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

Beginner’s Guide to Adventuring – Always bring your harpoon

I let LEGO phenom Bart De Dobbelaer title this passage. I merely copy/pasted it from his Flickr page because sometimes the builder’s own idea is by far better than whatever silliness I had in mind. Building bizarre alien worlds is not bizarre for Bart. It’s kinda his thing. But each time I’m enthralled with the level of imagination and storytelling. To further copy/paste from Bart (Is it good journalism or just laziness? You decide!) “Dear diary, today I went treasure hunting at the old temple ruin. Luckily I brought my harpoon with me as the place was swarming with crustaceans. I guess I’m having shrimp cocktail this evening. Pete.” But Bart-or-um-Pete, I have a question. Are they still called shrimp if they’re the size of a city bus?

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Don’t tread on this fortified troll fort

LEGO builder Fedde Barendrecht finds an innovative way to show off his troll and orc collection as well as enough tank treads to furnish an entire platoon. You had to have been collecting the Castle line back in 2008 to acquire so many orc and troll figures. That’s back when Katy Perry kissed a girl and liked it. Also the economy crashed but the incidents were likely unrelated. The aforementioned tank treads adorn the walls of the fortress giving it a-uh-fortified fort feel. To quote Fedde: “Quickly assembled frontier forts trolls throw up on newly ‘acquired’ territories to ensure their holdings stay held”. Isn’t that how 4Chan was founded?

Dogpool slobbers her way into our hearts

IYKYK- That’s internet speak for if you know you know. Those of us in the know would know that, in the blockbuster film Deadpool and Wolverine, Dogpool was a complete scene stealer. Which is some feat considering all the muscle flexing, celebrity cameos, and gut-busting humor. Tim Inman replicates her unsettling slobberpuss nicely in LEGO and we’re all drooling with giddiness. While her ridiculous tongue and bugged-out eyes aren’t without their charm, my favorite part is the sparse fuzz on her head made with white LEGO plant stems. The doggo in real life is a Pug/ Chinese Crested mix named Peggy and she’s been voted Britain’s Ugliest Dog- which is a total bummer for whoever Britain’s second-ugliest dog happens to be.

Welcome, my son. Welcome to the machine.

Either Fedde Barendrecht has been listening to some mind-altering Prog Rock lately or he’s bummed about his daily work/home grind. Maybe a little of both? Whatever the case may be, his new LEGO creation is called Welcome to the Machine. It features a dreary, gray workplace, some cookie-cutter apartments, and a monorail to take you to and from both. That is all. Well, there’s also parkland but when you’re a small cog in a larger machine there isn’t time for dilly-dallying among the daffodils. What did you dream, Fedde? It’s alright, we told you what to dream. Now get back to work, ya bum!

A fun guy with a passion for woodland adventure

Sometimes those bright red toadstools appear out of nowhere and you’re like, what otherworldly thing is this? Maybe LEGO creature builder extraordinaire Joss Ivanwood feels the same way when he discovers a toadstool. He’s been building a dragon a month for a long while now and September’s offering is called Draconis Amanita and is inspired by the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria). He tells us he’s always been fascinated by the way so many mushrooms grow from fallen trees, giving them new life. So, he fathomed it would be a cool idea to make the whole dragon as a group of mushrooms growing out of the same log. I bet this dragon’s mycelium network is off the hook! It’s probably the root of all awesomeness! I’ll just let myself out and go spore some bad jokes somewhere else.

The Harley-Davidson Road King proves to be King of the Road

LEGO vehicle phenom Isaac Wilder says it’s been a while since he had last built a bike but you wouldn’t know it by the display of talent here. Relearning an old skill like building a bike is like- um -riding a bike; you never forget how to do it, even after a hiatus. He tells us the front fender is a wand sprue that he had bent a little, while the white tires are stretched Scala wheels. The result is -I mean- just look at that stance! I don’t know about y’all, but one thing I notice here, but also with any good build, is Isaac’s choice of colored paper; in other words, everything in the composition that’s not LEGO. The burnt orange is a great Autumn choice and contrasts nicely against all that black-and-white badassery. I can just smell the motor oil, gasoline, and maybe even a quick whiff of fallen leaves.

Fall means Pumpkin Spice and owls

I was enthralled when I saw this new Fall Owl by LEGO extraordinaire Andreas Leander and now you can be too. I mean, look at those textures and details! What’s not to love? I’m particularly fond of the lavender flowers that comprise the textures of its face. The tree-shaped stand and the wings made of dinosaur horns are not without their charms. I had a lovely owl visit my yard about once a week for a while right up until I shined a light in its face. Then I never saw it again, unfortunately, and now I wonder if I was directly responsible for its relocation. Wherever you’ve moved to, Mr. (or Ms.) Owl, I hope you’re eating well.

These (probably) are the droids you’re looking for

Here’s a quick LEGO Star Wars vignette that features neat build techniques and super original droid designs. Tim Goddard tells us that the low-ranking Jostoc has been tasked with climbing into the underbelly of some ship somewhere to catalog the wild and weird droids that have been occupying that space unsupervised and unhinged for some time now. Sounds like the start of a good sci-fi/horror adventure!

He has the whole world in his hands

This giant LEGO ant carrying the entire Earth by Plaåtart’s Creations doesn’t seem so farfetched considering that ants can carry 100 times their weight. That would be the equivalent of me lifting a semi-truck! Meanwhile, here I am straining to get a gallon of milk out of the fridge like a weak wussy-man. Unless this is a well-known builder in disguise, this appears to be the first time we’ve featured their work here so let’s give them The Brothers Brick Bump they rightly deserve. With build quality this (ahem) strong, we look forward to seeing whatever else this builder will lift up in the future.

Got an achoo? Guile’s gotchu!

Once you see this clever LEGO tissue box built by Dicken Liu you really can’t unsee it. I dare you to forget about it. See, you can’t! But that’s how it goes with really fun and clever stuff. The ever-vain Guile from Street Fighter is known for his Sonic Boom and sweet flattop haircut; the latter replicated nicely as tissue. Now you can dream of knocking M. Bison’s lights out every time you blow your schnozz. If that’s not a flawless victory I don’t know what is!

“Mama’s gonna paint the streets with blood!”

Iron Builder is heating up and LEGO builder Miscellanabuilds comes out swinging with a huge mallet. Also a baseball bat. With a penchant for acrobatics, theatrics, and a touch of insanity, Harley Quinn is ready for whatever comes her way. Adorned in stylish red and black, Harley is looking “A-OK, Mr. J.” Speaking of The Joker, he’s leering in the background. See him there? If this fiendish folie à deux is any indicator, we look forward to whatever else Miscellanabuilds has in store for us.

Excavating massive mining machines

Despite having no prior mining experience nor the know-how to drive anything larger than a regular car, I am fascinated by Beat Felber’s new LEGO creations. Maybe the size and power of these giant earthmoving machines tickle my fancy. Whatever the reason, here’s the 400-ton Terex Unit Rig MT 6300AC dump truck. The real deal has tires that are four meters or well over 13 feet in diameter. The-um-LEGO deal has custom tires that are not official LEGO parts but suits this beast quite well.

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