Yearly Archives: 2020

The LEGO Foundation expands Braille Bricks availability to aid visually impaired learning [News]

Last year, the LEGO Foundation revealed Braille Bricks, a tool to “help children with vision impairment learn critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration through play.” Today, they are announcing that the bricks are being officially launched in Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, the UK and the US after a successful pilot and testing program. The toolkits will be distributed free of charge to select institutions and schools serving the needs of children with visual impairments. Training and teaching supplements are available to everyone at LEGObraillebricks.com.

LEGO Braille Bricks are molded so that the studs on top represent individual letters and numbers in the Braille alphabet. They are also printed with the letters and numbers so they can be used in a collaborative and inclusive way with sighted peers. The LEGO Foundation will launch Braille Bricks in an additional 13 additional countries in early 2021, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

Read the official Braille Bricks announcement from LEGO and see an expanded gallery of photos.

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The deeper picture

LEGO builder MorlornEmpire shows us how to add structure to a build in his LEGO temple named Deeper. There are so many parts used in an unconventional way that my eyes do not know where to look first. So let’s start from the top. The build features some palm trees made with flex tubing to give it the organic, not so static look and a ‘temple’ entrance covered in sand. The entrance is made of plates with tiles stuck between the studs to create a pattern. It’s almost as if there is a message written on the facade of the building.

Underneath the surface is the actual inside of the ‘temple’ and the walls are packed with intricate details. In the top we see cat tail elements, and the half round spoked window part filled with cheese slopes. Further down we come across the good old groove brick with a bar filling up the groove hole. To continue with 1×2 bricks filled with bucket handles. The columns have some stacked 1×2 panels to add texture and the tiled floor is made of inlaid cheese slopes.

I wonder how much of this creation is staying in place thanks to friction and gravity.

The house of sand and coral

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part was a fun and amusing romp that reunited us with our friends Emmet, Lucy, and LEGO Batman. More importantly, though it released a few sets that featured a new color; coral. It’s a pretty color but limited and potentially difficult in its use. But builders like Simon Hundsbichler step up to the challenge and do it with amazing results. There are only three colors in this creation: Dark Tan, Light Royal Blue, and the aforementioned Vibrant Coral. A mix of plates and tiles adds intricate texture to the ground while a variety of coral bricks makes for a vibrant splash of color. Simon has proven to be a master of the LEGO medium, even with a limited palette. We’ve been smitten with Simon’s build techniques and color choices before.

Modern Stone Age bad-ass huntress

In ancient times, humans domesticated dogs to help them hunt, and they became our best friends. But what if we’d chosen cats instead, as this LEGO huntress, depicted by Letranger Absurde has? While the one-piece sabretooth tigers are considered big cats to minifigures, to this brick-built character, they’re positively darling little killing machines.

The huntress herself is no slouch either – this Paleolithic predator is built to survive. I mean, just look at those palisade brick abs! Hopefully it was warm back then, because those bucket handles and ingots don’t look like that warm of an outfit. Maybe she’s just a Stone Age cat lady? She even has tangled hair, expertly crafted out of LEGO chain, to match the stereotype.

So. Very. Fluffy.

I’m always delighted when a bright and colorful build comes across my path, and this latest work by Grant Davis is no exception. Inspired by the 4×4 flower element, this creation seems a lot softer than the underlying plastic construction should allow. In An Unidentified Fluffy Object (UFO), a visitor from the unknown perches atop a very Aardman-esque sheep. The fleece design is brilliant, but for me, the star of the show is that mouth. Flex tubing is used to create a very unusual shape for a LEGO creation, and clever photography gives it the perfect cartoon resolution. And, as an additional plus, that chick is just adorable.

This isn’t the first build we’ve featured from Grant featuring that 4×4 flower element. Check out our archives for even more seed-part goodness!

Take your permanence on the go

Castles, fortresses, and the like have a big imposing permanence to them and appear as if they have been carved out of the very landscape they inhabit and have seemingly been there forever. But this LEGO fortress by WoomyWorld can lift itself and walk away. It is a re-imagining of Alexander, the Roaming Titan that can be summoned in the Final Fantasy games. Each section looks like it would be right at home in a fantasy microscale layout. I can just imagine the earth rumbling as it moves along!

Water, water, everywhere

This summer, I’ve had watercraft on the brain. Moana’s Starlight Canoe is the latest LEGO build by Letranger Absurde that follows my stream of reality shows I am currently addicted to watching. Below Deck Mediterranean and Below Deck Sailing Yacht are in heavy rotation. This fantastical route inspired by Moana, the 2016 Disney film, is a nice change of pace. Letranger Absurde does another solid job at modeling her figures with realism, adding stylish details of the character’s dress. This is the sixth installment in her Once Upon A Time series that recreates iconic scenes and characters from the annals of Disney (i.e. The Little Mermaid and Snow White). Building a real-life canoe is a feat unto itself. So the recreation of the bamboo deck along with other wooden-like textures gives off the appearance of a watercraft ready to take on the elements. The kicker in the canoe’s rigging is the string of beige battle droid arms supporting the mast. I’m already over my head in nautical terms. Ahoy!

Check out more cool creations by Letranger Absurde (vitreolum).

The perfect pastime

The idea for a new quarantine hobby — marble sculpture. Oh sure, it can be pricey and a little hazardous… but if we’re talking about LEGO, all you need is a monochrome minifig on hand and a few Tuscan houses to set a scene like Kev.the.builder’s latest creation. In this idyllic build, Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci is carving out a new masterpiece. The sculpture looks very polished, being made of a variety of tiles, including a Nexo Knights shield and macaroni tiles. The houses in the background are great examples of Kev’s knack for textured brickwork. My favorite is the dark tan house on the right, with its inset masonry brick door. The exposed studs on its pediment add a nice rustic touch at the top of an upside-down cheese slope archway.

Wait a minute, Mr. Postman

What do you get when four of the most talented castle builders out there collaborate on a series of LEGO builds? It’s a bit like alchemy, because the result is solid gold. Well, Grant Davis, Simon Hundsbichler, Marcel V., and Markus Rollbühler teamed up to show the life of a postman, carrying the mail across every bridge in the realm to make sure each and every citizen receives their letters on time. Each build is different in every detail, except the postman himself, but they are all scaled and shot to mimic the others, with the result that the builds complement each other perfectly. I’d love to have these framed on my wall, side by side, because these are not just LEGO builds, but art.

Click to see each of the builds up close

A LEGO flower by any other name smells of plastic

Flowers are a frequent subject of artists and photographers, capturing the many brilliant colors of nature. LEGO artists are no exception, as the many bright colors available can be combined with stunning results. Amado Canlas Pinlac has chosen a more monochrome palette for this model of baby blues. The curved bricks provide wonderfully textured petals and the white planter box is simple, yet effective in giving the model a sense of scale.

Now that’s a Renaissance man

There is just something about this mustachioed fellow’s gaze that is utterly captivating. Perhaps it’s the twinkle of 17th century worldly knowledge in his eyes, or it’s the amazing part usage that went into the face detailing as well as the costume of this LEGO bust built by Grant Davis.

The eyebrows of this piece are each cleverly composed of two reddish brown claw pieces, while the mustache is ingeniously constructed of two tail pieces with technic pin endings clipped to a reddish brown minifigure epaulette. Perhaps the main focal point of this build is the elegant white “ruff” or millstone collar made out of 4×4 flower pieces with rounded petals and 4×2 wedge elements. The studs on the wedges add some texture to the notably ruffled piece of neckwear. It is hard to pick my favorite use of parts here, I also quite enjoy the hat and its use of rounded-bottom 2x2s. Davis’s bust is both cleverly fashioned and true to its subject – the renaissance nobleman in its depiction.

Build your own microscale Nintendo Entertainment System [Instructions]

If you are as excited about the recently announced Nintendo Entertainment System LEGO set as I am, but your wallet has felt the impact of the global pandemic, fear not! You can experience all the nostalgic feels (in a slightly smaller dose), when you build your own miniature model using these instructions by Thomas Gion. You’ll have to build a TV on your own, although LEGO Designer Chris McVeigh has free instructions for a variety of old televisions which could provide the perfect inspiration.