Yearly Archives: 2021

A silent raven’s call

This brick-built model of the common raven is a bit deceptive. Builder Felix Jaensch has a portfolio of impressive animal-inspired models but this raven seems to break the mold. Cleverly concealed in the sloping bricks along its back is a hidden button that allows the raven’s head and jaw to move. Pressing it gives the impression the model is calling out, albeit without the gurgling croak this bird often makes. This silent figure can’t audibly torment you, but it’s still a perfectly creepy build for this season.

Just looking at the model, it’s almost impossible to tell that it can move. The whole thing is a sturdy, brick-built structure that renders the bird in the traditional LEGO cuboid, pixelated form. Compare the below image with the above and you’ll only see tiny bits of movement in the neck. A change in angle of the structure holding the beak as the head moves down makes the smallest movements have big effects. Continue reading →

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This unwelcome visitor makes your opinionated uncle seem delightful

We’ve all had to put up with that one unwelcome visitor, right? Usually it’s an opinionated uncle with some harebrained QAnon conspiracies or a boozy aunt with a penchant for family drama. Both will wreck the toilet and both will ask to borrow $12,000 by the end of the night but they keep getting invited back because they’re family. Well, imagine a visitor so unwelcome that not only is it adept in its toilet wrecking abilities but it’ll also scramble your brain and make you do its unspeakable bidding. That is precisely the kind of unwelcome visitor Ivan Martynov has rendered in LEGO. Meet Ur-Lugal, a being so strange it is clearly not from around here. It isn’t even from Belgium. Its planet of origin is unpronounceable and its tactics are insidious. Still, you have to admit that there are some rather charming built techniques at play here. It’s almost…welcoming.

Or is that the brain scrambling at work? I’m not even sure what’s right anymore. But what I am sure about is I like the stuff Ivan builds. Also where we go one, we go all.

This giant LEGO Death Star docking bay is large enough to hold the UCS Millennium Falcon.

Docking Bay 327. You might not remember the numerical designation, but you’re almost certainly familiar with the location. It’s the bay aboard the Death Star that the Millennium Falcon is tractor beamed into when our heroes are attempting their heroic rescue of Princess Leia, and it’s the location Luke is in when he sees Obi-Wan cut down by Darth Vader. As parking spots go, it’s one of the most important ones in science fiction history. And now it’s been digitally created by Lysander Chau in a scale suitable to house LEGO’s UCS Millennium Falcon (10179) from 2007. The first thing you’ll register is the sheer size of the model, but this thing is as detailed as it is massive.

So slip on your Stormtrooper disguise and click here so we can take a look around.

The release of a balloon string tugs at our heartstrings

Sometimes it can be easy to forget that LEGO isn’t just a medium for spaceships, dinosaurs, and sports cars. Brickleas reminds us that LEGO can be fine art with this Iron Builder submission inspired by Banksy’s Balloon Girl. The seed part for this match-up was the 3 x 5 deltoid panel, and it has been put to excellent use here as both the balloon and the girl’s dress. The use of varying shades of gray adds an extra feeling of depth to the hills, and there’s an excellent sense of motion in the girl’s windswept hair. The result is a powerful build that evokes a wistfulness in the viewer.

Yngwie Malmsteen arpeggios your face off far beyond the sun

With LEGO coming out with the official Fender Stratocaster set it was only going to be a matter of time before someone becomes inspired to build guitar legends who play the Strat. It has happened and that builder is Steven Wayne Howard and the guitar legend he has built is none other than Yngwie Malmsteen. This guitarist is so legendary that throughout the 80’s I thought his middle name was Freakin’ or some variation thereof. One of the builder’s absolute favorite performances of his was from the live show in Leningrad in 1989. He has rendered Yngwie’s resemblance nicely; his heavy metal hairdo comprises mostly tree sprigs in brown, the ruffles of his shirt use the solar deltoid part. Even his pants appear to be leather thanks to some rendering trickery and lighting. Steven tells us this creation is 2,642 pieces and is 30 inches tall.

This shot offers a close-up view of his face and those aforementioned LEGO solar panel pieces nicely mimicking a ruffled effect.

You LEGO purists may want to cover your tender ears because it’s about to get cray-cray up in here. Steven tells us that this was created digitally using Bricklink Studio, Mecabricks, Cinema4D, Octane, Greyscalegorilla, and Photoshop on a Puget Systems computer. Now that’s freakin’ metal!

A look at the next Harry Potter GWP set: 40252 Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms [Review]

Any fan of the Harry Potter movies can recall the iconic scene where he is introduced to his first chocolate frog. Unfortunately, it jumps out the train window before he can taste it, but the real focal point is the included trading card. All at once, Harry is introduced to wizarding candy, a hobby, moving portraits, and, of course, Professor Dumbledore. (Plus, as we recall later, the existence Dumbledore’s important friend, Nicolas Flamel.) These trading cards have now become a “collect them all” feature of recent sets – a smart move by LEGO. If you’re hunting for the cards (2×2 tiles), or completing a Hogwarts castle, you may want to consider planning your next LEGO shopping trip between October 25th and November 7th, where you can get 40452 Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms as a free gift with any Harry Potter themed purchase over US $100 | CAN $100 | UK £100.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Click to take a closer look!

There are rally cars, and then there is Lancia

As a little kid, I was so confused with how people could tell all the sports cars apart: they are all red, look sleek and drive super fast! How do you know which one is which without looking at the logo? As it turned out, all the iconic cars are actually so different, you need no more than 8 LEGO studs in width to capture a unique character. And this is exactly what Jerry Builds Bricks did with the lovely Lancia Stratos.

A 5-year-old me would not believe it if I told myself I could instantly recognize Lancia just in a straight row of curved slopes and the iconic headlights. And as an adult LEGO builder, I appreciate how the bulky Speed Champions canopy is fitted here. If only this small model had working suspension…

The droids you weren’t looking for

Expert builder Tim Goddard is no stranger to grey greebly things. Co-writer of LEGO Space: Building the Future, he excels in spaceships, space stations, space robots, and really anything to do with space. This collection of robots—sorry, droids—must have been child’s play for him, as they are as simple as they are accurate.

While the astromech, the treadwell, and mouse droids are something we’ve seen in Star Wars numerous times, the larger Binary Loadlifter isn’t as common. Essentially a walking forklift, a plethora of greebly parts make up this lanky mechanical beast. Cabinet doors make up the arms, which provide ample space to lift even the large Imperial crates we see. But my favourite parts usage has to be the use of black Bionicle Toa Metru leg armour as the base for one of the smaller droids. Is it a mouse droid? No, those are the tiny ones. Mouse droid XL? My droid knowledge escapes me…

Tim even built a diorama of a room storing some of the crates. This could either be on the Death Star or aboard a Star Destroyer, since the white vertical lines are a defining characteristic of the Empire’s space brutalism. Tim’s iconic greenling takes a minimal approach here, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It enhances the mechanical nature of this cold room somewhere in the coldness of space…

Check out more of Tim’s builds here!

If you need to start a fire, this robot may be able to give you a hand

This fiery machine was built by Alex_mocs and uses a variation of unusual parts. To begin with, the head is represented by part of a midak skyblaster from the Bionicle theme. The main weapon of this robot is the flamethrower on one of its arms which appears to use a spring from a shock absorber piece. Tyres cover up some of the exposed sections of the joints, making the build feel all the more complete. What about the odd cloth piece around the neck? It is actually a sail piece of the Silent Mary ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean set.

From the video, you can see the model has a fuel tank on its back which is portrayed by the storage section of the midak skyblaster.

If this build wasn’t strange enough for you, we have plenty of articles relating to weird robots, which can be viewed here.

LEGO bust of Nefertiti captures ageless beauty

Although Koen Zwanengburg may not be as prolific as some builders, he makes up for it in sheer quality and talent, winning TBB’s LEGO Creation of the Year award for 2020 with his 16,000 LEGO brick mask of King Tut, for example. Koen follows up that Egyptian-themed LEGO creation with a depiction of the woman most modern scholars believe was Tutankhamen’s mother, Queen Nefertiti, the wife of the “heretic king” Akhenaten.

Koen has recreated the famous bust of Nefertiti sculpted by Thutmose, discovered in the artist’s ancient workshop in Amarna by German archaeologists in 1912 (and controversially still housed in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin rather than in its home country of Egypt).

See more details of this amazing LEGO sculpture of Nefertiti

Rising from the ash and fog is this incredible collection of LEGO buildings

If you’re looking for a LEGO masterclass in weathered architecture, Ralf Langer is your guy. He’s created a plethora of beautifully detailed buildings, structures, and scenes. He also kindly shares tips on how to achieve the techniques on his social media. This exquisite group of conjoined buildings is his latest addition, and it doesn’t disappoint! With a gothic vibe, they transform from a crumbling base into a colorful block you might like to visit.

Right now, Ralf doesn’t have many pictures available for this build. But as you can see, he uses a variety of cool techniques and color combos to achieve the vibe he’s looking for. These structures include great shaping tools, like hinges, hoses, arches, and even some minifigure posing handles. Even the sides less visible are stunning! There are loads of random tidbits that are worth a zoom-in, but one of my favorite part usages is the unique design created with mini copper Exo-Force legs. Gorgeous!

While you’re here, stick around for more of Ralf’s work. And if this isn’t your style, try out some other great architectural builds we’ve featured!

In the belly of the bass

Okay, so maybe it’s not a bass – it’s a European perch. But I couldn’t help using the alliteration there. This LEGO recreation of the perch, built by Jannis Mavrostomos, has some nice body-shaping and a good use of parts. But it’s really what’s on the inside (or flipside) that makes this build unique!

Click to see what the other side looks like!