

Manuel Nascimento built this incredible LEGO Technic Porsche 919 after watching the real-life car win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015. Not content to simply recreate the stunning shape out of LEGO, Manuel also decorated his car like the real one, saying, “I had too much fun decorating the car but at the same time I also had a lot of work because all stickers were hand made.” Check out more of this beautiful racecar below, including the working functions.

Continue reading →