Stu Pace wanted to try something different when he built his LBA-10 Long Range Heavy Fighter and I think he succeeded. While the physical design of the ship has the same strong ‘alien’ feel as many of his previous spacecraft, the unconventional color blocking really takes things to the next level, emphasizing interesting features of the ship’ that might have gone unnoticed under a more monochromatic color scheme. It’s a bold move but I think it works!
Wait…I know what you are thinking, The Brothers Brick lets another sister start blogging and she gets distracted and starts posting about fashion and sewing machine techniques! Look again: the items adorning this table are life-sized scale models all built with LEGO bricks. The Singer sewing machine, glasses, scissors and tailor’s chalk are very accurately depicted using LEGO as part of an exhibition called the Tiong Bahru Show by The Brick Collective that took place at Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore.
Another scene from The Brick Collective show is a typical cafe in the 1980s with some snacks, drinks and the classic Coca-Cola sign on the wall. When I say typical, clearly this is location dependant as Green Spot, Egg tarts, Siew Mai were not on the menu in my hometown of Glasgow, Scotland in the 1980s.
If you want a closer look and images of further scaled LEGO builds that appeared in the show, then you will find more within crayonbricks album on Flickr.
Link is the main protagonist in the best selling roleplaying-puzzle-action franchise The Legend of Zelda. This LEGO model of Link by Nathanael Kuipers accurately depicts him characteristically wearing a green tunic and pointed cap. The shaping is excellent, especially the facial features and his green tunic. Nathanael has also taken the time to build the details into Link’s shield and sword using bricks rather than any printed parts – nice attention to detail. It’s a perfect use of the Nexo Knights blade for Link’s sword in this build.
This links nicely on to another LEGO version of the same Zelda character. In this version Koen has rebuilt his previously featured Kirby, the eponymous character from another Nintendo videogame series. Kirby has the in-game ability to inhale enemies, thereby gaining characteristic abilities from them. Clearly by inhaling Link, Kirby has gained the ability to wield a huge sword and wear a green pointed hat without looking like one of Santa’s elves! A lovely fun build.
After a hard day’s raiding and pillaging, a fearless warrior needs some time to kick back and relax. Scale the heights of the watch tower, leap from the pier, or take a nap in the cozy hall! Activities include fishing, swimming, stashing treasure, polishing weapons, herding goats, and standing guard. Brick Vader displays it all, on an incredibly tiny and detailed piece of real estate. Great trees and great rockwork, all using a cohesive earthy palette. Only thing missing is the longboat.
Here’s a pair of fantastic characters of the diabolical persuasion. Fresh from the brimstone lands, they’re sure to wreak havoc or worse upon anyone they meet. First up is the creepy hellspawn Lungorthin the Devil, by Leonid An. The shaping of the beast’s head is nothing short of brilliant, with so many intricate pieces flowing smoothly together to form a snarling visage.
And then we have chubbybots‘ Mazinkaiser, who hails from the anime of the same name and isn’t a hellion at all but rather a giant mech, though it does fight Dr. Hell.
Earlier this week LEGO announced a brand new 71040 Disney Castle set which immediately had LEGO and Disney fans jumping with excitement. Today LEGO has released the designer video with LEGO Designer Marcos Bessa, allowing us to get a great look at all the features and details. The 4,080 piece set includes 5 minifigures, and will retail for $349.99 USD starting on September 1st.
Today LEGO gives us the first look at the forthcoming LEGO Ideas set, 21308 Adventure Time, in advance of it being on display at San Diego Comic Con. The set, which is based on the popular Cartoon Network show, was first announced in March, and it will include eight brick-built characters. The 495 piece set will be available beginning January 1st, and it will retail for $49.99 USD. As we reported last month, an Adventure Time pack will also appear in LEGO Dimensions.
Sean Cassidy induces nostalgia for the often overlooked Halo 3: ODST with his diorama of the final stand at the entrance to Uplift Nature Reserve, New Mombasa. Having fought many campaign playthroughs and firefights on this particular area, it seems Sean’s layout is near perfect. His choice of colors and techniques for the entrance, overlook, and planters fit the New Mombasa style of a believable yet futuristic city.
There are all kinds of vignettes within the overall massive diorama to find, shown on Sean’s Flickr. My favorite is the face-off between gravity hammer wielding Brute Chieftain and rocket launcher wielding ODST. Yes, that much firepower is necessary against a Chieftain.
Announced just last month and out on August 1st, The Brothers Brick is pleased to bring you a full review of the new 10252 Volkswagen Beetle, thanks to a special delivery from LEGO headquarters in Denmark. This new Beetle in stunning dark azure joins the dark green 10242 Mini Cooper and classic 10220 Volkswagen Camper Van in what I’m hoping is a permanent fixture in LEGO Creator sets. The set includes 1,167 pieces, and will retail for $99.99.
We’ve come to expect some solid techniques and clever tricks in the “Expert” LEGO Creator series sets, many of which are very obviously designed by the numerous builders who have disappeared from the face of the Internet only to turn up in Billund. And that’s the case here — the set was designed by the very talented Mike Psiaki, whose LEGO creations we’ve featured many, many times here on The Brothers Brick over the years — most notably one of the best LEGO X-wings ever made.
Mike’s Beetle doesn’t disappoint. The 211 steps span an instruction booklet 124 pages thick. I recently also built the new LEGO Ghostbusters (2016) Ecto 1, and it had far more complicated techniques than this larger vehicle does, but the Beetle is still full of half-stud-offset, SNOT, complex headlight and bracket geometry, and other techniques you’ll rarely if ever see in a LEGO City set.
Click through for the complete review!
Having already delighted us last summer with his mosaic of everyone’s favorite holographic vocalist Hatsune Miku, Chris Rozek does it again with this cute minifigure version – well, Friends “minidoll” version to be precise. We’ve featured customized LEGO Friends before but it’s always nice to see more customizers using them to recreate well-known screen characters.
This was Chris’ first try at custom sculpting hair pieces. The hair is made from 6 pieces of carved and sculpted resin. The entire figure took around a week to complete.
Sometimes, life may be different than it appears, and comfort and fear may arise from the same space. Jonas depicts such a contradiction in the Middle Ages. His small but effective build is filled with many details and master craftmanship. The top level is occupied by a Medieval beauty enjoying her hot tub. She possesses some luxury items such as a mirror, perfumes and books which were rare for her time. She seems completely unaware of the horrifying truth happening far below. The middle floor seems to be furnished to brew homemade beers, and the arched ceiling makes the room dark and cramped. Even with the presence of mice, the room may be enjoyable for a certain type of person who wishes to craft a beverage in silence. But the big barrel hides a secret trap door which leads to misery in the lowest level. A poor man is tied to a big wheel and his screams only echo in his spinning head, which is filled with the laughter of this masochistic band. Considering the torture tools scattered around, he will suffer a lot.
Amazon Prime Day is one of Amazon’s big annual sales, and this year it includes a number of fantastic deals on LEGO. The deals expire once a certain number of people have claimed them, but they’re still active currently. The sales are open only to Amazon Prime members, but don’t forget that you can get a 30-day free Amazon Prime trial.
First up is the Star Wars 75095 UCS Tie Fighter, for $125.99, or nearly $75 off retail. This is an amazing deal for a Star Wars UCS set. At publishing, this deal is 55% claimed, so don’t hold off.
LEGO Architecture 21026 Venice is available for $21.95, or 27% off retail.
Also available is 60067 Helicopter Pursuit, which is 30% off at $27.99.
You can browse all of the Amazon Prime Day LEGO deals here, but most of the rest are LEGO gear. Don’t forget that Amazon also has some stellar deals on sale that aren’t part of the Prime Day sales, such as Legends of Chima Razcal’s Glider (70000) for 61% off, bringing it down to $4.68, and LEGO Dimensions Back to the Future Doc Brown Fun Pack for 67% off, bringing it to $4.98.