Tag Archives: Alien

First contact with a world of LEGO

Natural forms abound in this outdoor LEGO scene by Mark van der Maarel. Birch trees topped with dark green foliage stand in the foreground of a massive stone archway, overgrown in places with creeping vines. A brilliant medium blue stream babbles through the scene, highlighted in round while plates and slopes to give the water a level of unease. But one figure stands alone, quite out of place with its environs. A visitor, clad in white, ponders the beauty of a brave butterfly. With no indication of how this extraterrestrial nomad arrived or what its intentions are, the viewer is left to fill in the gaps on their own. And its that mystery which makes this work truly outstanding in my eyes!

First contact

A LEGO E.T. that’s out of this world!

I don’t know if you’ve seen E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial or not, but it’s a delightful film that has been long overdue for some LEGO love. I’m happy to say this build from Alex Jones comes right from the heart (and for ours!). What’s not to love about this brick-built figure? E.T. has some of the strangest proportions for an alien lifeform, but that LEGO has some strange pieces. Alex brings them both together in wonderful harmony in E.T.’s shaping and details. Alex even got the iconic glowing heart and finger of the alien being incorporated into the build, courtesy of lightbricks. If you don’t phone home about this one, then lend your phone to E.T. so he can make a call! Just a warning, though — it’ll be a long distance call. A long, long distance.

ET

All Xenomophic hell breaks loose on board The Betty

Here at The Brothers Brick, we love the Alien franchise. We really do! Most of us have been fans ever since 1979 when the first Xenomorph (ahem) burst onto the scene and we still can’t get enough of the chest-bursting, acid-spitting antagonist, by golly! We’ve seen great LEGO versions of Nostromo and even the horrifying Xenomorph. What you don’t see much of is The Betty from Alien Resurrection and Alien Resurrection 2 (because the first resurrection went so well for the aliens they pretty much had to do it again). Thankfully, Carlos Valero has us covered there. We can all sleep better now, preferably in a cryogenic years-long slumber, because what can go wrong with that? I mean, seriously, what can go wrong?

THE BETTY from Alien Resurrection 2

Whether it be the aforementioned Xenomorph or other unearthly critters not-from-around-here, you’ll find them all in our alien archives.

Grab your space buddy and prepare for the rest of the alphabet

Space LEGO creations aren’t my area of expertise at all, but Tommy Frost’s latest creations for the Febrovery rover challenge have been catching my eye. I am not a pro when it comes to building vehicles or space crafts, so it is hard for me to properly compliment Frost’s amazing builds, but I do know that they have a really vintage feeling to them that perfectly matches the figures who drive them.

B is for Buddy

What truly caught my eye is the cute little brick-built creatures surrounding and driving all the great vehicles. The ones in the vehicle above use minifigure armour for the faces of the aliens. The backs of the armour have studs to which the printed eye tiles are connected. They are placed upside down on the neck of the torso of the minifigure. But the best thing about this creation is that it is called “B is for buddy” which means Frost is doing an alphabet within this theme for Febrovery, and I can’t wait for the rest. Check out all the ones finished so far in Frost’s album.

We are Legion, we are many

Whenever I think of creepy alien LEGO creations, I always think of Bart de Dobbelaer. His creations are always out of this world, on a much bigger scale than I personally am used to working on. Bart has the ability to perfectly use seemingly single-purpose parts in a way they were not intended to. The latest creation is called Legion and there we can spot the Belville horse saddle in black in the pillar-like creatures. This makes me wonder why Bart actually managed to get his hands on 16 black Belville saddles.

Legion

In the middle of the creation, there is the ‘mother’ of all the black critters. For her eyes, Bart used a combination of coffin bases and rolled-up Dots bracelets. Using mainly black bricks can be tricky, as those creations usually are really hard to photograph, but if you look closely, the little critters aren’t all the same. There are a couple of designs scattered around the base, making it look like each of the creatures has its own specific talent or ability.

One Kooky Covenant

Throwing a Classic Space twist onto a concept design from Alien: Covenant sure is one way to do SHIPtember. Flickr Builder Space Kook brought their A-game this September with at least five different ships over 100-studs, either in length, width, or height. Jumping around between scales, Space Kook drew inspiration for their fourth build, the LSS Covenant. Taking design cues from early concept art of the USCSS Covenant Colony ship from the Alien movie, large solar panels flare out at the rear of the ship. Progressing further up the body, past the cargo holds, you’ll see a little fighter or drop ship peaking over the main hull of the colony vessel. Decked out in blue and yellow with white and black accents, the choice to craft this ship in Classic Space regalia allowed Space Kook a plethora of parts and design cues. Between the two references, it’s no wonder this creation has such a satisfying bow. The bumble bee stripes and yellow view screen complete the Classic Space homage while sensor arrays and directional boosters grab the eyes as satisfyingly accurate greebling.

Shiptember 2022, The LSS Covenant

This builder really went the extra mile during SHIPtember to accomplish the Herculean task of building not just one, but five massive 100-stud vessels. The techniques and parts used show off  Space Kook’s ingenuity with the process across all five and it’s definitely worth checking out the other four ships that they created this year.

Greenhouse symbiosis on Exobudria 9

Once again famed LEGO builder Bart De Dobbelaer is the Supreme leader when it comes to fleshing out unsettling alien worlds. In his own words he tells us; “With little to no natural light keeping greenhouses on Exobudria 9 seemed impossible. But thanks to a clever symbiosis with the indigenous insects, the light and warmth of their hives proved to be exactly what the plants needed.” True to his style, he provides just enough clues to entice you in, like the opening scene of a great sci-fi movie, then leaves you wanting to know more. Like what exactly are those plants for? What’s with all those greebly bits? And why is space so damned creepy? Check out our Bart De Dobbelaer archives that will likely answer none of these questions but is enticing as heck anyway.

Greenhouse Symbiosis

This Xenomorph build has some bite

Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise are cool and terrifying at the same time, and this LEGO sculpt by Grantmasters is no exception! Based on the collector’s edition of the Alien: Weyland-Yutani Report, an informational book on the franchise, there’s so much detail packed into this low relief sculpt. Those slopes making up the brunt of the face look like they were made for rendering a Xenomorph, but the build really shines with the greebling on the sides of the face. Hinged cylinder links frame the face and connect to each other with a rope element across the top of the head. The Corners of the mouth feature many elements, such as minifigure arms and hands as well as some skeleton legs. The weapons orbiting the Xenomorph stand in for tendril designs. However, I think they’re present to guard the Xenomorph so it doesn’t leap out at the unsuspecting.

Head Shot 1

A taste of nectar on another world

Meet the Epyft, an alien being created by Mattia Careddu. This LEGO creature brings to mind a hummingbird crossed with a butterfly, as its long mouth reaches down to the bright blooming flower, drinking up all the rich nectar. No doubt the sugar is needed for the energy to stay in the air. The flower and the surrounding foliage feature so many cool parts to create something out of this world! Bionicle masks give the translucent green plants and blue flowers cool shapes and textures. Speaking of Bionicle masks, they’re also used for the creature’s sides, but that’s not the coolest bit of parts usage for this build. The creature’s body is a fun use of a torso piece from the Galidor toy line, produced by LEGO in 2002 for the sci-fi kids show by the same name.

Epyft

Even weirdo space-demons have play dates

If there’s one thing LEGO builder Bart De Dobbelaer has taught us is…um…he’s probably a weirdo space-demon. I mean, seriously! Check out this offering, for example. He captions it with “Can Timmy come out and play?” Then goes on to say that “even demons have play dates”. That is all. We’re left to fend for ourselves as to the how and why this is all happening. I mean, I’m sure there’s a good lesson in here somewhere about great textures, and the use of lighting in your LEGO creations. But I’m pretty certain by now that Bart has tentacles and at least one proboscis if not several. Check out what I mean with all his alien weirdness in our archives.

Can Timmy come out and play?

That little alien critter almost was Monorover roadkill

Sometimes LEGO releases parts that are so big, they seem challenging to use in a build of your own because they are so noticeable. Frost isn’t afraid of a challenge and is actually quite well known for using odd big pieces in their builds, just take a look at their gallery. The windshield of the Pop-Up Party Bus is such a piece. It is huge, it is trans purple and it only has been used for this one set. Frost used it in their Monorover. The build features only one wheel, hence the name Monorover. But that one wheel is massive! Which goes along great with the big purple windshield.

FebRovery 2022 Part 11

If you peek through the windshield you’ll notice a really nice angled display using the 1×2 round plate and the angled bar with stud. The colour scheme of this rover also is to die for. The teal compliments the purple and the trans purple wonderfully and the grey gives it that Classic Space feel we all know and love. Frost also proved that, even though LEGO Vidiyo didn’t last long, they produced some stellar minifigures.

Just your typical day surfing the hydrothermal acid pool

“Hydrothermal”, “acid”, and “pool” are three words that give me the willies. I don’t love them singularly but when combined it invokes a unique feeling of “oh, hell no”! For not the first time, The Brothers Brick alumn and world-renowned LEGO builder Nannan Zhang has me in awe and just a bit unsettled with this new creation. He doesn’t tell us much other than “Running errands on My’laar pays well if you don’t fall in a hydrothermal acid pool”. Nope, too much risk for me! I’d rather be an armchair adventurer with menial pay, thank you very much! Still, though, the bubbling marsh and that unnatural color are admittedly quite striking. I can only imagine the molecular makeup of any plant life that can exist there without withering away. Check out why Nannan Zhang is among the most interesting LEGO builders on this planet or otherwise.

Bubbling Marsh