There are many ways in which summer can come to an end — going back to school, traveling to a different hemisphere, or — as Tokyo Tag Team demonstrates — as a result of an invasion by body-snatching, one-eyed aliens who sneak up from behind while you’re playing at the beach with a big green ball. The alien’s arms are fairly standard, but the dark tan pieces encircling the creature give it a fearsome, armored look, while the large Mixels eye gives the terrifying entity a comical appearance.
What’s not to love about micro builds, especially when they’re this cute and adorable? Builder Minigray! gives us a little dreamy-eyed duckling staring into space. Stripping down to essentials is the key to make miniature builds like this pop and come to life. The orange beak matching the clever use of the diver’s flippers as the webbed feet tickled my fancy!
We do not often see battle scenes built out of LEGO, for multiple reasons. First of all, amassing a vast number of identical minifigures for an army is not in every builder’s budget, but also arranging them into a convincing action scene is more difficult than it appears. ~The Maestro and his brother in arms Joshua Wilson were as brave as the little plastic warriors of the diorama for taking up this challenge, and they emerged victorious. The battle looks very believable, but more than that – the setting does not lag behind whatsoever.
This diorama of a raiding party attacking a defensive settlement has everything you could wish for; a burning village, tactical fortification, and a realistic landscape, where a battle like this would really happen. I should point out that there are many very well-built parts of the diorama that may go unnoticed with the battle as the focal point – especially the houses of the village and the old windmill.
It may not be high noon yet, but it seems as thought there are already a few transactions going on at the bank in this Western scene by Paul Trach. The Brick Bank is a handsome building with its clock above the entrance complete with ‘saloon-style’ swing doors. The roof has a water barrel, brick-built signs, and some lovely detailing on the railings. It’s clear that this ain’t no drinking establishment as there are some finely dressed gentlemen exiting with their pocketwatches and bowler hats in place.
My favourite part of the build is best seen in this close-up view of the ground floor. The beautiful glass windows have some fancy metal-work to prevent any outlaws from breaking in and stealing from the bank. These windows are really a stand-out detail for me, but I have to mention the fun use of light bluish grey ingots as brickwork.
No Western scene is complete without a cactus, but since this is a fine banking establishment, Paul has chosen a lovely flowering cactus as decorative flora.
Legend says a gorgeous temple is hidden somewhere in these mountains. To find it, you’ll have to cross the treacherous lava and fight giant scorpions. Or so they say. What’s inside? Only builder David Leest knows. But you can bet your bottom copper that any heroes that find the temple and live to tell the story will be richly rewarded.
David’s stunning scene depicts an adventuring group comprised of a blue mage, a red mage, a dwarf, and a thief who have finally reached the temple’s doorstep. The temple itself is quite detailed, including studded textures, bas-relief sculptures, and a pleasing mixture of “new” gray and old gray that makes this building look ancient.
With the excitement about The LEGO Ninjago Movie building and new movie tie-in sets being released, it is no surprise to see lots of Ninjago themed fan creations being built. Svend Eric Saksun tells us that he was going for a Ninjago feel with this house and garden creation. There’s a hearty feast going on in the private garden area with what looks like the head of a buffalo on the barbecue. I can’t be certain as the LEGO part used is a chicken body with a couple of horns added for taste.
The aspect of this build I like the most is actually the colour coordination and sense of balance to the overall composition. Svend named his build ‘Nonjago‘ as he felt he failed to capture the Ninjago theme. But theme aside, he has certainly captured something beautiful.
The Force is strong with Lego Admiral and his life size, wearable LEGO Darth Vader helmet. The detailed features of the iconic face mask and breather are captured well with the bricks, as is the smooth paneled shaping of the dome.
See more photos of LEGO Admiral’s helmet on Flickr, and learn a technique for constructing your own LEGO helmet with a Halo ODST helmet breakdown.
Sometimes, history is quite literally the foundation of the present. This creation is one such example, but with an interesting duality: not only does it represent medieval structures built upon ancient ruins, but it is also literally a rebuild of Antonio Carretti‘s earlier LEGO Forum of Nerva, which we also featured here on The Brothers Brick. The creations very obviously represant the same structure, despite the contrast between a shiny new temple and fortified ruins.
The dark red and orange tower blends with the remains of the temple beautifully, and the white details in the house on the left really show how the stairs of the temple were used to build it. My favourite part is definetely the overgrown and decrepit temple itself, with its former glory hardly recognizable anymore, replaced with an impression of great age and a long and tragic history.
In addition to the best LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick also brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the first week of August 2017.
TBB NEWS: There are some awesome LEGO Ideas sets coming our way, as well as lots of new summer sets for your building pleasure.
OTHER LEGO NEWS: Aside from that REALLY BIG LEGO BOX, this week had a few other interesting LEGO-related news articles, so here are the best of the rest.
We’ve featured a few of Heikki Mattila‘s stunning LEGO interiors, but they just keep getting better and better. This beauty uses a touch of forced perspective to create a sense of space and openness — the shelf on the far wall, and the TV and speakers, are built lower and to a slightly smaller scale than the rest of the apartment. As ever, the clean lines of Heikki’s scene wouldn’t look out of place in a fancy furniture catalog or interiors magazine. Personally I think it’d make a great venue for a stylish party. Where’s my invitation?
Marcin Grabowski is at his best designing aggressive-looking LEGO starfighters. This vertically oriented vibrant beauty has the distinct shape of a wasp and is also loaded with a ton of formidable weapons. It’s hard not to fall for the brilliant choice and distribution of stickers across the fighter’s body — the fonts, the numbers, and even some tiny warning signs, all work well in highlighting the ship’s edgy frame.
The Prometheus movie wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but that doesn’t stop it providing inspiration for good LEGO models. Grant Masters has created a wonderfully eerie scene of curious astronauts about to get themselves into a whole world of trouble. The build itself is relatively simple (although I do like that backdrop of arch pieces), however the use of dry ice and LED lighting, coupled with good photography, creates a striking image.
