About Caylin

A life-long LEGO fan, Caylin returned to the hobby as an adult in 2003, after her mother bought her a basic creator tub as a joke. Her mother regrets this. She regularly attends BrickCon in Seattle, Washington, where she goes by the title of Prize Goddess. You can check out her flickr account here.

Posts by Caylin

Zeus, God of thunder and the sky

Perennial TBB favorite Moko has given us a great blessing: Greek god Zeus in BIONICLE. Somehow I suspect the real Zeus would be jealous as this model is more fabulous than he is. There are a lot of things to comment on here, so let’s dive in.

Zeus

The shields are perfectly sized and shaped to give Zeus the buff body that everyone, human or otherwise, seems to favor. The use of the gold mask as the shoulder gives great shaping – and check out those biceps! Appropriately, he is haloed by blades, adding to his intimidating stance. I particularly love his hair. That’s not a color you see often, if at all, and it makes this model stand out.

Zeus

An American myth: Paul Bunyan

I’m sure it was quite the sight to see Paul Bunyan and his companion, Babe the Blue Ox. Pete Strege has captured these two larger-than-life folk heroes on a pedestal. Like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Paul Bunyan was made famous when he was used in a marketing campaign (for the Red River Lumber Company, in case you’re curious).

Check out the details here: the serrated edge of the saw blade, and Babe’s fantastic sculpting. Paul’s beard definitely caught my eye, and just check out the muscles he’s got going on!

LEGO reveals more pictures for upcoming The LEGO Ninjago Movie sets [News]

LEGO has revealed more photos of sets for their upcoming The LEGO Ninjago Movie. One set is entirely new, and while we had a preview of the others last week with the box images, now we get a full look at all the details. These also come hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement of 70620 NINJAGO City, which is one of the largest sets in LEGO’s history. The Brothers Brick got a preview of many of these sets at New York Toy Fair earlier this year (though we weren’t permitted to take pictures), and we’ve been eagerly waiting to share more information.

These sets will be available August 7, 2017.

70618 Destiny’s Bounty (2,295 Pieces; USD $159.99)

Construct Wu’s huge training base in this highly detailed set featuring 3 modular levels and a double-headed dragon, wind-up-and-release anchors, training dojo, bathroom and Wu’s bedroom in the hull – not to mention many hidden secrets.

70618 Destiny's Bounty

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Off for adventure with LEGO City 60161 Jungle Exploration Site [Review]

The last few years, the inhabitants of LEGO City have been on quite the adventure, exploring the ocean, the arctic, and erupting volcanoes; this year is no exception, as they’re diving deep into the jungle. We picked up a copy of the largest set to explore for ourselves, since we wanted to check out the new pieces (jaguar!), as well as experience the new setting for one of LEGO’s longest running themes. 60161 Jungle Exploration Site has 813 pieces, and retails for $119.99

60161 Jungle Exploration Site

Click to explore the set!

An interstellar adventure with RSS Pale Blue Dot and RSS Mote of Dust

Let’s jump ahead a few hundred years, after all of the great advancements in the private space industry, and head on an interstellar adventure in the RSS Pale Blue Dot and RSS Mote of Dust by Roland Peschetz. These ships look they belong in some of my favorite hard scifi movies doing impossible things. The Pale Blue Dot came first, with Mote of Dust improving on the advanced technology (and, as the builder says, improving on his build skills!).

RSS Mote Of Dust vs. RSS Pale Blue Dot

This ship just feels heavy – the excellent sculpting and greebling with the landing gear, airlocks, and engine just add heft to this impressive ship.

RSS Mote Of Dust

LEGO Ideas 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V – you are go for launch! [Review]

The Saturn V moon rocket is a masterpiece of engineering and remains the largest rocket ever successfully launched. Between 1967 and 1973, thirteen rockets left earth, taking us to the moon and building Skylab, the United States’ first space station. So it’s fitting that LEGO Ideas 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V is the largest Ideas set produced to date, clocking in at a massive 1,969 pieces in an homage to Apollo 11. When countdown ends and the rocket set launches on June 1, 2017, it will retail for $119.99. Included is the Saturn V rocket in three stages, the command and service module, lunar lander, and command module with floatation device.

21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V

21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V

Click to read the full review

Oh, wicked, bad, naughty Zoot!

She has been setting alight to our beacon, which, I just remembered, is grail-shaped. The beacon appears to have drawn in Letranger Absurde, who has commemorated the occasion with this fantastic rendition of the Wicked Zoot Abbey from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The Wicked Zoot Abbey

The scale is deceptive here; I daresay it’s microscale of a very large abbey. He’s made excellent use of SNOT techniques, using new corner tiles to give texture to the walls of the building. Take a peak at the spire in the back – it’s not often you see a string reel drum used without string, or the complete assembly!

If you haven’t already done so, check out our interview we did with him earlier this year to gain excellent insight into his creative process.

Druid’s perch defies gravity and housing codes

I can only assume the druid who lives here has both excellent balance and doesn’t tend to stomp around. The Maestro gives us this updated version of an older creation, showing significant growth in their building style. This version features excellent rock-work and a very precariously perched cottage. I’m frankly impressed this stayed upright long enough to photograph it. The wall texture is particularly lovely, using a combination of hinged plates and 1×1 round plates creating a pock-marked, uneven surface giving this little cottage plenty of character.

Druids Perch (2017)

9,000 piece 1:13 scale LEGO Peterbilt 379 is show ready

There are LEGO semi-trucks, and then there is this beautiful beast by Bricksonwheels. The builder has crafted a 1:13 scale Peterbilt 379 and it is just gorgeous. It has the appropriate amount of chrome to blind drivers running down I-40 in the summer.

Peterbilt 379 + Polar Tanktrailer 1:13

This tanker combo is over 150cm long and made of over 9,000 bricks. Much of the chrome is custom. The builder says it took about 5 months of work, including over 200 LEDs (controlled via remote). This creates quite the impressive lightshow! The builder credits Brickstuff for the lights and Bricks4all.nl for the chrome.

Click to see more of this gorgeous truck!

A five-star hotel experience in LEGO

It’s quite the experience to encounter white-gloved, five-star service in a hotel. This beautiful hotel from pinioncorp looks like it should have plenty of bellhops, a personalized front desk, and a staff who anticipates your every need. The front of the building is stately, with classic lines and lovely architecture:

Hotel

In contrast, the rear of the hotel features an urban paradise, with a gorgeous balcony and a fountain full of flowers and vines. This gives the guests a truly lovely place to relax after exploring the city all day.

Hotel Rear

Happy happy joy joy!

Every generation of kids has its cartoon with jokes that are far funnier to the adults in the room, and growing up that was Ren & Stimpy for me. Julius von Brunk has given us this spot-on rendition of Stimpson J. Cat, affectionately known as Stimpy. It has it all: the round red body, the tiny ears, and the giant blue nose. His eyes gaze off into the distance, with the tongue hanging out for everyone to see. Julius does a fantastic job capturing the things that make Stimpy so recognizable, with his roundness and simplicity.

Stimpy

Nassau is full of pirates and intrigue

I confess, I have not watched Black Sails. I know, I’m sorry! I plan on fixing that. But I don’t need any context to appreciate this lovely diorama based on the show by Mpyromaxos, depicting a busy scene with arson, theft, and property damage – which I understand is all pretty normal for pirates. There’s a lot of great detail to take in, and some easter eggs too. How many characters do you recognize?

Free Vane and burn Nassau to the ground!!!