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.

The Big Cat: Incredibly detailed LEGO Caterpillar bulldozer

Some people build spaceships and castles. Others build more down-to-earth items, but build them amazingly well. It doesn’t get more down to earth or well built than this Caterpillar D11T by Davy Linden, which can plow through mountains of earth with ease. The D11T is an unbelievably large bulldozer, weighing in at 115 tons and just shy of 1000 horsepower, capable of crushing trucks with ease. This model excludes no detail, and is roughly twice minifig scale, giving it a whopping 22 inch length. Take time to carefully pore over the details, as many of the tiny greebles are hard to spot against the yellow body.

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A long time ago in a restroom far, far away

Ok there are probably a dozen directions the title of this post could have gone (let your imagination run wild). And there are probably a dozen ways builder Sad Brick (why so sad?) could have portrayed the brilliant gag of using Imperial Stormtrooper helmets as urinals in a Rebel Alliance base. But I’m glad he went for this very stylish – almost palatial – design.

Given the old joke that we never see people in science fiction going to the bathroom, I think this is the sort of thing that would work great as an easter egg in some future LEGO Star Wars video game!

MIDA Multi-Tool from Destiny

Elliott Feldman spent several months to build a life-sized MIDA Multi-Tool Scout Rifle from the video game Destiny. The model is instantly recognizable to those who have played the game, but more interesting is the fact that the creation was scaled to one Lego piece. Find out what this part is in the description video on YouTube, which also showcases other features of the gun.

The cutest one man band ever

The LEGO version of Pixar’s Tinny by Koen may just be one of the cutest one man bands ever. It doesn’t take many pieces to capture the adorable expression on the marching man’s face, giving it a simple evocativeness that’s straight out of the Pixar short which inspired it. My favorite detail is the ski used a nifty feather on the shako.

Transporting you to other worlds

I’m not sure whether these remind me more of our wildly popular microfighter contest, or are meant to foreshadow LEGO’s much anticipated Dimensions product line (JUST ONE MORE WEEK FOLKS). But French builder Eric Druon has assembled this adorable armada of TV and movie inspired miniature road vehicles, in a strict 4-stud-wide format.

Eric has even made instructions available for anyone who wants to build their own copies. And for the record, this is actually *not* the most builds that we’ve ever featured in a single post – but it’s close!

The long haul to LV-426

Over the years, we’ve featured a number of great LEGO vehicles from the Alien franchise, from the ever-popular Cheyenne dropship & APC to the Sulaco and Nostromo. But I think Grantmasters is the first builder I’m aware of to tackle the massive ore refinery that the Nostromo is designed to haul through deep space. At this scale, the famous freighter is built from only eight pieces, but is still quite recognizable.

Week of Wonders: Letranger Absurde [Friday]

To round off our exploration of the rich LEGO repertoire of Letranger Absurde, here is a charming representation of Victorian dandy Algernon Moncrieff, from Oscar Wilde’s farcical play The Importance of Being Earnest. With larger character builds, it’s less common for builders to take the trouble to construct an entire scene, but this one comes fully furnished for the period (the Vermeer painting is an especially nice touch), while the casual posing and puff of brick-built smoke breathe life into the whole thing.

From the builder: “I’m quite fond of this one. Leaving aside the fact that it’s an update to my very first character build and based on the very first play I’ve ever read and fell in love with, I feel that I’ve accomplished some things here: making a detailed scene for my large scale figs that doesn’t feel like a cheap prop and managing a pretty natural pose (most of my previous chars just felt too wooden). I’ve also experimented a bit with photography; despite the loss in clarity and quality, I think the natural low light makes the scene feel more natural.”

A Greater Mutation

The vast majority of builds we feature here are created using ‘traditional’ LEGO System pieces. But there is also a vibrant subculture of fan builders who work almost exclusively with Bionicle and other ‘constraction’ pieces. However, we at The Brothers Brick are old farts, and not tuned to their frequency. So it usually takes a builder to cross that divide to get our attention. Such is the case with this shamanic creation, skillfully conbrickstractificated (with an uncharacteristic lack of purple) by teen builder A Plastic Infinity, who cites the influence of Bionicle/System fusion master Nick Vas.

Week of Wonders: Letranger Absurde [Thursday]

This week we’ve been exploring the works of versatile Romanian builder Letranger Absurde, whose love for antique objects and certain comedy horror movies appeared to collide in this LEGO version of the Necronomicon. Hail to the King, baby!

From the builder: “This is both a tribute to the comedy wonder that is The Evil Dead, and to Mihai Marius Mihu, the builder from my country whose work made me realize for the first time there’s more to LEGO than collecting sets. Klaatu Verata Necktie!”

A LEGO Brickumentary coming to Blu-ray/DVD Nov. 3 [News]

If you haven’t yet seen A LEGO Brickumentary, find a theater playing it or rent it on Amazon or iTunes. It’s a fascinating look at the impact that our favorite toy brick has on the lives of fans and regular non-fans alike. The documentary covers all aspects of the intersection of bricks and people, from custom models like we feature here at TBB to LEGO being used as a therapy tool. Full disclosure: several of our contributors, including myself, have cameos in the documentary (here’s a picture I took at Brickcon). Just chalk that up as another reason to go see it! The film will be available for purchase Nov. 3, but is now available on Amazon for streaming and pre-order: just click the picture below. You can read the official press release after the jump.

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BrickCon 2015 only 2 weeks away [News]

That’s right, the grand pappy of LEGO conventions opens its doors soon in Seattle, Washington. For builders, it’s time to finish up those creations and make final preparations – the most important of which is to REGISTER! Regular builder registration ends September 18th (this Friday) after which the fee jumps from $75 to $100. As well as saving you money, registering before this deadline also secures your engraved badge bricks and goodie bag, so don’t delay. Visitors to the public exhibition (October 3rd and 4rd) can buy tickets either at the door or online, but we strongly recommend online to reduce your wait time on the day.

The theme of BrickCon this year is MOCking History, so expect some interesting mashups of the past, present and future. All the usual building categories (Space, Town, Castle, and so on) will be represented, as well as several new ones… Alongside a new Wild West display will be the Battle of Bricksburg, a civil war collaborative diorama sponsored by The Brothers Brick. BrickCon is also pleased to introduce Screen Scenes, an area dedicated to mini-fig based builds inspired by film, TV, and videogames.

As well as registering themselves, builders should also remember to register their creations. Table space is not infinite, and theme coordinators need to know what people are bringing ahead of time, so that layouts can be properly planned. Bringing an oversized, unregistered MOC during setup is considered very bad form, and may result in your build not being accommodated.

Now is a great time for builders to explore the BrickCon website to find out about all the games, sessions and other activities being offered. There’s always a lot going on, so it helps to plan ahead so you don’t miss out. This year’s parts draft sets are 41085 Vet Clinic and 41075 The Elves Treetop Hideaway. There are also 26 different vendors peddling all kinds of LEGO wares. And if you like scoring stuff, consider supporting the BrickCon Video Kickstarter by our pals over at YouTube channel Beyond the Brick, to guarantee a souvenir video of the whole event and some cool one-of-a-kind rewards.

The Brothers Brick is a proud sponsor of this event. If you have any general questions, we’ll certainly do our best to answer them in the comments. Or you can contact the Con organizers directly. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you all – and your creations – in a couple of weeks. Make sure to come find us and say hi! But please do NOT pet, feed, or make eye contact with the lemur…

…it’s his mating season.

Week of Wonders: Letranger Absurde [Wednesday]

Our next featured creation from Iron Builder veteran and history lover Letranger Absurde features lots of yummy dark brown and one particular example of nice part usage (can you spot it?).

From the builder: “This was built as a request; perfect opportunity for me to build an Arthurian themed MOC since I’ve always wanted to do one. The sword’s pretty much the same from the Witcher build I’ve done previously.”

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