Speaking of LEGO Ultimate Collector Series sets, it seems that fans only care about giant models of famous vehicles and starships. But what about droids, especially the most essential ones? Jared Reisweber pays tribute to the unnoticed workhorse, the iconic Gonk Droid. I think this large-scale build looks gorgeous. All the buttons, wires, and indicators are spot-on, and how can you not like those adorable feet? The only thing I would change is the amount of weathering, but who needs a beat-up droid?
Category Archives: LEGO
Build an Among Us character in LEGO and customise them to your fancy [Instructions]
Kosmas Santosa or better known as Kos Brick is back from a hiatus from the LEGO custom building scene. One of his new favourites of ours is showcasing tiny builds with instructions to go along. Among Us is one that is adorable and isn’t overly complex to build with the right parts in your LEGO arsenal.
Click to see the video instructions
An alternate tribute to automotive history
It’s probably fair to say that Firas Abu-Jaber is an expert at building realistic models of iconic cars. The attention to detail and scale in his designs helps him realize some truly life-like designs. On top of that, he’s fond of making these insane replicas as alternates to LEGO Creator Expert sets like the Ford Mustang and the Fiat 500. I mean, this replica of a Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattro Valvole is amazingly detailed for being an alternate of the LEGO Creator Expert 10295 Porsche 911 and it isn’t even the first alternate build he’s done of that set! Let’s take a closer look at what Firas is able to do with a parts limit.
Initiate happiness protocols or face termination…
Your smile is your most valuable asset. That’s why Bob Droid, by Simon Liu, is going to make sure it stays on your face by eliminating anything that might make you frown. Bob Droid is a prototype Ansui VIP protective drone unit, which no doubt costs a bundle. But it’s worth it to keep away any would-be assassins. By adding a printed emoji tile to a futuristic mech, Simon’s made something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. With a super-articulated frame and a smile as bright as the explosions from his rocket launcher, you’ll never feel happier than you do with Bob Droid at your side.
Apprentice of the blacksmith
Whenever I go to a new building that is quite large and has a big open space, like a warehouse or a church, I always get the feeling that I am a tremendously small speck of a human being on a very big planet. It is almost humbling in a way. I’ve never had this feeling when looking at a LEGO creation up till now. The picture of the blacksmith created by Benjamin Stenlund evoked the exact same feeling for me. This building has to be between 35 to 40 bricks high. Which by itself is massive.
The building itself is constructed out of brick build bricks. This helps to prevent the Big Grey Wall Effect. It also adds to the feeling that this building is immense. Another thing that makes this creation stand out is the lighting. We have light coming from the oven and light coming through the gate and through the windows. The way the light enters the blacksmith makes it feel like it is a real setting and not just a well-lit LEGO creation. The attention to detail in this creation is superb. The sliding gate gets some nice wood carving. The arched vault windows are made out of cheese slopes, plates, and bricks. These arches also show how thick the walls are which attributes to the big building vibe. Ben describes that the building has to be this big in order for dragons to have their armor fittings. Which sounds like a very valid reason indeed.
Lombax and the Bot
Watching my brothers during the summer months usually meant playing video games for hours on end until about an hour before our parents got home. In our flurry of cleaning before the front door opened, we always looked forward to the next day, the next level, the next boss. One of our absolute favorites was Ratchet & Clank, and I’m sure we weren’t alone on that. Though many of us can’t yet enjoy the newest edition in the series on the PlayStation 5, we can at least appreciate these fantastic models of the titular characters by Peter Zieske. Built at a great scale with wonderful color-blocking and parts usage, the construction enables expressive articulation and posing which make this duo a great addition to any gaming shrine or entertainment center.
The alternate option to attach Clank to Ratchet’s back is also a crucial detail for that extra level of immersion in the characters. Great job on capturing these guys, Peter.
The Fast and the Fellowship
In 2016, LEGO introduced the Mighty Micros line, featuring heroes and villains doing battle in tiny, individually-themed supercars. Unfortunately, as fun as those sets were, the line was limited to the Marvel and DC licenses. But now builder Milan Sekiz has now offered us a glimpse at what might have been, had the line expanded to Rivendell and beyond. Who cares if there are no internal combustion engines in Middle Earth? These things are adorable. And they perfectly blend the Mighty Micros spirit with the heroes and villains of this epic saga. From Aragon’s horse-powered horse to the Uruk-hai driving a literal white hand, it’s the cutest Tolkien’s work has ever been.
Join the The Brothers Brick team as a Social Media Specialist or a News Contributor [News]
As one of the most popular LEGO websites in the world, with a monthly reach of several million, The Brothers Brick is a much more complex operation than many of our readers may expect. At the same time, our readers may also be surprised that every one of our team members is a volunteer! If you’d like to be part of the team that supports a diverse, global audience of highly engaged LEGO fans, TBB is looking for a Social Media Specialist to help support our growth and a News Contributor to cover breaking news. If you want to make our social media channels sing and provide up-to-date LEGO news to fans across the globe, read on!
Click to read more about the roles
This build really gets my goat
One of my favorite creatures of folklore is the Chupacabra, an animal known for draining the blood of goats and other livestock. Builder Joss Woodyard has created a post-apocalyptic take on this cryptid with the Gamma Sucker. No doubt livestock is harder to come by in the wasteland, so this nuclear-powered techno-beast drinks the radiation from whatever it can.
The use of color here creates the sense of a mechanical creature that’s coursing with energy and life, despite its dirty and rusted frame. And I love the implied function of the “digestive system.” It’s so easy to imagine the absorbed radiation flowing through the trans-clear/lime hoses, into those processing tanks on the side, and then getting fed into the rear-mounted engine to drive those giant treads, which just push the monster forward in search of more radiation. It’s a vicious cycle, but a guy’s gotta eat.
Precariously perched upon the precipice
Usually, floating islands include, well, an island. Something in the way of solid ground, albeit ground that floats mysteriously above the clouds. Not so with this stone tower topped with a timber-framed structure by Ralf Langer, who took a minimalist approach to the base of the model. There’s nothing minimal about the rest of the building, from the cracked and weathered stone base featuring unconventionally colored doors, all the way up to the black roof with a scattering of quarter tiles which provide a great texture.
Unimog unifies form and function
You may or may not be familiar with the Unimog – Mercedes’s all-wheel-drive multi-purpose utility vehicle. Usually they can be found constructing European highways or operating farm equipment. LEGO Technic veteran Kyle Wigboldy built the Unimog U-400 with an orange cab cleverly constructed with a combination of Technic elements and traditional LEGO. It took me a closer look to realise that this isn’t an official set from ten years ago, but rather a smaller build. Now that I have taken a closer look, this is in the same scale as the upcoming LEGO Technic 4×4 Zetros, which is based on a similar Mercedes truck.
This build is packed to the brim with functions, such as the Technic essentials: engines, steering, suspension, all-wheel drive. This Unimog model also offers pneumatics, and power take-offs linked to the drive, which allow attachment equipments to be powered from the truck, as demonstrated by the motorised LEGO set. While this build does not come with attachments, it does have a flatbed with variable three-way tilt. You can check it out in the video below:
Check out some other Unimogs that other people have built!
TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for July 10, 2021
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 second week of July 2021.
TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS The show about nothing spawned a set about everything! The lid was lifted on an easter-egg filled tribute to the 90’s sitcom Seinfeld. We also ran a feature on stickers and why LEGO uses them so often when fans want printed elements. In other TV-related news, we talked with the third eliminated team on LEGO Masters Season 2 in the US. We also saw more Brickheadz Pets hit the internet, and the Minions are back in animated LEGO form.
- [FEATURE] Why do LEGO sets have stickers instead of printed parts? — TBB dives in and illustrates a recent revealing Reddit discussion by designer Mark Stafford.
- [NEWS] LEGO Ideas 21328 Seinfeld unveiled — Brent Waller conceived a Seinfeld set for LEGO Ideas, yadda yadda yadda, now the official set is here.
- [NEWS] LEGO.com reveals new Brickheadz Pets — Check out the Ginger Tabbies, Cockatiels, and Hamsters revealed this week!
- [FEATURE] Leaving LEGO Masters (US) S2 — We chat with the third team eliminated from LEGO Masters Season 2
- [NEWS] Animated LEGO Minion short — Madcap minion antics are on full display in this animated short
Click through to read more LEGO news from around the world