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

We abhor the abysmal Abyssal Abhorrence

Once again Fedde Barendrecht presents a LEGO creation so upsetting we don’t know whether to throw up or run. Maybe a little of both. Live a little, right? This time we have the Abyssal Abhorrence; a creature so vile that living a little would likely be all we’d have time for if we ever encountered this beast for real. Actually, it closely resembles a real-life jellyfish or a giant squid; two reasons why I generally avoid any body of water deeper than a bathtub. For not the first time Fedde’s creations evoke an imagination worthy of H.P. Lovecraft. At least he’s interesting, right? If he was boring he’d instead likely evoke the spirit of writer Walter Scott.

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A pottery studio in the sky

This LEGO creation by Abe Fortier has it all; great textures, excellent parts usage, and a fantastic color scheme. Lately, I’ve been interested in creative spaces that are separate from the home such as a detached art or music studio or even a LEGO building space. So this scored points for being a pottery studio and even more awesome points for being a floating pottery studio. I totally want a pottery studio now, which is interesting considering the only thing I know about pottery is the vase you are spinning can sometimes be ruined by an overly handsy and shirtless Patrick Swayze if that movie Ghost is to be believed. But still, who wouldn’t want that? In a floating studio, no less!

Abe says he pushed himself with the rockwork, tree, different angles, and the use of unusual colors. I just hope he didn’t push himself over the edge of that floating studio because that would be a mess to clean up. Or would it? I suppose he’d just float off until he arrived at Patrick Swayze’s floating bungalow or something.

Blackbeard was the devil incarnate

As wild and fanciful as they were, there is some truth to all those Pirates of the Caribbean movies. On Stranger Tides featured Blackbeard the Pirate as the main antagonist and, as famed LEGO builder Oliver Becker already knows, that menacing portrayal played by Ian McShane was based on a real person. Edward Teach was an English pirate known for carrying seven muskets and would light fuses in his hair before battle, surrounding him in smoke and thus giving him an otherworldly, ghostly appearance. Oliver had portrayed that nicely with this bust. With his bug eyes and jagged teeth he also looks like a particularly ravenous deep-sea angler. He’s a fiendish fellow indeed! His flagship was called “Queen Anne’s Revenge”, also showcased nicely here in miniature form.

The mighty Giraffatitan takes a stand

What kid, or grown-up for that matter, doesn’t love the Giraffatian? When I was a kid we just called them a Brontosaurus, or Brachiosaurus if you were slightly smarter, but they have since been moved to their own genus by folks who are even smarter still. No matter what you call it, you have to admit this LEGO dinosaur built by Ken Ito is a magnificent sight to behold. It stands regal on its pedestal giving it the appearance of a trophy likely won for the feat of total awesomeness.

Just when I thought I’d experience total awesomeness overload, I learn this mighty Giraffatitan has a friend! It’s the Apatosaurus we featured last December now mounted on his own trophy stand. Please check out our Ken Ito archives to see what else we’re totally impressed by.

What the world needs now is a TIE Bungalow

The other day I was telling anyone who would listen, which was precisely no one as it turned out, that LEGO has never produced a UCS TIE Bomber. Well, if Stewart Lamb Cromar was within earshot we might be best bros by now as his write-up for this creation states pretty much the same thing. There is no UCS TIE Bomber so Stu (can I call you Stu?) took matters into his creative hands with the Fabuland TIE Bungalow. It combines the joy of living in a sweet Fabuland-style house with the exhilaration of being all Star Wars-y and bombing rebel bases. Sign me up! Billy Bear even somewhat resembles the all-black-clad TIE Fighter pilots. Combining awesome themes is pretty much Stewart’s thing. If you dig the Fabuland vibe, (and who doesn’t, really?) then check out our Fabuland Archives to see unique creations by Stewart and others.

Avert your eyes, purists! Illegal Robot is here!

It’s not the biggest or most elaborate LEGO creation we’ve ever showcased here on The Brothers Brick but I was excited to write about it nonetheless. This little offering by Josephine Monterosso is called Illegal Robot and apparently, that was enough to pique my interest and get this wee bot onto my to-write list ASAP. She goes on to explain that this was built from modified parts and illegal connections. The shoulders and upper arms are cut ends from a chain and the hands are held in place via cut stickers wrapped around the pegs. The purists would not like this; the last time we upset them we got a record number of complaints from folks with AOL email addresses. I’m chuckling inside, Josephine. Thanks for being a total rebel!

Instead of Rivendell, why not Balrog?

This exciting fiery scene is brought to you by the LEGO Rivendell 10316 set; or rather Roland Buzai’s disinterest in buying it. Its admittedly hefty price tag is prohibitive for a lot of builders plus, Roland tells us, is not a favorite scene for Lord of the Rings fans. He’d rather spend the money on a Balrog set, which doesn’t exist, so instead he constructed his own totally badass Balrog diorama complete with copious flames and four LEGO LED lights built into the base. You hear that, LEGO? Your inability to produce a Balrog set has caused someone to come up with an amazingly creative solution. Wait, that’s not a valid argument. Nevermind! It turns out legions of dedicated Lord of the Rings fans have taken matters into their own very creative and very capable hands. Click the link to see what I mean.

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.

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.