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 Blueberry Container House may contain awesomeness

Sarah Beyer’s title for this new LEGO creation; Blueberry Container House enticed me enough to research it just a bit further. Once I did, I was treated to some breathtaking spaces both inside and out. Sarah tells us that this recycled home is primarily made of two shipping containers connected by a spiral staircase. While it’s safe to assume she’s a bit of an architectural dynamo, this is her first attempt at a container home. The solar cells indicate that this home is energy efficient. The structure’s oddly stacked juxtaposition makes for some exciting areas; particularly the nestled walled sitting area among the trees and the angular deck beside the top floor.

Blueberry Container House MOC VII

Discover more inside and out!

Flippin’ in my flops

While autumn is in-uh-bloom, which means torrential downpours here in the Pacific Northwest, LEGO extraordinaire Dan Ko takes us on a summer vacation. He’s competing in the infamous Iron Builder competition and we’re all as pleased as Hawaiian Punch, by golly! He’s used four of the requisite red Technic Rotor Blades to construct the neat beach chair. I suppose that alone would have pleased the Iron Builder Gods but he’s gone the extra mile to depict a sunny beach scene in a travel case. I can feel the warm sand getting into all my nether bits! With Iron Builder, there’s no telling what our esteemed builders will do! Here’s to hoping Dan Ko will take us on vacation again soon.

Flip or Flop

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Heroes on a Half Shell-Turtle Power!

The esteemed Iron Builder competition is firing on all cylinders and the equally ‘steamed LEGO builder Duncan Lindbo has answered the call of duty. This time he’s used the requisite red Technic Rotor Blade to render Raphael’s ninja-eye-mask-scarf-thingy. Thanks to my chosen title, those of us of a certain age now hear the theme song that was the soundtrack to our Saturday mornings and are remembering the sewer-dwelling, pizza-loving crime-fighting antics of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It all made sense when we were twelve! Here’s to hoping Duncan Lindbo continues to be our action-packed Saturday-morning-and-every-other-day soundtrack.

Hero on the half-shell

A huge collaboration takes on the Pokémon Ultra Beasts!

I love it when a great LEGO collaboration comes together! A group of friends built the Pokémon Ultra Beasts and the end result is pure gold. Take Aidan Hayward’s Celesteela, for example. This is one of the dangerous UBs, (that’s Ultra Beasts) high energy readings can be detected coming from both of its huge arms.

UB-04 Blaster: Celesteela

Celesteela brought friends. Lots of them!

a SHIP not of this world

SHIPtember is officially over with but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying these seriously huge LEGO ships that we’ve seen lately. Take Maxx Davidson’s Aeronautilus, for example. The rules laid out by the LEGO Gods a millennia ago state that a Seriously Huge Investment in Parts must have at least 100 studs on one side but it says nothing about which side. This otherworldly SHIP is 104 studs high and 108 studs on the diagonal plane. Its construct is so alien in appearance, that one can barely imagine the beings that may have constructed it. Maxx, as far as I know, is an Earthly being but you get what I mean. My favorite part, besides its odd color scheme, is the smaller ships being launched from strange hatches throughout the hull. I imagine this is how a botfly works. Kinda gives you the warm and fuzzies, doesn’t it?

Aeronautilus- Shiptember 2023

Paz Vizsla’s last stand against a bunch of red space-guys!

Here at The Brothers Brick, we know that whenever we feature a LEGO creation by KevFett2011 the TBB headquarters hot tub bill gets paid. You just keyword Star Wars or The Mandalorian and suddenly we’re making it rain over here! Or something. I don’t know how the internet works, really. “Stick to the colorful metaphors, Lino, and let us worry about the rest”, they said. We’re all a bunch of Star Wars nerds, so we’d feature this stuff regardless of the nitty-gritty. For those not as nerd-core as we are, Paz Viszla was the big, stocky Mandalorian who seemed invincible but ultimately succumbed to the might of Moff Gideon’s Praetorian Guards. Kev captured that scene nicely with this diorama. Nerding out over fantastic Star Wars scenes is pretty much what Kev does. Check out our KevFett2011 archives to see what I mean. And for the love of god, someone please build us a MrBeast diorama. This ocelot fur coat isn’t going to pay for itself!

LEGO Star Wars THE MANDALORIAN season 3 - Vizsla's last stand MOC by KevFett2011

Do I make you itchy?

I love insects and spiders. Really, I do. Tops on my LEGO wishlist is the new 21342 Ideas Insect Collection but boy, does looking at insect photos make my skin crawl! I’m scratching as I type and that is a testament to how realistic this new flea creation by Mitsuru Nikaito is. “Associative itching” is a real thing and, according to the science-y types at the University of Pennsylvania, itchy associations crosses species because primates get it, too. It’s a sensation so good, I decided to pass it along to you all. Let me know in the comments if you’re feeling it too and, if you love creepy-crawlers, check out our insects archives for more skin-crawling goodness.

LEGO Flea mech_05

Autumn always brings a splash of color

This time of year is exciting for a few reasons; one of which is the diversity of color that autumn brings. The other neat thing about September, (or should I say SHIPtember?) is the bevy of massive LEGO ships we get to feature here on The Brothers Brick. Take Nathan Proudlove’s HMY Seraphim, for example. Her Majesty’s Yacht, HMY Seraphim, the personal transport and diplomatic vessel for Her Imperial Majesty, Catherine De Marques, the Empress of the Holy Roman Galactic Empire is glorious in scale but apparently, Her Majesty also demands lots of color. Who am I to argue, for I am but a plebe? While I’m well aware that Nathan’s scope of influence is as vast as Her Majesty’s kingdom, in terms of color and pattern, I’m willing to bet a dollar that Nathan borrowed a little DNA from concept designer Chriss Foss for this one. Am I right?

HMY Seraphim

Eventide-In the hours of the evening before midnight

Thanks to the Lego Ideas challenge: “Celebrate Japanese Culture” we’ve been seeing a lot of Japanese-inspired creations lately and we’re all for it. Oskar tells us this 2486-piece mosaic was built for that challenge and that eventide- 宵 (yoi) is a Kanji character symbolic of the hours of evening until midnight. It also signifies the eve of an event, particularly of festivals. In celebration of the many various flower festivals held in Japan, he chose to depict a flower motif blossoming from the warm orange glow of the setting sun – symbolizing the growing merriment on the eve of festivities. With this intention, he went with a blend of inspiration from traditional woodblock motifs and modern graphic design to offer a broader imagery of festive values both past and present in Japanese culture. I’m rather smitten by each petal; made from four triangular tiles.

宵 Eventide

Benny and his spaceship pretzel, Pretzel, PRETZEL!

If you’re like me, you didn’t know you’d go gaga over a LEGO pretzel spaceship flying over a character-strewn beach today, and yet here we are. Pretzels have been my lifelong favorite snack so naturally I’m glad to see that Pascal Hetzel and I are on the same wavelength. I must admit that even I didn’t expect to be cheering for Benny and his delicious spaceship today. It checks all the boxes of stuff I’d be into: beefy engines, sick exhaust pipes, tropical islands, Iron Man, The Mandalorian, Benny, sharks, Darth Vader, Batman, Santa Claus, and PRETZELS! Heck yes! What is it; my birthday? This piece begs the question; how can I love something but still not know what the heck is going on? That’s the story of my life, really.

Benny's SpaceBretzel

In case you haven’t yet experienced a delicious salty-good overload, here’s a close-up shot of the pretzel ship in action. Love that sweet rooster tail, bro!

Benny's SpaceBretzel

From the annals of Iron Builder comes the Iron Carousel

It seems our contestants over at Iron Builder are wrapping up their competition and LEGO phenom Joe (jnj_bricks) is going out with a bang. They needed to use the golden handcuffs as their seed part and Joe makes great use of them a whopping 73 times!

Iron Carousel

I’m not sure if my favorite carriage is the frog or the boat. Check out the video to see this magnificent carousel in action and let us know in the comments what your favorite detail is and also let us know how you think this round of Iron Builder will pan out.

Celebrate Japanese culture with the Plum Blossom

In a LEGO world of castles, spaceships, and battle mechs it’s sometimes nice to enjoy something a little different. Kristel Whitaker presents us with a stunning piece of art inspired by Japanese art. She tells us that the plum blossoms in Japanese culture represent hope, renewal and vitality, being the first to flower in spring (before the more famous cherry blossoms).The background is based on shoji, the paper sliding doors and windows common in Japanese homes. With the bold red sun against the white background, this piece almost looks like the Japanese flag, a notion that was surely not lost on a talented artist such as Kristel. This wouldn’t be the first time we were totally delighted by her LEGO creations. Please click the little blue link to peruse our Kristel Whitaker archives to discover more.

Plum Blossom