Sometimes little details get lost on big LEGO models. This is not the case for Marius Herrmann’s latest LEGO creation. This one is big! At least 50 bricks high not counting the antenna. We are looking at a model loosely inspired by ‘The Legend of Anchin and Kiyohime’. I am not at all familiar with the story so I’ll just take Marius’ word that it is about unrequited love. After being rejected one of the characters transforms into a dragon to trap the other in a temple. This is beautifully translated to this build where we can see a tree with lavender foliage violently wrap itself around a Pagoda. I love how subtle yet evident the dragon shape is hidden in the tree. If you focus on the temple you’ll lose the dragon. But if you focus on the tree the dragon is most definitely there.
Category Archives: LEGO
You don’t need a massive base to fight the Empire
It can be hard to capture the majesty of some of the larger Star Wars locations at a scale that matches LEGO’s own sets. We have seen a few variations on the Masasi temple on Yavin IV at minifigure scale, but they all only feature a small section of the enormous rebel base. Anders Horvath has found the solution: downsize! This tiny temple appears to have been scaled around an X-wing polybag. In fact, make that several X-wing polybags! The benefit of microscale is that creating a rebel fleet is much less parts-intensive. The temple detail doesn’t suffer at this small scale though. There’s still plenty of texture in the ruins, as well as the paraphernalia that comes with running a rag-tag organization of misfits in the fight against evil.
I’m no botanist, but I know a pretty build when I see one
He might be better known as a Star Wars builder, but I’ve really been enjoying Amado Canlas Pinlac‘s floral builds of late. The quality is super consistent and super high – they’ve even been exhibited at the LEGO House in Billund! The latest addition to the garden is this Amazon Exotic Flora. I’ve no idea if this is an accurate representation of the real thing, or if it is even a real plant at all! All I know is, it’s beautiful, and I would love one on my mantelpiece…
A car repair shop that has all the right parts
While this section of downtown by EMazingbrix has definitely seen better days, it certainly can’t have seen better LEGO part usage! I’m absolutely in love with the front door of that apartment building, utilizing a 1×1 bracket for a hinge plate, and a white rubber band to frame the window. The steps leading down from the door are fantastic, as are all the textures on the buildings walls and roof. And the blotches of moss along the sidewalk and structures provide an excellent run-down feel. But my favorite bit of this build has got to be the roof of the repair shop, with its latticed slopes poking out the top. The shop sports a clean finish compared to its neighbor thanks to some superb use of sloped bricks laid on their sides.
TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for September 24th, 2022 [News]
In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the fourth week of September 2022.
TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS News was a little light this week, but we did get our first look at this year’s addition to the LEGO winter village line-up. And in movie news, the first BrickHeadz set from the Avatar franchise landed on our doorstep. In case this week’s news roundup leaves you wanting more, check out our last Brick Report for more news and reviews you may have missed.
- [NEWS] 10308 Holiday Main Street unveiled as LEGO’s 2022 Winter Village addition — An adorable streetcar and two main street buildings will be a perfect addition to the growing winter village.
- [REVIEW] LEGO Avatar 40554 Jake Sully & his Avatar — With new Avatar movies just around the corner, we journey back to Pandora with our review of this Brickheadz set of Sully and his avatar.
- [NEWS] Announcing our TBB sponsored BrickCon 2022 Collaboration — With Brickcon 2022 just 1 week away, time is running out to be part of the TBB collaborative display. MOCs must be registered before midnight on Sunday, September 26th.
A crusade to distant worlds
While knights in armour might often be associated with big grey castles, they did venture much further east in the (often ill-fated) crusades. Andreas Lenander has applied this scenario to LEGO’s own Black Falcon knights. Despite the sun and those hot-looking outfits, they look quite content to be living here! To be fair, it’s much more colourful than their typical monochrome abodes. This style of architecture does require some different techniques than you might expect in typical castles. I’m drawn to the domed roofs on the two larger buildings, each made using half a planet — specifically, I believe it’s Endor and Bespin. Talk about an out-of-this-world idea!
A teeny-tiny Typhoon airstrike
LEGO builder Greyson proves you don’t need a metric crap-ton of bricks to build something neat. Here’s an adorable RAF Typhoon built from seemingly just over twenty parts. We salute you, Grayson!
Miniature motorbikes in multiples
Some LEGO builders make spaceships, and some construct castles. RGB900 makes motorcycles, and a lot of them. To be sure, there are a few other excellent builds among their oeuvre, but the bulk of it is motorcycles, and they’re darn good ones at about as close to minifigure scale as it’s possible to get. Let’s take a look at a few, ranging from the classic to the futuristic.
When building at this scale, every piece is at a premium and must be carefully selected to fit the finished result, as there are very few hidden structural elements. Everything from minifigure hands to robot arms and binoculars is transformed into motorbike machinery.
And let’s not overlook the beautiful presentation, without which I likely would have skipped right past these tiny bikes. The low angle enlarges their size, making them feel much larger than the 3-4 inches that they are.
It’s like a window into my paunchy, balding soul
Felix Jaensch has used about 14,500 LEGO pieces to build this rather unflattering fellow and now I wonder if he has caught a glimpse of me checking the mail. Paunchy, check. balding, check. Coffee stains, socks, and sandals, disheveled appearance, surly attitude; check, check, check and check. I don’t recall giving you permission to build me in LEGO, you jerk! Upon closer inspection though, Felix tells us this figure is 175 cm tall, which is slightly taller than I am, so we can now add short to my list of qualifications as a slovenly malcontent. At least he didn’t swipe my total likeness after all. This dude bears a close resemblance to Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force but it isn’t quite him. Felix doesn’t state a specific person in his write-up but he’s a fairly average representation of what a lot of us are like.
See him in his full, coffee-stained, grumpy, socks and Adiletten-wearing glory.
Building life-sized sculptures are pretty much Felix’s thing. Check out our Felix Jaensch archives to see what I mean. Now get off my lawn, you ingrates!
The face of the last Toa
This model hit the feed and gripped the mind of every Bionicle fan that saw it. Builder Sandro Quattrini took brick-built figures to the next level with this fresh take on that iconic Toa face, sans Kanohi. The builder’s take on this warrior’s body varies slightly in their recreation of classic figure-building pieces but pays proper homage to the original nonetheless. Nice parts usage abounds throughout the design as Sandro adorns a brick-built Bionicle with the remains of the Jungle Dragon. Surviving the Ninjago apocalypse can be pretty brutal but not so much for the Toa.
When life gives you arches, make arches-ade.
Builder Calin picked up a set of small inverted arches for a project, but found they didn’t fit as he’d intended. But rather than toss them directly into his parts bin, he found the inspiration to use them in this delightful T-Bucket hot rod. A few tiles and ingots to build out the fenders and running boards, and this build is off to the races. Proof that when it comes to LEGO, no parts ever really go to waste.
This LEGO Casa Madrigal from Disney’s Encanto really dances along
At this point, nothing from LEGO builder extraordinaire Paul Hetherington should really surprise me, and yet I was still blown away when I saw this recreation of Casa Madrigal from Disney’s Encanto. But not because it’s wonderfully detailed—although it is—but because unlike any of the other beautiful LEGO versions that I’ve seen, this one really dances along, just like the magical house in the movie.
Paul has packed the interior of the house with motors and mechanisms that cause the roof tiles to pulse in rhythm, the shutters and doors to open and close, and even the rain cloud to rock back and forth.
Be sure to check out more of Paul’s amazing work that we’ve featured: Paul Hetherington on TBB