About Lino

Lino is an artist, humorist, and occasional responsible adult. He is the co-founder of a challenge-based LEGO car club called LUGNuts which boasts over 1100 members worldwide. He proposed automotive building challenges every month for ten years (120 challenges!) which he and the other members built accordingly. LUGNuts has retired its challenges on its 10th anniversary but still remains a cornerstone for LEGO automotive builders. Between his artistic work and LEGO builds, Lino has been published in several books, including Beautiful LEGO, Beautiful LEGO: Dark, and Beautiful LEGO: Wild. He lives in Washington with his girlfriend and dogs.

Posts by Lino

A LEGO Designer digs into his Overwatch stash with some interesting results

What does LEGO Designer Chris Perron do when not designing awesome LEGO sets? He’s proven to still be a community team player as he created this mech/drone for Droneuary. A striking color scheme, long legs, and a rather compact head/body configuration make this a memorable mech. Plus, if that printed dish piece looks vaguely familiar, that’s because it comes from the Overwatch Wrecking Ball from 2019.

Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Chris proves to be on an Overwatch kick lately with this Sprite utilizing the pink wedges from the D. Va and Reinhardt set. This set single-handedly quadrupled my pink parts in my collection when I picked it up. Chris combined these with the green canopy parts from the 90’s to create this build; a fine mix of old and new pieces.

On a side note, while Chris hasn’t been able to post to Flickr for about a year, he’s been busy on his Instagram feed with both LEGO creations and other artistic experiments, like this LEGO Space inspired 3D animation test.

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Classic Space redux: Set the controls for 1986

I find it fascinating when LEGO builders tickle the nostalgic feels but use modern bricks and techniques. Take this new creation by LEGO Design Director Frédéric Roland Andre (Shamisenfred) for example.

This “ARAPAIMA” Cosmic fleet voyager MK4 looks like something right out of the 1986 catalog. Remember LEGO catalogs? In fact, it was in the 1986 catalog in a way; it takes inspiration from the 6985 Cosmic Fleet Voyager from that year (which the builder once said was his very first set!). While it maintains that nostalgic feel, it uses modern pieces not even dreamed up in 1986. Frédéric tells us the ship resembles the arapaima fish and, after a quick Google search, I’m inclined to agree.

Frédéric keeps thr nostalgia streak going with a Blacktron blast from the past called the “HAGEWASHI” Dropship, which, to us laymen means vulture.

Hardcore cottagecore- on a hilltop

This little LEGO creation built by Carter Witz comes with a Bible verse from Matthew 7:24-27. It states, and I’m paraphrasing here, something about how a wise builder, hearing the Lord’s word, builds on rock and has the steady foundation that leads a life that withstands the inevitable trials while the fool, who doesn’t obey the Lord, builds on sand and whose life results in total collapse when challenges come. This must me one of the many, many verses I missed after they threw me out of Sunday school for coloring Jesus’ hair green. True story, bro! While my path has diverged greatly, Carter’s faith in the Lord has never wavered and we never wavered in our appreciation for Carter’s talents. Reflect on our Carter Witz archives to see what I mean.

From Ninjago to the Nostromo, this LEGO part makes the perfect Alien Facehugger

LEGO builder and Alien fan Dan Hollogast, who goes by Owlhead online, discovered that the Ninjago anaconda bone helmet, turned backwards, uncannily resembles a facehugger. Building on that Giger-esque bit of NPU, Dan recreates the scene on the Nostromo where the crew of the Nostromo investigate the creature attached to Kane’s face for an act best not described in polite company.

Dan ably captures the pristine med bay of the Nostromo with great care paid to matching the on-screen look, down to the floor pattern. I don’t know what those greebles above the table are for, but they look very science-y.

Of course, things won’t stay clean for long. Moments after this scene, everyone gathered around the table is about to lose their lunch. Talk about mess decks! Am I right? For more on the lifecycle of everyone’s least favorite uninvited party guest, be sure to ingest our Alien archives.

TIE Striker in flight, afternoon delight

I saw this sweet LEGO TIE /sk X1 Striker by Auto’s Builds and somehow the chorus to a cheesy provocative tune popped into my head, hence the title. Now I’m making it your problem. But now that you’re hearing it too, you have to admit this Coruscant Air Guard checks all the right boxes: Star Wars, cool-ass spaceship, and striking design aesthetics. Auto tells us the TIE Striker is ideal for navigating Coruscant’s dense architecture and crowded skylanes. The Air Guard fitted their variant with precision weapons and under-wing guided missiles to minimize collateral damage. What’s the Earthly equivalent to this? An Apache helicopter maybe? I can’t speak for the Apache’s maneuverability within a city but seeing any of these gunships in your rear view means your days of doing that afternoon delight stuff are numbered.

Come sail away on the Marlin Zeppelin of your dreams

The Marlin Zeppelin comes in as Piotr Przytuła’s last LEGO build of 2025, and with it, he looks to the future. You may recall this world within a jellyfish from last November, so if that and this new marlin are any indicator, 2026 should shape up to be a wondrous, dream-filled year for Piotr. The pink fins of this animal would look regal against any sky while transporting its cargo through dreamscapes. It conjures up the kind of imaginary world I’d love to live in for a while, even if unknown perils lie ahead. We’ll wait with baited breath to see what adventures he’ll take us on in the new year.

Super Retro Robo Force; King Oberon!

This new LEGO retro robot from Shannon Sproule fills me with joy as I remember childhood cartoons. He takes us to a time when, thanks to relaxed regulations, every cartoon was a 30 minute advertisement for some toy or another. Us kids in the 70’s and 80’s were brainwashed consumer minions and we liked it, by golly! Some deep diving into Diaclone stuff has Shannon in the mood to build some blocky mega robots in all their primary-colored glory. We’re here for it, Shannon! King Oberon here triggers some happy memories of imported Japanese cartoons like Battle of the Planets or G-Force: Guardians of Space fill the ol’ reptile brain. Who cares if the plots didn’t make any sense. So what if the titles were kinda clunky and ill-translated. So long as parents had jobs and there were birthdays and Christmas, we were getting some cool giant robot toys.

We ring out 2025 with LEGO phenom Paul Hetherington to catch a whiff of greatness- and maybe Old Spice [Interview]

Paul Hetherington seems on top of the world right now, so I reached out to see if he’d be game for an interview. He said, ”Hey, Lino, that would be amazing! It would be an honor to be interviewed by my favorite interviewer. Now that Barbara Walters is gone, we need more decisive journalism to clog up the internet.” With that said, let’s soften the lights and get our decisive journalism on. Sit back, relax- and you might want to mix yourself a good, strong Tiki drink for this one.

Our interview with Paul follows

A truly great starship comes along once every Blood Moon

Sometimes something is so good, you can’t believe it’s LEGO. That’s what’s going on with Blake Foster’s Blood Moon. He tells us it’s a no frills starfighter that blasts holes through enemy ships with its powerful cannons and just and lets the vacuum of space do the rest. For something with no frills, it sure has lots of character. While this ship doesn’t boast an immense size, it still took Blake five weeks to build. That’s a testament to the smooth studless design with just about no easy ninety degree angles in sight. That had to have been no easy feat!

This rear view doesn’t make its intricate design any simpler. There are some complex geometries here as well as some trigonometry (probably) and some other ‘ometries beyond my grasp. You owe it to yourself to peruse our Blake Foster archives to see some of those other complex ‘ometries in action.

31 ways to stay warm and cozy with LEGO and #BuildToGive

It’s nice to know that the LEGO community are such kind-hearted people. Take our friend Deborah Higdon, for example. This frosty-themed pair of mittens alone would have warranted a feature this time of year but she’ll build a unique pair every day in December. This one happens to be day sixteen. The kind-hearted part is this is for the Build to Give charity; build something with the heart theme, post to social media with the buildtogive hashtag and LEGO will give sets to children in hospitals, care homes and other disadvantaged situations. The holidays can be a rough time of the year for some folks and it’s nice to see Deborah and others become a part of something so special.

I couldn’t pick just one favorite so here is a very dimensional pair wrapped up in a bow.

And finally here’s another that’s sort of abstract, like a mitten snow angel pressed into the snow. You too can join in on the festivities. Simply build something with the heart theme and use the hashtag on all your socials. Like so: #buildtogive. Be sure to check in with Deborah every day this month to see what other warm and fuzzy sentiments she has in store and use the hashtag to see what other talented builders around the globe are doing with their entries.

Behold 24 days of Galidor! You’re welcome?

Back in 2002, Pluto Nash flopped hard in theaters and The Segway was supposed to change our lives as we knew it. LEGO also had a major misstep with the short-lived Galador line with most folks citing it as a departure from what the LEGO experience should be. This makes it all the more hilarious as Will Hafner has an advent calendar of sorts sure to squig you out big time. He promises 24 days of Galidor (or Glinchmas) and I’m here for it. Some entries of note so far include this meat-head-alien sure to have you questioning your life choices.

Next on the slab is the unsettling Spider-Man playing a violin. Or Man-Spider? Why is his spider half flesh-colored? Does this mean he’s only wearing a suit top? Does the spider web come out where you’d think it would? This creation proposes questions that are probably best left unanswered.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t upset your good sensibilities once more with this -um- reptilian abomination in a onesie. Is it just learning to crawl? Is it cold-blooded like a prosthetic leg? Does it want to eat your face? I’m going to wager that the answers to all three questions and more are a resounding yes. It’s still early in December yet. There’s plenty more days before Christmas to vomit in our mouths just a little, so be sure to check in with Will every day for more Galidor shenanigans!

Year of the Horse comes galloping along

We’re coming up on The Year of the Horse according to the Chinese New Year and LEGO builders around the globe are celebrating with their own equestrian creations. Sakiya Watanabe AKA N.A.B.E_mocs graces us with this majestic horse reared up on hind legs.

As if on a similar stride, DeRa gallops in with a fully posable horse; it even has the same coloration and similar build techniques. I like how it is delicately balanced on a stand only two studs wide. Both have me looking forward to a confidence-building 2026. And also Chinese New Year 2026 sets, which should be whinnying in soon.