We here at The Brothers Brick love creative part usage. We love mosaics. And we really love when the two come together. We had an opportunity to talk with Deepak Shenoy (Deepshen6) about the creative process behind their recent series of geometric LEGO wonders. Eye-bending and intricate, these designs really satisfy.
While this may not be Santa’s primary residence at the North Pole, we can pretend that this cute cabin by Andrea Lattanzio is Santa’s holiday home. Since Santa only works during the month of December, does he have the rest of the year off? Does he go on holidays? He must go vacationing all over the world since he has so much time. I’d think he has a cabin close by in the Canadian or Siberian wilderness somewhere to to escape his elf-infested home for a bit of peace and quiet. I sure hope he doesn’t need to get away from his wife, and that his marriage to Mrs. Claus is still doing well…
We’ve written about Andrea’s A-frame cabin before, but we forgot to mention who owns the property. Now I’m curious to see Santa’s beach house in a more tropical region of the world. Or maybe I’m just wrong and Santa doesn’t have the rest of the year off, maybe he rents an apartment in a big city and works a boring financial job…
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The Northern Lights (aurora borealis) are one of nature’s most beautiful miracles. Recreating it in LEGO is difficult, but I can’t think of a more marvelous idea than dragon wings. Yep, Malin Kylinger has used multiple sets of marbled dragon wings to recreate this lovely phenomena. The rest of her night sky is beautiful too, with raised diamond tiles used for stars. The scene is made complete with an adorable elf cottage, a fire, reindeer, and a decorated Christmas tree.
It’s that time of year where we start to see lots of great Christmas builds. Check out some past wintery creations we’ve featured, and stay tuned for more!
Ninjago is known for two main things (outside of Ninjas, anyway) – giant mechs and sweet, sweet dragons. The Seabound theme introduces another majestic beast into the mix with LEGO Ninjago 71754 Water Dragon. This 737 piece set is available now from the LEGO Shop Online for US $69.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £59.99. In addition to the dragon there’s also a mini-sub, five minifigures, and a display pedestal. Sounds like a good mix, but is it really? We picked up a copy to find out – come along as we take our own deep dive!
Click to read the full hands-on review
Builder @brickybrick82 has created a perfectly creepy addition to LEGO’s burgeoning Botanical Collection: A flowering Dionaea muscipula or as it’s more commonly known, a Venus Flytrap. It’s a beautiful model with tons of NPU (nice parts usage). The tentacle like dinosaur tails make great leaves and the green clam shells as the hungry mouths are perfect. I was particularly impressed with the flower petals made from the darling of mid-nineties LEGO space sets – the 3 x 5 Solar / Deltoid with Clip. This menacing flora would be right at home in the Addams Family house, nestled in next to Thing’s box.
Building a colony on another world won’t be easy. It’ll require tons of resources that you better hope are available on the planet and that you can build close enough to them. Builder Bob DeQuatre is certainly aware of the issues that go along with settling new worlds. As a precious and necessary resource, water is certainly worth a hike to retrieve. This nuclear-powered, armored water tank, dubbed the Dionysus, was designed by the Mars Corporation to quickly transport water from remote extraction sites to the main outpost. Massive wheels and an armored body ensure that every drop makes it back safely. All while looking absolutely gorgeous with that white and red color scheme and interesting angles around that elevated cabin.
Today LEGO has revealed that the latest set in the long-running Skyline series of Architecture sets will be 21057 Singapore. The 827-piece microscale model will feature some of the city-state’s most prominent landmarks, including the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel, which also got its own standalone Architecture set back in 2013. Other locations in the skyline include the Lau Pa Sat market, One Raffles Place and OCBC skyscrapers, the posh Fullerton Hotel, the historic Boat Quay, and the distinctive and beautiful Gardens by the Bay nature park full of towering artificial trees covered in lush vegetation. The set will retail for US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99 and will be available starting Jan. 1.
Alas, this small hamlet has been invaded by a variety of monsters! A sinister banshee haunts the field while a werewolf creeps around the village. However, a Witcher has just arrived on the outskirts of town. Will he be able to help villagers fight against these foul creatures? This fantastic build comes from Ciamosław Ciamek and has a vibrant style in its colour scheme. The thick coverage of leaves on the trees suggests that the town is located on the edge of a dense forest. There is a great build for the field as it uses textured pieces to create grooves in the dirt.
Luckily, it seems as though the travelling Witcher is experienced in fighting monsters as the head of a demonic-looking creature swings from his saddle. The diorama also has one character taking part in kissing a frog while onlookers stare at her. These intricate details assist in conveying that the town is teeming with compelling stories and intriguing characters.
My first thought when looking at this build was that LEGO already makes an E.T. that would scale perfectly. But it turns out that using the official E.T. pieces wasn’t in the cards for builder Dan Ko, as this is his first creation for an Iron Builder competition. The seed element is the toy winder key in dark orange, which explains why it’s subbing in for the titular alien in this box art recreation. It’s an out-of-this-world repurposing of the part. And we have to award bonus points for the video game controller acting as Elliot’s hair.
What happens when you change up the position of the components of a classic Vic Viper? You’ll end up with a Pasukaru Viper! Pascal decided to step away from the classic Vic Viper rules and changed the location of the twin-pronged fuselage. Rotating them changes the silhouette of the Vic Viper and adds a new flavor to the beloved spacecraft. The usage of the octagonal squiggle brick adds a nice touch to the vehicle. The primary colours of this vehicle somehow remind me of the plastic toys you would get at fast-food chain restaurants during the ’90s. Which for me is a ticket straight to memory lane. The fact that these colours come from the classic LEGO themes Aquanauts and Aquasharks is another reason to hop on that nostalgia bus.
Busts have become ever-popular, and with them have come a wealth of fun ideas. Builders trying their hand at sculpting a character’s features with bricks are forced to try new things and innovate. This Goblin bust by builder Jnj_bricks was such a foray that was definitely successful. Texturing really helped this character come through, from the spikey, short hair to the boats used in his jacket. The knobbly, green skin translates well as a Goblin, as do the bright orange eyes which hold a mischievous light. The gold earrings and jutting jaw with sharp teeth add that extra bit of character emblematic of this trickster species in lore, old and new.
Quite a few techniques were used to achieve all the interesting angles and textures of this build. Though Jnj_bricks says this is a very different style for him, it’s clear it wasn’t too far out of his range.
Winter is coming, and this time it has nothing to do with Game of Thrones but rather a regular winter in the northern hemisphere. Thankfully, Alexandre Rossier is up for the task with this massive LEGO ’67 Unimog 406. He tells us that the fully-detailed model is remote-controlled with a 4×4 with central differential, portal axles, and a 6-cylinder engine that you can admire by removing the cabin. I’m particularly smitten by its stance, color, beefy tires, snowplow…pretty much everything that makes it a Unimog.
