You may hate stickers, but, oh boy, you should never underestimate them. With his latest vic viper, Huw Gwilliam shows us a masterclass in giving a spaceship a classy outfit. Since it’s a render, I’m happy to see Huw not being limited by the shapes and colors of the livery. It’s amazing how much volume do the stickers add to the build, making it much more complicated than the pieces could on the same scale.
Spanish LEGO fan-builder Lepralego builds one of the cozies LEGO city corner I’ve seen. And it’s not a flower shop or a family restaurant (which are cozy per se), but a railways station, and a grand one! I adore the way the buildings include all the architectural elements of larger versions while fitting in such a tiny corner. Using rail curves for the station’s roof isn’t new, but it suits the whole build so well. And with all the other excellent piece combinations, I would totally still this diorama for my own LEGO city.
I think I was twelve or thirteen when the Digimon Movie came to America. The power of Omnimon’s line as he saves the world from Diaboromon held so much power to me back then. My younger brothers and I were obsessed, watching it countless times during the summers until our parents came home and forced us outside. I honestly still have the WarGreymon poseable figure that I cherished back then. So seeing builder Kekenoji’s brilliant model of the iconic Omnimon, I just had to write about it. After recently watching Digimon Tri, the newest continuation of the Digi-Destined’s story, this character was fresh in my mind, and Kekenoji did a marvelous job modeling this awesome warrior.
The main body is nicely stylized, built with various techniques and upside-down bricks to give the effect of a suit of armor. The chest uses stacked 1×2 plates to achieve the blue stripes. Tires provide body to the core, as well as strength through friction, something Kekenoji makes use of again in the arms and the joints of the legs. The capes that the builder used have a pretty goofy source, coming from a few Zerg’s from the Toy Story line that Kekenoji had.
In an era when cable TV and video games were just starting to compete for our attention, the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes inspired a generation of kids to have a renewed appreciation for the wonder of the outdoors and the versatility of cardboard boxes. But the cartoonist, Bill Watterson, was always adamant that his strip never be merchandised in the way comics like Peanuts and Garfield had been. So, outside of a few book collections, readers were left with few options when it came to celebrating their fandom. Thankfully, LEGO is a product that encourages you to build anything your imagination can conceive of. And Simon Liu has taken advantage of that fact to grace us with brick-built versions of Calvin and his feline companion.
This build recreates one of the more famous images of the pair, a shot of them balancing on a log which first appeared in The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book. It’s everything I’d want to see in a hypothetical licensed LEGO set. Not only are the characters perfectly realized, but the attention paid to the wilderness base they stand on has all the hallmarks of Watterson’s art. The soft palette of colors evokes the watercolors that were often used on supplemental book images. And details like the log’s crooked tiling and the small dip in the creek give the environment the same realistic feel that landscapes in the strip were known for. While Watterson may not ever want to see this as a set for sale, I’ve no doubt that seeing the effort that Simon put into honoring his creations would make him smile.
For LEGO fans like myself, September is a very special month. Known as SHIPtember to us space nerds, the month presents a challenge for builders to create a giant spaceship at least 100-studs long. Though many take this to mean length, some builders also play with the width and height of thier builds to meet the requirements. Enter builder Oscar Cederwall and his ship, the Claymore. This thin, lanky design features an interior mechanism for mirrored movement of the wings. According to Oscar, also know as o0ger, this allows fleets of these to be stowed on larger vessels. The single stud width of the main body was a design challenge that the builder solved with the two detailed black sections that run the length of the ship. These greebled portions make up a part of the tandem plasma cannons at each end of the body while also holding the structure of the ship together, with some help from the engine. This thin design gives the ship a small profile in firefights making it a formidable foe that cuts through the enemies much like its namesake.
This design is based on a concept by Theo Stylianides and it proved to be a delicate build that even broke apart during the build process. In addition to the black stripes on the side, the wing folding mechanism is held in a Technic structure that also holds the top and bottom together.
This is hands down one of my favorite months, especially as a participant. Seeing SHIPs like Oscar’s always excites and inspires me. The massive vessels that builders pump out during this month are a wonder to behold. Especially when they render it into a space scene and really immerse our imagination.
When you look at as many LEGO creations every day as we do here at The Brothers Brick, you see a lot of similar models. But sometimes, something comes along that just makes you smile, like this wonderful model by Kale Frost. Not only is this retro TV well-crafted, but the test pattern adds a bit of whimsy. I’m old enough to remember when there were only 4-5 channels to choose from, and you had to walk over to the set and jiggle the antenna a bit now and then to fix the picture. and that first time you turned on the new color set and saw that technicolor pattern, you knew you were in for a treat.
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 final week of September 2021.
TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS Baseplate packaging changes and a Ninjago Seabound review were shared on TBB this week. As new LEGO sets have just been released, stay tuned for more news soon!
OTHER NEWS Our news roundup includes other news from around the world, including a do-it-yourself brick sorting system, another massive donation from the LEGO Foundation, and a set designer video!
Actually, I lied a little but I don’t feel my nose growing just yet so I think I’m in the clear. If I were to rank the things I like I would have to concur with Sir Mix-a-Lot and place my affinity for big butts in a tier higher than that of Pinocchio. But, BUTT still this LEGO Pinocchio bust (not butt) by Rokan Cheung is (you other brothers can’t deny) pretty legit. His little pal Jimminy Cricket has got it going on, too. I like it enough to at least check out what else Rokan has done and I’m pretty impressed, I must say. Here’s a few other busts we featured earlier including a Toy Story pair by this same builder.
A childhood spent watching sugary cereal commercials has conditioned me to believe that toucan beaks are some sort of highly advanced, fruit-detecting radar system. If that’s not true, don’t tell me. I’d rather not know. Regardless, Lee Nuo’s take on the keel-billed variety of toucan has got enough bright colors to give me some serious Saturday morning flashbacks. And they’re all pretty spot-on accurate to the real thing; from the lime green bill to the medium blue legs and toes (which make clever use of some minifigure hands). It all pops brilliantly against the body, made mostly from black Technic panels.
Moko amazes us again with another incredible transformable mech build. The shark mode is the first form, which has a smooth-looking texture across its body; perfect for gliding through the water. The metallic teeth in the mouth suggest that this model is ready to chomp down on its enemies. The sections for the robotic form are so tightly packed away that you might forget there is actually a mech hidden within.
If the shark mode is not causing enough damage, the machine can transform into its formidable mech mode. There are a few surprising details within this mode; the first is that the previous form divides at the mouth, with the split sections becoming part of the shoulders. Another intriguing detail is that the arms are portrayed by horse saddle pieces from the Belville sets. The gun is reminiscent of weapons used in mecha shows, even down to the pink scope.
Moko has a created a build that looks fantastic in both of its modes. The transformation is fascinating and can be viewed in the video below. Parts are stretched out, lower sections are twisted and turned, all resulting in a smooth and clever conversion process between the modes.
Check out more of our articles, relating to transformable models, here.
If there’s one thing people in my life know about me, it’s my love of LEGO. I’ve probably bored enough of them out of their mind at this point to recognize when their eyes begin to glaze over as they start thinking of their groceries. So when something like this comes along and even non-LEGO fanatics are fascinated by it, I relish the moment. This model surely deserves attention, but it’s one you have to hear to appreciate. A stroke of ingenuity led builder Peter Zieske to create this adorable, azure record player that actually works.
The music notes adorning the sides are clever decorations made possible by the Trolls line. A brick-built speaker and knob on the front complete the pleasing clamshell design which opens up to reveal the needle and the turntable.
Let’s take a peek under the record and see how the magic is made. Thanks to a Boost Color sensor and an app, Peter was able to elevate this from imitation to working model. The sensor reads the different colored circular tiles under the brick-built record and communicates with the app to play different tones. I imagine Peter was pretty excited to get this working so the Ode to Joy is quite an appropriate first song.
Packed away inside the beautiful body of this model, in addition to the color sensor, is a motor for the turntable and a Powered UP hub to control it all. The technology fits nicely inside the frame, especially when you consider that this isn’t a full-sized record player.
This is an impressive build that suggests the possibilities that LEGO provides us. I can’t help but imagine how many songs could be made with this or what a few more color sensors and a bigger turntable could do. Models like this can go beyond the lines of diehard LEGO fans to music fans and record collectors. Builder Peter Zieske should put on his favorite record, sit back, and savor this accomplishment.
One thing better than a model by a super-skilled LEGO builder is a model by two super skilled LEGO builders. Joe (jnj_bricks) and Brick Ninja teamed up to create the Temple of the Rising Sun, a moment of battle captured for RebelLUG’s Kingdoms at War II contest. Brick Ninja handled the foreground’s battle scene, fortress, and bridge. Joe created the temple and background landscapes. The cool thing to me is how integrated both builds are. The repeated motifs of circular gold rings, wall textures, vegetation style, and red accents unify the two creations into a seamless whole.
Brick Ninja’s fortress is alive with interesting shapes and creative part usage in the torches. The bridge is elegant and action-packed. And be sure to spend some time zooming in on the background to appreciate the great forced perspective building from Joe. And when you’ve soaked up all you can from this image, go look in our archives for more great temple builds!