Tag Archives: Animals

A sequel to the “Chromalagous” dragon

If you have no knowledge of “Chromalagous” by awesome LEGO designer, Wes Talbott, stop right now and check it out. It’s one of my most favorite builds of all time! Now, if you’re familiar with that build, you might see similarities to this one. Wes hopes to create a rainbow of dragon busts at a slightly smaller scale to that of their predecessor – starting with this Red Chromatic Dragon. As with the last one, this dragon’s shaping is gorgeous and organic. It’s also inspired by D&D.

I’m a huge fan of the shape of the horns in particular, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the collection looks like! Stay tuned for more, but while you wait, check out some other builds of dragons. We’ve also created content surrounding some of Wes’ official designs for you to discover. For example, take a peek at the 21325 Medieval Blacksmith review and the modular 10270 Bookshop designer video.

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Frogs on candlestick pond

There really aren’t enough candlesticks in the world. Well, LEGO candles, anyway. They’re so useful! Take this wonderful build by Eli Willsea, for example. It uses over 50 of them to create the look of bulrushes. Excellent execution! But that’s not the only excellent parts usage here. I love how he used those 1×2 hinge plates to create adorable frog eyes and the center of the waterlily. Those flies and that incredible tongue are awesome too!

If you like these techniques, check out more builds by Eli (AKA Forlorn Empire). Also, if frogs are your thing, we even have a collection of builds that feature frogs!

Holy Jumping Peacock Spider!

Sullivan R has constructed this charming build based on a peacock spider. In real life, the tiny spider waves its colourful back and long legs in order to entice a mate. This build has some excellent details such as the use of Rahkshi worms which represent its fangs. Minifigure hands portray delicate hairs on the spider’s extended legs. The long horn pieces on the back form the unusual curved patterns which surround a red central area, represented by a shoulder armour piece. The end result is an adorable model that hopefully won’t get eaten by its potential mate.

This beautiful garden is a paradise for birds

Created by lego_monkey_, this build shows an idyllic garden, full of wildlife. A robin takes a moment to pause while on the garden path as a blue tit watches from above, perched on the entrance to a bird box. The stone path has a great look to it, with large stone slabs surrounded by stone chips, represented by an assortment of wedge pieces. The variety of textures used in the brick wall creates a realistic interpretation of the stonework, as the bricks begin to deteriorate with age. The purple flowers have some fantastic shapes, with leaf plates portraying the petals of the plants.

The Moby Dick of honey bees

I wonder if there is a beekeeper equivalent to Captain Ahab, forever obsessing over one special white honeybee. Whoever that beekeeping Ahab is, they should look no further than this LEGO creation by Christian Lintan. My hunch says once discovered, this monochrome mech will put up a good fight. It might even make Beekeeper Ahab wish they would have pursued something less dangerous, like stamp collecting. I’m loving those Bionicle transparent wings though. If you enjoy LEGO builds with a monochrome palette, be sure to click the little blue link to see what others have done, including at least one entry by Christian.

This flower mantis wants you to put up your dukes

This LEGO flower mantis built by Takamichi Irie is so pretty. It’s also deadly if you happen to be its prey…or a male flower mantis. I’m not sure whether I want to fight it or kiss it. Either way, it’s probably best I keep a safe distance from anything that would bite my head off after mating, not that I’d be into that sort of thing. (Well, that got awkward fast!) While you’re mulling over how that would work out, take a look at why we are so smitten by anything Takamichi does. On second thought, maybe I can give this pretty flower mantis just a tiny smooch. What can go wrong?

My thoughts on unconnected tiger art? They’re grrrrrrrreat!

Who says you have to lock the bricks together to make something beautiful out of LEGO? Mitsuru Nikaido knows just how to pile up pieces to take things in a very different direction. Better still, they show you just how it was done with a great time lapse video! (Seriously. Go watch.)

If you’re looking for more creative inspiration, be sure to take a stroll through our Art tag!

LEGO 40522 Valentine Lovebirds – Lovey-dovey, except they’re parrots. [Review]

It seems that merch for the holidays shows up earlier and earlier every year. Case in point, LEGO has revealed their Valentine’s Day themed holiday set – LEGO 40522 (Love Birds). We don’t know the price yet, but based on the 286-piece part count and the 2021 Valentine’s set, we’re guessing it’ll be in the $15-20 US range. We’ll find out for sure when on January 1st when this set is officially released! In the meantime, we can take an even earlier look at this offering and see if the love shines through or not.

UPDATE! These cuties are now available for US $12.99 | CAN $16.99 | UK £11.99 and they’re called “Valentine Lovebirds”. Good to know!

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.

Click to read the full hands-on review

Cute forest animals abound at the Everdell Castle

I love how hobbies or interests are able to bring people together. I am quite the LEGO nerd and thanks to LEGO and its community, I’ve met so many lovely people. My partner on the other hand is quite the board game geek and thanks to him I got sucked into the community that comes with the dice. What never stops to amaze me is the amount of love that goes into designing board games. John Snyder and Isaac Snyder drew inspiration from the game ‘Everdell’. The game is filled with cute forest critters and almost magical surroundings. For their latest build, they decided to give the ‘Castle’ card the LEGO treatment.

The castle wall looks really organic and irregular at the top due to a fine selection of pieces. We can find dinosaur tails, spider legs and plant limbs used for the wooden castle gate. Each wooden beam gets adorned with a white horn, claw, cone, lever base, or a bulb to represent fresh snow. The main tower has a crazy angle to it and I can’t figure out how the bricks are connected at the place of the angle. My guess is flex tubing but I might be wrong. It may as well be friction and gravity. There are cattle horns used in brown as architectural details. We get flags made out of pentagonal tiles with a little crown attached to it with a rubber band, which looks like a little layer of fresh snow on the top of the flag. The inhabitants of the castle are LEGO animals, which makes this build less than minifigure scale, which allows for parts to be used in a very original way. The skis used for doors look massive and add a sense of grandeur to the castle. Have you spotted the brave little blue hamster defending the castle?

Happiness is a puppy under the Christmas tree

Dog owners know how much joy a new doggie brings to the household. They can be a lot of work at times, they get into things you wouldn’t even imagine, but when your new pup finally settles in that’s when the magic happens. LEGO builder Timofey Tkachev likely knows what I mean as evidenced by this darling little fur baby under the tree. That playful expression, the squeaky ball, even the DOTS watchband used as a collar are all brilliant details.

You can see this precious little scamp from all angles with this short video.

Brachiosaurus the Zoid Destroyer

Oh, Zoids. For those hip to this classic mecha series, it’s hard not to get excited when you see something like this pop up in your feed. When I see builders like Juan Fernando Vargas Correa celebrating the series with such massive LEGO models, I swell with nostalgia. I mean, Gundams get tons of love (as they should) but Zoids are rarely celebrated as much as they deserve. This model, which he calls a Brachiosaurus, is based on the Ultrasaurus. It’s giant body is designed to serve as a mobile command center with some serious armaments. Two massive, long-ranged Supercannons are mounted on its side along with a plethora of other weapons lining its shoulders, tail, and chest. Not only does it pack a punch but it can take one too. The builder’s color blocking and plating show off the massive amount of armor necessary for such a ginormous, lumbering beast to defend itself in battle.

This thing is truly large and would be a beast to build. Hopefully it has lots of little vehicles and tiny Zoids to go with it, just like the kits would. That launch pad on its back certainly would hint at it, right? Builder Juan Correa will surely continue to impress with his awesome recreations and re-imaginings of these beloved toys.

MPU: mammoth parts usage...

We like builds with NPU. They showcase the limitless creativity of people when it comes to utilising a weird LEGO element in a unique way. Character builder Eero Okkonen is no stranger to odd but innovative parts in his wonderful builds. And he is no stranger to Bionicle either, from which his myriad of character builds originate. This time he takes this opportunity to include a part many had difficulty integrating into their creations: the Rahkshi back. And it works so well that I will now think of that part as “Mammoth forehead.” Thanks Eero!

And also thank you for planting the idea of Bionicle x Ice Age crossover in my head.
It was Scrat who awakened the Bohrok swarms…