As you know over at The Brothers Brick, we love a good brick build insect. And this LEGO creation by Ted Andes features a lot of them! The ants are completely brick build. They are made out of droid arms, clip claws, t-bars, and bricks with studs on 4 sides. They even have a small gaster made out of tooth plates. We are currently watching a battle between the Blackthorns and the Lavender Leaf ant clans. My bet is the Blackthorns are the black ants and the grey ants are the Lavender Leafs. They are fighting over a half-eaten pheasant leg on the ground. I’ve seen a lot of uses for the curved tapered panel but I’ve never seen it used as a pheasant leg. For the foliage, it looks like Ted dismembered a bunch of LEGO flower bouquets. Which seems like a good cause in this case.
Category Archives: Models
Dis is the way.
I know it’s not what Jarek Książczyk intended, but the “Countess of Dis” sounds like a character from Lovecraftian reboot of Sesame Street. “One! Two! Three! Three elder gods! Ha ha ha!” Just don’t cross her even more sinister cousin, the Countess of Dat. But questionable mythology aside, you should take a moment and appreciate the amazing build here. I’m particularly impressed with the way the three main colors unify the build. The dragon wing along the figure’s back has just a touch of red in the dual-molded plastic, echoed in the cloth cape and the banners on the staff. The gold finials on the staff complement the chest armor and skirting, with great part usage like that carriage wheel front and center, and the weapon in the bodice. The black organic curves draw the eye and are matched by the folds in the skirt. Quality stuff.
But is this a build worthy of worship? Well, a bonus supplicant created by Jarek sure seems to think so. I’m not sure exactly what is being offered here, but the use of a gold-chrome hemishere makes it seem like a rare treat indeed. Green Jell-O, maybe? (Who are we to question the desires of the ancient ones?)
If these beings have you wanting to look at other eerie creations, check out more featured builds in our Lovecraft tag!
TBB Cover Photo for August 2021: Home – where fondness meets tranquility
After a weary journey, there is one place that is welcoming and puts the soul at ease… Home! And no matter where your heart lies, this enchanting LEGO scene by Arfelan Nest will take you to a place that whispers tranquillity and blissful peace.
The framing of the build almost places you ready to take your first step to enter, yet is tempting you to come in and restfully explore what lies within. The out-of-focus teapot in the foreground -through to the paneling on the sliding doors behind the garden, set the scene with depth, intention, and true staging mastery. It is then, on closer look, you will find the technical skill tucked away within each section of this well-planned space – the dark green garden bed itself consisting of a slight valley and the simplistic, yet the intentional selection of light grey parts to cleverly convey the placement of stones.
Arfelan’s use of a minimal palette has resulted in a great showcase of intentional colour, drawing your eye in the desired direction for the story to unfold. There is no doubt, that this scene is where fondness meets tranquillity and smiles shine bright… or to put it in another way, this… is home!
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Save all the bricks and bytes of data by building your own LEGO Floppy Disks [Instructions]
Builder Kos Brick flexes his building skills with these very accurate looking Floppy Disks from the early days before computer hard drives became the de-facto way of booting up Operating Systems and storing data. You can now build your own LEGO floppy diskettes with the video instructions he’s provided. 
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Winter carols warm the heart
Despite the summer heat, LEGO builder Lukasz Wiktorowicz created a winter wonderland scene of carolers bringing seasonal joy to a lonely cottage. The tree almost steals the show, with leafless branches spindly pointing towards the sky. The use of brown minifigure hands to create additional branch points is fantastic and adds age to the tree. I also really dig the snow work, with clumps of snow slowly falling off the roof and much more piled on the ground.
Yet it’s the minor details that truly make this a wonderland of LEGO. Did you see the crosscut saw laying in the snow near the base of the tree? Or the wood hacked out of the trunk? Or the stump next to the house? Or the hinges on the cottage’s front door? You can’t fully appreciate what Lukasz has built without zooming in for a closer look. And that’s why we’re happy to showcase his creation here on The Brother’s Brick.
Returning home just in time for the harvest
Forced perspective is always a way to get your LEGO creation to look amazing! Haven’t got the bricks to build a really big mountain for the background that you place at an appropriate distance? Just build a really small one! Caleb Saw did just this and it turned out amazing.
I always like it when a LEGO builder manages to capture movement in their creations. It makes the build less static and, if done right, makes the creation come to life. Caleb however did the complete opposite. He captured a moment in which everything stood still. The moment after the woman dropped her bucket after seeing her lover come home unexpectedly. At first I thought Caleb used Fleur’s head for the surprised face, but it turns out to be Luna’s. Which is a bit softer and quite demure which is perfectly for this scene. You can just sense that time stopped for a brief second. Both characters make eye contact and run towards each other. Caleb did this so well that I didn’t even notice the third person tending the crops.
It’s a fairy tale in microscale
We’re all familiar with the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Probably everyone reading this can sum it up in just a few words: Magic beans, giant’s castle, golden goose. But how many of us could tell the story in brick form as well as Markus Rollbühler has? Considering this vignette sits on just a 12×12 footprint, it’s amazing how much technique is packed into it. From the books and their detailed pages, to the microscale farmland, to the magic castle in the clouds. I’m particularly enamored with the use of Clone Trooper helmet antennae as a windmill. And that brick built “J” replicating a medieval drop cap is the sort of detail that makes this small vignette a giant-sized success.
A wand-erfully whimsical scene in an island storm
A book can be a welcome escape in times of stress, or, for Eli Willsea, a book can also be a roof for an island hut. However, considering the gusts of wind bending those chunky trees, this roof might not make it through the night. And speaking of trees, I love the cartoonish look of these trees made from cones and gnarled trunks. The hut is held aloft as if by magic by four wands, and the nearby boat puts the plastic sprue that comes with another pair of wands to good use as a mast, demonstrating that even parts LEGO themselves consider waste can be put to good use in builds.
Warhammer Gyrobomber dishes out the ordnance
Though I’ve never dabbled in the Warhammer universe, I’ve appreciated the art, figurines, and inspiration that it’s provided to its fanbase. This render of a Gyrobomber built by Dwalin Forkbeard was inspired by the Dwarven flying machines in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Piloted by only one dwarf, the dual-rotor machine features plenty of artillery to lay waste to the battlefield. The curves of the cockpit are wonderfully modeled with brick-built sections and angled plates. Golden and brass details embellish the body and contrast the light and dark bluish-grey pieces of the mechanical sections. The different-sized doors used for rotor blades are an inventive element of the model, as well as the golden crown used as an exhaust port.
The view of the tail reveals the main engine behind the cockpit. I appreciate the variety of pieces that Dwalin used to model this steam-powered design. The attention to detail is fantastic and the form of the model is alluring. The information he provides really shows you how formidable this bomber could be with just one brave pilot.
Get away from it all and ponder the meaning of life
Builder Andreas Lenander gives us a place to ponder the imponderables at the Jaz’ira Monastery. This secluded island getaway has it all, including great building techniques, intricate details, and even an elusive LEGO goat. There’s also wallpaper from Wayne Manor in the tower, suggesting this island may hold some dark secrets. Or that Andreas just like making use of unusual parts and liked the pattern. Who are we to say? What we can say, though, is that the detailing on the roof tiles is stellar, and the teal and gold accents on the second tower are equally elegant. I also like the disconnected splash of transparent blue 1×2 tile around the base – sometimes you don’t need to attach everything to make a scene feel connected.
This creation was inspired by the monastery category in this year’s Summer Joust event. Check out other great builds we’ve featured from that competition!
Monster murals under a microscale urban jungle
Architects of tomorrow see solutions to many problems facing society today and modern concrete jungles often lack the greenery that people need to escape. One solution exemplified here in the sixth microscale architectural model by builder F@bz is elevated green spaces and this one seems to be thriving. The bright green vines lifted from Friends sets and the myriad of leaf pieces create overgrown foliage that contrasts the dark grey, tan, and black of the city structure below.
The slanted supports for the sky park give way to exposed bits of railway leading out from underpasses and tunnels through the metropolis. Thankfully, the dark colors of the city are accented by playful bits of graffiti achieved by using various printed bricks. The expressions and colors that F@bz used for the art work well with the textures of the walls. Tiny details of brown and sand yellow make up the area around the lower train tracks with bright red fencing along one side and a smaller guard wall at the base of the graffiti wall. The little trains work wonderfully with the scene. I wish I could sit back in one of the top seats and take in the view of the rising cityscape above me.
Something old, something new, something golden, something transparent light blue
Something just clicks in Sundown at Pheron 4Y — an eerie landscape from Bart De Dobbelaer. It might just be the Clikits rings and bracelets in the towers, but I think it’s more about the moody atmosphere and quality building. But there sure are a lot of vintage transparent light-blue Clikits parts in there if you really squint. My favorite usage has to be the Clikits beads in the golden Ninjago-hilt topped spires. Speaking of gold elements, there are a lot of interesting ones there, too. From minifigure weapons to Knights-Kingdom era shoulder armor, Bart has once again shown that imagination is the only limiting factor when it comes to finding ways to incorporate supposedly “single purpose” parts.
This isn’t the first amazing landscape that Bart has shared. Be sure to check out their other featured builds!