About Iain

Iain Heath is an avid builder specializing in the "Bricks of Character" style, which he helped define. He has been using LEGO to parody popular culture since 2007, when he created the now infamous Stephen Hawking model. He is a SeaLUG member and regular theme coordinator at BrickCon. For five years he also ran a blog called The Living Brick, that showcased the best character-based LEGO creations from around the world. You can find his irreverent body of work on Flickr.

Posts by Iain

Dressed to kill

Having masqueraded variously as Elmo, Blue Man Group and Marie Antoinette in previous years, I’m a firm believer that costumes are the best thing about Halloween. So in our week-long exploration of the holiday, let’s take a look at a couple!

I’m not sure whether this vamp and vampire by Brothers Brick regular Letranger Absurde are intended to represent costumed party-goers or bona fide members of the Nosferatu, but there is so much to love about this build – from the perfectly proportioned outfits, to the clever part usage, and attention to detail in the dilapidated background.

But what’s better than a LEGO costume you can actually wear? I would happily go trick-or-treating in See Music‘s “mask of horror”, which is constructed entirely from Bionicle pieces and bears more than a passing resemblance to Donnie Darko. Not sure how you’d actually eat the candy in this thing, though!

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HispaBrick issue 23 now available [News]

The latest edition of the digital LEGO fan magazine HispaBrick is now available for download in both English and Spanish. In this packed issue, Hispabricks does a retrospective of 7 years of Panzerbricks, talks to LEGO designer Mel Caddick, catches up with the SBrick kickstarter project, reviews a whole slew of new sets, and offers tutorials on building asteroids, trial trucks and WeDo line followers.

The road to hell is paved with gourd intentions

Our pre-Halloween Week of Wonder continues with a couple of fresh perspectives on the humble Jack-o-lantern. Apparently it’s not all headless horseman chasing a bunch of pesky kids and their stupid dog!

First we have the Groundskeeper, a surprisingly helpful “gourd sprite” devised by Bionicle wizard Micah Berkoff. As yard help goes, these things sound pretty economical so I’m definitely gonna have to charm myself one.

Next up is the Pumpkin Diner, a delightfully seasonal addition to Heartlake City dreamt up by Palixa and the Bricks. It comes complete with a fully detailed interior and even a set of costumed Friends!

Week of Wonder ...and Witches ...and Werewolves ...and Wookies

Halloween is less than a week away. For kids, it’s one night of dressing up, trick-or-treating, and gorging on vast amounts of delicious candy. For parents, it’s several frantic weeks of constructing costumes, decorating houses, and avoiding vast amounts of fattening candy. Yes, this holiday really does have something for everyone!

To get into the spirit of the season, we’ll be bringing you the best new Halloween-themed LEGO creations all week, starting with this deviously constructed witch by Serbian builder DjorDje. “Bionicle, Bionicle, toil and trouble…”

And for another fine example of witchcraft (see what I did there?) look no further than this old hag named Henrietta, by teen builder P Squiddy…

You can’t make an omelette without bricking a few eggs

According to Indonesian builder Kosmas Santosa, kerak telor (a kind of spicy rice/egg/coconut omelette) is a traditional snack in his home city of Jakarta. It is always freshly prepared, and during the annual Jakarta Fair kerak telor vendors are hard to miss! As part of a local LEGO display celebrating Jakarta’s 488th birthday, Kosmas created this beautiful model of a kerak telor vendor’s cart, complete with ingredients and equipment:

For context, here is a picture of the real thing:

I’ve got you under my spell

Having already confused the slightly less gray-haired among you last week with a LEGO version of the 70’s electronic game Simon, now it’s deja vu all over again with jtheels‘s excellent one-to-one scale LEGO replica of yet another classic solid-state toy, the Speak N’ Spell. This one could frikkin’ talk!!

Issue 13 of Blocks magazine out tomorrow [News]

As if the current wave of Star Wars mania wasn’t enough, this month the LEGO force really does awaken in issue 13 of Blocks magazine, available in UK stores October 22nd. The issue features reviews of the hotly anticipated new Star Wars set lineup, as well as a mammoth special feature exploring the top 50 Star Wars LEGO moments, from sets, to MOCs, brickfilms, photography, and much more.

Issue 13 also celebrates the upcoming release of Spectre with some exclusive James Bond themed creations built exclusively for Blocks, takes a look at The Walking Dead in LEGO form, investigates Minecraft, LEGO train building, and Ma.Ktoberfest. All topped off with an exclusive reveal feature of Brick To The Past‘s stunning 2015 historic collaborative LEGO build The Wall.

Antisocial media

In the space of barely 20 years, the Internet has transformed human society to a degree probably not witnessed since the invention of agriculture, or electricity. It invades every facet of our daily lives, every corner of our collective consciousness. French builder 74louloute put together this little scene that reflects our new global obsession, and the way that it seems to have taken on a life of its own:

The icing on the cake

Shockingly, it’s been almost three weeks since I last posted a LEGO model of a urinal, so I’ll rectify that oversight immediately with this charming scale model made by Flickr member Ashton6460. I’m not sure what possesses people to build these things, but I’m not gonna overthink it. Enjoy…

The Wall – Rome’s Northern Frontier

Brick to the Past is a British collective (and veritable Who’s Who of top-notch castle builders) that focuses on large historical LEGO displays. The team finally unveiled its 2015 opus at the STEAM expo this month, and it’s a real humdinger! Entitled The Wall, it’s an expansive and gorgeously detailed slice of Romano-Celtic life along both sides of Hadrian’s wall.

The Roman side features a full minifig scale fort, villa, temple, bath house, milecastle and town. Whilst the Celtic side features an Iron Age village, farmhouse and standing stones. All laid out amidst some great contoured landscaping and a long snaking section of the famous wall.

If I recall correctly, we reported on a community poll that LEGO conducted a few years ago, to gather suggestions for possible future LEGO themes. And if also I recall correctly, a large number of you cried out for a Roman theme. So while we wait and hope for LEGO to finally see the light, I thoroughly recommend you get your fix by checking out all the detailed photos of this awesome display.

Click here for more photos

Eight bells for the Grampian Don

When it comes to scale models of sea vessels, Dutch builder Arjan Oude Kotte is in a class of his own. When he unveiled a gigantic minifig scale version of rescue vessel the Grampian Don a couple of years ago, we were impressed by all the details and his sculpting of its bulbous bow. But in preparing to show the model at the STEAM expo, Arjan finally completed it with decals, a daughter ship, and built-in lighting, making for one of the most atmospheric and realistic presentations of a LEGO model that I’ve seen in a long time. I can almost feel the cold sea air!

The Adventures of Flat Tommy

A large contingent of the Brothers Brick were in Seattle to celebrate BrickCon 2015 last week. Unfortunately Tommy Williamson, our good friend and BrickNerd‘s Nerd-in-Chief, was unable to make it up from the in-bred backwards Gold Rush ghost town of Lompoc, California to join us.

The rumor was that a light mist had been reported approaching the water-starved Golden State from the North, so everyone was camped outside with their tongues out to try and capture droplets of precious moisture. In the end, it actually turned out to be a mysterious cloud of pleasant smelling smoke wafting down from the Portland area.

In an attempt to cheer Tommy up about this, and to give his hoards of adoring BrickCon fans something to throw their underwear at, we decided to create a substitute we called Flat Tommy. Flat Tommy fitted in perfectly. Most people couldn’t even tell the difference, even when talking to him, and soon enough he was put to work on various tasks:

Running contests…

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