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

This rover has some sweet rims, bro!

Get ready to lapse into a diabetic coma because this new LEGO rover by Robert Heim has a sweet secret. The tires are made with six tasty sweet cupcakes found in the DOTS Creative Party Kit. With a beatbox from the VIDIYO line used as the cockpit, Robert is having a creative party indeed.

This alternate view shows the guns aimed and ready to shoot sweet sugary goodness directly into your piehole. That reminds me, I could use a snack! While I raid the cupboard for some confectionary treats, click the little blue link to see the other awesome and sometimes unusual rovers featured this Febrovery.

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The mean, green roving machine

You can tell that LEGO builder Dan Ko had a great time when designing this intriguing rover. February, or shall we say Febrovery, has been a great month for rovers and we’re not even done yet. This one features a pilot that is a bright green ducky that can only be had in 2019’s Series 19 Collectible Minifigure Shower Guy. Shower Guy, huh? Clearly he’s doing it right as none of my showers have ever been as fun as he seems to make it. I believe it is because my shampoo is not tear-free, in fact it promotes tears. Anyway, let’s wipe away our tears and see why Dan Ko is having the best life ever!

Here we are now, entertain us

Leave it to me to move into an area a decade after its peak. Had I have moved to the Seattle area sooner, I could have witnessed firsthand the Grunge wave that killed hair metal. Bummer. LEGO builder Julius von Brunk is surely a fan of Grunge as evidenced by his latest build featuring bobble-headed rock gods from Nirvana. On the left, we have the tall bassist Krist Novoselic. On drums, we have the shirtless and ever-prolific Dave Grohl and finally, we have the legendary frontman Kurt Cobain with his left-handed Fender guitar. Julius tells us that when LEGO came out with the Fender Stratocaster set they held a contest in which the winner could win a real guitar. He didn’t have the entire band finished by the contest deadline but had entered Kurt Cobain’s figure. Julius goes on to say that, despite not having the cigarette featured, his entry was rejected due to using “inappropriate materials”. We’re not sure if this means the use of illegal build techniques or LEGO’s overall dissatisfaction with the Grunge scene. Well, you’re a winner in our eyes, Julius! Here’s the proof.

I smell a dirty rat

To see a rat rod in real life is quite a unique experience not soon forgotten. People can be left confused, upset, bewildered, awestruck, and amazed in one fell swoop. It is clear that LEGO builder Sérgio Batista understands the rat rod asthetic perfectly. This sick roadster is rusty, chopped, slammed, gutted, and you’ll probably need a tetanus shot just to look at it. I’m smitten, but then again I like ’em a little dirty. Rat rods, that is. I was talking about rat rods. Anyway, check out two other rat rod articles, both penned by me. (Hmmmm, no one else here is into rat rods?) While you’re at it, have a gander at more vehicles constructed by others.

Set sail on the high seas with 38 guns ablazin’!

With thirty-eight cannons at the ready, this LEGO HMS Argonaut built by Fehron Argonaut looks like it can handle just about anything. This builder clearly knows their way around tall ships. I’m loving the sails, the flags, even the complex rigging is a sight to behold. I sort of wish the builder had more to say about this amazing creation other than “38 gun frigate”. It really deserves a backstory. There was apparently an HMS Argonaut in real history, a few of them in fact, but none quite like this. We’ll just have to imagine for ourselves the adventures that await this handsome vessel. My limited research states that this may also be the first time we have featured this builder but with LEGO skills this good, we’ll surely be on the lookout for more. In the meantime, be sure to check out some other tall ships from various builders.

Truckers not currently blocking the US/Canadian border

Boy, the state of the world is in a boil, isn’t it? It’s been so bad lately that it has turned some Canandians impolite. It seems you have to travel all the way to outer space to find people not getting their knickers in a bunch. Take these two industrious LEGO fellows built by Pascal for example. They are most certainly getting s done and seem pretty happy to do it. Wait a minute, on second thought they both look rather upset. What are they so grumpy about? I thought truckdriving was the happiest job in the world next to security guards and funeral directors! Perhaps they’re mad about having to wear helmets and face visors in the cold, unrelenting, unforgiving vaccuum of outerspace? Whatever their reasoning is, I’m sure we can turn their frowns upside-down with more awesome space stuff!

Bubble trouble in the desert

This LEGO Desert Tiger tank built by Andreas Lenander is chock full of great personality. It’s a creation that proposes more questions than answers. Like what is is doing there? What purpose does it have? And what is with that pink-helmeted driver? And most importantly, would they hang out with me? Because whatever trouble that driver is getting into, I most assuredly want to be a part of it! Those tracks are brilliant and even the ground and spires are brick-built using clever techniques. What’s not to love, really? There’s plenty more to love when you click the little blue link to see what else Andreas has done.

Please be kind, rewind

Those of us of a certain age remember going to Blockbuster on a Friday night to pick out movies to watch over the weekend. LEGO legend Nathan Proudlove is clearly of that age. I know this because he’s my buddy and we have some history, he and I. It’s good to see that while he may be getting older, (aren’t we all?) he’s still finding clever ways to wow us with bricks. This time he hits us in the nostalgic feels with the iconic video cassette case from the now-defunct Blockbuster Video. I’m loving the blocky yellow font against the bright blue field. Even the little round semi-circular notch brings back fond memories of a bygone era.

Care to see what’s inside the case? It’s not exactly what you’d think!

Jabba ruled with fear. I intend to rule with respect.

This LEGO creation by Omar R Ovalle is not the first we’ve seen from The Book of Boba Fett lately. Not by a long shot. Unless you’ve been slowly digesting in a Sarlacс pit these past couple of months you’d know the pivotal series on Disney+ is one of the most talked about streaming shows currently. (You were hot, Bridgerton, but not Boba Fett hot!) Anyway, the point I was trying to make is we’ve seen plenty of Fett stuff but rarely do we see anything in this scale. Omar has taken the official Boba Fett Buildable Figure set but customized it to fit the series in which Boba combines his old armor with garb given to him by Tusken Raiders. Beside him is a very convincing Fennec Shand whom I think (but don’t quote me) is a repurposed Rey figure. The throne in which they sit and the arch behind them is nothing short of brilliant.

Cruising the Star Wars galaxy with my homie, Grogu

If you haven’t seen the season finale of The Book of Boba Fett then give this LEGO ship by Alex Jones a like or a heart and move on without reading ahead. But be sure to catch it when you can. If you have seen it then oh boy! A couple of episodes back when Peli revealed the refurbished N-1 Starfighter she was working on for Mando we got just a little taste of foreshadowing. Seeing the pre-Empire ship was cool enough in itself. It was admittedly not the replacement for the Razorcrest Mando had hoped for at first but with it being souped-up and off-the-grid like a refurbished one-of-a-kind classic hot rod, he warmed up to it. However, the bubble dome in place of where an Astromech would go… clued us in that someday Grogu would sit there. Fast forward to the last scene of the final episode and we were served a heaping albeit adorable helping of fan service!

If you’ve seen the show, then join in on all the excitement to see what other builders have done in The Book of Boba Fett archives.

This Martian Botanical Unit is like, far-out, man!

We’ve seen plenty of LEGO space rovers lately but Isaac Wilder clearly has a good sense of humor about his. With its 3D-printed custom rims, it’s more of a psychedelic VW T2 campervan than a Mars rover. However, should we ever explore Mars, there is some good reasoning for having a mobile botanical unit to either analyze and collect the plant life that may be discovered there or to seed our own once we terraform the Red Planet. Along with it, you would certainly need a gentle, laidback botanical enthusiast with a knack for making plants grow. Do we know anyone like that? This dude definitely doesn’t harsh my mellow! If you’re hip to it, why not discover other reasons why we think Isaac Wilder is, like, one with the universe. While you’re at it, don’t bogart the love. Be sure to check out these space rovers built by others, brah.

The rover with no blind spots...on the sides

The LEGO builder who is apparently a cat, Koosya the Cat has rendered a space rover that ranks A+ for having no blind spots. At least when you look out from the sides. Results may vary if looking out the front or rear. But who needs driver safety when exploring another planet? The probability of a Toyota Carolla cutting you off is pretty minimal out there in space so I’d say go nuts with whatever wild and crazy rover design you want. If it turns out other planets are full of pedestrians, at least you can see them down below once you run them over. Which could happen for that one astronaut who apparently has to hoof it all the way back to the base. I guess he lost that Rochambeau. Better luck next time, buddy!