Those LEGO builders who love teal have a new ally in the fight against those who seek to wipe it off the face of the LEGO color palette. This well-armed and armored tank by Ivan Martynov, which has so many guns, even the treads are packing heat. The rolling arsenal features an unusual shape, with those long treads out front… and judging by the tally of old ladies silhouetted on the side, has no respect for the elderly either.
Japanese tiger beetles are one of the coolest bugs on the planet. Not only is this epic predator shrouded in a rainbow, but it also sprints the equivalent of a human ultramarathon every day. It’s one of the fastest-running critters out there. I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with those mandibles either. Takamichi Irie is known for his exceptional LEGO beetles, and this is one of his best. The body shape and mosaic-like exoskeleton really make it stand out and come to life.
Takamichi’s unique style involves the use of loads of minifigure hands. You have to wonder how he gets them. Does he have a hundred poor minifigs without hands, or does he get them in bulk? Maybe our past interview with him will shed a little light on his work.
Brothers Brick contributor Chris Doyle is back with another heroic attempt at a mosaic in the LEGO Art style. What’s his reasoning this time?
Thanks to the LEGO Art sets, I’ve been on a real mosaic building kick lately. My last two (Wonder Woman and Kinga Forrester) were collaborative builds, but for my next effort I wanted to do one that was just by me. For a subject I decided on Christopher Reeve’s unforgettable role as Superman. Why? Because this is the sort of superhero the world really needs these days. The total build is around 5,400 parts (5,376 1×1 plates/tiles in the 48×112 stud image).
Once again I made use of the LEGO Art Remix web site to generate several different sets of instructions. My first attempt was…well, let’s be charitable and just say “it didn’t quite work out as planned.” But once I settled on a better alternate image things went together pretty quickly. (It took the same time to build as it takes to watch Superman, Superman II, Superman II: The Donner Cut, and Superman III. I was worried it might stretch into Superman IV territory, but not quite.).
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Happy holidays to all of our fellow LEGO builders! As is tradition, we at The Brothers Brick will be opening our advent calendars as we count down to Christmas. We’ll also be sharing commentary on each one, which will be both insightful and hilarious!
This year we have new Harry Potter, Star Wars, City and Friends advent calendars to open. We will be sharing images of the new calendars every day through Christmas, and hope that you’ll join us! Let’s see what there is to open on Day 9.
Junk traders and scrappers are very common hobbies or occupations in the Star Wars universe. Not everyone can be a top politician from Coruscant, and in the outer rim territories dealing in junk is practically a way of life. Thomas Jenkins’s LEGO model certainly embodies the ingenuity and scrappy spirit of such a universe.
What I love most about this model is that it is truly from the imagination, it is not something we’ve seen on screen, but it most certainly looks like it could be from Star Wars. Of course the build utilizes many key elements that create the overall aesthetic, most notably the sail from Jabba’s barge and some imperial cargo boxes. The dark red and white bricks and tiles utilized in the bottom fin and two side-wings give the appearance of parts scrapped from Republic ships, while the grey elements give off an imperial vibe. The model as a whole looks like a speeder bike mixed with a hang-glider and a T-16 Skyhopper; it is certainly something I could imagine gliding around on Tatooine.
This LEGO creation by VelociJACKtor reminds me of the Nexo Knights LEGO theme. The theme itself was a love-it-or-hate-it kind of theme. If I recall correctly a lot of fans were hoping for a castle theme revival. But they ended up getting not quite what they were hoping for. The theme did however come with a lot of cute knight robots. The little knight in VelociJACKtor’s creation reminds me of these. The dragon neck and head by itself is a lovely build composed of a handful of parts that can be found in numerous LEGO buildable figure sets.
I love it when LEGO fans fill in the gaps in an existing or discontinued licensed theme. Marcin Otreba decided to create a Fellbeast themselves. Fellbeast are the flying creatures that the Nazgûl rode after being unhorsed at the Ford of Bruinen. The fellbeasts were described as large, winged creatures without feathers, that had pinions in between their horned fingers, and whose bodies gave off a stench. I don’t know if Marcin’s creation smells, but I do know it matches the description perfectly and it even moves!
Happy holidays to all of our fellow LEGO builders! As is tradition, we at The Brothers Brick will be opening our advent calendars as we count down to Christmas. We’ll also be sharing commentary on each one, which will be both insightful and hilarious!
This year we have new Harry Potter, Star Wars, City and Friends advent calendars to open. We will be sharing images of the new calendars every day through Christmas, and hope that you’ll join us! Let’s see what there is to open on Day 8.
Life in the current moment is what it is. With the holiday season and ongoing pandemic in full effect; I think it’s safe to say we are in stressful times, but a little Zen can certainly go a long way. Builder Stefan Kofler does us all a favor with this gorgeous and amazingly peaceful floating island LEGO model, complete with a lush cherry-blossom type of tree and little Asian-styled dream cottage. Just by looking at this build, I feel utterly at peace.
The color-scheme of this model does a lot of visual heavy-lifting. The light green plants, lavender flower petal and stem pieces, light grey round plates and tiles serving as a stony walkway, as well as the white and light blue elements used for the house; perfectly contrast against the darker colored elements comprising the base of the island as well as the trunk of the tree and foundation of the building. The light blue cylinders, cones, and 1×1 studs used in the roof for the cottage mixed with the same elements in white or light grey create a marbled appearance when looking at the build from afar.
Every component of this build seems to have been meticulously put together as the tree, house, and island itself clearly are comprised of many small elements combined. Honestly, I could look at this model all day while picturing myself floating on a little peaceful island containing much natural splendor.
Among all the real and fictional creatures out there, dragons have got to be the most charismatic. And when you deal with Asian dragons, those guys are always dressed to kill. For this season, Joss Woodyard puts his latest LEGO dragon build into some of the chicest outfits we’ve seen. Check out the gold and red foil pieces straight from 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech set. A couple of those perfectly fits the build shaping the back of the creature. While the rest of the build is a well-thought-out composition of typical pieces, I love how the pattern on the dragon’s back completes its face creating a truly fierce image.
When you think of Christmas songs, chances are one of the top ten that comes to mind is “Little Drummer Boy”. While not everyone in the world celebrates Christmas, I’m sure many of you can appreciate the most recent LEGO kinetic sculpture built by Jason Allemann of the JK Brickworks duo. Before the thing even gets moving, it’s clear that the ox and sheep are adorable.
Once the crank starts turning the magic starts. The little trio are mesmerizing to watch. Builds with timing can seem so complicated on the surface, but as Jason often shows, the inner-workings aren’t all that complicated. Still, it’s hard not to be jealous of how easy he makes it look.
As always, the instructions for this build can be found for free on the JK Brickworks website. This also isn’t the first kinetic holiday model! We’ve featured a flying Santa’s sleigh, Santa’s elves working on toys, and even a robotic cookie decorator.
Every year, the LEGO Technic line-up brings two new vehicles with a pull-back play function. For 2021, LEGO collaborates with Monster Jam to reveal a couple of building models based on real trucks. 42118 Monster Jam Grave Digger and 42119 Monster Jan Max-D copy the real truck’s design including massive wheels and iconic liveries. Both sets will be available starting January 1, 2021, for US $19.99 each.
