Tag Archives: Alien

Beneath the waves of 4546B

Have you ever been chilling in space, floating in your ship one second, only to wake up on a water world as the sole survivor of your crew? We’ve all been there, but thankfully the Alterra Corporation has you covered in the event of such a mistake. Those familiar with the Subnautica game series will surely sympathize, having swum in the suit of Ryley Robinson themselves. Builder Lysander Chau was inspired by their time in the oceans of 4546B to build this scene of a crab-squid chasing after the Seamoth.

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Thinking outside the box can take you out of this world

The LEGO VIDIYO line has introduced some notably interesting minifigure DJs and a ton of printed tiles, or BeatBits, that interact with the accompanying music video creation app. As far as parts go, we’ll see what the future VIDIYO sets hold for us, but for now, we have the BeatBoxes. They’re curved cubes with clear bodies that attach to a large, 8×8 modified brick. Inside, a special element holds two hinged plates that display the BeatBits and a fixed horizontal stand for the minifigure. Recently these elements have gained some popularity and builders are showing off what they can do with them. Builder martin.with.bricks elevated his BeatBox out of this world, cleverly using it as the cockpit for a spaceship dubbed the VIDI-1. Bricks are stacked in various orientations to attach to the cube element and wrap around it. The lime green of the BeatBox base is accented by patterns built into the wings as well as vents on the sides and guns on top.

Inside the clear section of the BeatBox, Martin has used brackets, clips, and rounded 2×1 plates to create a seat, display, and controls for the Alien DJ. Representing “Extra Terrestrial Dance Music” according to the promotional images, this is a great minifigure design from the VIDIYO line. Continue reading →

Escape in a escape pod. Guaranteed almost completely Alien free!

The Aliens franchise has seen its share of high and low points, but there are certain moments that have been well and truly integrated into the pop culture world. One of them is Ellen Ripley’s escape at the end of the first film aboard the Narcissus, the escape pod from the larger USCSS Nostromo. Michael Steindl has created a truly remarkable digital scale model of the craft, full of complex angles and movie-accurate styling. My favorite touch is the 1×1 round brick used to create the textures on the rear quarter panels, with a close second being the use of 1×2 ingot bricks along the engine exhausts. In space, they say, no one can hear you scream. But maybe if you listen close enough you can hear some applause for this build. But probably not, since physics doesn’t play favorites like that.

If you’re looking for more extraterrestrial-ly inspired treats, check our our Alien tag!

Greetings Earth sausage. Take me to your soup can.

One can forgive the awkward salutation in the title. With his four arms, bugged-out eyes and bulbous head, this creature built by Ivan Martynov has that not-from-around-here vibe. Meet Commander Viridigen. In regards to native fauna, his ethics may seem questionable and his grasp of the English language makes about as much gramatical sense as anything on 4Chan. In terms of LEGO pieces, some elements of this extra-terrestrial look a bit…alien. I mean, check out those feet, the chest armor, the shoulder pads. That’s not quite LEGO, folks! Even his head resembles something like a metallic ram. But you know what they say, a little alien integration into your LEGO collection never hurt anybody. Am I right? Right, people? Isn’t that what they say? Anyway, feast your ocular orbs on the other times we were totally flamboozled by Ivan’s krunk.

Do you want tentacle babies? Because that’s how you get tentacle babies!

There was a time when LEGO builder Grant Davis was a regular here at The Brothers Brick but lately he’s been as rare as truck nuts on a Prius. That’s because he’s been away at the university. But that’s all about to change because he is competing in the ever-popular Iron Builder competition against our friend and recent TBB alumni Benjamin Stenlund. Grant calls this one “The Experiment” and, like many sci-fi movies and Florida Man stories, it features toxic goo, tentacles, and a situation that’s about to get calamitous. This is only his first entry in this competition so we can expect to see plenty more from Grant and even Benjamin soon. Iron Builder always means job security for us. Speaking of job security for us, check out the other times we were totally gaga for Grant’s stuff.

Exploring other worlds with LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31115 Space Mining Mech [Review]

If you’re here, chances are you’re a big fan of the LEGO brand, so you already know that it’s the toy of endless possibilities. Even on more expensive sets, you’re most likely always going to get a good bang for your buck. And in terms of creative potential, Creator sets are some of the best at encouraging it, particularly 3-in-1’s which provide a great combination of inspiration and versatile parts. The latest addition to the line is finally here, and we’re eager to see if this space-themed kit is out of this world! Come along as we explore what LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31115 Space Mining Mech has to offer. The set will be available March 1st, and will retail for US $24.99 | CAN $34.99 | UK £24.99.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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This frightening flower could eat you right up

The new LEGO Bouquet set is all the rage right now, so it’s cool to see some LEGO fans build their own brick-built potted plants. Aiden Rexroad joined in the fun with a truly frightening Flos Corpus.

This creation is impressive in that you can, more or less, see all the parts he used. But don’t let that relative simplicity take anything away from how terrific (or terror-ific) this flower looks. This meat-eating plant brandishes rows of sharp teeth tucked inside some beautiful purple petals — petals expertly made up of purple Bionicle Pakari masks. The Bionicle theme continues down the stem, with leaves of Bionicle Rahkshi Kraata. Luckily this little plant is contained to a pot. If it had legs, I’d be truly scared of it walking over, licking me with its slimy pink tongue, and taking a big chomp outta my leg.

Life in the pink

Well now, what is this all about? Bart De Dobbelaer presents us with this striking LEGO scene and, through a mission log, humorously illustrates that space travel can be at times exciting but also mind-numbingly dull. I’m smitten by the overall composition, the greebly space-cube, the pink alien vegetation, even the shadowed planet in the distance. The light from within is a spectacular touch! Bart calls this scene La Vie en Rose.

If you are to do some space travel anytime soon, I advise bringing a soundtrack. Might I suggest Édith Piaf or Lady Gaga? I suppose even this breathtaking image can seem dull if that is all you had to look at for months or even years on end. It might be best that you scroll on and peruse some other stuff before the space-madness settles in. But before you do, check out these articles to make your space journey a bit more interesting.

Creature of an enchanted garden

If you find yourself in a magical land, watch where you step. Amongst the alluring, translucent blue flowers hides a curious creature. Exceptional LEGO builder, Patrick Biggs brings this little character to life in a captivating way. An expressive face paired with a dynamic pose and uniquely contrasted foliage demand a second look. You can build a pretty flower or a cute dragon, but telling a story with the two is what makes this build interesting. I’m particularly fond of the parts usage in the head shaping of the dragon, as well as the Bionicle head elements used for the petals.

While you’re here, you can check out a few of Patrick’s other builds, as well as more dragons!

Top Secret: Roswell 1947

Aliens get a bad rap, don’t they? They’re scary, mysterious, and they’re the bane of midwestern farmers and cattle everywhere. They’re also seemingly responsible for a slew of uncanny and sometimes hilarious crop circles and plus they’ve got that whole probing thing which some folks have mixed feelings about. Andreas Lenander calls this LEGO diorama Roswell 1947. The depiction of the UFO scorching the earth does nothing to squelch the alien’s reputation but it is admittedly cool. The large saucer dishes go way back to the X-Pod line from ’04-’05. The light brick built into the landscape gives this piece that extra helping of awesomesauce. You may (ahem) probe deeper into our archives to see just how fascinated we are with Andreas’ stuff and aliens in general.

Exploring the galaxy for fresh vegetation

I’m loving everything about this other-worldly scene by captainsmog! From the satisfyingly shaped spaceship that is reminiscent of the Rocket Boy LEGO Collectable Minifigure, to the cleverly crafted plants. The creative parts usage is rad and makes me want to go dig through my oddball parts. I particularly love the claw elements used to make the wavy red and orange… thingy? Genius!

This builder is not a stranger to TBB. He built one of the first tensegrity builds we featured.

A Saucerful of Secrets

Mysteries abound in this latest creation by Blake Foster. Turning the Tables features a classic UFO scenario turned on its head. Have the cows had enough? Or is this actually a flashback to how the hostilities between the alien and bovine races began? Either way, there’s a lot to unpack in this vignette. On the building front, check out the clever use of on-the-sprue Harry Potter wands in the fence, the cupcake-tipped under-udder-thrusters, and the perfect use of those 1×1 star plates. The Mixel eyes on the cow-pilot just creep me out, though.

We’ve featured a number of Blake’s other Spacy Creations in the past. Could this be the beginning of a new theme of “Cow-Space”? One can only hope.