About Bart Willen

Bart Willen (badboytje88) has been a fan of LEGO for as long as he can remember. When he hit puberty and slowly but surely started losing interest in the brick, LEGO released their first line of Harry Potter sets. Keeping Bart from slipping to a Dark Age. He is a fan of a quite broad range of themes, from Star Wars to Johny Thunder and from Elves to City. But somehow he always navigates back to the magical world of Harry Potter. He attends LEGO World in the Jaarbuurs in Utrecht on a yearly basis where he enjoys meeting other fans and seeing some of their creations 'in the brick'. You can check out his own creations here.

Posts by Bart Willen

Peach Blossom Lake

When it comes to building with LEGO our creations tend to 3D most of the time. Toltomeja chose to go for a 2D approach with their latest creation. My knowledge about Chinese culture and art is not that strong, so if I use the wrong wording, please excuse me. Toltomeja made a scroll with a decorative landscape painting in Chinese calligraphy style. The artwork is filled with little details and parts used in a very smart way. For instance, there are sausages, horns, a sextant and a t-bar used in Chinese characters.

The horns also get used as a part of the clouds and to represent the flying birds. Which is really simple, yet really clever. There are bananas disguised as a small waterfall. There are also bananas incorporated in the clouds. I do not know why but apparently, frogs are the latest fashion when it comes to foliage. Towards the bottom of the scroll, this creation slowly goes from 2D to 3D. The clouds make this ‘painting’ look very calm jet a bit mystical. And the cracks in the rock give the mountains an amazing amount of depth.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Off to an adventure with Calvin and Hobbes

Talented TBB alum Simon Liu brings us the iconic duo Calvin and Hobbes. Simon is no stranger to Calvin and Hobbes LEGO creations. This time he decided to challenge himself by using only 101 pieces. 101 pieces doesn’t sound like a lot, but the figures are quite small so to me it still is astonishing that these two figures consist of 101 parts. Most of the parts used are smaller than a 1×1 brick. Even though their faces are featureless the figures look instantly recognizable — Hobbes’ face is especially well made. I am quite curious how Hobbes’ ears are connected. My guess is through friction and I am perfectly fine with that as long as he doesn’t lose them when they speed of a steep hill in Calvin’s red wagon.

Want more LEGO Calvin and Hobbes creations? Check them out in our archives!

Fifi the Warrior Princess

Dan Ko had me searching the internet for the reference to their creation for a couple of minutes. I can’t find it so my guess is Fifi the Warrior Princess and Tatsu the Magic Whale are figures of his imagination. Which is troubling because I want more Fifi and Tatsu adventures! Tatsu looks so sweet and friendly with its big eyes and sand green fins made out of surfboards. The mudguard and shoulder pad make for a great face. But the best part has to be the round plate used as a single tooth.

And the LEGO Oscar goes to...

This creation byJohn Snyder might reek a little bit of garbage. And that’s just the way we like him! It’s everyone’s favorite grouch, Oscar from Sesame Street. I am so glad to see that this rendition of Oscar in LEGO does the character justice. He looks fuzzy and hairy thanks to the abundance of wire connectors and some leaves. He is sporting his classic brown monobrow which makes him look extra grouchy. John even went as far as to use LEGO packaging to create all the garbage. Most of the non-brick parts in this shot, are produced by or for LEGO. Can you identify where they came from?

Your studs are showing

While some LEGO builders want to hide the studs on their LEGO as much as possible to create a smooth-looking creation, Luka often has their studs on display to add texture to their creation. The studs are not only facing upwards; they are facing right, left, and center. The effect is quite nice.

One thing I always struggle with when building with LEGO is making trees. Luka reminds us that it doesn’t always have to be a struggle. The trees in his build are quite simple but also quite stunning. There are a lot of droid arms used in this creation for various purposes; for the roof of the house and the base of the trees. Fun thing, in both situations, they are meant to represent wood. It is nice to see that the wood for the roof was probably bought locally, which has to be better for the environment. The foliage of the trees is made by using flower stems with and without leaves upside down.

Keep out Inky and Blinky

One of the things I love about writing for The Brothers Brick is that I learn something new with every article. For instance, I never knew the ghosts from the arcade game Pac-Man had names. Apparently, they do. In this creation by Mikael Montelius Inky and Blinky are featured. Inky is the blue one, Blinky the red one. Somehow LEGO is a great medium to make 2D Arcade Games come to life. One of the things that always amazes me is how perfectly the 2×2 curved slopes fit together to make a (half) circle. These pieces are used to create not only Inky and Blinky, but also our beloved hero Pac-Man. I’m also a fan of the use of dark blue and black tiles to create the maze on the floor of this creation.

A little light amidst a lot of dark

Is it a Tim Burton movie set? Is it a miniature fit for a museum about Medieval times? No, it is another fantastic creation from Ralf Langer. Ralf always surprises us with his super realistic medieval Tudor-style buildings. His creations are filled with tons of interesting techniques which he kindly reveals in tutorials not long after posting a creation. His latest model is called ‘A light in the dark’.

As far as I can tell Ralf didn’t use any special lighting to make the archway light up. He created the effect by using a range of yellow tones amidst a lot of grey, dark grey, dark brown, and black. The effect looks stunning. Another effect Ralf managed to get across beautifully is the calm after a storm. The streets look like they are covered in puddles. This is achieved by using chain link for the pavement. The puddles are made with black brick shapes which are placed between the chain links. The difference between the textured chain links and the smooth bricks really looks like rain puddles.

Waia Konekta

Joss Woodyard shows us that he is not afraid of using color in his LEGO creations. His creation titled Waia Konekta is very vibrant and lovely. There are a few parts in this creation that are used very creatively. The wire connector is used to create a grass necklace of the Waia Konekta. Next to that the wing with feathers gets used quite a lot in a range of different colors. It is used in the grass skirt and in an elaborate headdress. The use of the 12 tooth gear for teeth is quite ingenious, and there is just something about those eyes. They appear to follow you, and it looks like the Waia Konekta can see straight through you. Did I mention this creation reminds me of the mask in Crash Bandicoot?

Cable Clip Chameleon

Builder Joss Woodyard has made a chameleon out of LEGO and it’s simply a small work of art. There are a lot of axle connectors used in this build for the tail and the spine of the creature. I love that it manages to stay true to the color scheme of an actual chameleon. White wedge plate create gaps that resemble the mouth and there is great part use with the pumpkin part used to portray the characteristic eyes which bulge out the side of their head and appear to swivel about in all directions.

Parfait por favor

Nobu Tary makes us long for summer with their latest LEGO creation. This built doesn’t use a lot of pieces and it is actually fairly small. The main piece in this creation, which is used beautifully, is the Ninjago tornado spiral. Which works perfectly as an ice cream coupe glass. The white swirl towards the bottom looks like slowly melting ice cream dripping towards the bottom of the glass. The classic baguette piece gets used as a ice cream wafer stick which to me is just brilliant.

Neptune, god of the sea

I must confess Alex’s creations leave me in awe. For his latest figure, he drew inspiration from the Roman gods, Neptune, to be precise. The construction of the head is beautiful. It always amazes me how Alex manages to create faces with so much expression out of LEGO bricks. The face of this figure isn’t the only standout feature of this creation. The best thing has to be the feeling of movement this creation has. The tentacles, hair, and beard all appear to be flowing as if they are underwater. My guess is the bionicle webbed fin armor is what started this creation. It is a perfect fit for an underwater god’s crown.

Bring back my classic dinosaurs!

Back in 2000 LEGO released their first dinosaurs when Johnny Thunder went to Dino Island. Most dinosaurs weren’t very poseable, their only articulation points being the tail and head, just like the early crocodile and the classic dragon. The parts from these classic dino sets were the inspiration for Alex latest creation. He used the necks, tail pieces, flippers but most of all their heads. Apparently the mouth of the dinosaurs hold a mixel eye perfectly. Alex named them Jlorp and Schlorp and claims that every hero needs a good sidekick. So my question is, which one is the hero and which one is the sidekick?