Finnish builder Eero Okkonen shows master-class LEGO character creation with the Herald of Scales, imagined in ancient Egyptian styling. The inspirational seed part for Eero here was the mini-doll skirt used as, well, segments of the Herald’s skirt! Equally notable is his use of chains as both embellishment and supports on her staff, and again as beautiful braided hair.
Eero details the artistic and building processes on his blog, which you can read here.
Who needs an island in the sea when you can have your own private enclave in the sky? This splendid floating homestead was built by -Littlejohn and his brother Isaac for InnovaLUG’s collaborative display at Brickworld. While this size of the islands may be small, the builders packed a lot of detail into each one. I love the idea of subsistence farming above the clouds, which is made even more exciting through the use of bright and cheery colors. The little house completes the scene quite nicely; it looks so quaint and inviting that I wouldn’t mind living there!
Builder Heikki M. is known for creating very realistic settings of rooms paired with clever photography angles. However, this blood-chilling scene sent a tingle down my spine after one look. A door slightly ajar and a trail of splatter across the floor tiles leaves room for anyone’s imagination to run wild. The visual cues of the grandfather clock past midnight which seems to be missing a pendulum gives it an eerie timestamp of the event taking place.
Heikki reassures us that the fake blood is leftover from the last Halloween’s party, but I’m more concerned if the stains are going to come off!
Mammals aren’t the only creatures that want to explore environments that are clearly designed to kill them, and this bold fish adventurer is going where no fish has gone before, with the help of a shiny brass mech suit. Built by Andrew Lee, this clawed fish suit is basically an exercise in using the available inventory of pearl gold elements, which is a pretty limited offering, pulling from Hero Factory, the few basic elements that are available, and a variety of minifigure accessories.
The fun, fast-paced action of Titanfall 2 multiplayer is what hooks me in, but with my latest LEGO Titan I wanted to show appreciation for its well crafted single player campaign. To make a Titan build unique to campaign styling, I chose to build Kane’s Scorch Titan, the first boss Jack Cooper and BT-7274 fight in the campaign. Kane was like a stereotypical multiplayer gamer: overconfident, calling his opponents “scrub,” and easily defeated.
See more of Nick’s awesome Titanfall mech
Although I have never played the tabletop games, I have always admired the aesthetic of the Warhammer 40k universe, particularly the vibrantly colored hardsuits and tanks. Simon Crocker has created an excellent Warhammer-Nexo Knights mashup with his razorback tank, which is based on a heavily armored variant of the Rhino APC from the Warhammer games.
Although the build may initially appear straightforward, closer inspection reveals the complex shaping and techniques used to make the front and back of the APC look so smooth, and to achieve the light bluish gray accents in just the perfect places. Although I overlooked it at first, the use of dark bluish gray panel pieces sticking out by 1/2 plates distance on the front viewports of the tank is particularly clever. As a finishing touch, custom stickers are used to add the fine details and make it especially accurate to the source material.
As LEGO continues to paint every conceivable theme with a BrickHeadz brush, we can expect to see BrickHeadz from most of their licensed properties, and the Wizarding World is the latest to succumb to the block-headed wave of brick-built figures. A few weeks ago, we took a look at the first set in the series, 41615 Harry Potter & Hedwig. Today we’re turning to the other two sets based on the classic Harry Potter films, 41616 Hermoine Granger and 41621 Ron Weasley & Albus Dumbledore. They retail for $9.99 and $19.99 USD, respectively. Hermione includes 127 pieces, while the two-pack includes 245 pieces. They are available now in the USA and will be available elsewhere beginning Aug. 1.
This tiny castle by -soccerkid6 was built as a prize for a castle building contest but stands on its own merits as a great microscale model. Many different red elements make great roofs, and I love the ice-cream cones inverted under that long hall. The rockwork is also interesting, with lots of techniques normally found on much larger builds, such as the uneven base and sideways bricks.
And in case you are wondering what it looks like from the back–I know I was.
As we all know, building with LEGO isn’t just about creating cool things, it’s also a fantastic art medium. Not only that, it’s a wonderful outlet for self-expression. One builder and incredible artist, Ekow Nimako, is a master of gorgeous monochrome sculptures. This white unicorn is just one of his many creations.
It turns out that he has built a similar piece in almost all black. Also, it sounds like he is considering building a large-scale version of this creation, with a child on its back. If he does, I’m sure it will be incredible! Ekow has many amazing builds, so keep an eye out for future coverage!
When it comes to building a great microscale castle, there is something beautiful in the simple choices, color, angled walls, round or square towers, a bridge. This lovely castle scene by Henjin_Quilones has many of these simple choices that add up to an enchanting build.
One of my favorite features is the use of inverted 2×2 round bricks, with windows at the top made with the gaps on the underside of the bricks and plates. A few well-placed gears are another nice detail. The grooved bricks used as stairs was a surprising feature. I also really love the smooth walls topped with slopes, and the very few windows placed very thoughtfully.
Besides the castle itself, there are other areas of the scene worth noticing, like the small village and docks, the watchtower on the far side of the bridge, and the detailed landscaping.
The third and final set out of the three VHS-boxed-exclusives has been revealed and it is not a surprise to see a Marvel franchise attached to the theme. Ant-Man is featured as a bust together with a Wasp minifigure from the upcoming movie, emerging out of the bay in Giant-Man form (as seen in the trailers).
Click to get a closer look at the newly revealed SDCC exclusive
Summer is here, and that means there are only about three months left until BrickCon 2018. As we announced in May, The Brothers Brick will be hosting a public collaborative display of Ninjago City open to any full convention attendees. Check out that announcement for detailed instructions on the guidelines and how to participate. In the meantime, we here at TBB have been busy little builders, and have over a dozen city blocks underway, not to mention a massive volcano lair for Garmadon. Today we want to share some tips and tricks to help get you started, as well as some of the building techniques that we have used so far in the construction of the lower levels of Ninjago City. Let us know in the comments below if you would be interested in more detailed guides or additional techniques shown in our city blocks.
Ninjago City is a layered city, with the oldest buildings on the bottom stories, rising to modern, nearly sci-fi architecture at the top. As such, we’re approaching the building of our modules from the bottom up, starting with the oldest, lowest level. Nearly all of the buildings shown here will have additional structures placed on top to complete the upper levels–in many cases several more stories. Look for additional articles as we continue building the upper levels. Each of these modules conforms to our standard to ensure the whole layout will fit together well (except in the few special modules we’ve noted).
