Markus Rollbühler opens up a new page on LEGO building by presenting Grimm’s Fairy Tales in book form. We’ve seen literature depicted in LEGO through an artistic representation of a book before, but I here I particularly love Markus’ use of the pages forming gnarled tree silhouettes to add depth to the scenes. Markus says that there are references to six of the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales depicted here: see if you can spot them all.
If you even think about bringing government, baby sitters, bedtimes, frowny faces, bushy mustaches, or negativity of any kind into her town then she’s gonna do to your face what Limp Bizkit did to music in the late 90s! Grantmasters, continuing in his quest to find new and exciting uses for that Belville shoe, created this adorable mash-up of everyone’s favorite brick-built pony-cat and the foul-mouthed antihero that’s currently tearing up the box office. Cotton-candy coated chimichangas anyone?
I appreciate and love to see LEGO models presented in life size. It’s all about creating an illusion; can you build with LEGO something that doesn’t look like LEGO? Jonas succeeds with a 1:1 scale Underwood Typewriter built from the beloved brick. From the mechanical details to the elegant frame, his replica is dang near flawless.
Sometimes a unique color palette really makes a LEGO creation stand out. That is exactly what’s happened with jaapxaap‘s most recent build. And considering that scholars disagree on where and when the Hanging Gardens were built (and if they ever actually existed in the first place), no one can argue that the famous gardens weren’t surrounded by beautiful tile work in blues, white, and gold. My favorite details in this stunning build are the bas-relief animals sculpted into the walls and the SNOT (studs not on top) lintels.
Has anyone lost a key? Jonas has found one and is trying to find its owner. Look again. This is made of LEGO. It requires a double (or perhaps triple) take to convince yourself that this is actually made of bricks:
It is worth considering scale, as this key must be for a massive padlock or door. Perhaps this photograph of a Kevin Hinkle minifig holding a LEGO padlock will help put Jonas’ key into perspective!
Continuing the series of we can’t believe no one thought to incorporate that container piece into a build before, newcomer Caleb Flutur shows us how to use those tall Pick-a-Brick cups for something other than storing your extra long plates and technic pins. Amazingly, this blender is one-hundred-percent LEGO. The handle is held in place by LEGO magnets, the cord is made of hinge cylinders, and there’s even a rubber seal inside to prevent smoothie splash back.
I know, I know. We just told you that if you want to be blogged on The Brothers Brick, please do not to take your photos on your kitchen table or against the wall. What gives? Well, Caleb’s photo is an obvious exception to that rule because placing this blender on a kitchen counter tricked me into thinking, at first glance, that it was real. If you want to be blogged, always remember to use our “three easy steps” and your best judgment when photographing your builds. And most importantly have fun!
Trees are an understandably common sight among LEGO builds, but rarely does one come across a style that is truly unique and breathtaking. No doubt however, that is exactly the experience shared by these lucky explorers in this latest creation by Jonas Wide. Using a large number of tail and tusk pieces, Jonas has grown an incredibly flowing and characteristic forest of mangrove trees that seems as alive as the birds and crabs that live in it.
One of our traditions for TBB contributors attending BrickCon every year is to enjoy inexpensive sushi at one of the two nearby revolving sushi (回転寿司) joints. If you’ve never been to a revolving sushi restaurant, you grab small plates of sushi from a conveyer built that moves around a counter that surrounds the prep area. It’s fun and delicious! Japanese builder Dr.Peisan has used LEGO Power Functions to motorize a revolving sushi restaurant.
Built on four 32×32 baseplates, the restaurant is full of funny scenes and interesting characters. There’s a group of aliens (the ultimate gaijin) tasting earth food, a reporter using a fake mic, Emmet from The LEGO Movie, and even BB-8. I expect the sumo wrestler to give the lucha libre guy a run for his money… I’m personally most impressed by the wide range of different nigiri, rolls, and desserts that roll by.
You can see lots more pictures on Flickr and the builder’s blog (in Japanese). You’ll also be able to see this in person in Kobe at Japan Brickfest 2016 in June.
TBB’s very own Simon Liu was celebrating yesterday… No, not a queue of ladies at his door on Valentine’s Day, but the 5-year anniversary of his first “big boy build” and explosion into the LEGO community. To celebrate all that is LEGO (fun, friendship, contests, community spirit, etc), Simon is running a celebratory Mockaversary competition, best described in Simon’s own words:
Give me an idea that you want.
I’ll choose stuff only from this page.
If I build it.
It’s yours.
The third Mockaversary gift is a microscale build called Micro Katoren that fulfilled two requests, build a castle and build in the Kaliphlin style as part of the larger Guilds of Historica (GoH) community. GoH was one of the first Build-RPGs hosted on Eurobricks and Simon was heavily involved in the initial concept. This is an anniversary moment in itself as the community is still thriving. Micro Katoren is a microscale replica of The City of Katoren, a collaboration between jsnyder002 and soccersnyderi.
What a lovely guy Simon is. I’m just a bit concerned about how he is going to ship my life-sized LEGO Canadian Mountie all the way from Canada to the UK… Maybe I should have asked for a LEGO beaver instead.
Rod Gillies was clearly a young whipper-snapper back in the early 1980s when Super Mario Bros was released as a video game. Mario and Luigi, the adventurous plumbers who explored Mushroom Kingdom, have evolved into Super Mario Bricks. They made dungarees cool again and gave some much needed resuscitation to the video game market.
If your Mario Bros knowledge is up to par, you will note that Rod definitely has an eye for detail. Mario was the shorter, more portly brother, while Luigi was taller with a smoother, more groomed moustache. The M and L initials on the caps is always a good fallback option to avoid confusion. I bet Rod was glad that brother Sergio didn’t make the cut — some letters are tougher than others in LEGO.
Some great Dutch architecture modelling here from Brickbink. This scene is a near-perfect recreation of an Amsterdam street; all it needs is a canal and it would be spot-on.
The color blocking of the buildings and the windows are excellent, and the brickwork around the gable-end roofs really catches the eye. As ever though, it’s the details which make a model pop, and there’s a feast of them on display here. The piano lifters are the obvious stars of the show, but I love the little basement windows at street level, and the crate of bric-a-brac is a nice touch. I’m assuming the build is set around Konigsdag – “King’s Day” – when the Dutch sell their second-hand goods out in the street in front of their homes.
As promised in our 2016 New York Toy Fair coverage, I’m happy to share our first dragon review from the LEGO Elves line! LEGO sent us a copy of 41176 The Secret Marketplace. You’ll be able to find this set beginning in March. It has 691 pieces, and we expect it to retail for $59.99.
