Category Archives: LEGO

You’d probably expect a lot of the posts on a LEGO website like The Brothers Brick to be about LEGO, and you’d be right. If you’re browsing this page, you might want to consider narrowing what you’re looking for by checking out categories like “Space” and “Castle.” We’re sure there’s something here that’ll fascinate and amaze you.

Storage and building in small spaces: a look at LEGO organization with guest contributor Kevin Moses [Feature]

Continuing our series on LEGO organization and storage, guest contributor Kevin Moses shows us that maintaining a collection in a small space doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Read the previous articles here:

Those of us who live in smaller urban spaces have limitations and considerations that are more pronounced than people with larger houses. While any space can be optimized and organized, we must do this more out of necessity than desire. Since many of us are stuck at home, it’s a great time to think about how you can make things better.

I’ve given a few presentations on this topic at conventions and started the Urban Brick Builder website to collect ideas that come up.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Going, going, gondola!

I love immersive builds, where everywhere you look there is LEGO, except the sky (I don’t like brick-built skies, due to the brick pattern). It’s like I’m one of the minifigures, standing in the scene, seeing the sights. It is my preferred building style, at least when buildings and rooms are involved, and one that I (Benjamin Stenlund) used in my latest creation. Set in the Guilds of Historica’s fifth guild, Varlyrio, in the Venice-like capital of Illaryian, it depicts a slice of daily life, with gondoliers poling, shopkeepers selling, families visiting, soldiers guarding, sailors lounging, and rogues prowling.

I tried to vary up the action of the figs to make it lively without being cluttered, and to vary the patterns of the houses to make it homogeneous without being monotonous. All of the buildings have the same roof style, with tiles pressed down on just one end, but three colors are used (you can barely see the lone dark grey roof on the right) to mix it up. Varying the patterns and heights of the buildings helps to make it visually interesting, but basic patterns get repeated. It’s like a block of modular buildings, if LEGO made modular buildings that were just rickety facades with no interiors. I don’t build interiors, unless it’s going to be visible in the shot, since it won’t be seen. That’s just wasted effort for my purposes. Another secret is that the water ends just around the corner under the bridge, where it stops being visible. It’s all about the camera shot, for me. And yet, it looks so nice, I’d like to visit the place myself. If only I were about 1.5 inches tall…

A queen can go wherever she likes

Although castles are some of the coolest things you can design with LEGO bricks, there’s one reason they will never be cooler than mechs and vehicles; they are immovable. Spencer Winson adds just a handful of ball hinges to one of his towers and — voila! — who needs royal carriages anymore? And it’s not only the concept of the mech-tower itself that makes the build outstanding, but also the iconic yellow/red/blue color range. The design of the tower was undoubtedly inspired by the legendary 375 Castle set, but have you noticed that the tower in the background is built of Duplo bricks? I must admit I have never seen this double arch Duplo piece before. It is more than 40 years old but still looks stunning in new creations.

Terlet on the fritz? That’ll cost ya!

Indoor plumbing is the best invention since…well, indoor plumbing. You can flush away all your troubles and it all goes away-somewhere. Out of sight, out of mind, right? But sometimes your troubles come back to haunt you. That’s when you got to call in the professionals. They’ll charge you an arm and a leg but…whaddaya gonna do? Martin van Wezel has built a dynamic LEGO vignette of a scene we can only hope will never happen to us. The good news is if you were looking for a dramatic water fountain in your bathroom like rich people have in their gardens, then this scenario has you covered. It looks like Martin simulated the water gush using energy effects; parts currently only available in five sets in this color.

Galidor II: Electric Boogaloo

Shameful LEGO admission time: I like Galidor. It was a goofy theme, but the figures and creatures were cool. And while the component parts may be large and clunky, builders have found ways to repurpose them in all sorts of interesting creations. Galidor rocks. And to prove that, just look at Mitch Henry‘s creation Mike. This doesn’t feel like an element or two has been hidden or transformed, so much as “renewed”. Mike looks like he’s ready to go on tour as part of a cool new reboot of the Galidor line. New brick-built arms and lower legs reach beyond the theme’s limitations, and the keyboard and EDM launchpad are quality additions.

There are a couple of non-LEGO elements present: Those are shoes from a Ken doll. But I have a feeling Mike has always been a bit of a rebel like that. Or maybe Mitch is the rebel. Either way, it seems to have worked out well.

If you’re going to create a portal, make sure you know where you’re going

My favorite LEGO builds are always ones that contain story, humor and lots of color. Builder Victor hits all three of these points perfectly and throws in a little absurdity for good measure. As the story goes, Diogenes Trexler ordered a pizza on his home planet that smelled so delicious it attracted the attention of a giant worm. Plotting his escape, our pizza-loving hero created an ill-advised portal that opened on to the bathroom of one very surprised bather.

The landscaping and colorwork in this piece are gorgeous and there is a minimum of visible studs, giving it a very slick look. The worm really pops with its blue colors and excellent shape. The alien fauna is colorful and appropriately weird and creepy. The portal is nicely rendered with transparent pieces and the change between the two universes is wonderful, going from organic shapes to the clean tiles of a modern bathroom. The surprised bather, caught in mid blow-dry is the perfect punch line with his terrified face and hair blowing toward the ceiling. In my opinion, it’s little touches like these that make the difference between a good model and a great one.

Check out the model from another angle to see all the details

Hello there, General Grievous

TBB newcomer VelociJACKtor has built the dastardly leader of the Separatist’s droid army from Star Wars. I dig the textured dark grey legs and ribs juxtaposed against the smooth tan armor plates. The arms also split as appropriate for the General’s main gimmick. As expected for a model depicting one of the most nefarious — if incompetent — villains in the Star Wars films, General Grievous has several fine lightsabers in his collection from hunting Jedi after being trained by Count Dooku. Maybe the next LEGO Grievous will have a new one.

Not getting enough Grievous in your life? Here’s a model from Marcin Otreba from last summer, or check out the official sets from 2008 and 2015.

Tanksegrity

The LEGO community has been on a big Tensegrity kick lately, and I for one couldn’t be happier. While the art-lover in me is fond of the abstract sculptural versions, there’s just something cool when builders combine the mind-bending physics with their own choice of theme. Carrier Lost has chosen to take things into the realm of science fiction with this Tensegrity Tank. The sleek design and neon highlights makes this feel like it was lifted directly from some TRON:Legacy concept art. Is it a stretch to label this as a new take on a “hovertank” as well?

Where does he get those wonderful toys?

It turns out most people don’t stop collecting toys as adults. For us adult LEGO enthusiasts, we have literal toys but for other grown-ups their toys are a bit harder to define. Take Daniel Church’s “Grownup’s Toy Box” for example. It depicts a nicely built LEGO garage. A motorcycle and a snowblower sit front and center while a hefty toolbox and an array of other tools adorns the background. The brackets holding up the ladder, roof trusses and even the lawnmower handles are constructed from wrenches. The panoramic shot serves this composition nicely. This build even has a soundtrack. These are all neat grown-up toys indeed but is it weird that I still want to play Hungry Hungry Hippos?

LEGO Designers Q&A featuring Marcos Bessa and Jamie Berard [Feature]

On the 30th of April, LEGO hosted a live Instagram session where the LEGO community was able to interact and ask questions directly to two prominent LEGO Designers – Marcos Bessa, and Jamie Berard. With social distancing in place, this new feature is slated to be a weekly event and is a great way to learn more about LEGO and the insights into the mind of a designer. The session was insightful indeed, and we transcribed it here (as best we could) so that you can learn more interesting bits and facts about what LEGO designers do.

Click for the full Q and A session

This hummingbird is more than the sum of its nice parts usage

In the LEGO community, nice parts usage (or NPU) is something many builders strive to achieve. Using parts in an interesting way never fails to garner notice and compliments. Often these types of techniques are scattered throughout the model, but in the case of this hummingbird, builder Jaap Bijl gives us a figure that consists almost entirely of NPU. So, where does one begin?

The tree branch and leaves may be common, but the whips for vines and the small minifigure hammers for the flower stamens take us into unusual territory. The minifigure spanner used for the feet and the clever eye and beak area are stand outs. The wings, however, are a thing of beauty. They’re a terrific combo of flexible tubes, small wrenches and a variety of blue Technic pins and 1×1 round plates to create the wing feathers. The lavender grass pieces and purple antennae make for a nice finisher as tail feathers. They body and silhouette of the bird are quite nice as well and really bring the entire model together as a cohesive whole.

Just another pyramid scheme to leave you ruined

There’s a definite art to building ruins out of LEGO bricks. They aren’t the best medium for it, quite frankly, since the plastic is usually (unless they’re old and much loved) bright and shiny, the edges crisp and square. And ruins are usually dull, dirty, and broken apart. There’s a tendency to try to over-do it and add studs everywhere, or round elements, or a bunch of different colors, and the shape often gets lost in the busy clutter that the build ends up being. But in the hands of an eminently talented builder like Josiah Durand (a.k.a W. Navarre), ruins can be a glorious thing, awe-inspiring just like the real thing in the jungles of the Yucatan. This one is not any one in particular, but the Mayan ruins at Tikal and the Aztec ones at Tenochtitlan served as inspirations.

The steps are excellent with their grille-brick texture, and the mix of smooth surfaces and studs is just right. There are many colors, but the muted earth tones all work together, and even match the printing next to the steps. The skulls give it the grim ambiance associated with the human sacrifices performed at many such sites, and the tiny statuettes give it some scale. And the lighting is perfect on this one, with slightly overcast South American sky giving it a real-world vibe. It looks almost like the real thing! Now that is the mark of some good LEGO ruin building. Take notes, aspiring builders!