Yearly Archives: 2018

Strikingly strange stilt bot makes an impression

If you’ve ever witnessed a building contractor installing drywall, with those funny looking stilts, then you know why this long-legged robot by John Judy caught my eye. The builder has taken a more familiar sight, of a somewhat boxy bot in basic grey with no upper appendages, and turned it into a striking figure that I can’t decide whether to pat on the head like a friendly puppy, or run screaming for my life.

If the basic silhouette seems familiar to you, maybe that’s due to the fact that if you squint your eyes, it might bring to mind the profile of the AT-AT “chicken” walker from Star Wars, which John has also built with striking accuracy.

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LEGO Creator Expert 10264 Corner Garage [Review]

With the release of 10260 Downtown Diner in January 2018, the design aesthetic of LEGO’s Creator Expert modular buildings series shifted from pre-war architecture to the chrome and neon of the 1950s. This trend continues with the 2019 modular building, 10264 Corner Garage. The set includes 2,569 pieces and retails for $200 in the US ($269.99 in Canada and £159.99 in the UK).

Like the recent LEGO Star Wars set 75251 Darth Vader’s Castle, the initial reaction from LEGO fans and collectors has been mixed. But how does the set hold up when we look beyond the box photos and actually start building?

Read our hands-on review of 10264 Corner Garage

The slimiest rat on the ship

Slimefoot the Stowaway is a Magic: the Gathering character that is most definetely not a rat, but his presence on an airship must have been much like a cross between a fungal rot and a rat problem with all the little saprolings he spread aboard the Weatherlight. Not sure what a saproling is? Me neither, and to be honest, nobody really knows anything apart from the fact that they are either of plantal or fungal origin and that there is a lot of them. Eero Okkonen has faithfully created Slimefoot and his pals.

With a mastery in human shape, Eero has done a great job of capturing what is basically a deformed humanoid with a mushroom top for a head and overgrowth all over his body. The colours are expressive, and the tentacles, while not present on the original art on the card, add a lot to the character and make for a great transition in the neck area. A great addition is all the little saprolings at the mushroom man’s side, whose various shapes really capture the mystical and magical appeal of the original art.

2018 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 6

Welcome to Day 6 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2018 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team.

If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. What bricks will we get for Day 6?

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

The great escape of Eleven and the gang

If there’s one scene that stands out from Stranger Things, this has got to be it. In a plot twist where one would have thought that the bicycles would take flight, instead we had a lovely surprise. With this, the Duffer Brothers wrote the 80s Chevy Van right into movie-making history books by making it fly in this epic escape scene. I’ve got to hand it to Andrea Lattanzio in showing that a great scene can be brought to life with the simplest builds, just with LEGO parts on hand.

The queen of bricks

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II looks resplendent in blue bricks. Vincent Kiew‘s regal LEGO build captures the charming human side of Britain’s ruling monarch. The model’s masterful observation of the Queen’s iconic dress sense is spot on, with simple choices like the curved black bricks for gloves making her instantly recognisable. However, her pet corgis steal the show for me: effortlessly adorable and anatomically perfect, with subtly offset curved bricks indicating their little wagging tails. “God save the Queen!”

Blacktron-inspired Angulus Armored Transport is ready for its next mission

Model-builder Spaceruner has been around the online LEGO world for years putting out updated or re-imagined versions of classic sets. His latest model is the Angulus, a unique twist on the old Blacktron II LEGO theme (and is in a lot of ways an evolution of his older Piranha model).

Many of the usual Blacktron II staples are here: the contrasting black and white color scheme and octagonal trans-neon-green cockpits foremost. What I appreciate most about this model is how modern it feels without feeling obligated to shove a bunch of newer parts into the build: most old-school LEGO fans of the 80s and 90s could probably duplicate the majority of this creation if they still have their childhood buckets of bricks.

We previously featured Spaceruner’s gigantic RX1 Behemoth, a truly massive tribute to the old Spyrius line.

A lovingly built Italian classic

Formula-1 cars of the 1960s are things of beauty. They represent an earlier age where form and function seemed to balance perfectly. André Pinto’s model of a Ferrari 312 F1-67 is a beauty, glistening in its familiar red livery, bedecked with chrome.

Despite the vehicle being one of the racing team’s less successful models, primarily remembered for the tragic death of Lorenzo Bandini in Monte Carlo, it still pulls at the racing enthusiast’s heartstrings. André has lavished care throughout his build, from the sculpted bodywork through to the detailed V12 engine; it’s clearly a true labour of love.

2018 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2018 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team.

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

How to build a Pave Low helicopter with LEGO: Part 1 [Feature]

A few months ago, I wrote three articles on how I built the E-1 Tracer aircraft model. I haven’t built much in the intervening months, but recently I have started on a new project: an MH-53M Pave Low helicopter. This is a somewhat different cup of tea. It’s not a fixed-wing aircraft and I am not starting from scratch. Instead, I am starting with an old model that I built ten years ago.

This means that there is a lot less planning involved. The proportions of the old model were pretty much spot-on, but there are many parts and techniques that didn’t exist or weren’t possible ten years ago. As a result, the old model looked, well, old.

In this and subsequent articles, I’ll go into how I am building this new version and how newer parts and techniques change how I approach the design.
Continue reading →

Enter the fanciest crossroad in the kingdom

Magical swirls, bright colours, and mysterious runes might impress you in this portal hub scene by LEGO builder Chris Perron, but with a bit of thought you realize it is just a glorified crossroad, which seems as magical to us as cars would to someone using a portal transport system.

There is so much to love in the scene. The swirling, colourful portals are highlighted in post-production to give an immersive magical feeling. The green runes on the floor add a bit of mystery, along with the eye symbols and other decoration on the walls. The real star is the forced perspective castle in the central, blue portal and how it is lit in beautiful sunset colours.

First pictures of LEGO BrickHeadz 2019 lineup [News]

LEGO BrickHeadz theme has shown itself to be a very diverse collection of building figures. Now, first official pictures of the upcoming 2019 sets reveal even more eye-catching characters including one straight from the Chinese New Year festival. As usual, price tags and availability are subjects for future announcements.

40354 Dragon Dance Guy | 170 pieces

Click here to see the new LEGO BrickHeadz sets!