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

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

A peacock’s plume in bloom

LEGO builder Dad’s Bricks (Joe) clearly knows a thing or three about natural beauty. While females aren’t without their charm, in the birding world, it’s often the males that are known for their beauty regimen. And what a beauty this one is! Either this fellah is well integrated into the garden flora or he’s part of the lovely garden with flowers blooming from his plumage. Joe (can I call you Joe?) has demonstrated plenty of artistry and masterful build techniques. I can get lost in the intricate textures and colors on display here. As it turns out, this isn’t Dad’s (can I call you Dad or is that awkward?) first go at the beauty parlor. A leisurely perusal through our Dad’s Bricks (Joe) archives proves repeatedly that he can find stunning beauty in LEGO bricks.

[LEGO MOC - Art Series — The Peacock]

Dinner starts promptly at six. Bring handcuffs.

Sometimes it’s nice to dine in an exquisite setting decked out in a shirt, tie, jacket, nice shoes, and handcuffs. Wait, what? Let me explain. This opulent LEGO dining room was built by Joe (jnj_bricks) for the Iron Builder competition. The seed part this time is golden handcuffs, and Joe used twenty-eight of them here. So it’s not so much a Fifty Shades of Gray thing but more of a Fifty Shades of gold thing. Look at all that gold! I’ve spotted several pairs of handcuffs in the chandelier, the backs of the chairs, and even comprised of the curtain ties. Have I missed any? I particularly enjoy the very three-dimensional portraits along the walls. The older gent I presume is the patriarch of the household and a bit of a grouch who uses the word “indubitably” on occasion. Perhaps that’s a word I should try out at my next formal gathering. More butter, Lino? Indubitably!

An Exquisite Dinning Room

Because the suburbs aren’t rural enough

Because the suburbs weren’t rural enough, I just moved to the exurbs. Out here everything runs on propane, there’s a septic system and just taking out the trash involves a vehicle that apparently isn’t my hipster Beetle. With greenhouses, windmills, sheds, and tractors much of it looks just like this LEGO diorama built by André Pinto. All my new neighbors own tractors and they tell me that I won’t survive a winter without one. While I mull over that ominous portent, I gaze over André’s diorama with its pumpkins, tomatoes, birdhouses, chickens and especially that tractor. I even checked out the tractor catalog and thought; holy schniekes, these things are expensive! Maybe I’ll just settle for buying a trucker hat; I mean, I’ve gone my whole life without tractoring so why should that change now? Maybe I can be like André and just build them in LEGO. That sounds like a plan!

FARM

The 1864 Battle of Dybbol won Best Battle Scene at Brickfair, Virginia

Sometimes a LEGO creation can be small and still impressive. But sometimes it can be on such a grand scale, that it takes a team of friends to make it happen. That is the case with this stunning Battle of Dybbol scene built by Hunter Erickson and friends. In the builder’s words; Prussia under Wilhelm I and his foreign minister Otto Von Bismarck sought to unify the German states under one banner through careful diplomacy and war. One example of this was the 8-month-long Second Schleswig War between Prussia and Austria against Denmark. The German Confederation thought it was unacceptable that Denmark sought to further integrate the majority German Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish state in 1863. This was seen as a violation of the London Protocol that ended the First Schleswig War in 1852. War was inevitable and in 1864, Prussia and Austria invaded Denmark. That is the scene depicted here.

The Battle of Dybbol, 1864

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A panda playing a violin on a dock

For most of us, The Sound of Autumn can be leaves rustling in the wind and then blowing down the street as they fall from the trees. Where LEGO builder Vincent Kiew is from The Sound of Autumn apparently involves a panda playing the violin on a dock. I’d like to hear what that sounds like, actually. To me, it’s far more exotic than the usual rustling of autumn leaves, and even the most audacious Pumpkin Spice Latte order at Starbucks. Check out our archives to see why we think Vincent Kiew is music to our ears.

Sound Of Autumn

This builder brings the beautiful bugs

LEGO will be launching the The Insect Collection soon and, as a result, some of our favorite builders are a little buggier than usual. Take, for example, this lovely Orchid Mantis built by LEGO 7 that is adorned, like its namesake, in pink and white. The flowers come from 10311 Orchid set from last year.

蘭花螳螂

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For the record, Han Solo shot first

LEGO builder Hannes Tscharner (aka Marshal Banana) has reminded me of one of the hottest debates in sci-fi fandom, that being; what the heck is up with E.T.’s finger? I mean, seriously is it a Slim Jim with a lightbulb on the end or what? Also, having nothing to do with nerdy fanboys debating online is this awesome Star Wars replica of Han Solo’s blaster. The handsome DL-44 borrows design DNA from the Mauser C96 but added a scope and a bunch of other greebly bits including the “mystery disk”. What does the mystery disk do? It shoots mouthy Rodian bounty hunters right in the aedeagus, that’s what! This movie-accurate replica is 1:1 so you can hold it and practice your lovable scoundrel smile in the mirror. Isn’t that what we all do when not debating E.T.’s dubious finger?

Tapping into my inner Han Solo, I've built this LEGO replica of the iconic Star Wars DL-44 Hero Blaster!

Ride the Walibrick Roller Coaster. What can go wrong?

Sometimes you just gotta throw caution (as well as your hair and face) to the wind and strap into a single reptile-themed roller coaster car and let gravity and evolution do the rest. That’s exactly what’s going on here with lokiloki29’s new LEGO creation. I like that the coaster car’s face looks just as scared and exhilarated as its rider. Will it go well? Magic 8-ball says “Reply hazy, try again”. While we mull over that vote of confidence, check out our lokiloki29 archives to learn why Loki squared x29 both exhilarates us and scares our sensibilities sometimes.

Walibrick Roller Coaster