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 cottage and a Vespa to call your own

I don’t know why but I’ve had a thing for little abodes lately. This LEGO cottage built by Erek Weidner is a little slice of perfection. You have an apple tree, a wee French Bulldog, a shiny red Vespa, and a tiny cottage to call your own. The butterflies, ladybugs, and squirrels are just icing on the cozy perfection cake. What else do you need, really? I imagine a good strong Wi-Fi connection would make this place perfect. The lawn is a little bit unruly but I think the sheep will have that settled pretty soon.

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I want to break free!

When considering what LEGO creation to write about there were the usual offerings of a cool spaceship, castle diorama, Star Wars something or other…and a pretty mustachioed man vacuuming. Then I was like; hell yeah, this is the one I want to write about! Upon closer inspection, I realized this little scene built by Mark van der Maarel looked a bit familiar and recalled that it depicts the Queen video for their song “I Want to Break Free”, showcasing the entire band in drag. Freddy looks particularly ravishing in a pink top, heels, and a short skirt as he sings about how he’d like to be free from a toxic relationship. We’ve all been there, right? I mean the toxic relationship part. Also the vacuuming in heels part. I mean seriously, I’m like two bags of female-packaged M&Ms, a bag of Cracker Jills (not Cracker Jacks), and a Bud Light away from totally making this my Friday night thing.

“I’m a simple man making his way through the galaxy. Like my father before me.”

When LEGO came out with the Constraction buildable figures some builders loved them, and some didn’t. They’re certainly cool for what they are but some builders had difficulty using them with their other LEGO sets or finding multiple uses for say, Rey’s head. Pierthviv, on the other hand, is clearly not one of those builders. They’ve had no trouble using the Constraction Boba Fett head for…um…exactly what you’d expect. But still, the similarity ends there because the brick-built body is nothing short (or tall) of amazing. The chest armor, shoulder plates, utility belt, and even his feet are pieced together with unparalleled detail. While I may be one of those dunces scratching my head over how to integrate my Darth Vader chest plate for something other than a Darth Vader chest plate, check out our Constraction archives to see how it’s all done by other more imaginative builders.

Raising up a classic from the depths of 1996

It was a different time in 1996. Prince Charles and Lady Di call it quits just as Mad Cow Disease hits the UK. Coincidence? Nearly everything topping the music charts was vapid tunes we’d much rather forget but LEGO was doing some fun things. Among them was the 6190 Shark’s Crystal Cave from the Aquazone theme and famed builder Bob DeQuarte gives it a modern makeover.

I particularly like the plate-stacked ocean floor in dazzling colors and the crystal cave and aquatic plant life are not without their charms. But the real star of the show is most certainly that shark submarine staying true to its original color scheme and play features with the added inclusion of dark blue, which didn’t exist back then. There’s been a resurgence of awesome Aquazone and Rock Raiders set redos from 1996 and 1999 lately which, in my opinion, is far better than revisiting “The Macarena” or Cher’s “Believe”, respectively.

A mech for all seasons (actually just one)

Spring has sprung and we’re seeing vibrant colors outside suddenly. And also bunnies; lots and lots of bunnies. LEGO builder Tom Loftus is surely feeling Spring in the air as evidenced by this delightfully bright mech. It makes use of a plethora of purple pirate hats which come from the 10313 Wildflowers Bouquet set from the Botanical line. If you haven’t picked up any of these sets just yet I strongly advise that you do. It is probably my favorite line nowadays and this is coming from a guy who is totally gaga for cars and monsters and stuff. Amazing non-flowery things can be built using the parts from these sets. Give the Botanical archives a gander to see what I mean.

A kooky koala using just thirty LEGO pieces

We’re used to seeing larger LEGO creations from Dan Ko but this time he presents a cute koala using only thirty pieces. He tells us the koala is among the wildest and most dangerous animals in the world, if not the whole universe. Wait, does Dan know something we don’t? I was already aware Australia housed thousands of animals hellbent on killing us all but I didn’t know the koala was among them. Crikey!

How the Wild West was won

I don’t know why but I seem to love the Old West. No, seriously, I can’t explain why. It’s not like I dress like a gunslinger or watch Westerns or anything like that because really I don’t. So you can imagine how (unexplainably) pleased I was to see this amazing LEGO Wild West town built by ilive. This has everything you can expect from a booming Old West town: horses, train tracks, stagecoaches, even one of those western windmill dealios. You can get lost in all the amazing details. A layout this good makes me wish LEGO would bring back the Western theme from 1996. I mean, seriously, who didn’t lose their gunslinging, horse riding, cow rustling minds when Fort Legoredo came out?

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Most weird things can be explained away by swamp gas

According to official government files and weirdo LEGO builder Fedde Barendrecht, the strange phenomenon seen in the ’60s by farmers and other people without degrees has nothing to do with UFOs or hallucinogenic drugs. Yep, it turns out all the eerie lights in the sky, stories of alien probing, and the whole go-go dancing fad can be explained away by swamp gas. I’m loving Fedde’s presentation of this little creation on top of a pretty green geode. Neat! But all the weird flying saucers over Area 51 were definitely swamp gas and nothing more so don’t go thinking otherwise if you know what’s good for you. But still, who knew swamps could be so flatulent?

Bruticus Maximus is a bunch of brawling Transformers combined!

A LEGO Transformer built by Alex Jones is no special thing. I mean, let me clarify; it certainly is special, mindblowing even, but he’s built dozens in his time and has by now mastered the art. But a combiner, by his own admission, is quite a difficult thing. Behold Bruticus Maximus, a massive transforming brawler comprised of five individual brawlers. They are the Combaticons: BlastOff, Brawl, Onslaught, Swindle, and Vortex which are somehow both the best and worst fraternity brother names ever. He tells us that weight and clutch power become a difficult obstacle when building a bipedal mech this large. But clearly, he has pulled it off with finesse.

Here is another image showcasing the individual Transformers in vehicle and robot mode. Alex seems to be a master at, not only Transformers but all things awesome and pop culture-ish. You owe it to yourself to check out our Alex Jones archives to see what I mean. And if Transformers is totally your jam, then tuck and fold into that archive as well.

Do you dare read from the Tome of Forbidden Knowledge?

Some books, like The Eye of Argon, Mein Kampf and the entire Twilight series should be read by no one. But this LEGO tome built by Áron Gerencsér has the opposite effect on me. As in I want to crack it open and drink in whatever forbidden knowledge lies within. The lock and key and ethereal chains really sell the notion of forbidden lore that is not for the faint of heart. I mean, it probably doesn’t have any high school drama and sparkly vampires so that’s a good thing. With all the attempts to keep this book from being read by the masses, I’m guessing it’s a particularly truthful coming-of-age Judy Blume novel. Juicy!

It’s probably a bit of ostrich but...

Japanese LEGO builder Mitsuru Nikaido has a knack for turning any beast into a mechanized creature. This time the mighty ostrich gets the mech treatment. I’m loving the quizzical expression of this leggy bot. As always, there are some amazing shapes and build techniques here. This prolific builder’s growing bestiary is truly a sight to behold. Check out our Mitsuru Nikaido archives to see what I mean.

The Fujimeister makin’ copies!

A New Zealand LEGO builder, who is clearly a robot aptly named j-p-30, has been commissioned lately to build a Fujifilm C3530 Printer. This just proves, as a LEGO builder, you never know where your next commission can come from. In a world of spaceships, castles, and battle mechs, this creation is refreshingly extraordinary in the sense that it’s so…ordinary. If it weren’t for the telltale studs on top, I’d almost mistake this as a reasonable facsimile for the real thing.