About Clinton

I'm all the way down in a little country called South Africa. There's no lions roaming the streets, unfortunately, but there is everyone's favourite plastic brick. I don't have a lot of my own work online (yet), but I've been following The Brother Brick for around eight years, so it's bizarre that I'm going to be writing for it. My day job is journalism covering the maker movement for htxt.africa. And yes, I do occasionally sneak stories of Lego onto the site. Follow my ramblings, LEGO and otherwise: Twitter: @Clint_Matos | Instagram: @clinton_matos

Posts by Clinton

This will get you through the blizzard

It’s no secret that Ice Planet is my favourite Space subtheme, so when I saw this “Elephant” transport vehicle from Kirill, I knew I was going to have a good time.

There’s a lot more to this behemoth than ample use of large Technic parts to create a very solid hull. As the creator explains, inspiration came from the new Nexo Knights theme and all its new parts, which borrow heavily from the Ice Planet livery.

But, what you may not have guessed, is that this build is entirely motorized and able to traverse actual snow and ice:

(EDIT: An earlier version of this post mis-attributed the photo and the builder’s name. We contacted the real builder and confirmed who actually built this excellent vehicle. We take proper attribution very seriously. Our apologies to the builder and our readers for getting the attribution wrong on this one.)

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.

This mech was worth the wait

After teasing us with multiple work in progress shots and even an extremely detailed bust, builder Lu Sim has finally unleashed the finished version of the reFX01 mech.

We’re actually a bit spoiled here, as there are two varients of the mech. The biggest difference is the head design, but the builder gives more explanation in the flavour text too.

Make sure to check out the full blog post regarding this build if you want a peek behind the curtain.

Three wheels are just right – a Morgan 3 Wheeler in LEGO

If a bike has too few wheels and a car just has too many, may we suggest this recreation of a Morgan 3 Wheeler from Jonas who chose this tripod because “most four wheeled vehicles are already done in a perfect way.”

While I could argue that point, I can’t argue how cool this little build is. My favourite part must be the chassis which is so solid in construction that it looks like a single piece. Oh, and LEGO’s dark green makes a perfect hue of British racing green.

Scaling up the reFX01

Robots happen to be my favourite type of LEGO creation. There’s mechs, drones, hardsuits, powersuits and everything in between. What you don’t often see is a bust of a custom robot. Lu Sim gives us what we never knew we wanted in this highly-detailed creation inspired by his own work-in-progress.

If you want more of this robo-appendage, the builder’s personal blog has both a step-by-step build process as well as a 360° video for your non-bionic eyes to soak in.

What happens when Zeus gets into your LEGO

Dragons? Werewolves? Mermaids? Nope, the best mythological creature is obviously the minotaur (in my opinion, anyway). That may be why I had a soft spot for 70793 Skull Basher and why I love this “Cattle Devil” by LEGO 7.

Parts use is great here: constraction armour pieces used to represent exactly that, wing pieces for the skirt, the bucket handle for a bottom pair of teeth and a lot more.

Also check out the weapon:

“What if the trade federation had designed the Y-Wing bomber?”

Asking (and answering) that question is space_e. The classic Y-Wing has been redesigned to have a walking ground mode and again proving my theory that turning anything into a robot makes it infinitely better. Like the evolved B-wing Andrew highlighted earlier this week, this is an entry in FBTB’s current contest, which ends in two days.

Here’s hoping that someone working on Star Wars: Episode VIII catches a glimpse of this and takes inspiration. Also: hey LEGO, could we get another official Y-Wing set? it’s been too long.

Lean green army machine

I recently picked up Wolfenstein: The New Order in the Steam Winter Sale — partly because it was very cheap, and mostly because it promised cool alternate history robots. While the game didn’t win me over, the promise of robots was fulfilled and now I’m seeking more vaguely German machines. Djordje delivers with this “Höllenhund”. My favourite part use here must be the single armour part angled in such a way to create a dome helmet, and the red eyes peeking out below.

A gallery of the model is available on Brickshelf.

This four-armed mech is too good

kenny_yan‘s mechs are both superbly built and instantly recognizable, and this newest one looks to be the best yet. With four arms and an aggressive stance, this build pulls off a lot of complex angles as well as having great articulation thanks to the small Mixel joints. There’s not much more to say here other than to check the builder’s photostream to drink in all the detail; this one’s really worth the time.

Click to see more angles

LEGO Warhammer 40K Imperial Knight

Warhammer and Warhammer 40K are a lot like LEGO in terms of getting its hooks into you and draining away your time and money. Spare a thought then for people like funnystuffs who are involved in both hobbies. Luckily for us, it usually leads to creations like this – an Imperial Knight with a cockpit that fits a minifig as well as articulated joints.

Check out the original, solid model version to judge how close this comes.

LEGO Teedo and Luggabeast from The Force Awakens

Though they got little screen time, the pair that tried to capture BB-8 in a net near the beginning of The Force Awakens has been faithfully recreated by teohongtzer. Teedo is given a name drop by Rey (for he’s no respect for anyone), his steed is not. If you dig a bit you’ll find out it’s called a “Luggabeast” and they are cyborg creatures used to find droids and salvage on Jakku.

I’m hopelessly in love with this build. Partly because I’m a Star Wars nerd, partly because I’m a Warhammer nerd and this looks like a Juggernaut, and mostly because it’s just done so well.

One wondrous wyvern

Ever since LEGO’s General Grievous action figure set introduced a metric tonne of new pieces in tan, I’ve been waiting for a model that made good use of it. Blowing my expectations out of the water (or the sky) is this wyvern named Diablos from Ballom Nom Nom. Those familiar with the game Monster Hunter may recognize this creature. But to those in the dark (like me) it’s still an astounding display of what can be done with LEGO.

Titans of part usage

Builder Cole Blaq is fast perfecting the art of “blink and you won’t notice it’s LEGO”. For the past while he’s been creating a line of robots which he calls the ‘Titan Series” that make great use of constraction armour pieces (among many other things) to create models that really convey the feeling of cold metal.

The latest is the Titan FX.10:

My other favourites include the Titan FX.L:

And the TITAN DSX:

Check out the rest of the Titan Series on Flickr.