Category Archives: LEGO

You’d probably expect a lot of the posts on a LEGO website like The Brothers Brick to be about LEGO, and you’d be right. If you’re browsing this page, you might want to consider narrowing what you’re looking for by checking out categories like “Space” and “Castle.” We’re sure there’s something here that’ll fascinate and amaze you.

Cutting through the jagged night

Master of spacetastic angles Nick Trotta has outdone himself with his latest LEGO spaceraft, dubbed the Serrated Night. Indeed, this ship looks like it would cut through the dark night of outer space with stunning precision. Nick says that he took inspiration for this Vic Viper from the anime Yukikaze and the F-117 stealth fighter.

Black is a notorious color to build with and successfully photograph, but Nick uses lines of blue along the wings’ edges and presents the ship against a planetary atmosphere to offset the black. Nick also says that this is his largest ship to date, which has enabled him to incorporate lots of fantastic details, from judicious use of LEGO ingots to peeping yellow studs.

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Fountain Place in Dallas, Texas, in LEGO microscale

Just in time for BrickUniverse in Dallas, Texas this weekend, Rocco Buttliere presents a microscale replica of Fountain Place near the convention. The building is a refreshing sight among surrounding rectangular structures with its interesting angles all around, and Rocco nails it with LEGO bricks.

See more shots of Rocco’s detailed model on Flickr.

Go the way of the dinosaur

LEGO dragon builder extraordinaire Aaron Newman recently took a break from his normal fantasy fayre to create this neat minifig scale Stegosaurus. Taken on as a commissioned project, it has 19 separate points of articulation, to provide its owner with hours of fig-smashing reptilian fun!

Have a prawn or a prayer with these Chinese-style builds

Indonesian builder Anton Budiono‘s latest two builds are both Chinese-style creations in the shape of a seafood restaurant and temple, presumably for quiet postprandial contemplation. Both builds utilise the addition of the same bridge over to a smaller shrine that rests upon wooden decking. There are many details to admire in these builds but the roofs with their decorative ridges and fascia are a particular favourite of mine. There are so many nice little touches to be discovered, such as the telephone handsets forming the beams within the large red front doors or the Mixel ball joints used as structural decorations across the façade.

The seafood restaurant cleverly uses the dark red octopus as decoration in one corner of the building, but Anton’s brick built lobster on the first floor corner is even better and worth a closer look!

While the temple is a little more demure in colour, it also benefits from lots of nice details such as the cascading water feature on the left-hand side or the use of black palm tree tops as the lanterns at the front. There’s more to see around the back on Anton’s Flickr album.

2016 LEGO Advent Calendars: Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of your digital LEGO Advent Calendar! Each day, we’re revealing the day’s calendar model for the LEGO Friends, City, and Star Wars Advent Calendars. We know some of you want to be spoiler free, so you’ll need to “open” the day’s post to see the models by clicking below!

While you wait patiently for each day’s post, check out our Create a Calendar contest, going on now!

Click here to see Day 3!

Speed demon

The Fiat Mefistofele was a one-off racing car created in the 1920s to break the land speed record. It was named after a demon by its driver, apparently due to the infernal sound created by the airplane engine that had been fitted inside! Korean builder Pixel Junkie does the historic vehicle justice in this LEGO minifig scale reinterpretation.

The Mefistofele’s unusual construction might explain why the builder chose to man his version with a well-known animated pilot! I only wish the hood could be removed to reveal a LEGO version of that engine. Instead, I will have to make do with this lovely little scene of a mechanic tinkering with it the workshop.

Beat the weekend traffic with this Blacktron Assault Tank

Peter Reid, lover of all things spacey and grey in the LEGO world, has been building in black. More specifically, Peter has built a Blacktron Assault Tank in the classic Blacktron colours of black and yellow. Peter’s little tank is one of a collection of builds that showcase some black LEGO elements as part of The New Black parts festival on New Elementary. This cute little tank uses Nexo Knights shields and long skeleton legs to good effect, but the track with those lovely yellow ‘wheels‘ are a real highlight for me.

If you are experiencing some flashbacks to GI Joe then that’s because the design is loosely based on the Wolverine vehicle from the series. There are other views and further discussion over on the New Elementary blog post. I have to say that the only tank I have been in is a Challenger 2, and there were no black tassels hanging off the back.

This strain wave gearing makes a spectacularly cool Great Ball Contraption [Video]

Japanese builder akiyuki applies the concept of strain wave gearing to Great Ball Contraptions, a popular LEGO fan convention theme in which hundreds of balls are passed through complex machinery. From both an engineering and a visual standpoint, the module is mesmerizing to watch. See the module in action in the following 2 minute video.

A fascinating read detailing the design process and engineering challenges faced by the builder can be found on akiyuki’s blog.

John Lewis Christmas adverts recreated in LEGO [News]

UK retailer John Lewis have teamed up with the UK’s only LEGO Certified Professional Bright Bricks to recreate 5 years of classic John Lewis Christmas adverts. Something of a UK Christmas tradition for the past 10 years, the John Lewis’ adverts are eagerly awaited at the beginning of each festive season, ready to tug on heart-strings, bring a smile, and generally start the festive snowball rolling. The brick-built creations took a team of seven expert LEGO builders 116 hours to construct and comprise a staggering 9,400 bricks in total.

The 5 John Lewis adverts were shown between 2012 – 2016 and Bright Bricks captures the iconic moment from each advert. In 2012, the advert depicted a snowman’s epic journey across mountain, highway and manic shoppers to return to his waiting ‘snow-woman’ on Christmas morning. The Journey has 1,800 bricks and took 18 hours to build.

Continue reading →

2016 LEGO Advent Calendars: Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of your digital LEGO Advent Calendar! Each day, we’re revealing the day’s calendar model for the LEGO Friends, City, and Star Wars Advent Calendars. We know some of you want to be spoiler free, so you’ll need to “open” the day’s post to see the models by clicking below!

While you wait patiently for each day’s post, check out our Create a Calendar contest, going on now!

Click here to see Day 2!

LEGO Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce in 1:16 scale

Jordanian builder Firas Abu-Jaber presents a 1:16 replica of a Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce worthy of his stunning lineup of LEGO supercars. The lines and subtle angles and slopes throughout are faithful to the real thing. Custom decals over the rear wheels, on the hood, and as the license plates are fine touches that I believe enhance the model.

The doors open to reveal a detailed interior. The seats may be my favorite detail in Firas’s excellent model; they appear comfortable for a LEGO man behind the wheel.

What does LEGO hell look like?

What sane person would ask themselves this question? Deus Otiosus and Letranger Absurde would, that’s who! To be fair, both of these builders were forced to come to terms with the LEGO underworld thanks to the 2016 MOC Olympics contest. Deus and Letranger recently faced off in the semi-finals. Their task? To go to H. E. double hockey sticks, literally.

Deus’s scene depicts Satan’s throne room, complete with a throne of bones and plenty of gore. The lava even lights up! My favorite detail is the bone pentagram on the back of the Devil’s throne. You’ll want to check out all the other angles on this gruesome build as a single image doesn’t do it justice.

Letranger’s hellish creation is equally impressive, though perhaps a little too cute (it’s hard to truly fear anything with Mixel eyes). Sitting on his throne in all his glory is Baphomet, the diabolical Sabbatic goat supposedly worshiped by early Knights Templar. If you’re feeling brave, take a look at what sits beneath his throne.