Tag Archives: Cartoon

Blast to the past with Generation 1 Transformers

Builder Alex Jones (Orion Pax) has a laser-focused talent to bring our favorite Transformers to life. They not only look great and recognizable in their humanoid form, but it takes skill to also make the same builds look fabulous in their alternate vehicle modes using LEGO bricks. This is not an easy task indeed and would likely take tons of hours of experimentation. These sets of builds feature; Autobots Ironhide, Cosmos, Mirage, and Powerglide each decorated with the unmistakable patterns and prints from the original box designs from the 80s. They certainly don’t make morning cartoons like they used to!

Autobot Ironhide

Click to see more Autobots in action

The cutest creature of the underground – Krtek

Readers from eastern Europe will instantly recognize this adorable critter from the Czech cartoon Krtek (which means “little mole” in Czech). Having read books and seen cartoons of Krtek’s adventures throughout my childhood, I never thought to see the character built out of LEGO. But when I saw this perfect recreation by Eero Okkonen, I went full “aww-mode”.

The Mole

The pose on the image is so iconic that one would hardly notice this is LEGO, were it not for a jagged edge here and there. Curved pieces capture the character’s shape very well, but my favourite parts are the red nose and the three long hairs on the mole’s head. As a master character builder, Eero has explored many different source materials and themes, but none quite as iconic as this one. Thanks for the nostalgia trip, Eero!

Wile E. Coyote is the symbol of never giving up in anything you do...

If there’s the one time that I’m rooting for the bad guy, it’s Wile E. Coyote. He works so hard in all his traps and thingamajigs but the Road Runner not only always eludes and avoids them, but manages to make the contraptions work against poor Mr. Coyote. They don’t make TV cartoons like they used to, and this build by Chris Goddard brings back tons of memories. The Technic ball joints that make up Wile E. Coyote’s eyes popping out of his sockets describe his everlasting hunger and passion to never give up hope and to always keep trying

MOC: Beep! Beep! Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote

RIP Steve Hillenburg, creator of SpongeBob SquarePants

Tartar sauce… Steve Hillenburg, the creator of the long-running Nickelodeon show SpongeBob SquarePants, has passed away from complications of ALS. He was 57. It’s amazing to think this show has been on the air since 1999, and hard to think of a cartoon character as ingrained into 21st century popular culture as Mr SquarePants, who has appeared in everything from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to LEGO sets to my favorite pair of yellow pyjamas. So long Steve, and thanks for all the fish.

Have a yabba-dabba-doo time!

This neat microscale creation by Lennart C absolutely nails its subject, literally reducing Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble to bricks and studs. Building at this scale requires that rare ability to see the archetypical aspects of its theme in individual elements, and who would have thought a 1×1 orange and a 1×1 brown brick would represent these Stone Age buddies so well. The foot-powered car similarly convinces in its use of cylinders for rock wheels. Here at TBB we are dazzled by so many amazing piece uses in the models we see, so it’s always good to be reminded that sometimes the base elements of the LEGO system are all that’s needed to have a yabba-dabba-doo time!

Yabadabadoo

Chip & Dale are ready for the rescue

Predating Monk by a few decades, this gripping TV detective show featured a pair of chipmunks ready to solve any crime, no matter how or small. Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers was a staple of kids’ cartoons in the 90s, and now this dynamic duo has been brought to the brick by an equally talented pair of builders, with Chip built by Leonid An and Dale by Vlad Lisin.

Click to see more of Chip & Dale

Full cast of LEGO Powerpuff Girls minifigures revealed [News]

In addition to the main trio of LEGO Powerpuff Girls revealed yesterday, the entire cast of minifigure characters from the popular cartoon series has now been revealed. Joining the lineup up of fan-favorites includes Princess Morbucks (with perhaps the biggest molded minifgure head of all time), Octi, Donny The Unicorn, and Mojo Jojo.

The LEGO Powerpuff Girls theme will consist of at least two sets available in August, including 41287 Bubbles Playground Showdown and 41288 Mojo Jojo Strikes. The Brothers Brick will bring you photos of the sets if available this weekend from the New York Toy Fair, so stay tuned.

Image via The Geekiary

LEGO officially announces Powerpuff Girls theme [News]

Today LEGO announced that a Powerpuff Girls theme will be arriving in August, consisting of at least two sets. While LEGO hasn’t disclosed any set images yet, they have released images of the characters, which include Buttercup, Bubbles, and Blossom, the same three characters that featured in the Powerpuff Girls Dimensions sets last year.

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A-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah!

With his philosophical proposal “Cogito ergo sum” (“I think, therefore I am”), French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist René Descartes may have had a clever way with words. But I think Popeye summed it up admirably with “I yam what I yam and tha’s all what I yam”. Like many of us here at TBB, Oliver Becker is old enough to remember this underdog with bulging forearms, a mean uppercut, and a love of canned spinach.

Popeye the Sailor

I love how he has managed to capture everything about this famous star of comic strip and screen; it’s almost as though he’s about to bust out with that classic line “I oughta busk you right in the mush”. As the star of his own comic strips and animated series, on both the small and big screens, Popeye became quickly ingrained in American culture, and today remains one of the most recognizable pop-culture icons in the world.

Massive LEGO Who Framed Roger Rabbit display built with over 250k pieces

The good folks of KC Bricklab have come a long way since they started the Kansas City-based LEGO club five years ago. Their most recent exploit is an incredible journey through the half live-action, half-animated feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The 1988 Robert Zemeckis film is filled with hairy escapades, quick humor, and more than a bit of weirdness, and at 8 by 16 feet, KC Bricklab’s display brings it all to life. 

Who Framed Roger Rabbit by KC Bricklab

The display was a collaborative effort by 19 members of KC Bricklab, and contains the zany mainstreet of Toontown, the huge Acme factory warehouse, and a bit of psychedelic forest among other scenes.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit by KC Bricklab

KC Bricklab began planning the build in December of 2016, and had it completed in time for display at Chicago’s Brickworld LEGO convention in June. Although the club meets monthly, most of the planning was done virtually, and the finished display for the convention was the first time the builders got to see the full layout assembled.

Click to see the rest of the images

Ponies are cool, but LEGO ponies are about 20% cooler

If the rain clouds are still hovering overhead then it’s time to call the cavalry, otherwise known as Rainbow Dash. In the world of hit TV show My Little Pony this pugnacious pegasus maintains the weather and clears the skies of Ponyville. British builder Andrew Harvey used around 3700 LEGO bricks to capture Dash’s colourful likeness, even managing to give her a sense of movement in the process. This sculpture is cleverly made using a “studs out” technique for the head, body and wings – but those expressive eyes are my favourite part of this model.

LEGO Rainbow Dash

There’s also a view of Rainbow Dash’s swishing tail as she makes her way back to Ponyville to kick away a few rain clouds. And if you’re in the vicinity of Manchester, England this weekend you can even marvel at this model in person at the Bricktastic LEGO show.

LEGO Rainbow Dash

Jeepers! Zoinks! Ruh-roh ...run Scooby-Doo!

Remember those good old days when Scooby-Doo and the gang used to get chased by villianous museum curators dressed as ghosts? Well Tim Lydy sent the thrill of the chase up a notch at Brickworld Chicago last week with a kinetic creation depicting Scooby-Doo and the gang and running from three more recent characters from horror films.

First up to chase is Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movie series, then we have Pennywise from Stephen King’s novel It and finally Freddy Kruger from the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. The scary chasers are very well built and instantly recognisable. Each character has its own running style, especially Scooby-Doo himself who appears to be frantically “wind-milling”. You can view the video here.