Yearly Archives: 2021

Space girl autumn

Is there pumpkin spice latte in space? This autumnal cargo freighter by Finn Roberts might serve it in its onboard kitchen. This ship looks like it belongs in Star Wars, but is a breath of fresh air from the usual greys with its bright yellow colours, inspired by troop carrier concept art for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story combined with the real-life Canadair water bomber. Yet a bit of grey greebly nitty-gritty still remains amongst the bright hull – a characteristic of the well-worn starships flown by smugglers, bounty hunters, and other characters of the galactic underworld. I particularly like the addition of yellowish-orange paneling to imply a weathered hull, indicative of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Finn is no stranger to designing custom ships that fit so well in the Star Wars universe. Building digitally gives him an unlimited parts palette and allows him to build as big and complex as he wishes. His imagination is his limit, and it works so well. I compare him to a concept artist with pens and brushes rather than model makers who work with readymade materials.

And this isn’t the first time we’ve featured Finn’s wonderful concept builds – check out his creations here!

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Would you press a button for me, please?

You don’t need to be claustrophobic to dislike elevators: they are poky, boring, and often painfully slow. But it doesn’t stop there. Depending on where you are going, an elevator ride can be much more unbearable. Look at this industrial-grade platform built by shiu. Although this diorama isn’t very tall, the combination of smooth panels creates a perfect impression of a facility buried hundreds of feet beneath the ground. And take a close look at the minifigures — I love how they tell a piece of the story unfolding there. Any ideas what happened… or is about to happen?

A sweet upgrade for a lovely off-roader

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and sometimes one LEGO creation inspires another, like this neat fleet of cargo transports inspired by the Baserunner by Alvaro Gunawan. While the original was a simple flatbed, this new version by BetaNotus adds a new paint job, a covered cargo area with removable cargo, and a folding radio antenna. The additional section flows very nicely with three front sections. I just hope that container isn’t too dangerous. The pilot doesn’t look too concerned.

For comparison, here is the original inspiration, with a very smooth-looking transmission to help navigate rough terrain to deliver your cargo on time.

Remnants of a lost world

I am quite confident when it comes to my LEGO part identifying. Quite confident until I stumble across another wonderful creation by Bart de Dobbelaer. Lego produced quite a few themes that are compatible with the system but are not minifigure scale or use standard bricks. No LEGO theme is off limit for Bart. We are looking at the ruins of a once magnificent civilization that is now reclaimed by nature.

The aerial roots of the trees look like they are gathering water and storing it in transparent sacks but that’s just my interpretation. These parts come from the LEGO clikits line.The boat in this creation uses a Ben 10 torso which works perfectly for a futuristic floating vessel. Or is it just a piece of floating scrap metal? Whatever it is, it works perfectly. I like how you can identify the piece because of its reflection. And reflection is what makes this creation go from big to massive. The use of dark orange bricks to represent rust and decay works perfectly as a complementary colour with the blue lighting. The cute blue critters with their yellow eyes also match the surroundings perfectly.

This spook-tastic skeleton is ready for Halloween

It is a dark and stormy night as you walk up the path to an old rickety house. The windows are boarded up; moss caresses the structure’s brickwork, and tiles are missing from the roof. Apprehensively, you approach the decrepit front door and knock. Silence. Suddenly, there is a noise of scampering feet from the other side of the door. You back away quickly. What could it be? Some deranged beast? A terrifying monster? The door is flung open and instead you are greeted by the ever so friendly Mr Skeleton, created by Zio Chao!

This is a wonderful build of a skeleton with adorable proportions. The large eye holes provide the model with a charming sense of character. The nose, or where a nose should be, is created by an arched window and a plate with a bar piece. The teeth appear to be made of 1×1 hollow studs placed over a flexible bar piece that portrays the skeleton’s cheerful grin.

From all of us at The Brothers Brick, we hope you have a safe and fun Halloween! Also, why not check out some of our other articles, relating to Halloween, to get you in the mood for this spooky day.

A place to escape from those pesky humans

I remember being super excited when Hotel Transylvania was announced in 2011. Not only due to its quirky theme or creepy characters. Director Genndy Tartakovsky announced that its potential success could also revive his old series, Samurai Jack. Well, Jack came back. Three movies and an animated series later, it’s clear this story was a big hit. Just in time for this Halloween, Mehdi Rustamov built a dollhouse-style playset inspired by this spooky series. This cute and creepy set is brimming with characters and features the main entrance hall, Dracula and Mavi’s rooms, and Quasimodo’s kitchen. Please don’t bother the vacationing creatures as we take a look around, all right?

Click here for a full tour…

How Aaron Newman went from being a LEGO fan to a LEGO set designer [Interview]

LEGO fans take many shapes. Some enjoy building official sets, while others dive into their imagination. Still others take great pride in hunting down every minute variation of 2×4 brick, or in capturing beautiful images of minifigures. For some, though, LEGO is a career path. Aaron Newman has been building with LEGO all his life, and has successfully navigated the dream that many fans have: not just building with LEGO, but getting paid to do it. Aaron has been on a rocket trajectory, moving from fan to full-time LEGO artist and then to a contestant on LEGO Masters Season 1. We’ve interviewed Aaron before about his work as a fan and on LEGO Masters, but now he’s moving to Denmark as the LEGO Company’s newest designer, so I caught up with Aaron once more to learn about his journey and how he approaches building.

Click to read the full interview

Tudor-style buildings with plumbing

I am quite a fan of old cities. Old cities offer a little bit of everything. They have skyscrapers and office buildings but often also Tudor-style buildings reminding us of simpler times. These Tudor-style buildings are often located near the city square or the city centre or what used to be the centre of the city. Quite often these buildings had to be modernised at a given point because they didn’t have central heating and electricity in the period they were built. Sometimes these features are added very respectfully, and it is not noticeable from the outside that these features were added on in a later stage.

Sometimes, however, these features are just slapped on the building with complete disregard of how it looks. Although I prefer the first option, I’ve grown fond of the second one too. Either way, it reminds us of our past and it shows how our demands for housing changed over the years. This build by Pieter Dennison is a perfect example of a building having to evolve in order to meet the inhabitants wishes. Pieter made a lovey Tudor-style house, complete with a stone staircase leading up to the building. Bars and slope tiles have been used to create some lovely details and even windows. Dark tan and olive-green work together wonderfully for the plaster. It looks like the building has passed the test of time. The addition of rain pipes however takes it from a medieval theme right to something more now. It gives the house a bit of a steampunk-ish vibe that we all love.

“This Captain America mosaic is super, soldier.”

It makes sense that when LEGO launched their new Art theme, they’d start their Marvel offerings off with Iron Man, the hero who gave birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At least, he birthed it from a movie release date perspective. But Steven Wayne Howard hasn’t forgotten that the real first Avenger was Captain America. This tribute to Steve Rogers was created by fusing the pieces from Iron Man and Sith mosaics (with a handful of extra 1×1 red plates thrown in). So, it should be no problem to recreate yourself if you have both of those sets on hand. And if you’re looking for a great spot to hang it, I suggest the wall on your left.

This LEGO Ikea showroom might require an allen wrench to recreate.

Iron Builder competitor Brickleas has taken the challenge to the land of Norsemen and ready-to-assemble furniture. This time the seed part has been used to create a chair, some decorative lighting fixtures, and a hood over the stove. But Brickleas didn’t stop at creating a cozy home scene. This build goes the extra mile by zooming out a few feet to reveal that we’re in the showroom of an Ikea. The arrow on the floor guiding shoppers and the black rigging hanging above the fake walls is sure to inspire flashbacks in anyone who has tried to navigate the labyrinthine superstore. “Why do I have to follow these arrows through the whole complex? I’m just trying to buy an affordable shelf for my UCS Batmobile!” Sorry, got a little lost in memories there…

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for October 30, 2021

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the final week of October 2021.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS Two reviews this week- Chris Doyle covers the LEGO Technic Batmobile from “The Batman” film coming in 2022, and Bre Burns studies the Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms GWP!

[REVIEW] LEGO Technic DC – 42127 The Batman Batmobile – Budget Black Beauty Brings Bat-itude — How does it stack up with the recent Dark Knight Tumbler?
[REVIEW] A look at the next Harry Potter GWP set: 40252 Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms — Spend USD$100 or more on Harry Potter LEGO products between October 25 and November 7th at LEGO Stores or online to nab this gift with purchase!

OTHER NEWS Our news roundup includes other news from around the world, including a new puzzle, the fruits of THREE different LEGO partnerships, and justice served in the case of a LEGO crime.

IDEAS Puzzle Design Winner Revealed! – LEGO Ideas — We won’t spoil the surprise here- click through to see which design will become an official LEGO puzzle!
Image, Skybound to Publish New ‘Lego Ninjago Garmadon’ Series – ICv2.com — The first comic under the previously-announced LEGO/Skybound partnership will debut in April 2022
Part 7 of LEGO and NASA’s STEAM Exploration Series – LEGO Education YouTube Channel — This episode explores the soon-to-launch James Webb Telescope
Introducing the Volvo Concept LX03 – Volvo — The collaboration between Volvo’s Construction division and LEGO Technic designers birthed an electric machine learning piece of heavy equipment built for the future
Seattle police bust lucrative Lego trafficking scheme – The Guardian — “Operation: MandalOrganized Retail Theft” nabbed a shady Seattle reseller hocking stolen LEGO product.

Please tell me Umbridge isn’t invited

In the years since the Harry Potter books and movies were released, we’ve seen plenty of fan contributions to the Wizarding World. From “Potter Puppet Pals” to “A Very Potter Sequel”, wanna-be wizards and witches have sought to pay tribute in their own ways. LEGO’s celebration of the 20th anniversary of the movies has brought lots of fun new sets and the fans have responded in kind. This playful, life-sized version of an educational decree board from the Order of the Phoenix was built by twin brothers Diego and David Escalona. The beautifully built frame with padlock sits next to wonderfully crafted candles, a clever hammer, and a few large nails for that extra little bit of detail.

The frame achieves a lot of great angles, making it thoroughly realistic. The brothers keep with that realism, smoothly sculpting the handle and the head of the hammer with just the right angles in the right places. The dripping wax from the candles built up around the base and the Bionicle blades behind the flame pieces are both delightful details. The wee spider crawling across the frame is absolutely adorable, by the way. Mostly because it’s fake, otherwise, no thank you. Diego and David do well modeling some text and design elements within the proclamation from bricks, while others they included within the render with a playful message.

Considering the season, I think these brothers may have made some great props for a Filch costume. Other than that, these would look perfect with the Hogwarts Icons set, something I hope LEGO expands on in general.