It’s “back to school” season across the US. My two trudged back there today. So this little scene by delayice seemed appropriate. But hey, where are all the SmartBoards and laptops and phones?!
Posts by Iain
TBB Cover photo: September 2015
The kids are back in school, and the weather in some parts is changing. Yes, I guess Summer is slowly on the way out! So in a desperate act of defiance, this month’s chosen cover photo is a model of the pier at Brighton (a traditional British seaside resort) built by Greg Dlx:
Wanna see your creation featured across TBB social medial for a month? Then submit a photo of it today! Just make sure to read the rules first – we’re getting tired of submissions that won’t work as cover photos.
You can keep up with the Brothers Brick by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter. And for occasional extra goodies, you can also follow us on Flickr or subscribe to us on YouTube.
Tales of Samsara
Korean builder Amida Na has created a series of fantasy characters with individual backstories that he calls Tales of Samsara. As an avid character builder myself, I’m always fascinated to see innovative scales, styles and techniques being used for these kinds of builds – and these are just brilliant!
The forced perspective is strong with this one
Because there’s no such thing as too many Star Wars builds, Cecilie Fritzvold has created these neat minifig-scale replicas of two locations from the least worst of the prequel movies. (Check out her photostream for alternative angles).
Dex’s Diner
The Jedi Archives
Here’s to your good ‘elf
This month’s building challenge over at LUGNuts has an elvish theme that I won’t pretend to comprehend. But apparently Lino Martins gets it, and here’s his submission: a recreation of the Tom Daniel Monogram model kit that started it all, the Beer Wagon.
Like the original, Lino’s version is finished in “Pilsner Yellow”, features a beer stein shifter, chrome stacks, chain driven fat rear slicks, chrome keg fuel tanks and a totally illegal in-cabin personal beer keg. And while this beauty may seem all above-board, remember this is a Lino creation. Which explains the following scene of drunken elvish debauchery. CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!
Medieval entertainment system
TBB regular Letranger Absurde brings us this gorgeous brick-built still life scene entitled Emerald Hourglass. Sharp-eyed readers may notice a wealth of NPU (“Nice Part Usage”) such as a flag, mini-fig hair, screwdriver, gold rings, grill bricks, ball joints and Airjitzu canopies.
Roll d20 for initiative!
Builder Deus Otiosus describes this nifty dungeon diorama as “greatly inspired by Adventure Time, partially by World of Warcraft and another large portion by urban exploration”. So while you won’t find stats for his treasure-spewing Chest Dweller in your 5th edition Monster Manual, I still think this would make for one hilarious D&D encounter!
“That cursed beast liked the taste of me so well, he’s followed me ever since!”
After numerous animated and live action adaptations, J.M. Barrie’s classic children’s tale is back on our screens yet again in 2015. Of course in this grittier version, Captain Hook won’t be sporting the colorful outfit seen in the Disney movies. But that didn’t dissuade German builder Markus Rollbühler from kicking it old-school with this amazing red and magenta recreation of Pan’s incompetent adversary, complete with ticking reptilian nemesis:
“Nice valley... Think I’ll keep it”
The Brothers Brick are huge fans of the Japanese animator and film maker Hayao Miyazaki. And even though his works have got the LEGO treatment on many occasions, we always enjoy seeing a fresh take on them. So we were thrilled when Finnish builder Eero Okkonen decided to build large scale versions of Mito, Nausicaä, Lord Yupa and Kushana from the epic Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds.
UPDATE: Here’s the complete cast (for now, Eero says), with the addition of Charuka, Chikuku, and Kurotowa.
Out with the old, in with the new – BB-8 joins R2-D2
When I first saw The Phantom Menance, the most memorable moment was when R2-D2 made his heroic entrance – the entire audience cheered! I have no idea if Artoo is planning a similar reprieve in The Force Awakens, but I think he’s going to have a hard time upstaging his even more adorable replacement, BB-8. Not even if he shows off all his bells and whistles, as builder Takamichi Irie imagines him doing here:
In the overall robot pecking order, I suspect a gyroscopically self-balancing sphere probably beats a metal drum with a guy inside. Who knows, maybe this’ll become a divisive issue for Star Wars fans? Of course, if they met on screen, it certainly would be a touching moment. Although I’d worry about half the audience spontaniously losing bladder control.
Prepared to get ratted out...
Historically rats have a pretty bad rap, what with the Black Death and that whole “sinking ship” thing. But I can tell you from personal experience they actually make really fun pets, even for kids (…and they’re short-lived, nudge, wink). Just don’t google “fecal pellets” if you’re on the fence about getting one. They’re even cute in LEGO form, as MOCPages user TheActionFigure demonstrates with this amazingly lifelike scale model of the common rat:
TBB cover photo: August 2015
The winner of our informal monthly TBB cover photo contest is Italian builder Andrea Lattanzio with this fully-stocked “dream garage” that is sure to have all our petrol-headed readers salivating. You can even learn the story being his amazing creation in Issue 35 of Brickjournal, out now.
You can keep up with the Brothers Brick by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter. And for occasional extra goodies, you can also follow us on Flickr or subscribe to us on YouTube.