Yearly Archives: 2018

Recreating the classic era of pirates

Fancy rebuilding some of your favourite LEGO sets from your youth, but daunted by the prices of the collectors’ market? Letranger Absurde (aka Vitroleum, aka Pacurar Andrei) shows the way. Why not build a teeny-tiny version of them instead? 6279 Skull Island is a classic set from the mid-90s heyday of LEGO Pirates. Pacurar’s version perfectly captures the overall feel with the big skull, the jetty, and the palm tree — but the important details still make an appearance despite the scale. Don’t miss the little cannon on the end of the jetty, the hoist, and the fabulous little rowing boat — all employing a bunch of tenuous part connections, but lovely anyway. And a printed X tile as a Jolly Roger? Love it.

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Maschinen Krieger “CAMEL” walker stomps onto the post-apocalyptic battlefield

Every October, LEGO builders assemble their bricks for Ma.Ktober, a build challenge inspired by the 1980’s Japanese plastic models Maschinen Krieger. Chris Perron‘s contribution this year combines an old-style Dewback body with a bubble canopy and some rather ingenious parts usage for greebly bits on its legs, including crutches as struts. The sponson-mounted cannons are also an excellent touch.

Wolverine goes toe to claw with three sentinels in this gigantic LEGO creation

This epic LEGO diorama sees Wolverine squaring up against impossible odds; somehow you know your money’s still going to be on Logan though. Builder Joshua Morris notes that this sense of scale and danger was the inspiration behind the model.

The use of the knee-high walls and the devastated street do a great job of framing the scale and power of the three sentinels. Lower the lights and the menace–factor increases, the glowing eyes and chest plates setting the mood; looking to the entire world like the very best comic book illustration.

A ship of LEGO odds and ends

Anyone who’s been following the adult LEGO builder community for a while knows that one of the things we love best is making novel use of seemingly “useless” pieces. And as far as these clever uses go, the more unusual the element is, the better. Vince Toulouse has dug deep into the bins of useless pieces and come forth with a striking spaceship made almost entirely of these oddities–a tugboat with a rugged utilitarian aesthetic. Vince points out a few of the more unusual elements for us, including the steering compartment made of a Fabuland caravan shell. We also spy a slew of other elements from the quirky Fabuland theme, as well as many other difficult-to-use elements like the skateboard ramp, elephant ear, and even the whole elephant head. See how many more oddities you can spot in Vince’s ship.

The ship isn’t just a vehicle for fun techniques, though. It’s also a great design, and the inside is marvelously detailed.

Click to see more of this ship

Full lineup of LEGO Blizzard Overwatch sets revealed, available in January [News]

Target has today revealed all six of the LEGO sets from the upcoming LEGO Overwatch line, based on the hit team-based video game from Blizzard. This follows the early release of the small-scale mecha 75987 Omnic Bastion from Blizzard’s online store. The full-size sets include minifigures of iconic characters such as Tracer, D.Va, and more.

We’ll bring you an update when we have more information, though we can confirm January 1st availability for these sets. EDIT: The sets are now available for pre-order, shipping January 1, 2019.

See the complete lineup of LEGO Overwatch sets

Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?

“M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!” Thanks to Shawn Snyder, one of Walt Disney’s most beloved cartoon characters comes to life in LEGO-form. LEGO Mickey is instantly recognizable, right down to his red trousers and white gloves. In particular, I was impressed by Shawn’s use of a wide variety of angles to form the shape of Mickey’s head and facial features. Finishing off the build is an elegant black and gold base which would make this model a perfect fit for Disney Store shelves!

Oliphaunt from Lord of the Rings comes to life in kinetic LEGO sculpture

The enormous, elephant-like oliphaunts (also known as Mûmakil to their Haradrim riders) wowed the hobbits Sam and Frodo as they made their way through Ithilien. Impressive as they may have been in the books and movies, this LEGO sculpture by Marcin Otreba adds movement to his bricks and brings the creature to life.

See the Oliphaunt in action

The Hagia Sophia is a monument to the ages

This microscale LEGO rendition of Istanbul’s most famous landmark has been masterfully created by George Panteleon. The tan and dark tan elements blend seamlessly together to create the sweeping curves and rounded roofs of the 1,500-year-old building. The huge dome, which encloses a ceiling height of 182 feet, is created from the planet hemisphere element for Bespin. George has rigged the interior with lights, allowing the model to glow warmly, and added a lovely wood base. It all comes together as a wonderful display piece.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for October 21, 2018 [News]

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the third week of October 2018.

TBB NEWS & FEATURES: The latest LEGO Ideas set has been revealed (and we reviewed it), plus the Microscale Magic contest winners revealed!

LEGO Ideas set revealed as “Once Upon a Brick” 21315 Pop-Up Book – LEGO Ideas set #21315 “Once Upon a Brick” revealed!
Contest: Microscale Magic! Harry Potter LEGO building competition – winners announced – Which of our wildly talented witch and wizard readers conjured up the best microscale creations?
Great deals on LEGO Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts sets on Amazon (US) – This sale is still on, so head over to Amazon!

TBB REVIEWS & INSTRUCTIONS: Just announced and already reviewed: We’ve got the pop-up book “Once Upon a Brick” set, plus a review of Overwatch’s Omnic Bastion!

LEGO Ideas 21315 Pop-Up Book packs a big fairy-tale surprise – That big set announcement not enough for you? Dive into adventure with our hands-on review!
Review of first-ever LEGO Overwatch set, 75987 Omnic Bastion – Read through to see if this stoic robotic warrior starts off this unique IP partnership on a strong foot.

See the rest of this week’s LEGO news

That Technic light-bulb moment

Technic LEGO has so many real world applications, something Alexis Dos Santos’s angle poise lamp proves brilliantly. It’s an idea which the Technic frame structure realises so well, with the holed beams giving the feel of a high-end designer product. As an adult LEGO fan it’s something I could absolutely see on my desk at work. I just have to hope that Alexis has chosen a suitably low heat bulb and that his bright idea doesn’t end up as a puddle of plastic.

Thinking outside the element

One of the joys of writing for the Brothers Brick is seeing how LEGO builders make clever use of the parts in their collection. Emil Lidé has been experimenting with parts in unconventional ways, including using dark green minifig plumes for grass. The plumes are affixed to the 1×1 round tile with bar and pin holder, which allows them to be tilted in multiple directions. This in turn gives the grass a random but natural-looking pattern. As someone who loves LEGO landscaping, it would be exciting to see this technique used on a larger scale!

Another dinosaur comes back to life in this kinetic sculpture

Building dinosaurs is undeniably awesome. Even more awesome is taking it a step further and making them move. This eye-catching Allosaurus is the work of Cornbuilder, who we featured back in March with his incredible giant black dragon. (At the time, his username was mrxsto99) His latest carnivore creation isn’t a major departure, although instead of lighting effects, this time the creature walks!

The movement of the lumbering giant is actually made possible through a reverse engineering and tweaking of Jason Allemann’s iconic Sisyphus kinetic sculpture. The mechanism runs off a single LEGO Power Functions M-motor and battery pack.

Back in May we covered some other dinosaurs that could not only walk, but also swing their tale and bend their necks to eat. Read more about the evolution of those creations here.