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

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.

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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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Collecting Canada’s finest stamp

LEGO builder Philippe Moisan demonstrates some serious mosaic chops with the Canadian Bluenose postage stamp. If you see one of these affixed to your post, you can consider yourself lucky. The stamp was first issued in 1929 and depicts a fishing schooner called Bluenose. It has been called “Canada’s Finest Stamp” and is a favorite among collectors. One individual stamp can garner quite a bit of money but a complete sheet of 100 had auctioned for for US $52,580 in 2017! Even barring its history and value, this LEGO mosaic is chock full of exquisite detail and textures evoking the hand-painted blue tiles popular in many Mediterranean countries. It was built for a contest going on over at QuéLUG, making it a lovely Canadian creation indeed.

That time I threw up in a Beetle

Famed LEGO builder Joey Klusnick has found a nightmare scenario in me that I never knew could exist. At my age, I’m happier sitting on a shady bench and watching youngins go on amusement rides rather than going on myself. Getting jostled around just doesn’t have the same appeal as it did when I was younger, plus I’d spill the cocktail I’d inevitably be enjoying. Enter the nightmare scenario, which is part gravitron, part mech-beetle and all vomit-inducing. Plus, there is no passively sitting on a bench with this thing around. No siree! This beast grabs its victims and plants them into its spinning gravitron compartment and spins them to death. To death, you hear me? I told you kids those amusement rides were dangerous!

You can even see the Gravitron Beetle in action if you’re brave enough. Not me though. I’ll just sit here with my Vodka Tonic and contemplate where my life went so wrong.

Cherry Pie takes to the skies

It’s finally a nice day in the Pacific Northwest and this LEGO creation by Cowboy Joe reminds me that it’s a great day for flying. All I need is a biplane, a hangar, the money to have both, and the know-how to fly such a magnificent plane. I guess I’ll have to settle for admiring this Technic marvel from the safety of the internet. It’s called Cherry Pie and my opinion says it’s the most cherry thing I’ve seen all day; and I’ve seen a YouTube video of a school marching band covering Crazy Train. Unless this is a well-known builder going incognito under a different name, this would seem to be the first time we’ve covered this builder’s work so let’s give Cowboy Joe The Brothers Brick Bumb they deserve!

The fast and the furious

Some of the magic of Dicken Liu’s LEGO work is his ability to capture speed even when his creation is standing still. This is the case with this biomechanical leopard; the tail, the curvature of the back, and the purposeful gaze all leads me to believe that some serious business is about to go down. Someone or something is about to be destroyed and maybe even made into lunch. Do biomechanical animals eat? It’s a question I’d rather not find out, thank you very much!

A truly organic LEGO creation built organically

LEGO phenom Jarek Książczyk tells us that this decidedly organic LEGO creation sort of grew…organically. It was a finished product at one time and then it wasn’t. He later added more to it and the end result (we think, anyway) is a thing of beauty and dread all rolled into one. Furthermore, he says that, not unlike a growing organism, kept absorbing older creations into itself. We have a heart in a hand, a wall of faces, and what appears to be a suspended figure. I can’t even begin to decipher what this all means but sometimes good art is up for interpretation. Let us know in the comments what you think it means. In the meantime, check out the other times Jarek Książczyk has tickled our fancy.

Winning Star Wars: Dark Forces with the Moldy Crow

In a LEGO Star Wars world of Millennium Falcons, it’s nice when someone shows some love for the lesser-known bird-named ship. I say ship and not ships because I simply couldn’t think of any others. Let us know in the comments if there are any. Anyway, Jan Woźnica has built the Moldy Crow from the Star Wars: Dark Forces game and we’re all as happy as a lark in terms of scale and level of detail implemented in this new creation. Jan tells us this craft is a modified HWK-290 courier ship flown by Jan Ors and Kyle Katarn. Also, if you happen to like your gaming more analog than digital, you can also fly the Moldy Crow in the X-Wing Miniatures tabletop game. Check out why we think Jan Woźnica should be our squad leader and also get your fix for all things Star Wars.

Who, who, who lights up the night?

While I enjoy nighttime, it’s nice to have James Zhan’s LEGO owl nightlight for when things go bump in the night. We’ve already ascertained that the hoot noises are coming from a great horned owl who visits our yard from time to time, which makes this build extra special for me. The howling, chittering, yelping, and whooshing noises are still a mystery; could be coyotes, raccoons, or homicidal maniacs. While I try to decipher who or what is making a rustling sound in the eves, go ahead and investigate our James Zhan archives.

Karashishi: Guardian of NPU (Nice Parts Usage)

We throw the acronym NPU around a lot here at The Brothers Brick and it usually occurs when we are impressed with the clever and unconventional use of LEGO bricks. I don’t think we have a term yet for when NPU reaches a point in which impressed becomes awestruck, bewildered, or even breathless. That’s kinda how I’m feeling in trying to convey this unprecedented Chinese lion dog by Nathan Don (Woomy World). I can’t get over how radar dishes and teal horns constructed in such a way can covey a fluffy tail. The upper legs consist of shoulder armor pieces and (what I know to be) car fenders. The body utilizes large macaroni bits (or maxaroni as the builder calls them). You’d expect BURPs (Big Ugly Rock Pieces) in a stand likely placed vertically, but when situated sideways, the piece offers up textures that seem like jagged shale.

I’d be remiss not to provide a closeup shot of the face. White croissants and Minifig headbands make up aspects of the guardian’s eyebrows, nose, and muzzle. Gray macaroni bits as well as more aforementioned radar dishes and teal and red tentacles comprise the mane in a similar style to the tail. I can’t even fathom how it all is pieced together internally. It’s either extremely clever NPU or magic and, by this point, I’d believe either scenario equally. Please check out our Woomy World archive to see why we think this builder’s NPU magic reigns supreme.