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 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!

In the wild

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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?

Wild West

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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?

Swamp Gas

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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.

Bruticus Maximus

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.

Combaticons

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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!

Forbidden Knowledge

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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.

LEGO Mecha Ostrich_01

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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.

LEGO Fujifilm printer MOC

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Too many garden gnomes? Get the hose!

Experience says that most of the problems encountered in the backyard can be solved with a garden hose. Whether it be watering plants, flooding a rathole, separating two mating cats, or showing a sunbathing neighbor who is boss, a live garden hose can do it all. This LEGO creation built by Jonah Schultz seems to depict an infestation of garden gnomes. Thankfully, he has The Peacekeeper 3000 (as I call mine) in view so we know those pesky gnomes will be scattered soon. This entire scene was built using only 101 parts, too. All parts are well-used here, especially the hose parts. But then again, I’d say that as I often tout my Constitutional Right to bear a garden hose. All that strength, respect, and power; must be what God feels like when he holds a hose!

101 Bricks - Garden Gnome Galore at Autie Gertie's

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Behold Armenelos The Golden

You’d think in a LEGO forum chock full of nerds there would be among us a few experts on Lord of the Rings. A perusal of our archives proves such an expert has not been forthcoming lately and instead, you get contributors like me striving to do a passable article on a subject matter we know very little about. It’s a sacrilege, I know, but it doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate this breathtaking scene presented by Josiah Durand. It’s called Armenlos The Golden. I see beautiful shapes, a stunning artistic composition, and amazing build techniques while the rest of youse likely see a beloved scene from Rings of Power. If you fancy yourself as an authority on Lord of the Rings, (Then why not apply to be a contributor here? You can always do that, you know!) then you’d most certainly want to take a deep dive into our archives.

Armenelos The Golden

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All Xenomophic hell breaks loose on board The Betty

Here at The Brothers Brick, we love the Alien franchise. We really do! Most of us have been fans ever since 1979 when the first Xenomorph (ahem) burst onto the scene and we still can’t get enough of the chest-bursting, acid-spitting antagonist, by golly! We’ve seen great LEGO versions of Nostromo and even the horrifying Xenomorph. What you don’t see much of is The Betty from Alien Resurrection and Alien Resurrection 2 (because the first resurrection went so well for the aliens they pretty much had to do it again). Thankfully, Carlos Valero has us covered there. We can all sleep better now, preferably in a cryogenic years-long slumber, because what can go wrong with that? I mean, seriously, what can go wrong?

THE BETTY from Alien Resurrection 2

Whether it be the aforementioned Xenomorph or other unearthly critters not-from-around-here, you’ll find them all in our alien archives.

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Rodan rounds out the kaiju ruckus!

If you’ve been paying attention recently you may have seen sightings of King Ghadorah, Mothra and the King of Monsters, Godzilla. Now VelociJACKtor’s Rodan rounds out the big LEGO kaiju battle in all his fiery-red glory. There’s something just so pleasing about a group of friends building amazing creations based on the same theme. Seeing and writing about these legendary monsters has been like watching a Creature Double Feature…twice! I’m flooded with fond memories of childhood, popcorn, and campy kaiju movies right after the Saturday morning cartoons. Thanks for the memories, friends!

Rodan

If you love kaiju and other creepy creatures as much as I do, then check out our monsters archive for a wild ruckus indeed.

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“This is the way” ; “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes”

Welp, we pretty much know what is going to be Disney’s hottest new action figure this spring, but a few LEGO builders like Dad’s Bricks (Joe) have gotten ahead of Hasbro and wasted no time in getting their versions out first. Now Mando doesn’t have to crane his neck so far down to keep an eye on his adorable little ward thanks to Grogu’s new IG-12 mech suit. It’s more of a hollowed-out droid, really. With the help of little Grogu at the controls, the former assassin droid is capable of saying “no” and “yes”- usually in quick succession. Judging by the builder’s name, he’s probably a dad and so can understand the pride and wonder Mando must feel for his (mild spoiler alert, here) adopted son. He probably has a stockpile of good dad jokes, too. If you know some good ones, please leave them in the comments.

[LEGO - Mando and IG-12]

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