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

The Mandalorian and some Tusken Raiders encounter the Krayt Dragon

For decades now Tusken Raiders from Star Wars were understood to be desert-dwelling jerks hellbent on harshing everyone’s mellow. However, as we learned in The Mandalorian season two, if you speak their language, if you learn to communicate with them, they have a code of honor and can be cooperative. This stunning LEGO collaboration built by Jonathan Snyder and others (he didn’t specify who) depicts the pivotal scene in which Din Djarin, Cobb Vanth, villagers of Freetown and Tusken Raiders hatch a plan to slay a fearsom krayt dragon. The cavern and highly-textured sandy cliffside are recreated beautifully here. The krayt dragon is also depicted nicely with most of its massive form buried under the sand. I seem to recall the plan involved a sacrificial bantha loaded with explosives though. Oh well. What Jonathan lacks in bantha goo he makes up for in total awesomeness. Click here to see what I mean.

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Greetings Earth sausage. Take me to your soup can.

One can forgive the awkward salutation in the title. With his four arms, bugged-out eyes and bulbous head, this creature built by Ivan Martynov has that not-from-around-here vibe. Meet Commander Viridigen. In regards to native fauna, his ethics may seem questionable and his grasp of the English language makes about as much gramatical sense as anything on 4Chan. In terms of LEGO pieces, some elements of this extra-terrestrial look a bit…alien. I mean, check out those feet, the chest armor, the shoulder pads. That’s not quite LEGO, folks! Even his head resembles something like a metallic ram. But you know what they say, a little alien integration into your LEGO collection never hurt anybody. Am I right? Right, people? Isn’t that what they say? Anyway, feast your ocular orbs on the other times we were totally flamboozled by Ivan’s krunk.

A tiger among the mushrooms

A LEGO builder who goes by the name of Admiral_Plackbar (tee hee!) has rendered a pretty sweet 1:24 scale Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausführung B Tiger II tank. The Admiral (who, based solely on their name, should probably visit the dentist) tells us that the Tiger II is, to this day, one of the heaviest tanks of all time weighing in at 69 tons. The weight made this tank slow and difficult to maneuver in rugged terrain. It’s having no problems however showing those mushrooms who is boss.

I’m drawn to Mothra like a moth to a flame

The last time we heard from Todd Kubo The Force awakened in the Age of Ultron and we learned that gray comes in fifty shades. So, in other words, it’s been a while. But what he lacks in prolific LEGO building he makes up for in total awesomeness. The elusive builder makes a colossal comeback with this version of Mothra of kaiju B-Movie fame. I’m loving the little moth stand!

The wings are printed with a tiled effect printed on paper to give the illusion of a large seamless LEGO build. An interesting technique used indeed.

While Todd is not the most active builder we know, we sure hope to see more from him soon and certainly before someone decides to reboot Fifty Shades of Gray or something.

This Star Wars X-Wing gets by with a little help from its friends

LEGO builder Tom Loftus had a mission that was almost as exciting as destroying the Death Star. That mission was to build a compact design T-65 X-Wing Fighter with engines that were three studs wide. A LEGO X-Wing is nothing new, but I think the look of the iconic ship was achieved nicely here. What sets it apart from some of the scores of X-Wings we’ve already seen is the use of sand blue for the canopy, which is pretty vital for that ship but alas is a difficult color to obtain in quantity or various shapes.

While iconic, building the X-Wing accurately is no easy feat but Tom does a great job of it as evidenced by these many views.

Tom is one of those builders that seek help and advice from his friends then uses it accordingly. In his write up he names and thanks a slew of friends who had helped out which is a class act, in my opinion. It makes sense because while Luke ultimately destroyed the Death Star, it was really a team effort and everyone got awarded for it at the end of the movie, except Chewbacca. hey, wait a minute! Doesn’t Chewie deserve some love? While you’re mulling that over, check out the other times we gave Tom Loftus some well-deserved love.

This Adidas Originals AT-AT was pretty much a shoo-in feature

You may have heard that The LEGO Group came out with the official Adidas Originals Superstar set. Well, it was only a matter of time before someone built their own creations inspired by the iconic sneaker. Henry Gouw answered the call of duty and is a comfy fit for the kind of stuff we like around here. Here we see the Adidas Superstar is a perfect shoo-in for the body of the AT-AT Walker from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. This is certainly keeping in step with the icons represented in both franchises. So why would we pass up a feature in which the puns just write themselves? We don’t! You’re welcome.

At the jungle temple of Coatepec, we witness the rise of Huitzilopochtli

Oh, man! I read about Mesoamerican mythology in college and I love the subject. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to see Luis Saladrigas present this stunning LEGO scene depicting the birth of the warrior-god Huitzilopochtli. He tells us that in a place called Coatepec (Serpent Hill) the goddess Coatlicue took a small number of white feathers and placed them in her bosom, from which she conceived Huitzilopochtli. Outraged by the nature of her mother’s pregnancy, Coyolxauhqui led four hundred of her brothers in an attack on Coatlicue. In the midst of this attack, Huitzilopochtli emerged from his mother’s womb in full battle armor and armed with his spear, Xiuhcoatl, destroyed his brothers and sisters, and rose to take his place as the Aztec God of War.

There’s plenty of amazing details to see here.

Click here to discover more.

The US Navy Dauntless Patrol Boat protects our shores

Sometimes we get commissioned to do what we love. That is exactly what happened with Jake Sadovich and his amazing LEGO Dauntless 34′ Patrol Boat. Whoever commissioned Jake must be mighty pleased with the level of detail he has achieved here. The complex curve of the bow, the guardrails, the armament, the electronic gear on the mast, even the handsome stand makes this a stunning model to behold.

Click here to climb aboard and discover more!

All hail the shiny slammed pickup

Here at The Brothers Brick, we’re a lot like raccoons in the sense that we love shiny things. (And also eat from garbage cans on occasion.) That’s why when 1saac W. built this sweet slammed LEGO Chevy pickup with shiny chrome rims and engine we were all foaming at the mouth for reasons definitely not having to do with rabies. At least I was anyway. The rest of TBB staff looked pretty normal, come to think of it. Throw in a rare color and that has rendered this particular writer and custom car nerd extra-foamy, kinda like an ill-poured beer. I declare this LEGO creation the best in the history of the world ever for all eternity or until a few hours from now when we see something else that strikes our fancy, whichever comes first. If you like vehicles as much as I do, then click the blue link to see what 1saac and other builders have come up with.

The Tachyomatic Combine combines complex angles and interstellar build techniques

Well, I’m pretty sure Nick Trotta is from outer space or he’s been sent from the future to kill us all. How else could you explain LEGO build techniques of this caliber? This Tachyomatic Combine combines (how do you explain word association that good?) complex angles, futuristic aerodynamics, and interesting colors and textures. The end result is so cohesive you’d be convinced Nick visited the future. Actually, he’s taken inspiration from artist Weiyi Qin whom I’m pretty sure is also from outer space.

Care to see other angles and the inner workings of this mind-blowing model? I’m pretty much going to speak for you here and say that you do. Go on, click the link! You know you want to!

No seriously, click it. You won’t be disappointed!

LEGO Gift with Purchase 40486 Mini Adidas Originals Superstar [Review]

You may have seen our 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar set review a short time ago. We’ve also had the chance to review its mini counterpart, 40486 Adidas Originals Superstar, which will be available July 1 and is free with qualifying purchases of US $85 | CAN $85 | UK £85 in LEGO stores and on the LEGO website. Let’s take a look and see if this set measures up to its bigger counterpart or if it falls a bit flat…footed?

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

click here to read the full review!

A whale of a Jeep Rubicon

The ever-popular Iron Builder competition is heating up like Georgia asphalt in July and we’re pretty thrilled. Our friend and recent The Brothers Brick alumni Benjamin Stenlund is climbing the summit with this delightful little Jeep Rubicon. The seed part was used four times here along the fenders. But to me, that isn’t even the most exciting part. Did you wonder how I came up with the title? Well, it turns out Benjamin used two Duplo whales, a big one and a little one, as part of the rock formations. That’s some brilliant parts usage right there! Good parts usage is the reason Benjamin has been featured a lot lately. Rooting for the other guy? He’s no slouch either. Then check out how Grant Davis is measuring up.