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.

It’s a Dutch world after all

The People of Laaf is an exhibit in the Netherlands amusement park Efteling, which is older than Disneyland. It’s a fairytale land of animatronic puppets who have their own language and architectural style, and the whole thing is accessible by a small monorail. Koen‘s giant representation of the park captures the unique turrets and rooflines of the park quite nicely. But what I love about this model are the cobblestone paths and the towering trees. Make sure to click through the photostream for a full tour, including some side-by-side comparisons to the real park.

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TBB cover photo: May 2016

This month’s cover photo comes to us from TBB regular Letranger Absurde and is entitled Ella “Tall Tide” Kneebone’s Cabin. In this creation he augments his signature style of character building with a beautiful diorama featuring a wealth of gorgeously detailed objects.

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then acquaint yourself with the submission GUIDELINES and submit your photo today.

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Superheroes settle their differences with a game of H.O.R.S.‌‌E

Sure, the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel nearly leveled the Kent family barn, but Supe’s mom Martha stepped between them with her trusty rolling pin and put an end to the destruction. Now, these two superheroes are settling their differences like men. Builder Thorsten Bonsch said he wanted to create a lighthearted scene. He achieved that and more! In addition to the playful atmosphere, this scene packs some incredible details. I love the heat vision damage on the corner of the barn, the wheat field, and the terrific texture on the sidings. Check out close-up photos of this build on Flickr.

A double-helping of Spacey goodness

First up, Moko with a beautiful little space crawler decked out in Classic Space livery. What’s not to love here? Trans-yellow windows, blue and gray color-scheme, black and yellow striping, and even the red and green lights in appropriate positions — this model follows all the “rules” for Classic Space building, but still manages to look fresh and interesting.

And then we have Jason Briscoe‘s latest, a tanker truck in M-Tron colors. This is a great little model, and despite being built in an “old” LEGO theme, it makes interesting use of the some of the newest LEGO parts. Check out the Nexo Knight shields as plating and mech torso pieces as greebling. Really good work.

LEGO Omnibot, the fully programmable robot ...with memory!

Back in the mid-1980s kids across the world were begging their parents to buy them an Omnibot. Toy manufacturer Tomy released Omnibot 5402, and Peter Reid has built this adorable LEGO version. The advert-style background compliments this awesome LEGO robot perfectly. The build was created for a ‘parts challenge’ over on parts-obsessed blog New Elementary and the eyes of the robot utilise the new Nexo Knights part trans neon orange bar with towball. What a great way to utilise this new part!

So just as I get over not receiving a Tomy Omnibot for my 8th birthday, I now long for my own LEGO Omnibot all these years later…

Desert dwelling puts other houses in the shade

Marcel V. has built a wonderful little desert scene. The house walls show lovely texturing and color choice, and there’s some nice parts usage on display — particular props go out for the white snake as a curl of smoke.

I’m also impressed with the rock and plant details on the base. Sometimes “tanscaping” like this can feel a bit plain and formulaic, but the curved rocks, minifig-hand scrub plants, and the paving around the door make the base of this model as visually-interesting as the house itself. Good stuff.

Polk Library of UW Oshkosh in LEGO microscale

Microscale master Paul Wellington recreated the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s campus library at the University’s request. Paul used approximately 4800 individual LEGO pieces to achieve a convincing scale replica of the building and surrounding greenery. Some of the excellent microscale techniques on display here include vertical tiles set into the base as columns, and the trees (a similar style to those seen in Rocco Buttliere’s Palace of Westminster).

See more of Paul’s microscale work on his Flickr page.

UnMASKing these high performance vehicles

Hobbestimus may well be giving away his status as a child of the 80s with this fantastic set of the three main vehicles from the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand. M.A.S.K. was an animated television series that screened in the mid-80s and spawned all sorts of goodies like action figures, comics, videogames and so on. From the left we have Rhino — a large truck, Thunderhawk — the red Chevrolet Camaro that could also fly, and Condor — a stealth motorcycle that could cunningly turn into a helicopter for those moments when high speed chases needed a little extra lift…

Not only was Rhino a huge truck, but it also formed a mobile defense unit with cannons, a battering-ram bumper, and a missile launcher. The builder has managed to capture all these great additions in his LEGO version.

Hobbestimus has a few other M.A.S.K builds and closer views of these vehicles in his Flickr M.A.S.K. album.

Yes, I’m sure this is art

Surely you’ve heard of Salvador Dalí, the great Spanish painter known for his vivid surrealist imagery. In 1976, he painted Gala contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at a distance of 20 meters is transformed into the portrait of Abraham Lincoln, which is not totally unlike our modern “magic eye” drawings. The name may be long and unwieldly, but it’s a very literal description of the painting.

Does it work? Let’s try an experiment. Have a look at Max to the well‘s excellent representation of the painting. You can clearly see a figure standing in the middle of the model, facing away from you. That’s meant to be Gala, Dalí’s wife, staring at the sea. Now, move your chair back, away from your computer. You probably won’t be able to go 20 meters, but you can probably go 5 meters (about 16 feet). Now what do you see? Be honest, it looks a little bit like Abraham Lincoln, doesn’t it?

You may now return your seat to its regular upright position.

Birdronica Mark 1 is the definition of the birds’ anger

The Angry Birds Movie will not hit screens until the middle of May, but since the official sets are already in stock, we have some impressive Angry Bird themed creations to share with you. Kelvin Low does his best to help birds defeat greedy pigs by summoning up Tony Stark’s engineering talents. The result is the brutal Birdronica Mark 1. Take a moment to appreciate the iconic cartoonish style of the mech; those exaggerated proportions and the expression on the mech’s face are hilarious. There’s even a tiny cockpit on top. You can check all the details on the creator’s Flickr stream.

The pump-action shotgun of the future

YouTube builder MyDifferentUserName brings the future of covert warfare to life with LEGO bricks. His latest in his blocky arsenal is the KRM-262, a futuristic pump action shotgun from the popular multiplayer shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops III. In the game, most of the weapons have unusual reload functions to further immerse players into its high-tech theme. With a bit of guidance from a sketch model I built, MyDifferentUserName managed to make the robotic reload purely mechanical, taking his already screen accurate build to the next level. Watch his KRM-262 replica in action with working reload function, loadable shotgun shells, moving trigger, and sliding pump action in this video. (Content warning: some actual gameplay shown – Black Ops III ESRB rating M)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpPv2OoOld4

LEGO Speed Champions 75875 Ford F-150 Raptor & Ford Model A Hot Rod [Review]

The entire Speed Champions line needs to work really hard to get my approval because I’ve been in, around, and under cars all my life. So it fell to me to review 75875 Ford F-150 Raptor & Ford Model A Hot Rod. This set, retailing for £39.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 is the second most expensive 2nd wave Speed Champions product after 75876 Porsche 919 Hybrid and 917K Pit Lane. Let’s see how it stacks up…

Click here to read our review