OK, so the builder of this awesome LEGO robot family, Bartosz Sasiński, didn’t actually imply they’re a family, just that they’re a team. But especially with the little four-legged dog bot, I prefer to think of this as a cute family of exploration drones, and they’re magnificently sculpted with a clean aesthetic that Bartoz has carried through to the display base, which is perfectly minimalist.
It’s that time of the year again when the Rogue Olympics contest sweeps the LEGO community. The first round’s theme is “Above the clouds”, and builder Dan Ko delivers this wonderful scene from the 1984 film The NeverEnding Story. Coming in at 27 parts, the scene features Atreyu and Falkor flying through the sky, an iconic and immediately recognizable scene from the movie. What I really like about this build is Falkor. The luck dragon’s body comes together with a series of battle droid bodies. At this scale, they work well to bring the Falkor’s face and body to life.
The LEGO fan community spans the whole globe, and I love traveling vicariously through builds like this one from the well-traveled Lasse Vestergård. This creation allows us to travel to Uzbekistan – admittedly not a place that was high on my destination hit list. But isn’t it beautiful? It depicts the historic city of Bukhara. The blue decorations of the Mir-i-Arab madrasah make use of a lot of flower pieces, depicting the well-preserved paintwork of the real building. And if you thought there were a lot of flowers here, try and work out how many 1×2 plates and 1×1 studs are used in the Kalyan Minaret next to it! My guess is, er, a lot. It’s a tried-and-tested method of making round towers, but the considerable height makes it look like brickwork here, to great effect.
When it comes to making LEGO Star Wars builds, one of my favourite things to make is the smaller, one-man craft. Partly because it’s less parts-intensive (and therefore usually cheaper!), but also because of the challenge. Making an accurate model while retaining a modicum of structural integrity is not always easy. And on top of that, they need to fit a minifigure pilot! Or a battle droid, in this case. This is where parts like the wands from Harry Potter sets come in handy. Once I picked up a couple of those and the candle-stick pieces to form the cannons of these Single Trooper Aerial Platforms (STAPs), the rest of the build flowed quickly from there. It’s funny how one or two pieces can dictate the entirety of a build, even small ones.
Peeled from the pages of Crayon Shin-chan is this intense rendition of Kantam Robo by Moko. I’ve got to say, this robot sports some incredibly clean lines, utilizing a wide variety of studless slopes and tiles to adult-ify the character from the manga by Yoshito Usui. All the contours and sharp corners along the build help to add depth to a creation that’s primarily green, creating pockets of shadow and bright reflective surfaces. But my favorite bit has to be the detail put into the mouth grill of the mech. It utilizes, among other parts, the minifig shirt collar to get the perfect spacing. Overall, it’s a significant step up from Moko’s first attempt at the character almost a decade ago (which was already pretty awesome).
General Grievous’s ship from Star Wars gets some love in this great LEGO build from Fuku Saku. Known as Soulless One, the ship is a customized starfighter that features some slick lines. This build makes plentiful use of curved LEGO pieces and tiles to keep the shaping true to the ship’s design. The clean appearance allows our eyes to pass over the ship’s lines with ease. The orange and yellow details draw us to them, breaking up the overall grey of the ship. I particularly love the construction of the orange and yellow sections that join the wings to the main body. These are typically more muted, but in this build they’re brighter, making the ship feel a little bit like a hotrod. Looking at this build, the ship looks sleek and fast–I’d love to see this thing with some racing upgrades for a galactic contest.
Take a quick peek inside the cockpit to gander at Grievous’s controls. It’s a truly spectacular culmination of angles creating that cabin-sized cavity.
I’ve been following the LEGO Pokémon creations of pino_creations and nunsseugae for a while now. But when these two trainers combined their talents to handle the duo Solrock and Lunatone, they really knocked it out of the park! The pockmarked craters on Lunatone’s surface are perfect, as is its little beak of a mouth nestled right inside its crescent. And I particularly like the use of this T-bar for the vertical pupil on this ‘Mon in the moon. Solrock’s eyes are also spectacular, utilizing the minifig handlebars to great effect. The flame yellow fins jutting out in all directions are wonderful, as are the pyramidal points bisecting its body.
If you see this hovering out your window chances are you’re in some deep trouble. It has a capacity for eight troops so you know things are about to get hairy. Thankfully for the rest of us, we can enjoy this LEGO replica built by Stefan Johannson from the relative comfort of our homes. Even as a LEGO model, this thing oozes menace! I particularly like the sag of the rotor blades. Initially introduced by the Soviet Airforce in 1972, this timeless gunship is currently being used by fifty-eight countries and has served in dozens of skirmishes, including the current Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This particular model is sporting Ukrainian colors so there is a high probability its real-life counterpart is defending its people and giving those invaders the business. Serious attack helicopter business! News reports cite that the resilient Ukrainian people have been successful in taking down Russian forces with pickled vegetable jars and farm equipment. I can only imagine what they can do with this.
While we don’t often feature LEGO works-in-progress here on TBB, when an update is as impressive and “complete” on it’s own as this amazing build by llego_pig, we make an exception! Acting as part one of a Red Keep build from Game of Thrones, this chunk of medium nougat tower is astounding, with it’s impressive texturing and occasional splotches of added color. The rockwork next to it is superb, as are the two little shacks at the base of the wall. Each construction is perfectly ramshackle for the setting, and utilizes some great technique in creating the walls. But my favorite part of the build by far has got to be the high tide waterline visible along the dock. What a fantastic little detail that does so much to bring the build to life!
Every week readers of the The Brothers Brick Telegram channel choose the Creation of the Week: one project that impressed all of us the most. This week it’s a tie! Dracomata by Michael Kanemoto and king box by Pan Noda both conquered hearts of our readers, getting equal amount of votes.
Meanwhile, the new vote is already on! Join our Telegram channel to follow all the best LEGO creations, latest news, and, of course, vote for your favorites. See you there!
No stranger to excellent LEGO bricksmanship, Andreas Lenander travels back to southern Mexico in the 1500s for his latest build. For the Aztecs of that time, feathers were of great importance and were frequently used to make intricate headwear such as this. Birds were seen as beasts of great power, were central in the story of the founding of Tenochtitlan, and were a part of their belief in rebirth after death. It’s no wonder that Lenander goes to great lengths to use a variety of feather parts in this headdress. The shaping is astounding, and pairs perfectly with the golden filigree and tri-leaf pieces used throughout.
First launched in 2007, the LEGO Indiana Jones theme has brought us many fun scenes from all four movies, and as we prepare to rejoin our favorite professor/archeologist/adventurer in the upcoming 5th movie, LEGO has revived the theme with a wave of three new sets releasing in April. The largest set from this wave is the 18+ branded 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol, a 3-part diorama similar to smaller scenes from Harrison Ford’s other blockbuster franchise, Star Wars. The diorama set is based on the opening sequence of the movie Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which Indiana braves a dark and foreboding tomb in an attempt to recover an idol. Many key moments from this sequence are including, from the spiked trap that impales the unwary, the deep pit Indian swings across with his trusty bullwhip, a row of faces that shoot poison darts, and ending (or beginning) with a large boulder that rolls down a slope to block the exit, trapping anyone who isn’t fast enough to outrun it. The set includes a number of Technic elements that allow the play features to be operated simply by twisting dials mounted on the front. LEGO Indiana Jones 77014 The Temple of the Golden Idol contains 1,545 pieces and will be available on April 1 for US $149.99 | CAN $199.99 | UK £129.99
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.