About Jennifer

Jennifer Spencer received her very first LEGO set, 6419: Rolling Acres Ranch, at age six. But she found the instructions far too complicated and so she forced her father to build (and rebuild) the set for her. He must have grown weary of looking at that instruction booklet because Jennifer did not receive another LEGO set for several years. Jennifer builds her own sets now. She has been active in the online LEGO community since 2011 when she first discovered The Brothers Brick. She’s also a member of her local LEGO users group, NEOLug. You can check out her original LEGO creations on Flickr.

Posts by Jennifer

Benny’s big blue house

Ever wonder what Benny the Spaceman’s house looks like? Well wonder no longer because Wayne Yeh has built the home of everyone’s favorite side-character from The Lego Movie. It’s blue and grey, of course, and filled with lots of classic space details including: a bacta-tank-like shower, a space toilet, a flat-screen, glass television, a greebled surround-sound system (or is that a space-lamp?), some kind of liquid food machine, and plenty of tiny habitats for growing food. What else could a Master Builder like Benny ask for?

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This is a Hobbit-hole, and that means comfort

Tolkien’s fantastical cities and landscapes have always fascinated me, perhaps none more so than Hobbiton. I’ve seen several LEGO versions of Bag End over the years, but Wookieeawarrior‘s most recent build, refreshingly, isn’t the iconic home of Bilbo Baggins. Instead, this cozy Hobbit hole belongs to one of his lucky neighbors.

The overall shaping of the hill and exposed brick walls make for a very lovely composition. I particularly like the small, dark tan bricks that stick out just a bit more than the rest of the bricks, the cobbled-looking chimney, and the beautiful, round front door.

3D golden-tail piranha

Actually, I have no idea what kind of fish this toothed-beastie is supposed to be. Regardless, this 3D mosaic by anries shop is offishally awesome. Those golden wings make great fish fins and the way Anries made colorful scales out of 1 x 1 round plates is stunning. My favorite detail is that poor worm made from two different types of LEGO snakes. It really looks like one piece suspended in water. Perhaps Anries’ next build will feature this fish mounted on the proud fisherman’s wall. Unless, of course, our fishy friend gets away with a full belly.

All we are is dust in the wind

The stunningly accurate classic-rock album covers just keep coming! Following the Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd album covers we featured this month, comes W. Navarre‘s terrific LEGO version of Kansas’ Point of Know Return. Compare Navarre’s version to the original cover and you’ll see that he nailed it. I particularly love the Kansas lettering and eclipsed sun. I’m crossing my fingers that album covers will become a new LEGO building style after this bombardment of awesomeness.

Portal to a lost world

What exotic destinations would you choose to visit if you had a portal through time? Piotr Machalski selected the Mesozoic Era for this startled minifig who’s unfortunately come face-to-face with a venom-spitting Dilophosaurus. Good thing he brought a turkey leg! Piotr’s cleverly-built time machine looks a bit like a cross between a Stargate and the Nexo Knight portal we featured in February. But most of all, it looks like it could be an official LEGO set! I’d certainly swipe it off the shelf and into my shopping cart before you could say “hold on to your butts!”

The greatest gladiator match in the history of the world

God versus man. Day versus night. Son of Krypton versus Bat of Gotham! Despite terrible critic reviews, I enjoyed Batman v. Superman and thought there were some excellent scenes. And it seems builder Nathaniel shares my opinion. He must have appreciated the scene where Batman evades a heat vision blast using his trusty grappling hook because he has rendered it into LEGO beautifully.

Nathaniel’s harsh shadows and bold color choices masterfully evoke comic book art style. That heat vision explosion is fantastic! We’ve featured such “special effects” on The Brothers Brick before, but never one caused by a Kryptonian. Though this scene is not technically accurate (I’m not going to spoil the movie for those of you who haven’t seen it yet by pointing out the inaccuracy), it’s clear that Nathaniel decided to build what most people wanted (and expected) to see in the film. *Wink*

Fan builds original Star Wars poster and his favorite scenes from each movie out of LEGO

Alanboar Cheung, a talented builder from Hong Kong, has recreated the iconic 1977 movie poster from Star Wars: A New Hope and it’s got everything! Check out the spot-on details like the X-wings, wind-blown clothing, C3P0’s exposed wiring, and even moisture vaporators! To top it all off, Cheung added seven vignette scenes, one from each movie, to complete his Star Wars triptych.

Each of the seven scenes represent a pivotal and memorable moment from the Star Wars film franchise. Overall, Cheung’s build captures the emotion and excitement of the movies, making me feel nostalgic and impatient for Episode VIII. You can check out more photos on Flickr.

Life-sized LEGO Led Zeppelin IV vinyl album cover

Hot on the heels of the Division Bell album cover comes another amazing LEGO classic rock album cover. This time builder David Zambito created Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album (nicknamed “Zoso” or just “IV” by fans). The album is widely considered to be Zeppelin’s best (the final song is “Stairway to Heaven” after all), and looks phenomenal in brick.

Take a look at the original cover art and judge for yourself whether or not Zambito nailed the conversion into LEGO. The background looks like peeling tree bark and the hunched posture of the old man is spot on. Even better, the build appears to be about the size of a vinyl cardboard sleeve.

April Fools’ Day build makes a real splash

We should have posted this remarkable brick-built fish by Daniel Stoeffler on April first, but we didn’t sea it until now. Better late than never right? I’m stunned by the life-like nature of this little guy. The exposed LEGO studs make excellent scales and the overall striped patterns and color blocking on the fish’s body and fins are gorgeous. He even has a soft underbelly and whiskers!

But what’s the joke you ask? Well, as Daniel explains it, on April first in France, children play pranks on others by placing paper fish on their backs and then running away shouting “Poisson d’Avril!” I don’t get it either, but it sounds hilarious.

Lifesize LEGO Riedell R3 roller skates

These awesome brick-built roller skates by Julie VanderMeulen look sturdy enough to take a spin around the local roller rink. Seriously, at first glance I thought I was looking at two pairs of real skates! The lifelike toe stops, shoelaces (with aglets!), axles, and the accurately-sized wheels really sell this build. The stylish black and yellow color blocking and the R3 lettering on the heel isn’t bad either.

You can check out more photos on Flickr.

Not just another brick in the wall

Check out this rockin’ Pink Floyd album cover recreated in LEGO! Builder James Bailey captured the iconic 1994 album cover of The Division Bell perfectly by using SNOT (“studs not on top”) and forced perspective. Fun fact: Storm Elvin Thorgerson, the English graphic designer who created this and dozens of other album covers (including Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, and Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations) said that this artwork was intended to represent the absence of former band members Syd Barrett and Roger Waters. Pretty neat, huh?

Who says you can’t teach an old build new tricks

Notice anything familiar about Simon Schweyer‘s most recent build? You should because this lush landscape was featured on our blog last month. At that time, however, this two-toned rocky shoreline was home to a thriving Greek Polis. Simon ingeniously (and quite literally) razed his Greek city to the ground and started building anew on the existing bedrock. His resulting medieval scene is so different from the original build that I didn’t recognized the recycled landscape at first. Both builds are jaw dropping, but I prefer the Red Shield Inn. Simon truly hit his stride the second time around.

Apparently, experienced builders are known to repurpose parts of their builds from time to time. And why not? Recycling saves time and tests the limits of your creativity. It forces you to step back and really think about your build. Then transform it into something completely different. I’ve never recycled a build of my own, but I’m eager to give it a try now that I’ve seen Simon’s success with the technique. One note of caution for those of you who also plan to give this a try: Be cautious when repurposing an old build into an entry for a contest. Many LEGO competitions have rules specifically prohibiting this kind of thing. Be sure to check first.

I’m curious to know what other transformation have taken place. Have you repurposed part of a build before? And if so, were you able to recycle anything other than the landscape?