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

Here be alligators along the Shipwreck Island!

Ahoy mateys! LEGO builder Markus Aspacher has a little something that definitely hits us in the nostalgic feels. It is a remake of the official 6296 Shipwreck Island set from 1996. Like the set, it’s a shipwreck turned island complete with a small raft, pirate mast sail and alligator. But this modernized version utilizes newer pieces, cool build techniques, and a fancy-pants base that looks like a desolate location in the Caribbean. There’s a neat mix of solid-colored and transparent pieces that convey areas of depth and shallows in the water. It is way more engaging than the blue baseplate that the original set came with. This is not the first time this builder has wowed us with his swell build techniques. It turns out that awesome dioramas is kinda Markus’ thing.

„6296 Shipwreck Island Remake“

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Robo Maid 2031 cleans up so you don’t have to

You know that guilty feeling you get when others are working hard while you’re doing jack nothing? It’s a guilt so deep you have to take your goofing off elsewhere lest someone ask you to get off your lazy keister and help. Do you know what I mean? No? Am I the only one? Anyway, Cecilie Fritzvold has built a LEGO robot maid programmed to clean up your crap so you don’t have to. You don’t even have to hide the fact that you’re surfing the net for hilarious youtube videos when this awesome bot toils away because apparently they have no feelings. According to youtube research I did just now you can even kick robots and they won’t even feel it. I’m pretty sure that will never backfire so give it a try next time you see a robot. That plant, feather duster and coffee table are all super fabulous! So are Cecilie’s other builds in our archives.

Robo Maid 2031

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From the depths we will arise anew

From time to time we like to check in with an enigmatic LEGO builder who calls herself why.not?. Sometimes her subject matter is dark. Sometimes it’s real dark. But in every case she has us intrigued. Her latest offering is untitled. They’re all untitled. I mean, it’s not like she forgets to name them, she actually types in “untitled” for every creation she does. But this time we have what appears to be a beautiful, brightly lit angel emerging from an underground place. Black city buildings flank her on either side, even the ground is black. She uses red lighting to not only create patterns on the buildings but to denote the readable words “out” and perhaps “dream”. Could this represent our artist emerging from a dark funk? Is this a new chapter in her life or is it a phase? Either way, we remain to be intrigued. And why not?

untitled

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Chemistry 101: I’m blinding me with science!

High school chemistry class sometimes had its appeal. A great experiment can have a whole class oohing and aahing over various liquids changing color, shattering objects, and sometimes even blowing stuff up. A failed experiment can lead to a would-be chemist losing eyebrows. Unless, of course, the loss of eyebrows was the intent of the experiment, then that would be considered a success. But either way, eye protection is a good idea. Thankfully, LEGO builder Jonas Kramm included eye protection with this build as well as a Bunsen burner and a test tube containing a chemical that may or may not singe off your eyebrows if treated improperly. The whole shebang (or she-BANG!) consists of only 101 LEGO pieces, making Chemistry 101 an inevitable part of this title. The rest was a line from Mystery Science Theater 3000. I don’t know about you, but I’m having a good reaction to this experiment. Here are the other times we were favorable to Jonas’ stuff.

Chemistry Class | 101 pieces

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Na-na na-na na-na na-na na-na na-na na-na na-na Batman!

Batman wasn’t always the dark, grunting, brooding anti-hero we’ve come to know. In the ’60s the Adam West-era Batman was wholesome, a bit sillier, and definitely into go-go dancing. Along with all that campiness came the most iconic Batmobile of all time and Alex “Orion Pax” Jones does it justice in LEGO. Not only was it the most iconic Batmobile ever, but one of the most iconic cars ever. Period. The original was designed by George Barris and was based on the 1955 Lincoln Futura. Even more than a decade later the mid-century Lincoln was futuristic beyond compare and thus a perfect basis for the ’66 Batmobile. Alex has a knack for hitting us right in the nostalgic feels. He cranks out pop culture icons like no one else as evidenced by this previous spotlight feature here on Brothers Brick. If you lack talent and imagination, LEGO recently released the ’66 Batmobile set. Still, I prefer Alex’s version though.

1966 Batmobile

Whether they be official LEGO sets or creations from other builders, check out several other Batmobiles in our archives.

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Whisk us away to the world of Malay

Sometimes a builder waits years for just the right LEGO pieces and colors to come out. That’s exactly what Vincent Kiew did in planning this lovely Kampung House. It took a while for LEGO to produce just the right pieces in dark brown and reddish-brown. The colors are alternated nicely here to replicate the indigenous craftsmanship used in these traditional dwellings. The stilts, shutters, even the intricate roof are all spot on. The chickens, the cat, the cow, even the cart full of vegetables help convey a feeling of relaxation and tranquility. I imagine the home would offer a cool reprise from the Malaysian heat. Vincent tells us this creation was based on a particular village house on Penang island. He also states that being a city-dweller growing up in Kuala Lumpur, he has not had the chance to stay in a Kampung House but his wife had when she was a child. She shared stories of her childhood with him as he worked on this project.

Kampung House.

This photo gives us a better glimpse of Vincent’s attention to detail. I’m loving the shutters, woodpile, as well as chickens languishing in the shade.

Kampung House.

Vincent closes out his write-up with a question; “does this creation remind you of your sweet childhood, too?” I imagine for our readers from the Malay Peninsula it might. As I was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, it doesn’t. In order to envision my childhood, you’d have to imagine cramped three-story walk-up apartments and simple Shaker-style New England homes. But still, we deeply appreciate you sharing your architectural sentiments from your part of the world.

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Five feet of Heavy Metal badassery!

What is five feet tall and completely brimming with Heavy Metal badassery? No, not Ronnie James Dio or Glenn Danzig. Those two are taller than five feet but not by much. This stunning LEGO castle by Shawn Snyder stands five feet high (152.4cm) and is like every Iron Maiden and Motörhead album cover combined. If this seems reminiscent of images you’d find on the side of your weird uncle’s van in the ’70s or ’80s that is because it was inspired by the art of Frank Frazetta and also Shawn’s time playing the video games Darksiders, Skyrim, and Castlevania. You don’t need much color to convey the completely ominous feel this castle encompasses. In fact, Shawn’s stark color choices work in his favor here and instead employ repetition of form and the use of compelling textures. Note the tiny minifigs flanking the front steps and one on the upper balcony.

003 Full view

This closeup offers a detailed view of the skeletal sentries adorning the front of the castle as well as the centralized snarling horned skull.

004 Front close up

Even the gargoyles are well-positioned and intricately detailed.

011 Gargoyle

This Fortress of the Skeleton Mage has won a place in my dark and foreboding heart. I now have classic metal tunes stuck in my head but, in the whole scheme of things, that’s a pretty decent place for me to be. Rock on, Shawn! Rock on.

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The naked mole-rat of your dreams

I don’t know how many sleepless nights I’ve had while anxiously wishing someone would build a LEGO Mecha Heterocephalus-glaber. I know what you’re thinking; we’ve all been there, right? Thankfully, Mitsuru Nikaido answered our prayers and maybe now we can get some sleep for once. For those uninitiated with this creature’s scientific name, it is commonly called a naked mole-rat. (Tee-hee!) Mitsuru is no stranger to building weird mecha creatures of all kinds. Of all of youse, he’s probably the most qualified to build an awesome mech mole-rat, to be honest. Now, if I can’t sleep, it’ll be for other worrisome reasons like; do algorithms dream of electric murder? Why is my mom using the eggplant emoji? Is that Matt Gaetz behind the hamper?

LEGO-Mecha-Heterocephalus-glaber_08

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Spider-bots of the apocalypse!

Not much still stands of the dead cities, but the twisted ruins make for good cover and even better hunting grounds.” That is the tagline provided for this LEGO render by _Regn. There’s a lot to love here. The dilapidated arching structure is particularly striking and there’s the post-apocalyptic guy doing post-apocalyptic stuff in the background there. The mech-tank-spider though…that’s going to haunt my dreams for a while. It’s just your typical stuff that goes on in the mind of this particular builder. Upon further inspection, there is really nothing typical about this builder at all. They’re new to us here at The Brothers Brick but with creations this imaginative we’ll surely keep all eight eyes in their direction; poised and ready to pounce on what they may do next.

Subservience

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Life is like...something, something

There’s an old adage I’ve heard somewhere about life being like something or another but damned if I can remember it now. Sometimes the ol’ reptile brain is not as responsive as it used to be. Maybe it’ll come to me at some point. Anyway, for unrelated reasons, here’s a LEGO box of chocolates built by Kale Frost. It’s amazing that you can make LEGO look so tasty and decadent. The sheer variety of chocolate treats here can be written into some kind of clever analogy or another but I’ll leave the creative thinking to you. While you’re mulling that over, here are the other times we’ve been totally smitten by something Kale has built.

Happy Easter Everyone

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This barber can help get you back into polite society again

I remember barbershops! They were popular before all this COVID stuff. Since lockdown, some of us have taken matters into our own unskilled hands. One neighbor gave himself the “Robocop” haircut while another gave himself the ever-popular “I’ll never recover from this financially” hairdo. As circumstances have it, I’ve been rocking the “Crystal Palace” look for months now. No muss, no fuss, no nothing! With my goatee, I resemble the bassist for a heavy metal band or a tiny bouncer. Once things get back to normal this LEGO barber by Vir-a-cocha should get your hair looking as hip and cool as his own. He seems like he’d be a fun conversationalist, too. I really miss barbershops! Do yourselves a favor, next time you go to a barber or beautician, be sure to tip them well and let them know they are greatly appreciated. I also really miss hair.

Barber

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Autumn woodlands just in time for Spring

Just as Spring has sprung around here Isaac Snyder has Autumn on the brain with this Tryandal Woodlands. But as it turns out, March signifies the onset of Autumn in the southern hemisphere, so… Yeah, maybe my title and premise aren’t as funny and ironic as initially thought. Plus, last week, it was snowing and 36 degrees Fahrenheit here, so who knows what’s going on in the world. Either way, Isaac tells us Autumn is a magical time for him, and if that inspires him to build a LEGO creation this good, then I’m inclined to agree. With only 101 elements, we are taken to a magical land complete with Elven towers. It’s rather breathtaking, truth be told. Here are some of the other times Isaac had us whisked away to magical lands.

Tryandal Woodlands

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