Tag Archives: Characters

The frog prince of wails

The story of the frog prince has been updated many times over the years. Maybe in this LEGO version by Ivan Marynov the prince has just realized that social distancing is going to make smooching a princess a lot more difficult. Whatever the case, this is certainly an expressive frog. A golden crown from the 2006 Knight’s Kingdom II theme is all that remains of this fellow’s past, and a bit of red cloth forms the interior of the gaping mouth. But for me it’s the eyes (yellow radar dishes surrounded by tires) that really get the horror of the moment across. I also like the Technic ball joints used for the toes. The tiny fly(ing) magic user is also full of fun part usage. From the blue wizard hat to the Parademon wings, this little fellow clearly wasn’t someone to mess with.

You know, sometimes existential angst is just darn cute.

The Vile Spell

Ivan’s other featured creations aren’t quite as adorable, but you should still check them out!

The terror of tiny Transformers

As a kid, I think the Transformers cartoon did teach me some memorable words, like screaming at the top of my lungs in Megatron style “Decepticons, retreeeatt!” These too deserve some shout out with the family members that we’re sure to find familiar. There’s Daddy “Screaming” Megatron, Sonny “Rebellious” Starscream, Brother “Silent” Soundwave, “Conehead” Ramjet, “See-It-All” Reflector and “Shoot-em-up” Shockwave. All these were brought to you by Joe Perez, using the LEGO Mixel joints that were in abundance in the theme.

"Decepticons Attack"

Even though these are not transformable, and neither do I expect them to be, they make a nice tiny collection that demands to be in my collection one day.

Let Aladdin take you on a magic carpet ride

It’s a whole new world of LEGO building when MSIndustries uses the plastic bricks to create this spectacular Aladdin model. I will admit to being a hardcore Disney fan so of course, my scrolling stopped upon seeing this image. I was immediately drawn to the nicely rendered characters and that wonderfully fluid magic carpet that seems to float in the air by magic.

The characters are full of life and interesting parts usage. The construction of Aladdin’s turban and Jasmine’s hair is particularly well done as well as their outfits. The Genie’s expression and pose are perfect and really give him a lot of personality. But for once, Genie isn’t the center of attention here. Its’ the magic carpet’s turn to shine. The patterning is beautiful and the undulation in its’ form is achieved using a combination of 10 x 10 LEGO nets, round 2×2 plates and bars. And that floating look? It’s not Photoshop trickery but in fact a practical effect.

A Whole New World

Check out the magic that helps keep the carpet afloat

A show that’s as fun to watch as it is to build

You’re trapped in your home, and you and your roommates have no choice but to watch bad movies.

Sound familiar? No, it’s not just a good guess as to what many of our readers might be doing at this particular moment in time. It’s the plot of Mystery Science Theater 3000 – the story of a man shot into space and forced to watch cheesy movies with his robot companions. It’s one of my (TBB contributor Chris Doyle) favorite shows to binge-watch. Oh, and to build in LEGO. I’ve previously shared a build of the first subjects of this movie-watching experiment, Joel, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot. Thanks to being trapped at home myself, I’ve had time to build the other two sets of castaways.

All aboard the Satellite of Love

Click here to continue reading…

The classic side-eye

We have all known that person at some point. The one who says something and all you can do is silently give them that judging gaze. Sometimes they’re even a friend. And you love them, but man are they weird. This build by Gregory Coquelz, inspired by the writings of author China Miéville, perfectly captures that moment. Maybe it’s the slurping in the middle of a very serious Dungeons and Dragons quest. Whatever thought bubbles you give the scene, the characters and their outfits tell a great story.

Back to New Crobuzon

You can see more of Gregory’s work by visiting our archives.

Two young friends, exploring the world together

I deeply admire those who can take a LEGO build and create a story using beautiful photography. That’s exactly what Orient R Minesky has done with this pair of adventurous school girls. The builds themselves are well done, but their interaction with non-LEGO items brings them to life. The collection includes several great shots, and we wanted to share a few of our favorites. Here they’re spending a beautiful day taking pictures in the park.

Shiki-Aya_014

Click to see more of the series

The Coffee and Cigarettes Generation

Back in 1993, Jim Jarmusch directed a short black and white film, Coffee and Cigarettes: Somewhere in California. In it, musicians Iggy Pop and Tom Waits meet at a coffee shop. Then they talk about stuff. It’s worth a watch. There’s just something inherently cool about seeing these two icons having a conversation. What’s even cooler, though, is seeing that conversation recreated in LEGO. Builder Timofey Tkachev has somehow managed to convert Iggy and Tom into perfect brick-built likenesses.

Coffee and Cigarettes

There’s a lot to love about this build. There are dozens of great techniques in play, from the use of 2×2 macaroni tile in the ears to the expert combination of wedge plates in Iggy’s jacket. The relaxed poses are full of complex angles and joins, and Tom’s hair…unf. Just so good.

And the background is just as impressive. Check out the use of transparent tile in the coffee urn, the 90 degree elbows in the coffee cup rims. There’s even a tiny “LEGO News” newspaper 2×2 tile used as small print on the cigarette pack.

Like the film itself, this is a build that rewards the viewer the closer they’re willing to look. I don’t know if I’m inspired or just intimidated.

Hands-on with LEGO BrickHeadz 40377 Donald Duck & 40378 Pluto & Goofy [Review]

Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy — famous and much-loved, and yet somehow always relegated to the second-division of Disney characters behind Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Sure, the Disney Empire is The-House-The-Mouse-Built, but personally I’ll take Donald’s edgier attitude over Mickey’s slightly bland wholesomeness any day of the week. As for Goofy, he’s a classic clown, good for causing chaos and taking a painful pratfall — he’s always been one of my favourite of the Disney gang. Along with Pluto, Mickey’s pet dog, these are the latest Disney-themed releases in the BrickHeadz line of blocky figures. This new pair of sets will allow Disney fans to put together a wider BrickHeadz family of their favourite characters alongside the previously released Mickey & Minnie.

Goofy and Pluto will be available on 1st February and will be priced at US $14.99 | CAN $19.99 | UK £13.49 while the single build Donald Duck will be going for  US $9.99 | CAN $12.99 | UK £9.99

What did we think of this latest addition to the BrickHeadz range? Check out our full review…

Click to read the review and follow the building process

LEGO BrickHeadz 40337 Donald Duck 40378 Pluto & Goofy revealed [News]

Today we get a reveal of the upcoming Disney Themed BrickHeadz featuring Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy. These new characters will be a welcome addition to the existing family together with the Mickey and Minnie Mouse sets.

Click to have a closer look at the two new BrickHeadz sets

Go down memory lane with these amazing LEGO versions of classic Transformers

Alex “Orion Pax” Jones is a very focussed builder. All his LEGO building time lately has been spent on creating as-accurate-as-they-can-be digital Transformers Generation 1 characters. There’s so much to love about these as they instantly transport us back to a time when morning cartoons were not streamed and you had to wake up early to tune in to what now are amazing pop culture classics.

Autobot Optimus Prime

Click to see more Generation 1 Transformers

Meanwhile, on the Satellite of LEGO...

The Brothers Brick contributor Chris Doyle once again builds something based on Mystery Science Theater 3000. What’s his excuse this time?

Some may call it a creative rut. I prefer to think of it as “finding my groove.” I had a blast building characters from the TRY Channel, and thought MST3k would be a great theme to continue with. It’s no secret that I’m a huge nerd when it comes to LEGO versions of MST3k things, and when a table-scrap of Tom Servo “just happened”, I knew it was too late to turn back. And, soon enough, Joel and Crow T. Robot had joined him on a stage based on the Season 2(ish) Satellite of Love.

Meanwhile, on the Satellite of LEGO....

Read more about Chris’s MST3K LEGO build

TRYfecta. (Even more drunk LEGO building from Chris Doyle)

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a LEGO convention, but years ago, after the public went home, there were all sorts of “unsanctioned, after-hours” events for attending adults. Of those, “drunken speed building” was always a fun time. Or at least, I think it was a fun time. I honestly don’t remember a lot of details. Possibly because I was participating in drunken speed builds. Ah, youth. Anyway. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, drunk LEGO building.
Recently, the TRY Channel featured a bunch of Irish comedians getting drunk. Pretty common video topic for them. But immediately afterwards, they challenged the same folks to try their hand at building LEGO sets. I’ve already shared my LEGO-versions of two of the sets of TRYers. Today we finish up the series with Jamie Jay Car and Shannon Keenan‘s attempt to build set 75946 – Hungarian Horntail Triwizard Challenge. Like the other folks in the video, they do their best, but success wasn’t really in the cards for them. Shannon was pretty frustrated with the set from the get go, even “accidentally” tearing up the instruction book. Jamie gave it an honest go, but eventually just gave in to the chaos and started putting stickers all over his face. Good times.

IMG_20191201_125608~2

I wanted to bring some new elements to this set of characters. Jamie’s shocked expression meant leaving behind the Mixel eyes I’d been using on everyone else, and going with 2×2 radar dishes. And black hot dogs for his eyebrows, because sometimes 1×2 tiles just aren’t enough. Shannon’s ash-blonde hair was a challenge for me, as no shade of LEGO brick really captured it right. I went through a couple of variations before giving in and ordering the parts I needed in dark tan. The torn instruction booklet is the insert from a Harry Potter collectible mini-figure. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made.

Jamie and Shannon TRY photo reference

I’m looking forward to an excuse to build more members of the TRY channel in this format. At my age, it’s safer than getting involved in drunken speed builds of my own. Maybe. (When’s the next convention again?)