About Rod

Rod likes building stuff, particularly steampunk and microscale. He's built for a number of the Dorling Kindersley LEGO books, including LEGO Play and the Awesome Ideas book. When he's not building, he writes, and has published a trilogy of old-fashioned adventure stories. To pay the bills he works in innovation and marketing for one of the world's biggest brewers, inventing new beers and ciders. This is clearly the best job in the world.

Posts by Rod

Take a stroll down a stunning brick-built street

For a Western audience, this collection of buildings by 磊耿 is a striking break from the more familiar architecture usually seen in a LEGO street scene, with a wonderful variety of styles. But regardless of where you’re from, you’re bound to be impressed by the sheer quality of the building work on display. Pagoda roofs vie with castle spires for attention, and “big” certainly doesn’t mean bland, with an impressive depth of texture and interesting colour schemes across all the structures.

See more images of these beautiful buildings

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Mickey Mouse makes his 1928 debut in LEGO Ideas 21317 Steamboat Willie [Review]

Only a few weeks since the set was announced in the second round of LEGO Ideas reviews from 2018, 21317 Steamboat Willie will be available to buy from April 1st. The final set design is very different from the Ideas project which inspired it, and, with all respect to the original model, the improvements are significant. Mickey’s paddle steamer is much larger and more detailed than the original microscale design.

The set has 751 pieces, features black & white retro minifigures of Mickey and Minnie, and is available from April 1st for US: $89.99 | Canada: 119.99 CAD | UK: £79.99.

Click here to read our full hands-on review of LEGO Ideas 21317 Steamboat Willie

Paddington Bear recreated in LEGO bricks

Paddington Bear is surely one of the least likely TV characters to have seen a 21st century reboot. However Michael Bond’s beloved creation has enjoyed renewed commercial success, and some surprising critical acclaim, in two recent big screen outings. Now his iconic status is cemented as he becomes the subject of a LEGO model — vincentkiew‘s delightful figure. All the character’s trademark attributes are present and correct — blue duffle coat, floppy red hat, and travel-stamped suitcase. The use of tan-coloured cam-shaft pieces for the coat’s toggles is perfect, and the whole composition is enhanced with the scenery — quickly and simply placing the bear in his natural environment: middle-class suburban London.

Danish materials make a painterly masterpiece

There’s little doubt that LEGO building is an art form all of its own. But sometimes it’s nice to see a LEGO builder produce a composition which echoes the subjects and styles of the classic arts. That’s exactly what Birgitte Jonsgard has done with this stunning still life of a vase of flowers — the subject could not be more traditional, and the style and colour scheme evokes a painterly feel. However, those brick-built flowers are beautiful LEGO creations, challenging assumptions around what can be realistically modelled in our favourite bricks. The sheer variety of shapes on display here is impressive, and the fallen pink petal is a final delicious touch of detail on a beautiful creation.

Assembled: The Battle of New York in LEGO bricks

The Battle of New York is the super-powered punch-up finale of 2012 movie The Avengers, which saw Asgardian trickster Loki attack the city with a borrowed army of bio-mechanical reptilian Chitauri soldiers. Such an epic confrontation might be an intimidating prospect for a LEGO model, but builder Ben Cossy has accepted the challenge, and this impressive diorama is the result. All the Avengers can be found amidst the city streets or on the rooftops, engaging the wall-scampering Chitauri and attempting to protect fleeing civilians and overwhelmed cops. Don’t miss the different styles of buildings on display, all featuring varying levels of battle damage alongside the architectural detailing.

You can see more of the action in this multi-angle montage, with our heroes engaged in various punch-ups and shoot-outs with the Chitauri. Check out the cracked pavement and enemies sent flying as Thor smacks Mjolnir into the ground…

Brick-built seahorse has legs where you wouldn’t expect them

Part horse, part fish, part dragon, part saxophone — the seahorse is one of the weirdest-looking creatures you’ll find under the water. However this aquatic oddity’s peculiar appearance hasn’t put Brother Steven off creating a LEGO version, and the result is lovely. The orange works well, with restrained use of pearl gold and some exposed studs adding some welcome texture and scale-like details, and the spines along the back are excellent. The sandy base is nicely done — adding a coral reef context without distracting from the central model, but the overall shaping is the main attraction here. Don’t miss the use of minifigure legs to create the final curl of the seahorse’s tail — an inspired parts use.

Timbers will be shivered

The trading of cannon broadsides was surely the bluntest form of projectile warfare. Huge ships, passing within yards, blasted cannons into each other’s sides as quickly as the sailors could reload. Simon Pickard brings the fury of battle under sail to vivid life in this LEGO creation — a frigate and a galleon all set to pound one another into matchwood. The tightly-cropped image creates a real sense of action and drama — you’re just waiting for the splinters and blood to start flying. The brick-built ship hulls are impressively shaped, and the sails are beautifully done. This is a close-up view from a large-scale pirate-themed LEGO layout we featured previously, put together by British building collaborators Brick To The Past.

LEGO ASREV from Firefly is gloriously swooshable

In the TV show Firefly, the ASREV (Alliance Short Range Enforcement Vessel) is the preferred spacecraft of the Federal Marshals. This LEGO version by Stefan Johansson manages to beautifully capture the starfighter’s sleek lines and angles with a combination of sloped bricks, wedges, and hinged connections. The model is reminiscent of a futuristic jet fighter — the overall shape looks familiar, and its deadly purpose is immediately clear despite its sci-fi styling. The colour scheme is functional and realistic-looking, with enough variation and texture to stop the model being a big lump of grey. Nice to see a starfighter like this built at minifigure scale too — that double-cockpit up-front is class. I’d love to swoosh this thing around making engine noises and pew-pew blaster sounds.

On reflection, the Death Star’s not so bad

Here at Brothers Brick HQ, we’ve been following the microscale LEGO Star Wars adventures of Didier Burtin with enthusiasm. Didier’s recreations of iconic scenes from the various Star Wars movies continues with this cracking build of the captured Millennium Falcon sitting in a Death Star hangar. Taking photos of LEGO creations built from predominantly black bricks is normally a complete pig of a job, with rogue reflections and shiny bits ruining the composition. Here the model’s high reflectivity is a perfect match for its inspiration, as are all the brick-built details like the wall striping, floor graphics, and the lift shaft.

Meet the Fokker

WWI-era aircraft generally don’t receive as much attention from LEGO builders as their modern (or futuristic) descendents. Wesley makes a worthy attempt to redress the balance with this wonderful Fokker Eindecker, an early German fighter plane, one of the most advanced aircraft of its day. The model is nicely put-together, with some great angles in the undercarriage struts, a well-shaped fuselage, and good use of string which always adds a classic vintage aircraft feel. But it’s the photography which really sets this creation apart — the addition of a couple of simple background elements makes for an effective backdrop, and the low camera angle is a great choice. It’s nice to see Wesley yet again present a LEGO aircraft model in something different from the standard three-quarter view high-angle “flying” shot.

Be sure to check out Wesley’s other fantastic WWI aircraft we’ve highlighted.

Godzilla mech Rex through the town

What’s the only way to make a T-Rex more fearsome? Place him at the controls of a giant Godzilla-esque mechanoid! If you take a close look at the pilot’s cockpit of Simon Liu‘s impressive LEGO technobeast, you’ll spot Rex from Toy Story at the helm. You don’t need to get this little joke to be impressed by this creation and its wrecked-city diorama surroundings, but it’s details and touches of humour like this which elevate the best LEGO models into something special. The texture and mechanical-looking greebles prevent the central robot from just being a big mass of grey (always a danger with a one-colour model), and the ruined buildings are brilliantly done, creating an appropriate sense of urban destruction. The addition of Buzz Lightyear facing down Rex’s new toy, along with a bunch of fleeing claw-machine aliens, adds some welcome splashes of colour amidst the rubble.

LEGO Star Wars sets from Resistance and more in-person at the 2019 New York Toy Fair [News]

Live from the show floor at the 2019 New York Toy Fair, we have new close-up images of the upcoming LEGO Star Wars sets revealed this morning. These sets are scheduled for release starting in April.

See our hands-on coverage of the new LEGO Star Wars sets from the 2019 New York Toy Fair

About Rod

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