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.

His mission: to build what no man has built before.

The title doesn’t lie, because although this vessel by the name of USS Fontana may look like it flew straight out of one of the many Star Trek screenplays, Ben Smith has built what no man has built before, because this ship is actually of his own design. Complete with working lights and custom stickers, the builder has done an excellent job capturing the Star Trek aesthetic. The signature round body of the ship is expertly built; take note of the beautiful tan and sand green stripe around the bridge, which I imagine wasn’t easy to accomplish.

The back of the ship is fully detailed as well, with a hanger bay for research shuttles to launch from and explore the unknown planets below.

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Last eight finalists of LEGO and BrickLink’s AFOL Designer Program revealed [News]

The second half of AFOL Designer Program finalists have been revealed, bringing the total and final number of designs to 16. (Take a look at the first eight finalists here.) The initiative was launched by LEGO in cooperation with BrickLink to bring fan designs to life.

Crowdfunding for finalists will begin on February 1st, and if a set reaches its pre-sales goal, it will then be produced and shipped by BrickLink. Voting will take place on BrickLink’s AFOL Designer Program homepage, which also features more photos of each of these finalists.

Click to see the AFOL Designer Program finalists

The Nian beast roams again this Lunar New Year

According to Chinese lore, the Nian beast emerges each New Year’s to prey on the world of men, thwarted only by its fear of the color red. This was among the origins for that color’s prevalence in Chinese New Year’s celebrations, which this year falls on Feb. 5. This magnificent LEGO Nian by TBB-regular Jonas Kramm shows the creature in all its splendid glory, ready to wander the countryside in search of unfortunate humans to feed upon after its winter slumber. Everything about this model looks polished, but the tiny detail that struck me was the perfect manner in which the Bionicle ball sockets are integrated into the head to hold the teal eyes.

Brick Wave Off Kanagawa

The world-famous Great Wave Off Kanagawa print by Japanese painter Hokusai gets the LEGO treatment in this great piece of work by koffiemoc. The model’s inspiration is immediately recognisable — from the overall colour scheme, the towering wave threatening the three boats, through to the triangular white peak of Mount Fuji in the central distance. The builder has added in some of the more subtle details of the artwork too — the crests of the waves are tipped with clips, capturing Hokusai’s depiction of the water having claws. There is also the triangular shape of the foreground wave, mirroring the form of the background mountain. This is a beautiful brick-built tribute to a beautiful image.

1980s Tape-recording technology

Builder Sven Franic completed a LEGO tape recorder that is a blast from the past. Thanks to Sven’s attention to detail, it looks almost like the real thing. One of the buttons is pressed down, and a cassette tape is visible through the clear window. The power cord is unplugged, revealing the machine’s two-pronged outlet. I especially like how Sven used the Tile, Modified 1 x 1 with Tooth / Ear Vertical (used as floppy ears in Unikitty figures) for the fast-forward and play buttons. They almost look like they were made for this build.

A colorful mecha with colorful friends

Mecha models come in all sorts of shapes and colors, but every now and then, a creation comes along that really breaks the mold and demonstrates clear thought and careful design. This mechanical robot/vehicle/gun platform by Chokolat Shadow strikes a stunning balance between color blocking and engineering. I mean, of course, red and gold go well together, but the additional use of sand green looks surprisingly nice. The large wheels under the forearms and the smaller ones on the calves are suggestive of an interesting vehicle configuration, as well.

The creator clearly has a narrative in mind to connect this creation to a larger world, as demonstrated by the collection of support mechs and vehicles that share this unique color scheme.

Under moonlit night, the Batwing takes flight.

Growing up, I was a huge fan of Batman: The Animated Series. One of the highlights of the show was seeing Batman fight crime in his bat-themed vehicles, including the Batwing. Jerry Builds Bricks has reproduced the Batwing in LEGO form, and it looks as slick and fast as its animated counterpart. A mixture of curved and angled slopes help form the iconic fuselage, while a combination of curved slopes and hinges are used to pull off the iconic sweeping curves of the wings. Jerry’s Batwing also looks to be the perfect size for “swooshing” back and forth.

Mini-Ecto is here to deal with all of your mini-ghosts

In the era of tiny city apartments only the tiniest of ghosts can afford haunting residents of large cities. And since there are no creatures capable of destroying a whole block, why bother rolling out the mighty Ecto-1? Mini-Ecto-1 is on its way to take down a ghost in your tiny kitchen! Koala Yummies plays around with the 1967 Mini Cooper S from LEGO Speed Champions 75894 set and skilfully turns it into an adorable addition to the Ghostbustrs’ garage. I particularly love the use of curved slope with Ghostbusters logo pattern on the side of the Mini; it looks like the piece was designed solely for this lovely build!

Classic Space never gets old with fresh new ideas

With the Second Part of The Lego Movie just around the corner, we see Benny and the Classic Space theme revived in many forms. LEGO is just sitting on a gold mine if they ever decide to seriously revive it within the main lineup. This particular build by Horcik Designs is a sort of large rover with tiny forearms to pick samples of bedrock for samples and scientific research. The inverted cockpit module with a full panel of gadgetry gives it a sense of realism with great detailing to carry out the mission at hand.

A new order of LEGO TIE Fighter

Like us, Koen Zwanenburg was amazed by the LEGO TIE Fighter models created by fellow builder Jarek, but rather than just marveling, he thought he’d have a shot at building a world-class TIE Fighter himself. Judging by the results, it’s quite a success. While at first glance the build may seem to take a similar approach as Jarek’s, Koen has actually redone the model from the ground up. Naturally, the convergent evolution of the building process means that there are some similarities (and the fact that they’re both based on the same Star Wars ship), but it’s truly remarkable how different this model is while being just as accurate.

The ability to achieve clean lines with minimal studs visible on a ship this lean is an accomplishment not be underestimated. I can almost hear the TIE’s distinctive engine roar now…

Birds of a feather that click together

This trio of 1:10 scale avian models by Luis Peña utilise unexpected elements in some unique ways. Take for example the humble LEGO macaroni tube. Here it’s reimagined as the elegant neck of a blushing pink flamingo.

Check out the other two birds

In space, no one can hear you scream

These Cryo Pods built by Peter Reid evoke the eerie feeling of Ridley Scott’s Alien hiding in the corner ready to pounce. The abundant use of grey paired with dramatic lighting gives off the feelings of being far away from earth and long travel in cold reaches of space. The scene is built with almost no LEGO studs visible, which also tricks our minds to believe that this could be larger than what it actually is — at first glance almost close to a movie-scale prop.