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

Princess Baba Yaga

We all love a story with a strong female lead, and the princess in Bart de Dobbelaer’s latest LEGO creation is no damsel in distress, and she is definitely not in need of a knight in shining armor to be her savior. She is in control of her own happy ending! Poor prince charming never saw this coming. The tower on legs reminds me of the old Baba Yaga story, and you know over here at The Brothers Brick we all love buildings on stilts (there seem to be a lot going around lately). The triangular base is a very nice touch to this creation. The brown color of the Bionicle parts used for the legs and the spiked vine further add to the uprooted look of the tower. Also for the category Nice Piece Usage I would like to nominate the vehicle base used as a balcony.

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Spiral Hill from The Nightmare Before Christmas

LEGO builder Force of Bricks‘ creation from The Nightmare Before Christmas is based on the iconic landmark Spiral Hill. It stands in the Graveyard of Halloween Town and leads into the Hinterlands, and its form resembles a small rising outcrop of land which curls inwards to a spiral at the pinnacle. And Force of Bricks managed to capture this beautifully. They say it took them four weeks to build, perhaps because it looks like it contains so many little parts! I particularly like how Force of Bricks stayed away from prefab gates and fences and brick-built everything. The only prefab part he used (in my opinion) is the curled monkey tail. And using mostly gray bricks for the landscape and black bricks for the outstanding base made that big yellow moon and the pumpkins in the field pop.

Catamaran Vic Viper

Vic Vipers always have had my interest. Mainly because I do not enjoy building space creations myself but I really admire those who can actually build within the theme. This LEGO Vic Viper by F@bz really is something else. It has to be the biggest creation with the least amount of parts I’ve ever seen. F@bz manages to use a part I would never ever consider to be of any use outside of the set it came in. They used the catamaran base for the ‘wings’ of the vehicle. The rest of the spaceship uses a quite demure color scheme that complements the brightness of the colors of the catamarans. Check out their gallery for more views of this amazing creation.

Updated Guarded Inn

I love a good old classic set, the 1986 Guarded Inn is no exception to this. Sets like these remind us of simpler times where LEGO only had 9 colors, and everyone supported the same smile. I love it when creators use a set like this as inspiration and manage to bring it to 2020 by using newer parts and techniques. Stuifzand didn’t use any of the tudor wall panel. And this set came with a lot of panels, 8 to be exact. The door was replaced by a brick-build but door but in the same style as the original set. The yellow shutters add a nice pop of colour as do the dark green half-round windows.

Micro TIE Interceptor

Making a creation in microscale is something I really admire because it’s hard to do. Making one that also looks visually pleasing is even harder. With this tiny TIE Interceptor, Dan Ko proves he is an expert when it comes to making these kinds of LEGO builds. I love when builders manage to use a seemingly single use part in a completely different way. The use of the bottom half of the Darth Vader helmet to create a Star Wars ship is pure gold.

A big cottage in the forest

Just a few days ago I wrote an article about a little cottage in the forest. Today I stumbled upon this creation by the Midwest Builders. A big cottage in the forest! Well, calling this a cottage might not do it justice. It is actually more of a house —- a Tudor style house, and I am a sucker for Tudor style houses. So let’s discuss all the yummie goodness this creation has to offer. First of all, the woodwork on the tudor style part of the house is really nicely done. I especially love the use of the 4×4 macaroni tile . The exposed bricks behind the woodwork also looks amazing. Then the shingles for the roof are just the right amount of crooked, giving this building great character.

One of the best things has to be the pentagon and half-ellipse-shaped windows. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of the LEGO spider web part because it is so chunky and you have to attach it, which can sometimes be a bit tricky to do without the attachment parts being visible. Midwest Builders managed to hide the attachment spots, giving it a more organic feel. The purple trees, graveyard, and the crops with the scarecrow further add to the Halloween feel. Are they decorations or is this house just a bit creepy all year round? Last but not least, have you seen the cute cobblestone wall that has been crumbling down for ages and is now only three plates high?

A little cottage in the forest

One of the best things about LEGO is the online community, which appears to be ever-growing. I really like discovering new online accounts of fans of LEGO. Yesterday I discovered a new (to me) creator and I would like to share their latest creation with you. Titled “Little cottage in the forest,” it was made by Alex Bromfield, and I have so many nice things to say about it. I like the irregularly shaped base and the use of all the headgear for the cobblestone path. And the cobblestone path isn’t even the only way Alex incorporates headgear. He also uses it to create a bird’s nest and a small bush. On the walls of the Tudor-style house, he used a mix of white, tan, and dark tan bricks to give it a more weathered look, which is further continued by adding tiles, slopes and cheese slopes to the roof. Can you believe that this creator is only 13 years old? I am telling you, this is one to keep an eye on!

Say Ciao to this charming Italian villa

Koala Yummies is no stranger to The Brothers Brick and their latest creation definitely deserves a mention. If this were a modular I’d buy it in a heartbeat. There are quite a few features that set this creation apart so let’s dive into it!

The roof design on both of the buildings is amazing. For the taller building, 1×1 round bricks are used to represent roof shingles while on the shorter building curved double slopes were used. The window treatments are different but equally stunning with the white building utilizing boomerangs to adorn the windows and on the tan buildings we have arches combined with curved wedges. Tying it all together, both buildings use the ingot bar and masonry brick have been used to add texture to the walls. There are also a lot of half circle and quarter round tiles used to represent broken pavement. Last but not least, I love a building with plants trailing the facade, in real life and in LEGO life. And this one looks lush with all those plant parts added to it.

This tiny LEGO furniture is made out of books

Letranger Absurde has been playing with the LEGO book binding and book cover to create some tiny furniture. The outcome is really pretty! Not only the book binding got the furniture treatment, but the suitcase element got incorporated into the build as well. According to the description, connecting the books can be quite the challenge. I am really curious to how these are constructed. So if your castle or house interior needs to be spruced up, go and buy yourself some books!

Save money on flowers to buy more LEGO

I think most of us will agree that a nice LEGO set or custom creation can spruce up your interior decor quite a lot. I personally am also a fan of adding flowers to my home. After all, they look good and they smell good. However, after about 10 days they have to be replaced and they cost quite a lot of money. Money I could also spend on LEGO. James Zhan offers a solution to this problem with his lovely creation called ‘Flower and zen’. And to me, the title says it all! Now all I have to figure out is how to get my LEGO to smell like flowers.

This clock tower looks like a giant clock

This LEGO clocktower made by Jaap Bijl, looks just like a giant grandfather clock. The shape of the build made me chuckle but that is not the only reason this creation is aesthetically pleasing. The cobblestone base is constructed very well using bars and half round tiles mixed with regular 1×1 and 1×2 tiles. Giving it a bit of a weathered look. There even is a small pendulum hanging between the two base pillars of the build, On top of that we have a Tudor style house with the Big Ben clock dish to represent the clock. It is always nice to see a part that is so tied to a particular set being used in a fan creation. The roof of the building is purple with some golden details. Adding a pop of colour to a roof of a build always makes it pop. The little turrets made of lanterns and splat gear add so much character to the little building. To top it off the build is set on an irregular base composed of all different kinds of earth tones and is adorned with birch trees, which are in fashion with LEGO right now.

LEGO reveals 10274 Ghostbusters ECTO-1, a 2,300-piece UCS-style car [News]

After some long delays, the highly anticipated Ghostbusters: Afterlife is slated be launched in 2021. In the meantime, the LEGO Group has announced the largest and most detailed LEGO recreation of one of the most iconic cars from the silver screen, the ECTO-1. This version is based on the new movie but shares a lot of overlap with previous on-screen versions. The LEGO Ghostbusters 10274 ECTO-1 contains 2,352 pieces and measures over 8” (22.5cm) high, 18” (47cm) long and 6” (16.5cm) wide. The set will be available from November 15, and will retail for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £179.99.

We’ve already got our hands on a copy courtesy of LEGO, so be sure to check out our full, hands-on review of the LEGO Ghostbusters ECTO-1 (10274) published earlier today, or keep reading to see more of the official photos.

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