There’s more than meets the eye with this clever build by Maxim Baybakov. At first glance, you may get vibes of a noir scene of a minifigure murder taking place. While that may seem dark, the truth is hidden in the shadows of two figures seemingly beheading a LEGO minifigure torso. All isn’t what it seems.
Click to unveil the mystery murder
Target is running a pre-Black Friday promotion from now through November 23rd offering a free $10 gift card with select LEGO purchases of $50 or more. The list includes quite a few sets from Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker including the A-Wing we just reviewed as well as a few LEGO exclusives like the Stranger Things set.
Target typically sells some sets at less than MSRP, so adding an additional $10 back can add up to a significant discount. Target also offers free shipping on orders more than $35, so that should apply as well. Click the banner above to browse the LEGO sets available at Target.
Hop around! Hop around! Hop up and up, and get down! In devising solutions for building robots, it’s sometimes best to start with examples found in nature. When Moko set out to build his latest LEGO mech, he looked to the springy grasshopper. Moko’s model is both an excellent representation of the insect and has just enough metallic bits to make it feel mechanical. Hopping power is provided by the legs’ robust hydraulic system, while the black pistol feet likely give it the ability to stick to nearly any surface.
Chungpo Cheng takes us back to early ’90s with a trio of classic pieces of recording technology, including a 3.5″ diskette, cassette tape and VHS tape. These formats are prone to degradation over time and, in many ways, are more fragile than paper documents. Chungpo has faithfully immortalized them in LEGO-form…or has he? Sadly, the bricks we have today won’t be the same forever. Case in point; those white bricks tend to yellow over time, especially with prolonged exposure to heat and UV light. Some bricks can also become brittle with age and crack under pressure. I’ll tell you who doesn’t crack under pressure, though – Chungpo Cheng, that’s who!
Judging by the attention to detail, it’s clear that Chungpo respects magnetic media as much as LEGO bricks. The VHS and audio tape have reverse sides that embody the age-old Blockbuster rental mantra, “be kind. Please rewind.” Don’t forget to repeatedly hit that tracking button either.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Maybe what Jack needs is to take a break and play with some LEGO. Then again…maybe not. Timofey Tkachev brings us a twist on an iconic image from The Shining with “Here’s Johnny!” An instantly recognizable Jack Nicholson breaks through a door…but since the door is made of LEGO, he’s using a brick separator. Because of course he is.
There’s a lot to love about the build here. Elephant trunks have just the right shaping for Jack’s eyebrows, and an energy effect wave makes for a great bit of unkempt hair. Tiles are used to great effect, with quarter circle round tiles shaping the nose, and white half circles forming his insane grin. The really scary part of this build, though, is that somehow it just took a single evening to put together. That’s spooky fast!
If you’ve been following The Brothers Brick lately, you may have seen some sci-fi builds by ZCerberus. He had an awesome entry for SHIPtember, a cool spider walker and, most recently, a Classic Space vehicle. Now he’s back and bigger than ever. In my article on the SHIPtember build, I expressed hope that the fleet would continue to expand, and he has delivered in a delightfully orange way. The one on the far left is the previously-covered SHIP, but the rest are nearly as impressive size-wise and equally as detailed and heavily armed. I love the editing job with the cool space background and all of the ships flying together.
Majestic and mysterious. Those are just a few choice words to describe this LEGO model of Jules Verne’s enigmatic submarine captain by Eero Okkonen. Nemo, or Prince Dakkar, pilot of the equally mysterious Nautilus submarine, is adorned with gold trim, and that olive green turban even has a nautilus tile in front. By far though, the star of this build is his richly textured mustache and beard, made from such choice parts as Star Wars pistols, minifigure hands, and “raven” wings. He would make a fearsome foe indeed.
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 fourth week of October 2019.
LEGO revealed some minifigures from the upcoming Trolls World Tour sets. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.
TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS: This week, Trolls are in the LEGO news, and we’re not talking about nasty keyboard warriors either! We also took an in-depth look at the newest LEGO Overwatch Set, Wrecking Ball.
OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:
Sometimes we build things that we’re just not that into. Kevin Peeters tells us he’s not entirely happy with this Burac Keep but we like it. Maybe it’s just the spirit of Halloween talking, maybe it’s the build techniques, the crumbling, haphazard bricks or maybe it’s because this is just the kind of thing you’d see in New England on a brisk Autumn night. Or maybe it’s because we know a good thing when we see it. But we like this; we like it a lot. Here’s another time we totally liked something Kevin did.
LEGO themes present creative builders with endless opportunities to mash multiple themes together into the ultimate, ultimate LEGO creations, like zombie pirates, zombie army, zombie spaceships, and zombie cowboys. (what is up with this guy and his obsession with zombies? I blame Halloween). Anyways, back to mash-ups, this wonderful SHIP (Seriously Huge Investment in Parts) by Hans Dendauw brings together the fan challenges of SHIPtember and Novvember (an homage to the Vic Viper, one of the racing spaceships from the 1995 video game Gradius, distinguished by a two-pronged fuselage), and does it all in Classic space style. Benny would be proud.
Fire engines are serious business, with each one being built to the specifications of the fire department placing the order. When building a LEGO version of a fire apparatus, you almost have to see it in person to analyze all the details that make it unique. Last year, Sven’s vacation in New York City landed him the opportunity to ride around in the Harlem Hilton firehouse’s Engine 69. The experience left such an impression on him that he had to make his own version of the truck and, as you can see, it is packed with plenty of detail. The proportions feel just right, as does the greebling of the gauges and switches. Finishing off the model are some phenomenal custom decals, allowing the LEGO truck to faithfully represent its real-life counterpart.
Flipping the engine around reveals that Sven’s model can be appreciated from multiple angles. The only thing that’s missing are some minifig firefighters! Perhaps they’re taking a needed break from fighting fires to fire up the grill and eat some burgers.
Today LEGO has announced a new licensing partnership with Dreamworks for the upcoming Trolls World Tour film. The film is slated for release April 17, 2020. So far LEGO has only revealed a teaser trailer showing a variety of the new minifigures. These new minifigures encapsulate the classic Troll doll look, with big heads, crazy hair, and outrageous personalities. There’s no word yet on when the LEGO Trolls World Tour theme will be available.
