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

Presenting REJECTZ: They’re like BRICKHEADZ, only much much worse

For proponents of the art of LEGO character building like myself, LEGO’s new Brickheadz pattern is somewhat horrifying – from an aesthetic standpoint. But it looks like a lotta builders are jumping on the bandwagon and creating their own, so I guess these neckless, mouthless wonders are here to stay! Anyone who was around for the 2010 explosion of Angus MacLane’s (imho superior) Cubedudes probably knows how all this is going to play out. And while some builders have tried to counteract this movement with nicer templates, I decided to see how low I could go. And I think I may have succeeded…

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Build your own LEGO Tallneck from Horizon Zero Dawn [Instructions]

Since you all loved the LEGO Thunderjaw that we featured the other day, we figured you might enjoy a LEGO version of another creature from Horizon: Zero Dawn. This time it’s a Tallneck by South African builder Wayne de Beer. However, Wayne has not only recreated this majestic beast in brick form, he has also created instructions so that you can build your own!

TBB cover photo: March 2017

This month’s cover photo is this smart yellow and black triple-axle trailer truck by builder MiniGray!. As well as being highly detailed, this model’s cab can house multiple LEGO minifigs and has working a tilt mechanism that reveals the engine below. Check out the Flickr album for more shots.

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then read the submission guidelines and send us your photo today. Photos that do not meet the submission guidelines will not be considered, and will be removed from the group.

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You gotta kill a lotta frogs to find your prince

The late Carrie Fisher had been scheduled to appear next month at Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con, so I decided to make a Leia tribute for the convention’s Brick Nation display. We’ve already seen LEGO tributes showing a demure Princess Leia shoving a floppy disk into some poor hapless droid, but I wanted to recreate a moment from the original trilogy that captured Fisher’s feisty character! Jabba’s death scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi seemed appropriate (…ignoring for a moment the fact that this is basically a PG-rated movie that features a brutal and drawn-out murder scene)

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Summer 2017 LEGO Nexo Knights sets unveiled at New York Toy Fair 2017 [News]

Continuing our on-site coverage of the New York Toy Fair, LEGO has revealed 19 new Nexo Knights sets for August 2017, including Clay’s Falcon Fighter Blaster and Jestro’s Headquarters. The Nexo Knights story continues in two new seasons of episodic content on Cartoon Network and a free digital gaming app, Merlok 2.0, that enhances the building fun. Sets range from $9.99 to $129.99. Check out our earlier coverage of some of the sets that we already knew were on the way.

70357 Knighton Castle $129.99, 1426 pieces

70356 The Stone Colossus of Ultimate Destruction $69.99, 785 pieces

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Summer 2017 LEGO Creator sets revealed at New York Toy Fair 2017 [News]

In addition to new sets for LEGO’s play and licensed themes, LEGO has revealed new Creator sets this weekend at New York Toy Fair. These sets will be available in June. In addition to the familiar 3-in-1 sets featuring creatures and vehicles, the Creator theme grows to include more sets featuring modern minifig-based habitats. Apparently the new sets are also modular, but we’re not sure yet how that works. But the star of the show is definitely this awesome little space shuttle!

UPDATE (June 1): The summer wave of LEGO City Jungle sets is now available.

31066 Space Shuttle Explorer $29.99 with 285 pieces

See more 2017 LEGO Creator sets

You shall call me Snowball, because my fur is pretty and white

In the second episode of Rick and Morty (or as I like to call it “Back to the Future on acid”) Morty’s dog Snuffles is fitted with a device that boosts his intelligence, a move that (not surprisingly) escalates to Snuffles leading an army of dogs wearing robotic exoskeletons to enslave humanity. Ultimately the dogs are banished to their own world, which is envisioned here in LEGO by none other than Richard Van As, one of the show’s animators:

Come out, come out, wherever you are! [Instructions]

Even after six years, I still get requests for instructions to build the large Totoro that was part of my 2010 homage to the work of Japanese animator Hiyao Miyazaki. Sadly, that model is too large and complex to offer instructions, so instead here is a building guide for the medium Totoro that accompanied him. Of course, you don’t have to build him in the original medium blue; you can make him any color you like (or that your LEGO collection allows). I imagine this would make a lovely desk ornament for yourself, or gift for the anime-slash-LEGO fan in your life.

Click here to see an embiggened copy.

He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

There’s no closer BFFs than Grizz, Panda and Ice Bear in Cartoon Network’s show We Bare Bears. They live together, eat together, and even navigate the human world together. They also enjoy all the things that we do like social media, giant burritos and tiger jean jackets – all while traveling together in one “bear stack”. Brandon Griffith has recreated this cuddly column of creatures perfectly in LEGO:

If LEGO be the food of love, build on [Instructions]

I’ve been meaning to create a Brick-moji building guide for a while – the problem was deciding which one(s) to feature! After a couple of failed attempts and with Valentines Day looming, I finally settled on the “Smiling face with heart-shaped eyes”, an emoji that consistently ranks among the top ten most widely used across the web (…the original that is, not my model).

Now, you weren’t really going to just get roses and chocolates AGAIN were you?! Click here for an embiggened version of this guide, and build it for that special plastic-loving person in your life!

TBB cover photo: February 2017

This month’s cover photo is this Star Trek inspired bridge scene by Guy Smiley. It’s a miniature symphony in it’s use of lighting, color, texturing, fine details and blank space. The sole figure on his raised plinth, back to us, gazing outward, really conveys a sense of the loneliness of command in the loneliness of space.

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then read the submission guidelines and send us your photo today.

Slowly cross your eyes and build this LEGO Peppermint Butler, fools! [Instructions]

The 8th season of the enduring cult hit Adventure Time airs tonight. To mark the occasion, here’s a guide for a LEGO version of the Peppermint Butler (aka The Dark One) that you can build yourself. This is one of the additional characters that I designed to complement the ones from the new LEGO Ideas Adventure Time set that we reviewed recently.