Posts by Ryan Wood

Atmospheric LEGO Alfheim from God of War

Germany’s Marius Herrmann is a God of bricks with this beautifully crafted river scene practically straight out of the PlayStation 4.

Alfheim (from "God of War")

This model was directly inspired by Marius’ playthrough of the most recent game in the God of War series and you can see here in this comparison screenshot just how accurately he recreated the rocky details and moody atmosphere. From the arching, crooked cherry blossom trees to the rocky statue half-submerged in the river every detail evokes the emotional tale of Kratos bonding with his son Atreus on their journey.

Alfheim (from "God of War")

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LL-109 Exploration Craft hearkens to the past

2019 is already proving productive for the prolific Inthert who has unveiled another stellar model after the chrome-enhanced Naboo Starfighter earlier this week.

LL-109 Exploration Craft

This time it’s a gorgeous explorer ship in Classic Space livery. The builder crafted this ship from leftover table scraps from an earlier build, and we’re all lucky he found a use for them. You can see one notable chunk composed of rocket cones with vehicle brushes embedded inside, which was apparently a happy accident in the parts bin.

LL-109 Exploration Craft

Another cool bit can be found at the rear of the ship where the engine nozzles are built from a ring of scythe blades. There are even more details to be found, I invite you to take a closer look to explore all the creative parts uses while this ship explores the stars!

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LEGO Overwatch Reinhardt enters the battlefield

A LEGO Overwatch build has been revealed, and it’s this awesome rendition of the hero Reinhardt by Herbert Lee. The heavily-armored German is classified as a tank in the massively popular first-person shooter video game and his appearance here more than justifies the title. The model’s stout form looks like it can take a beating and the helmet looks remarkably accurate to the game, as does his signature rocket hammer.

Reinhardt- Overwatch

As an added bonus the Reinhardt model’s base is also a meticulously built and overly greebled recreation of the Overwatch logo. It also puts into perspective just how big Reinhardt is in brick form.

Reinhardt- Overwatch

Finally, check out how fan builder Herbert’s model stacks up against the official LEGO Overwatch set in TBB’s recent review of 75953 D.Va and Reinhardt.

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.

Fright Knights flashback

Do you remember Fright Knights? Thomas “Thomassio” van Urk does, and he’s built a flashback tribute model to the LEGO Castle subtheme from the late 1990’s.

This homage is quite a bit more complex than the forgotten theme’s biggest castle set, 6097 Night Lord’s Castle, but features many of the key details that scream “Fright Knights” including bats (using original flags, soldier helmets, and bat elements), Willa the Witch on one of the towers with a telescope, and even main antagonist Basil the Bat Lord if you peer closely. More modern flourishes include the Bat Monster from an early collectible minifigure series, seen terrifying a hapless knight on the grounds outside the castle.

It’s not just new and old minifigures being included. Fancier building techniques than the original sets are on full display here as well, with tons of Studs Not On Top tiling and detailing all over the place. My eye immediately latched onto the round tower section shown below, which features some really nice double cheese wedge action to fill the gaps of the detailing wrapped around the tower.

If you enjoyed Thomas’ work here, see some of his previous models on TBB like the Dohodno Zdanie and giant sky pirate airship the Lady McZep.

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.

Blacktron-inspired Angulus Armored Transport is ready for its next mission

Model-builder Spaceruner has been around the online LEGO world for years putting out updated or re-imagined versions of classic sets. His latest model is the Angulus, a unique twist on the old Blacktron II LEGO theme (and is in a lot of ways an evolution of his older Piranha model).

Angulus

Many of the usual Blacktron II staples are here: the contrasting black and white color scheme and octagonal trans-neon-green cockpits foremost. What I appreciate most about this model is how modern it feels without feeling obligated to shove a bunch of newer parts into the build: most old-school LEGO fans of the 80s and 90s could probably duplicate the majority of this creation if they still have their childhood buckets of bricks.

Angulus

We previously featured Spaceruner’s gigantic RX1 Behemoth, a truly massive tribute to the old Spyrius line.

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.

Hell yes: the fearsome Lucifer-class Vic Viper drone

Marcin Grabowski is back with another angular starship- his latest creation looks like a scrapheap reject ready to take on the world.

Lucifer class Vic Viper drone - front left

Marcin’s starkly yellow and gray tubular creation was a contribution to the annual “Novvember” celebration of all things Vic Viper-related from the old Gradius series of video games (something of a rite of passage for LEGO space builders that just celebrated its 10th year). Up close this model looks like a gigantic mess, but when you zoom out and take in the whole drone fighter, the cobbled-together bits mesh together into a terrifying machine. I like the engine thrusters pointed off haphazardly in the shot below. I don’t know why Marcin named it Lucifer, but I’d be flying like hell away from it.

Lucifer class Vic Viper drone - rear left

This starship is another in an impressive series of aggressive, spiny sci-fi models that Marcin has shared online. One of my favorites is his Naga-class light starfighter.

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.

See you in Cerulean City!

For more than 20 years, the Pokémon series has captured the minds of fans young and old all over the world. Toronto’s BrickinNick has tapped into the nostalgia of the beloved franchise with an extremely faithful LEGO depiction of Cerulean City as seen in the Kanto region of several games in the video game series.

Cerulean City: Microscale Build

Sometimes a model stands out not so much for fancy techniques or showing off the latest parts but is more about sharp color choices and reference accuracy; in this case it’s of a place familiar to millions of gamers. Compare to a screenshot of the city from HeartGold and SoulSilver from the Nintendo DS:

All the major locations are easily identifiable in this microscale rendition, including the Cerulean Gym where leader Misty uses water-based Pokémon to soak her challengers, a Pokemart, Bike Shop, and the dangerous Cerulean Cave.

And of course, the main protagonist from the games and his faithful companion Pikachu on their way to another adventure!

Cerulean City: Microscale Build Details

Like what you see from this builder? Check out his How to Train Your Dragon model of Toothless, Destiny 2 Guardians, and of course his LEGO sculpture of Bob Ross.

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.

Mbriks custom magnet bricks – Kickstarter ends Nov 23 [Review]

There’s a new product in the increasingly crowded third-party custom brick world. Mbriks are a way to bring new life to your LEGO (and compatible brands) building bricks by adding additional dimension and display options. These custom magnetic bricks have shown a lot of promise in the professionally produced videos and other promotional material during the month-long Kickstarter campaign ending this week, but we wanted to weigh in ourselves.

Read our hands-on review of custom Mbriks magnetic bricks

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.

Wonder Woman at the ready

Polish builder Lucas Aligierski takes us to Themyscira with his LEGO Wonder Woman, a model he sweetly dedicated to his wife. The model belongs to a class of sculptures that expertly blends traditional LEGO System elements with constraction-scale elements like those produced for Bionicle and Hero Factory. The pieces used lend themselves to the very organic, muscled look of everyone’s favorite DC warrior princess. The sculpted look is appropriate for a character born from clay.

Wonder Woman

Click to see even more crazy detail on this wondrous model

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.

Salazar Slytherin’s slithering serpent stalks students

Robert Maier has opened the LEGO Chamber of Secrets and unleashed a fantastic beast of a basilisk! If you’ve followed Robert for a while like we have you’ll note this model, while a bit of a departure from his usual post-apocalyptic fare like a toxic wasteland and a world without trains, displays his typical knack for textured, murky worlds.

Harry Potter - Chamber of Secrets

In this scene you can see Tom Marvolo Riddle (AKA teen Voldemort) near the climax of the book/movie after he has spent months manipulating Ginny Weasley with his diary-Horcrux. Here she’s unconscious just before Harry Potter swoops in to save the day on Fawkes the phoenix in a bit of deus ex machina. The ambiance of the scene is perfect with bones of victims past, rotting plant life, and foggy water. The basilisk model itself dominates the chamber as it slithers out of Salazar Slytherin’s statue. I especially like the vertical nature of the statue against the horizontal striations of the chamber walls. You can check out some finer details of the basilisk itself in the closeup shot below. It’s a far cry from the basilisk we reviewed in the Hogwarts Great Hall!

Closer look - Basilisk

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Water you talking about?

Sweden’s Andreas Lenander latest LEGO creation is a terrifying canoe ride right over the edge of a waterfall. These minifigures certainly appear as though they’re on an adventure they’re not likely to forget. I think what strikes me the most about this diorama is the palpable dynamic energy of the rushing water, free-floating figures, and tipping canoe as the river crests the edge of the cliff.

Adventure at the waterfall - AFOL vs AFOL 2018

You could argue that there’s nothing particularly innovative about the techniques on display, but what Andreas has achieved here with a few simple, repetitive pieces is really remarkable. It’s a strong exhibit of how purposeful prop placement (the minifigs, canoe, water) over background noise (plants, splashing water, textured rocks) can achieve a visually interesting composition.

Adventure at the waterfall - AFOL vs AFOL 2018 - closeup

This was the winning entry in Swebrick‘s head-to-head elimination AFOL-vs-AFOL contest, which for 2018 was based on Adventure. We’ve also featured Andreas here recently for his lifelike cigarette smoking in an ashtray and earlier this summer with his Titan starfighter.

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.

Basement dwellers and brave adventurers alike

Henrik “teabox” Zwomp‘s adventure-themed LEGO diorama, titled From the Safety of the Basement, is a clever juxtaposition of real (minifigure) world players in their home as they venture forth through the not-so-real role-playing game world, complete with dungeon floor inlaid with the ubiquitous grid system. The wall texturing also provides a nice contrast to the scenes playing out in front of them, not too dissimilar from those achieved in our last D&D post, Mimic Mishap!

From the safety of the basement

It’s a compelling scenario that is played out all over the world by inspiring (and inspired) dungeon masters and their willing victims (er, players), who act out a type of choose-your-own adventure story with an infinite number of scenarios all dictated by the fateful roll of the dice. I especially appreciate that the basement room not only includes standard geeky paraphernalia on the walls but also books, a scale version of the dungeon map, and character sheets.

From the safety of the basement

You can dip into our archives to see some of Henrik’s past work like the microscale bullfighting scene, and sea serpent attack

For those following along at home, I’ve just gotten enough game experience to hit level 3 and got to pick an archetype for my character. Even though I’m often lost in the wealth of information in the game I’m helped along by my adventure companions and mostly-benevolent DM.

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.