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

Santa’s ’40 Ford Coupe is the alternative to traditional science.

It’s been proven by…um…science or something that Santa travels the world via a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer named Dasher, Dancer and…um…Vomit and Nixon, maybe? I don’t know, it’s been awhile since my last science class so I’m a little rusty on the names and how it all works. But that doesn’t stop builders like Isaac W. from defying traditional science and going with alternate forms of transportation such as this chopped ’40 Ford Coupe. As a diehard car dude, I am all about this sleek, top-fueled alternate ride!

Now I’m aware that the ’40 Ford Coupe has fairly ample trunk space but I have a thirst for toys as big as the Colorado Rockies. How does Santa accommodate the likes of me? As stated earlier, it has been awhile since science class but I know enough about science to realize it’s going to take a lot more than a coupe trunk to get toys to all the good children of the world. Thankfully, Isaac already has that solution figured out with this matching trailer. Isn’t science grand?

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Alright, break it up, dummies!

There is so much to love about this digital ice breaking scene by Tong Xin Jun. The striking color choices of the Land Rover Defender and the vessel it is pulling is appealing to the eye and seems to be this builder’s signature move. The broken ice patterns are nothing short of mesmerizing in their execution, their glass-smooth tops are accurate for a windswept arctic tundra. This is achieved by lying bricks and slopes on their sides in a SNOT (Studs Not On Top) configuration. The slopes change direction only at the bow of the vessel, accurately depicting how ice chunks would react to being plowed through and the transparent bits in the boat’s wake is an excellent touch. The entire composition is indeed a work of art. The scene seems a bit precarious however. Ice chunks smaller than the Land Rover may not support its weight and, as seen from this view, I squint and wonder why all the minifigs would be shirtless in a frigid arctic scene.

Click to find out why.

When was the last time you danced?

The new Creator modular comes out January first and, while this is exciting news, the general consensus is that it is rather plain. That would not have been said if this creation by Joshua were the new modular instead. This Dancing Modular is part Dancing House by Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunić, part Krzywy Domek and part funhouse mirror. The dizzying, sweeping windows juxtaposed against curving transparent balconies is a compelling sight to behold, and the garden roof terrace brings a bit of nature to what otherwise might be forboding architectural chaos.

The interior boasts some brightly lit, yet quaint, well-appointed spaces such as this one. Continue reading →

By popular demand, here’s more The Mandalorian stuff!

We expected a lot from Disney+ and The Mandalorian. We knew it was going to be a gritty western-style drama set in the Star Wars universe and starring a no-nonsense bounty hunter but perhaps we didn’t expect him to win surrogate father-of-the-year in some heart-warming hijinks with an adorable “baby Yoda” (not really Yoda). I’m one of the few holdouts waiting to see the series at a later date, but week after week the internet is apparently delighted with the relationship between “Mando” and his 600-month-old infant ward. I’m sure Omar Ovalle is much more attuned to their weekly shenanigans than I am as evidenced by these neat constraction figures. Here we see The Child in his spherical bassinet, The Mandalorian in his custom painted helmet and chest armor, and a nicely built speeder bike.

It is a safe bet that Omar enjoys building custom figures. Here is a previous time he customized Technic figures into Star Wars characters and another time he customized constraction figures as the cast of Game of Thrones.

Rudolf the hot rod brings toys and oatmeal to all the children of the world

With a bit more than a week left until Christmas, Santa will need to up his game if he wants to deliver toys to all the good children of the world (except, of course, those who don’t have Santa in their holiday traditions). Thankfully Ian Ying has a solution with this extra blingy Rudolf Hot Rod. It has all the horsepower (or deer-power) needed to get the job done and there is enough custom and official LEGO pieces in shiny chrome to make any hot rod enthusiast’s heart go pitter-patter. The red-nosed deer skull hood ornament offers a clue as to what became of Rudolf. Good riddance, I say! I just wish it had more trunk space. I don’t know about you but the list of toys I want is quite long and I’ve been such a good boy this year…at least on the books anyway. Also it seems this Santa bears a striking resemblance to this Wilford guy.

Skull Island, when is the soonest I can move in?

I was a kid in the ’70s and ’80s with above average drawing skills but typically childish tastes in what I liked to draw. With the Hardy Boys, Johnny Quest and Treasure Island well within my wheelhouse of influence, it was a sure bet that many of my childhood drawings included some kind of skull island. Whether it be a Dino-Skull Island, Rhino-Skull Island or Bat-Skull island, I was totally into it and would imagine a whole slew of baddies who inhabited these remote, exotic islands hellbent on ruling the world. You probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that…not much has changed in my adulthood; my art still boasts similar themes from childhood, including a skull island lair or another from time to time. This is why I was so thrilled to find a kindred spirit in Bob DeQuarte.

In one fell swoop, this builder rekindled so many childhood dreams and sparked, let’s be frank, more than a few recent ones. For this, I am thankful for builders like Bob. Anyway, I just wanted to say my piece about this awesome island. I hope you can all be as thrilled about it as I am. Just in case we’re tracking on a similar wavelength, here is another time Bob opened a magic door into childhood dreams.

Easy? YOU try squeezing out a polyp minion!

Roll call at The Brothers Brick Headquarters goes a little something like this: Alright ladies and gents, we have lots of great LEGO creations to cover today. We have a Star Wars one, who wants it? Ohh, I’ll take it! OK good, we have an elaborate castle, anyone? Yes, I’ll take it. OK, you got it. We have a Christmas one, very important this time of year, who wants it? Me! Alright, next we have…uh…giant mech caterpillar thingy oozing slime out its butt….OH! OH! Pick me! Pick me! For the love of God, PICK MEEEE! -Fine, Lino take it, you weirdo!

YES! (*ahem*) This digital model by Ivan Martynov checks all the boxes of things I’d totally be into: unconventional color scheme, nice parts usage, an organic shape…and it’s a mutant alien beast probably hellbent on interplanetary domination. What’s not to love, really? Here’s another time I was totally enthralled by our alien overlords.

A stunning Lord of the Rings advent calendar

You may have seen our ongoing advent calendar features where we reveal the contents of official LEGO advent calendars day-by-day and chime in with our witty commentary. Traditionally with advent calendars, you can expect to reveal a small nominal gift in the twenty-four days before Christmas. However, Simon Hundsbichler had something different in mind. Every day in December, Simon is unveiling a new intricate Lord of the Rings diorama that takes inspiration from the books and not the movies. On December first, he showcased this stunning scene depicting Gandalf arriving in Hobbiton. The quality of the work doesn’t waver, in fact it gets better from here.

Click here to unveil more.

Star Wars X-Wing squared

Do you love the X-Wing but think those round engines have a bit too much sass for your parochial, straight-laced sensibilities? Do you fancy yourself as a square peg trying to fit in an increasingly round world? Then consider yourself and my odd premise vindicated, Jeb! Your day of reckoning has come because Sam K Bricks has answered your prayers and outfitted this X-Wing with honest to goodness squared-off engines a Shaker could have designed. In the Star Wars universe many ships, Rebel ones in particular, were pieced together from whatever they could find so it would make sense someone would customize their X-Wing in this manner. I bet the pilot is a real straight-shooter with a name like Rusty or Dwight who loves his mama and apple pie but probably wouldn’t try anything weird like focaccia bread. Even the Astromech droid has a head as straight and flat as an Illinois wheat field.

I really like the flashes of sand green and marigold yellow but I am someone who stays up past sundown listening to that rock and/or roll the kids like so much so you should probably take my opinions with a grain of salt.

Where’s your mother, little one?

This piece by Tino Poutiainen is titled “where’s your mother, little one?” Little one’s mother, as it turns out, is right behind our protagonist. She’s the size of a St. Bernard and has razor sharp tentacles, but let’s not spoil that little surprise. I’m not sure if that’s malicious intent or motherly pride in her giant bugged-out eyes, but I, for one, would like to see how it all turns out. Despite how this debacle may unfold, what we are witnessing here is an endearing act of kindness. Tino is participating in sort of a Secret Santa creation exchange in which he has built something for Aaron Van Cleave who tends to hide little frogs into much of his work. We’ve done our research and the story pans out.

But can we have square lily pads? You betcha! Bob Ross, who was the very personification of endearing acts of kindness, says so. In your world you can have anything you want. There are no mistakes in your world, only happy little accidents. Let’s go crazy and build some happy square lily pads right in there, shall we? Yeah, that’s great!

LEGO popcorn (the one that got away)

We don’t see many creations from real LEGO designers. I mean…yes we do, but they end up being featured in The Brothers Brick news sections when they launch as official sets. Since LEGO designers are so busy designing actual sets, it is rare to see what they build for fun. Former LEGO Designer Tiago Catarino tells us that this is “one of the first MOCs (My Own Creation) I did while working for LEGO in Denmark, and one of the few that ever got to see the light of day, since 99% of the building I did there was, after all, confidential.” There we have it, the 1% he did for fun.

So what does Tiago do when not having fun with LEGO popcorn and gets locked down to conduct some serious business? Well, perhaps you might recognize this one or this other one. Serious business, indeed!

Keeping track of the Cuthbertson Land Rover 2A.

Here’s something you don’t see every day. That is precisely how John O’Shea started his write-up, which is fortuitous for me as it offers a neat segue into the rest of this article. Lazy writing? No, call it “opportunistic”. This model is based on the Cuthbertson tracked Land Rover created by J.Cuthbertson in Scotland. Here we see it employs tank tracks bolted onto an extra frame beneath the vehicle. This setup allowed Scottish farmers to navigate through uneven boggy terrain as they tended to their farms. The idea was so popular that it eventually became a factory option.

This particular Land Rover is equipped with spotlights on the roof as well as a snorkel just in case the farmer gets into some deep doo-doo. Topping out at a little over 20 mph (32 kph) this wouldn’t make an ideal getaway car but if the aforementioned deep doo-doo is in your cards, then the snorkel shall accommodate nicely.