The expansion of Caleb Flutur‘s LEGO steampunk insect menagerie continues apace. This time, he has cooked us up a cracking grasshopper. This might be my favourite of his mechanical bugs so far! The gold highlights look great, without being too overbearing; ditto for the reddish-brown ‘wooden’ parts. The black sausages are a fine – if fragile – solution for the antennae. The elements that jump out to me, though, are the shock absorber and spring elements used for the hind legs. It’s such a good fit, yet somehow it doesn’t seem like an obvious choice of a part. It makes it look like this thing really could spring up at you!
Category Archives: Models
A pattern in the bricks
The overwhelming majority of the LEGO creations we feature here on The Brothers Brick are spaceships, cars, castles, and other objects and scenes. What we see far less frequently are abstract designs like this fascinating one by Crimso Giger. Sometimes it’s good to return to the basic rectangular geometry of the brick and see what emerges. Although presented as a two-dimensional artwork, this build lives in three dimensions taking up three sides of a cube.
It’s part of an ongoing exploration by Crimso into creating fascinating photos of LEGO and the interplay of light and geometry. Here’s one of my favorites. At first glance it looks digitally altered, but it’s pure LEGO. See if you can figure out how it’s done.
Fat Gus for the win
If there is one thing in this world that I love it has to be animal-controlled LEGO mechs, like this one by Midwest Builders. We are presented with a mech featuring a lot of Technic/Bionicle pieces that, for me, are always a tough job to identify. The beefy mech is controlled by the relatively new LEGO squirrels. I do not know why, but apparently they have a feud with the frogs. It appears they are capturing them and keeping them imprisoned in transparent cages that closely resemble acorns. Big Gus is surrounded by a lot of little squirrels on smaller mechs and vehicles which appear to be assisting him with his tasks. All I know is that these squirrels are fully equipped to pillage your birdfeeder.
The future of the Forestmen
I think LEGO should consider bringing the Forestmen theme back (and castle in general, for that matter). Look at this creation by Sylon_tw. It features the classic light grey, black, and blue colour scheme but it is brought up to date. The blue is combined with dark blue to make it look less primary colorish and lend a mottled look. The grey walls feature texture to achieve an overall worn-down look. And the black is just a little bit less dominant than it was in the original theme. There is lush foliage everywhere and cute little forest critters hiding in it. Best thing about this whole castle creation? It is not conflict driven. At least if you presume the archer is just practising for athletic reasons.
The lug wrench marks the spot
Jan Woznica has engaged in a little bit of meta-LEGO building with this mosaic style recreation of a classic treasure map tile. All the major details are perfectly captured, from the compass to the latitude and longitude lines. I think mosaics of classic prints could spark a new MOC trend thanks to the near-endless possibilities…computer screens, instrument panels, license plates, wanted posters. What printed tile mosaic would you want hanging on your wall?
Midwife /ˈmidˌwīf/ (noun) a person (typically a woman) trained to assist women in childbirth
Do you know why we’ve seen an influx of LEGO crab creations lately? No seriously, do you? Because we’re pretty confused on the matter. We featured this one a few days back, then this one followed by this other one and now Ivan Martynov presents his crab simply called Midwife. I’m not sure if this qualifies as TMI or not but we’re pretty sure there are also other crabs infesting our various cracks and crevices. Despite the burning and itching, I rather like the odd color scheme and bio-mechanical feel of this design. The multiple eyes are quite unsettling and it appears as if she’s manifesting smaller pink crabs from her own head. It really takes me back to high school prom night! Anyway, check out all the other reasons why Ivan Martynov kinda gets under our skin.
Putting the art into arthropod
You may have recently noticed a dramatic increase in the number of crab creations in the LEGO community. Rising with this increase has been the use of the pun ‘feeling crabby’ – which, to be fair, is a good one. Heck, we’ve even used it twice (yes, twice) on this very website, and those weren’t even written by resident pun-meister Lino. DanielBrickSon has rather forced our pincered hand into using it a third time. In our defense, how else would you describe this piece of artwork? It’s named the Hana Crabba, and I can’t tell if that face is camouflaged to ward off predators or if this is some sort of ancient crustacean deity. Either way, it doesn’t look best pleased to have been turned into a beautiful piece of brick artwork. How ungrateful!
This arrowhead-shaped spaceship gets to the point quickly
Modeled after the Trilobate arrowhead, builder Rubblemaker provides a speedy LEGO starfighter made for quick trips across the cosmos. It’s not everyday that you see Bionicle parts interspersed on a space creation, but the builder navigates it well, using the Rahkshi legs to great effect around the cockpit. And the shaping of the rear engine with toothed wheels and gears feels right at home here. But overall, while I understand the ancient inspiration for this build, my mind is instead taken back to 1998 and the Aquazone faction Stingrays. With a high concentration of dark gray, highlights in red, and wing curves reminiscent of a squid’s body, I feel like this fighter would be at home in the stars or the sea.
Your ‘wich is my command!
I’m pretty sure that Jaroslaw Walter knew that I was starting a diet today, and that the last thing I needed to see was a delicious, melty LEGO Italian sandwich on ciabatta bread. I know it’s made of plastic. I know those juicy sun-dried tomatoes are actually minifig fireman helmets. And I know that the ooey-gooey cheese is accumulating on the parchment paper in pools made of 3×3 and 4×4 radar dishes. And, yes, I know the paper-thin slices of Parma ham are ingeniously made of plastic dragon wings
A modern brick for modern times
Builder Aido Kessler wants the future of LEGO today with the brick of their dreams, as submitted to New Elementary’s Make a Wishbrick contest. While the idea presented, a headlight brick minus its foot, is something that’s been on my wish list for longer than I can remember, that’s actually not my favorite part of this build. In an effort to zhuzh up the design, Aido added a living quarters inside a technologically advanced brick. The vignette very much feels like a LEGO-themed take on The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, my favorite bit of science-fiction. I love the clean interior juxtaposed with the technological textures on the exterior, and the subtle hints of trans-light blue really drive home the space-age look. Now will our hero continue to inhabit his little brick-built cube, or will he break free with his new part and let his creativity run wild?
Crouching motorcycle, hidden dragon
Joey Klusnick doesn’t let old DUPLO pieces take up space in his collection with no purpose. Instead of getting rid of them, he mixes DUPLO stuff with a modern best-selling theme, like Ninjago. The result is hilarious: now, it’s Lloyd’s newest vehicle/weapon. It might have no claws, teeth or wings, but it’s extremely swooshable. Just look at these wheels!
Great LEGO build may not win power, but it wins respect
Samurais and mechs mix so well. It has been proved by the LEGO designers, and now Moko confirms it one more time. His warrior in dark red armour is a sight to behold. For me, the lack of prints or patterns makes its clean, neat look really stand out. And all the chrome rings is where the design really shines.
If you’ve been following Moko’s creations, you should know that possibility is a must for a great mech model. This samurai is no exception, striking its signature stance with the sword ready to hit. What a beauty!