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

Dead men don’t sweat

Okay, I have to admit, I am nog a big connoisseur when it comes to LEGO big figures, technique, Bionicle and Galidor. But I do know an amazing creation using parts from those themes when I see one. This creation by Nikita Nikolsky features a lot of weird and interesting parts. I am just about sure there is even DUPLO hidden in the design of the treasure chest.

There is a lot to love about these figures. For one the expression on their faces. For two undead characters they appear to be very much alive and kicking. The attention to detail, when you look at the belt buckle or the gold embellishment on the shoes. And last but not least, the exaggeration when it comes to the size of the lock on the chest, but also the use of a plunger for a peg leg. Nikita also has been experimenting with the distance between the two characters and their scales. One is actually built on a smaller scale than the other.

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.

Dutch kitchen design from a not yet forgotten time

As a Dutch guy I just had to feature this Dutch LEGO kitchen creation by Victor van den Berg. It reminds me of paintings by Jan Steen, but then tidied up. In the Netherlands, we even have a saying about it. It’s called ‘A household like Jan Steen’s’, which means a really messy household. This however does not apply to Victor’s creation. It looks very sleek and well designed. We can spot a lot of Dutch interior trends from a distant past. Delfts blue tiling, elaborately carved wooden furniture and the tableware on display on wooden shelves throughout the entire house. It makes me reminisce about my sweet grandmother’s home and the smell of freshly baked pies.

This Spider-man scene is bananas!

Over the years we’ve seen the LEGO banana being used in various creative ways. The part was originally designed for LEGO Belville, so it’s a bit out of scale when it comes to LEGO minifigures. Fans love using it for claws, teeth, horns, fangs and yes bananas. Thanks to themarkstudios_84 we can now also add motion effects to that list. The Pork Grind figure is looking very sleek and the inclusion of motion graphics makes these figures look like they popped right out of a comic book.

Pork Grind and Spider-Ham appear to be running. The bananas represent the movement of the legs. Adding the tasmanian devil swirl tile is a very nice touch. And the difference between the ice cream scoops and the Monkey Kid cloud also indicates the difference in height between the two running minifigures. The thought cloud adds to the comic book feel, same goes for the stars flying around poor Spider-man’s head. My guess is Spider-Ham tried to hit Pork Grind with the mallet, but he ended up hitting our friendly neighbourhood Spider-man.

Motley pirate crew without a parrot

I love a good motley crew, especially when it is made out of LEGO. This can be straight-up minifigures or brick build characters. In this case Dan Ko created a pirate crew. They had a ship, but they wrecked it. Apparently, they left the steering to a mosquito, which to be fair doesn’t sound like a very smart idea. These guys are a fest for the eye and there are quite a few bricks used in smart ways. Let’s take a closer look. We have a mouse, a rat, a hedgehog, and a mosquito and every one of them has a very cute snout.

The hedgehog is sporting a technic ball joint for a nose and wind-up keys for its spikes. This is not your everyday hedgehog. This is a well-groomed hedgehog who permed its spikes. The rat has a microphone nose and shovel legs. I am not sure if the shovel and the cheese slopes are kept in place thanks to gravity or friction, but it is really original. For the mouse, Dan Ko incorporated a lipstick nose, which to me is the most creative. Last but definitely not least is the ski stick nose used on the mosquito. All these guys need now is a new ship and maybe a foul-mouthed parrot.

71411 The Mighty Bowser is the latest addition to the LEGO Super Mario Adult product line [News]

The newest LEGO Super Mario set has been released: The Mighty Bowser. The set containing 2,807 pieces features the King of the Koopas in his largest scale yet.

The set is the latest product from the LEGO and Nintendo partnership. It follows the 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System and the 71395 Question Mark Block The Mighty Bowser will be available starting October 1st for US $ 269.99 | CAN $ 349.99 | UK £ 229.99

This Niffler is cute as a button, a golden button that is

We’ve featured quite a few LEGO Fantastic Beast creations over at TBB and this Niffler by Jannis Mavrostomos really does deserve a feature. The greedy claws of this little critter were used by LEGO on their Dimensions Niffler, so it is nice to see these parts getting repurposed on a better brick build Niffler. The platypus like beak is achieved by merging a snowboard and a plate with tooth which sounds simple, yet it is really effective. What sells this creation to me is the beady eyes. It is cute as a button.

Want to read more Fantastic Beasts articles, just click here.

Everdell Chapel in the brick

Next to LEGO I am a huge board game nerd, and I love it when hobbies collide. Isaac and John Snyder drew inspiration from one of my favourite board games. Everdell is a worker placement game in which you build the homes of the many forest critters that inhabit the forest of Everdell. The artwork was done by Andrew Bosley and Dann May. The playing cards depict forest locations but also its inhabitants. The illustrations on the cards look truly as if they came straight out of a fairy tale. I can surely see why Isaac and John would draw inspiration from it. In this creation we see the Everdell chapel which is built on a rock in a foggy lake. A grey Belville tower roof has been incorporated in the landscaping and to me it is mind boggling that this large piece blends in with the scenery so well.

The resemblance to the source material is really amazing. The Tudor style is done exceptionally well, and including yellowed and damaged white bricks to depict the decay of the building is really clever. On the playing card there are no animals included but it is nice to get some forest critters in there to make the scene appear more alive. They even get cute custom outfits made out of capes and rubber bands. I am curious to see if these two will keep drawing inspiration from this lovely board game. One thing is for sure, I wouldn’t mind!

DUPLO dots for days

This LEGO creation by R 194 for me really hits the nostalgia soft spot. The DUPLO I played with was handed down to me by friends of my parents whose kids were a bit older. So the 1994 cat head was part of my DUPLO collection. To me it is such an iconic DUPLO part. It’s from a time where the diversity of bricks was really limited. Including this vintage DUPLO beauty in a LEGO creation looks stunning. It is not the only DUPLO part that gets included. We can spot a roof spire, a red panda head and either Dots or DUPLO cupcake cups. We are looking at a motley crew of musicians and they are all cute as a button. The best thing about this creation is how R 194 created a third big animal head using regular LEGO bricks and it is amazing to see how good it matches the DUPLO heads.

Avian Bonsai

Sometimes a LEGO creation just looks so mesmerising you can’t help but stare at it in complete awe. This creation by WoomyWorld looks like it is from out of this world. It reminds me so strongly of magical beings from fairy tales I used to love as a kid. None of them had birds with berry covered branches as tails in them. But it sounds so amazing that it wouldn’t have been out of place. After pondering on it for a little bit longer I realise this reminds me of the creatures that live in the Moors in the Maleficent movies. All of them are vaguely familiar animals but then again with a strange twist to them. All of this leaves me with one question, how do you decide to take a beautiful creation like this back apart?

Home sweet Orc hut

Over at The Brother’s Brick we know a good LEGO Orc Hut when we see one. And this Orc Hut by Versteinert definitely is a good one. Do you want to know why? It’s because of all the funky parts used in original ways. We get a tree trunk suit disguised as a chimney. Complete with a Ninjago snake used for the smoke. I’ve seen this part used for smoke before and it never stops to amaze me how good this looks. Cake suit guy gets robbed of his party hat because it gets transformed into a bell. I love how the pin of the hat resembles the clapper of the bell. The flower stem pine trees are to die for. Same goes for most of the foliage. There are quite some original parts used there. If you take a closer look you can spot eggs, ice cream scoops, Minion hair and even Marge Simpsons head.

Repetition is key, but let’s not make it too obvious

Sometimes when creations get big, they lose a lot of the details which can make the build interesting. This does not apply to Tobias Goldschalt’s latest LEGO design. This Outpost Inn is so big it might as well be a Medieval version of Ninjago City. Whenever you build something this gargantuan, repetition is inevitable. The danger is that repetition is one of the key factors that can make a creation a bit boring and dull. Tobias repeated the color scheme and the architectural style of the build, however he differentiated in the details. Every section of the Tudor style mansion has a different technique. Even though all the rooftops are red, there’s a variety of texture thanks to the use of round bricks, round plates, cheese tiles and slope turrets. Additionally, the style of window construction rarely repeats itself. Avoiding repetition on this level keeps a massive creation like this interesting. You keep finding new little details every time you take a closer look at it. There is a great deal to learn from this creation if you study it closely enough.

Moist bottom or sunkissed top

This LEGO castle by lego_monkey_ is here as a reminder to all that LEGO castles can be colourful and still look amazing. The tower of this creation starts bluish dark grey, gradually fades to sand blue to end up light bluish grey on top. The ombre effect makes me question what is going on with the building. Did the bricks on top of the tower fade due to higher exposure to sunlight? Is the soil on which this tower was built very moist and are the porous bricks at the bottom of the tower soaking up the moisture? I love the addition of the bright blue colours for the rooftop. It matches the bluish tints used for the tower itself but the contrast in brightness really ups this creation. Using orange, which is the complementary colour of blue, as a backdrop is aesthetically pleasing and therefore a really smart choice.