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 hare of the bunny that bit me

A Gatling gun, grappling hook, chainsaw, and an unfolding semaphore tower is not the kind of things you’d usually associate with little pink bunnies. But LEGO builder Ted Andes has done just that with this Nousagi (野ウサギ) Reconnaissance Tank. This mech-tank looks like it means serious business. However, just a few pretty pink touches and bunny stickers clue us in that one can pilot a tank and still have a playful personality. The open hatch gives us a glimpse of a playful young driver who can still get down to brass tacks when serious reconnaissance stuff needs to happen.

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Two great Star Wars ships for all your bounty hunting needs

Whether you need to chase down two-bit scoundrels who owe money or tool around the galaxy with your foster kid in the Star Wars equivalent of a ’96 Nissan Stanza, you’re going to need the right equipment. First, you need a cool outfit, preferably one you’ll wear your entire life, even if you put on a few post-Sarlaac pounds. Next, you’ll need a bucket on your head and a credo about not talking much and never showing your face except during some mushy parts. Lastly, you’re going to need a sweet spaceship and that’s where LEGO builder Tim Goddard comes in. Here we see Boba Fett and his Slave I as well as “Mando” from The Mandolorian with his Razor Crest. Tim makes excellent use of both old and new gray bits for that lived-in mottled effect.

We’ve featured Tim’s Razor Crest before but with the added stands and posed next to his new Slave I, we couldn’t resist bringing it out again for an encore performance.

LittleJohn says “Hay there, farmer!”

LEGO builder John Snyder says “hay there, farmer!” To which I reply “hay there right back!” Frankly, I know nothing about farming, but I do enjoy a friendly greeting replete with puns so I figured I ought to jump at the chance to feature this John Deere tractor and hay baler. If you’re as a-moo-sed by this as I am, then you should check out -LittleJohn’s other stuff. He’s been building a lot of amazing stuff lately. But before you go, let me try my hand at a farmer joke. Here goes. How did the farmer find his cow? He tractor down. OK, admittedly that could use some work. Sorry, I’m just going to let myself out now.

Enjoy my jacket. You have 20 seconds to comply.

When Marius Herrmann said he’d start a series of LEGO robots with a sense of style I said color me intrigued! Here we have “Sialia”-N1 Police Enforcer adorned in a sassy blue number from the Scala line. In order to get this jacket in this specific color, you’d have to have bought the super-rare Scala 3158 Christian in Tough Wear set. Because nothing says tough-guy like a light blue blazer! I’m rather smitten by the look, actually. This robotic law enforcer comes with a matching reconnaissance drone to ensure that you are also smitten by the whole ensemble. Not convinced yet? Then check out our archives where Marius always keeps it interesting. I’ll certainly be on the lookout to see what other fashion-forward robots he comes up with.

LEGO Borat is great success!

Why would Brothers Brick alumni Iain Heath burn Borat’s slingshot mankini into our retinas when we had since 2006 to forget it? Well, it turns out Sasha Baron Cohen and his fumbling foreign alter ego are relevant again. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm (actual title is much longer) had come out in late 2020 and garnered three Golden Globe nominations. Mr. Cohen won the award for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy, for his starring role as the titular character. Rudy Guiliani, who also appeared in the film, won no such award because apparently, that wasn’t acting. Plus, Iain has a knack for knowing what is hot at any precise moment. We have like two hours to jump on that bandwagon before Iain moves on to the next hottest thing. So if we want to stay relevant, we pretty much had to publish this. Consider yourselves hip and enlightened. High fives!

Feel like getting your mankini in a bunch? Check out the other times Iain Heath had us in stitches.

Because flying fish are the best kind of fish

True story; one of the best days of my life involved flying fish. I was in the Navy and got reassigned to gyro school while we were deployed out in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead of waiting until we pulled into port, they hired a small craft to meet our ship. I was (carefully) hoisted over the side, and onto the craft. Usually, the captain gets a series of bells to announce his or her arrival and departure. Little enlisted schlubs like me didn’t get the same treatment except during our final departure from the ship. So they rang me off with bells and headed for shore. Here’s where the flying fish came in, jumping over the craft in droves as we sped through the water. I felt like freakin’ James Bond on a special mission! Once on shore at Panama City, Florida, I was reverted back to common schlub transportation but for an hour or so, I felt pretty special. Thanks for the memories, James Zhan! It would have been extra-cool to depart on a piloted flying fish like this.

From a sprig comes a delightful Bonsai Plum Tree

It’s not usually our thing to feature LEGO works in progress. But when ZiO Chao posted a sprig of plum blossom, we featured it. Who could blame us, really? The subject was expertly crafted and photographed with utmost care. The sprig alone was rather breathtaking, actually. So you can imagine our thrill to learn the sprig was a mere teaser for this entire Bonsai plum tree. The builder tells us that the plum blossom is one of the most beloved flowers in China and has been frequently depicted in Chinese art and poetry for centuries. They can bloom in the winter and have therefore come to symbolize perseverance and hope, as well as beauty and purity. In my opinion, the official Botanical Collection has been the best new idea LEGO has come up with in a while. They have been the inspiration for so many beautiful creations such as this.

You see cake, I see ghosts

There is a neat LEGO part that comes with the Friends Baking Competition set as well as a couple of others. It’s the 2×2 cake topper. Most of us see that part and may likely use it for what it’s intended for; a cake bit. But Seung Hun Park saw it as something a bit more unsettling. He artfully constructed a Candle Ghost using the cake topper as melted wax. It’s as is Lumière from Beauty and the Beast had morphed into something from Silent Hill. The single eye on each candle and the tongues made from minifig flippers make for a nice, creepy touch.

Paying homage to the Ninjago Legacy

LEGO has come up with a series of tenth anniversary Ninjago Legacy sets and we’re all pretty thrilled, by golly. Here at The Brothers Brick we’ve done extensive review after review for these sets and it would seem Ninjago fever isn’t going away anytime soon. A builder who goes by the name of Woomy World has done a neat thing, though. They managed to pay homage to the Ninjago Legacy without flooding the build with Minifigures or spinners. This is a reimagining of the Oni and the Dragon, creatures that inhabit the first realm and play a central role in the lineage of the Green Ninja.

Each is quite impressive on its own. Here is the ferocious dragon sculpture with its many golden blades used as wings.

Followed by the fearsome Oni sculpture in black and trans-purple.

While the identity of this builder is a mystery, they have been on our radar at least a couple of times now. With build techniques and parts usage this good, we’ll surely be on the lookout for whatever else they may do in the future.

A blue cottage to stave off those COVID blues

In many parts of the world, if you’ve been following COVID safety protocols correctly, you may be itching to get out of the house right about now. Thankfully there is such a thing as contact-free check-in and this cottage may have the cure for what ails us. Is it called cabin fever when you want to leave the house to stay in a cabin? Whatever it’s called, Andrea Lattanzio’s stunning blue LEGO cottage is a sight for sore eyes. The round door and windows, the woodpile under the eave, and the weathered ramshackle texture make this a cottage I’d love to stay at for a weekend or even a month. The fall leaves, the skylights, the birdhouse, and even the mushrooms out front make for a picturesque vacation setting.

I can even forgive the skunk for paying a visit. They don’t spray when you treat them with respect and I’m willing to respect the skunk and all the other woodland creatures for a stay in this cottage. Andrea was The Brothers Brick Builder of the Year in 2019 for good reason. Check out our archives to see what else Andrea Lattanzio has been up to.

Ice cold shenanigans at the Gotham Museum

We’ve seen several very impressive Batcaves over the years but poor Mr. Freeze has been largely thus far given the cold shoulder. Until now. Brothers Brick alumni Tim Lydy invests several months and an ungodly amount of LEGO bricks, both stock and custom, to give Mr. Freeze a fitting lair complete with about seventy individual LED lights. The exterior of the museum is quite impressive with its textured brickwork and massive Spartan statues flanking central Greek-style columns. The icy ornamentation along the top and the frozen tail to the right offers just a glimpse of what’s inside. Let’s take a tour, shall we?

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Going nuclear with this toxic villain

Here is a toxic sludge LEGO Bionicle figure built by Rockmonster2000. It’s here to cramp your style, chap you hide, harsh your mellow, or whatever it is they do with toxic nuclear sludge nowadays. This villain is just oozing with personality! It may not be the personality that’ll win over the nuclear safety inspector but it’s personality nonetheless. Where’s the Toxic Avenger when you need him?