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.

Remember the Cant

Fans of the TV show The Expanse will recognize this sleek vessel. Named by James Holden after Don Quixote’s horse, described in the book as a “stubby black wedge of metal” and visualized in the show as a lean, mean fighting machine, the Rocinante is a former MCRN Corvette Class ship previously known as the Tachi. Julie vanderMeulen had been mulling over building a LEGO version since seeing the show earlier this year. She decided to go with 2/3 minifig-scale to make it a nice, even 100 studs long.

As a proof of concept, she built the drive cone and then shelved it for a while. When she finally decided to give it a go, it just so happened to be the same day SHIPtember 2017 was announced, so she ended up speed building the whole model — and it is gorgeous! Julie has captured the Roci in all her glory, heavily armored and heavily armed — every detail has been stunningly sculpted in LEGO.

In the words of James Holden, “As long as we’re living and breathing, there’s more we can do. We just have to be strong enough.”

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University building constructed with a degree of accuracy

Current students at the University of Colorado in Boulder will not need an introduction to the Koelbel Building as it’s part of the Leeds School of Business. Older graduates may not immediately recognise the building as it reopened with a new name in the autumn of 2007 after renovation and expansion financed by the Koelbel family. Imagine Rigney’s LEGO version has accurately captured the contrasting brick building with its central curved balcony atop tall columns and the ribbed dome.

If you fancy seeing this build in person, then it will soon be installed at Old Main for the Hit the Bricks exhibit on campus at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Energized by the Light of the Traveler

Some gamers are celebrating the launch of action-adventure first person shooter Destiny 2 with all-nighter gaming sessions. Then there is BrickinNick, celebrating the second entry in the franchise with three LEGO Hunter-class Guardians unleashing their super abilities. Nick captured the iconic futuristic cloaked warriors well, recognizable with just a handful of pieces.

Ole!

Microscale LEGO building tends to focus on buildings and vehicles, but Teabox(henrik_zwomp) has taken up the challenge of depicting a figure and an animal at a tiny scale. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s pulled it off admirably with this adorable little matador facing up to a bull. Immediately recognisable, the subject matter not be to everyone’s taste as a sporting spectacle, but there’s no doubting the building skill on display.

Not everything in black and white makes sense

Pacman gobbling the power dots — check it out! Fresh from wowing us with a massive Medieval Village display, French builder ilive now knocks it out of the park with a wonderful LEGO optical illusion. Yep, there are no curves in this build, nor fancy photoshopping — it’s just your own eyes and brain messing with you.

If you like a good optical illusion, check out this brick-built rendition of the classic Escher terrace illusion we covered a while back. Personally I’m a huge fan of this kind of thing and wish we saw more of it in LEGO creations. I built one of my own a long, long time ago — the Castle of Illusion.

But what if it’s just some crazy guy in a clown suit?

In anticipation of the latest screen adaptation of Stephen King’s classic coulrophobia-inducing book IT, builder Tim Lydy has crafted this wonderfully creepy bust of Pennywise the dancing clown. Guess I won’t be sleeping tonight! I also love the added touch of the brick-built origami sailboat.

I think Tim might be a bit of an IT fan, as this isn’t the first time he’s rendered these characters in LEGO. Check out his “adorable” Brickheadz versions too. We all float down here. (shudder)

When the Spartans surrendered in bricks

Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War. Mpyromaxos has created a particular battle from this war, the Battle of Sphacteria, when a small force from the Spartan army was isolated on the island of Sphacteria by the Athenians. The scene depicts the Athenian forces landing on the island after a surprise attack which included a risky move to attack the Spartans from the rear, thus forcing their surrender. The main focus of this build is on the land-based action so I rather like the way that only the front portion of the Athenian’s ship is included with some sea spilling over the edge of the build.

On the left of the diorama, Mpyromaxos has included the Temple of Athena and statues of gods Dioscures, Kastor, and Polydeuces, who were all worshipped by the Spartans. The close-up view below shows some of the battle enfolding. I love the little arrow stuck in the wall of the Spartan fortifications.

If you want to see more close-up views of the action, the builder has an album on Flickr, entitled Battle of Sphacteria.

French revolution of steam-powered gears

We have spoken about the LEGO steampunk genre many times before, but for the uninitiated it is a genre of science fiction that has a historical, normally Victorian, setting and features steam-powered machinery. Castor Troy‘s latest creation adds to his growing Paris Steampunk 1889 display with the world’s largest museum, the Louvre. The architecture has been brilliantly captured using a host of smaller parts to add decorative features, ranging from Technic gears and monochrome tan minifigures to studs, slopes and droid body parts.

The larger glass pyramid has been replaced with an altogether different type of pyramid, worthy of a place in steampunk history.

Still LEGO life worthy of an art gallery

Traditionally, still life is the drawing or painting of items such as fruit, flowers and household objects, which are usually arranged on a table top. Birgitte Jonsgard has crossed LEGO with a typical still life set up to give a still LEGO life piece of artwork that seems to emulate the work of Dutch Golden Age painter, Pieter de Ring. The dark background and table contrasting with the vibrant colours of fruit, vegetables and, of course, the central lobster have been carefully arranged to really give some serious artwork vibes.

If you like Birgitte’s still life style of LEGO art, you will love another of her creations that we featured; Still life painting of LEGO fruit and seafood.

Anyone up for a quick round of mini golf?

Taking a break from his normal pastel art-deco-inspired buildings which look like they belong on postcards, Andrew Tate‘s most recent LEGO creation is something even more whimsical, a putt-putt golf course! There are so many fun details, like the colorful putting greens with obstacles, employees dressed like they work in a renaissance fair, and different colored golf balls for all the players. It’s also impressive how Andrew captured the look of a castle that appears real at first glance, but upon further inspection, seems like it’s probably made out of carved foam and painted wood rather than stone.

LEGO Group is to “reset the company” after single-digit decline in revenues for first half of 2017 [News]

According to their most recent press release, the LEGO Group’s revenue for the first half of 2017 is 5 percent down compared with the same period in 2016. Other key figures like operating profit as well as net profit are down too — 6 and 3 percent respectively. The board of management blames increased costs associated with investments in production capacity and organisational capabilities for causing mixed performance across various market regions. For instance, revenue has declined in the United States and in parts of Europe. On a brighter note, in growing markets such as China, revenue grew by double digits.

Commenting on the financial report, LEGO Group Chairman Jørgen Vig Knudstorp claimed that the company has already taken steps to change the situation for the better. The Group aims to bring the LEGO building experience to more children all over the world, and for this purpose the management is looking forward to resetting the company and revising and restructuring various internal processes.

Pressing the reset button includes some decisive moves which pursue a goal of simplifying the company’s elaborate global structure built during the past five years. “This means we will build a smaller and less complex organisation than we have today” said Knudstorp. As a result, the LEGO Group believes it would need to cut its total global workforce by around eight percent. This would impact about 1,400 positions. Currently the LEGO Group employs about 18,200 people.

One of the key goals of resetting the business is the development of innovative new toys. Knudstorp explains “We will find more opportunities to engage with kids and parents, including innovative ways to blend physical building and digital experiences, such as our successful LEGO Life social platform and LEGO Boost building and coding set”.

The full press release can be found on the LEGO Newsroom page.

Progress and ambition with bricks: Russian builder Timofey Tkachev [Interview]

Today we’re sitting down to talk to a rising Russian superstar builder, Timofey Tkachev. He has been in the online LEGO community for quite a few years, but the past two years have seen his spectacular creations gain increasing traction. Each of Timofey’s new builds improves upon those before it, but even with a sizable Flickr following and regular activity in the Russian LEGO User Group RFFL, there are many who haven’t yet discovered his work. Time to find out more about him!

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