Tag Archives: Characters

We love builds with character! Creating characters from LEGO elements, whether traditional System bricks or using elements from Bionicle and Constraction themes, is an amazing way to showcase your building skills. Brining out emotion and personality in bricks is an art!

Rotor is coming in hot!

What would Bionicle characters look like if they were designed by fans? That’s what some LEGO fans have been exploring, and one recent example is this Bionicle villain by awesomenessborn. The answer seems to be that they’d be a bit bigger than most Bionicle characters were, a whole lot more detailed, and totally cool. At first glance I thought this character was much smaller, and then I spotted the orange wheel used as a shoulder. And I was nearly fooled into thinking that was an official Bionicle mask he was wearing, but it’s actually made out of a handful of pieces, including a Pakari mask on top. With the huge chopper blade on top, I’m almost getting the vibe of Roboriders/Slizers.

And speaking of fans and Bionicle, don’t forget to check out the official LEGO Ideas fan vote to revive a classic theme, where Bionicle is one of the four finalists!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

TBB Cover Photo for February 2021: The Luckiest Cats

February’s cover photo brings some luck along with it. /snirk/snirk/

These lucky cats, by Ruobing Dai, are adorned with different decorations symbolizing good fortune and making money, and the detailing is exquisite. Meeeeeow.

But seriously though, I wouldn’t mind putting one of these in every room in the house to bring any kind of luck to this year. They’re super cute and each cat has a unique design on his tummy; a treasure basin, a teeny cat set, and a carp. They’d actually go great in my living room.

Submit your LEGO creations for a chance to be featured across TBB social media for a month! Check out the submission guidelines share your builds today.

Keep up with The Brothers Brick by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter and Pinterest. And for extra goodies, follow us on Instagram, Flickr, and subscribe to us on YouTube.

Taking cyber-speed to the next level

There are fast bikes. Then there are superbikes. This cyberpunk styled “Warpwheeled Cryptobike” by Eero Okkonen sits atop the list. The brightly-colored, space-age racing bike is poised for domination, and those wheels – the back being circles of banana gears and the front being tiles fixed tightly to some medium tread – are slick. The newer version of the 90° elbow (macaroni) element, which is used on both the bike and biker more than once, has to be one of LEGO’s best in recent history.

When she’s not on her bike, the rider is flying high in her rocket suit. That’s right; those boots aren’t made for walkin’. She’s killing it with the color combo! The old-school elements used in the futuristic jetpack and shoes are my favorite part. Shoutout to the Avatar/ExoForce projectile on the hips.

As always, we have loads of exceptional builds from Eero you can check out. This addition sits among so many awesome bikes and characters, it’s hard to choose a favorite!

The cutest rickshaw you ever saw

Or as RJ BrickBuilds likes to call it: a Brickshaw! This has to be one of the most adorable automata RC builds I’ve ever seen. It’s powered by a large LEGO Power Functions motor, IR receiver, and battery box. I love how the elements are hidden in plain sight, as the seat and the little guy’s torso.

I’m not sure what it is about a cartooney character with giant eyes, but you can’t help but smile when you see one. And that’s not the only thing that makes it cute – the waddle-run gives it extra character. He’s working so hard, he deserves a tip! The colorful cart itself is also instantly recognizable, with the Technic panels covering the battery doubling perfectly as a seat blanket.

Click the GIF to see the full Youtube video. And while you’re here, take a look at some of the other excellent kinetic builds we’ve featured.

You, too, can fill your zoo with over 20 adorable animals!

As someone obsessed with animals and animal builds, I’m pleased to share some exciting news! TBB’s 2020 Creation of the Year builder, Koen Zwanenburg, is providing instructions for his collection of cute and cuddly LEGO critters! These cartoon-ish creations are some of my all-time favorite animal builds. Just look at that walrus’ flippers – genius! The size and style lend themselves perfectly to repeating the techniques with all sorts of characters. And now, you can build them and collect them all yourself.

While you’re here, be sure to check out some of Koen’s other builds! In addition to many other completely different creations, he’s also used this technique for both Super Mario and Christmas characters.

Arvo brothers bring Robocop to life with LEGO – I’d buy that for a dollar!

If you haven’t heard of the Arvo Brothers before, they’re Ramon and Amador Alfaro Marcilla, a pair of Spanish builders who are known for truly amazing LEGO sculptures. Their latest effort pays tribute to the 1987 classic, RoboCop. Standing around 2 feet tall, this towering figure is a dead-on recreation of Peter Weller’s portrayal of the titular character and is filled with intricate and screen-accurate detailing.

The first thing that becomes apparent is that there’s a level of articulation built into this sculpture. The shoulders, elbow, and head can all be adjusted to create a variety of bad-ass poses. The next thing that you notice is the spectacular part usage. There are just a few LEGO studs exposed, enough to let you know what he’s made of, but so few that you’re still required to really lean in to be sure. Curved tiles and slopes are everywhere, smoothing out the shapes and creating a perfectly streamlined set of armor.

Continue reading →

A new Spider-verse crossover?

Rumors are flying about all the live-action Spider-folk who could appear in the next Spider-Man movies, but what about LEGO versions? This brick-built web-head by Build Better Bricks seems like another quality addition. The shaping of Spidey’s mask is well done, with the eyes being particularly nifty. The figure has some great articulation, too, although that did lead to a small trade-off: those Mixel ball joint connectors currently only come in light grey. Still, that’s the price you sometimes pay for a physical model over a digital flight of fancy.

We’ve spotlighted some other creations from this team before. Check them out here!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Mech!?

This LEGO model could either be a buildable figure of Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series or a mech version of the pizza-loving reptilian character. Either way this build by Cecilie Fritzvold seems like a fresh new take on character depictions from the franchise.

Cowabunga, let’s take a look at some interesting parts usage utilized in this build! Where Michelangelo’s six-packed underbelly would normally be, Fritzvold uses two trans-clear orange Nexo Knights parts to shape this area – a pentagonal tile and a windscreen. Minifigure legs are also incorporated in interesting ways here; two green pairs serve as Michelangelo’s hands while a disassembled orange pair is used in tandem with some slope parts to create a martial arts belt. It’s always nice to see unique parts such as the chain element be included in models – here, they serve as nunchuck chains. I like builds that blend interesting parts in popping colors together, and this model certainly does just that. If you’re interested in viewing more colorful LEGO TMNT mechs, Fritzvold created a few more pictured below.

Not having a LEGO costume for Halloween would be CATastrophic

Most folks in the world won’t be trick-or-treating this year on Halloween, due to the pandemic, nor will there be too many costume parties with bobbing for apples and lots of candy corn. But that should not stop anyone from building awesome wearable LEGO costumes, like this cat head by Michael Kanemoto. You might not get to wear it outside the home, but wouldn’t it be absolutely meow-velous for your next Zoom meeting or virtual conference? Sure, there are more studs showing than I typically prefer in builds, but I suspect it’s necessary here; anything more than the simple outer skin of plates would make this kitty too heavy to wear. And you want your audience to see that it’s LEGO, after all, so that they can be impressed by your skills. Oh, who are we kitten? They’d be scared by your meow-someness. But that’s ok, since it’s Halloween, right?

Check out more wearable LEGO builds in our archives here if you need more ideas for costumes!

I guess Sulley is no longer the number one scarer!

We all know Mike Wazowski as Sulley’s best friend and working partner at Monsters, Inc.. He supports Sulley about being the number one scarer. But if it were up to Bart de Dobbelaer, Mike Wazowski would have looked a bit more like a number one scarer himself. Bart based this LEGO creation on the art of Austen Mengler and I have to say, this Mike looks ready to collect some serious screams! Although this creation looks quite small, in reality it must be quite big. Mike’s iconic eye is made of hot air balloon parts which means there is an entire hot air balloon hidden inside this figure.

Constraction faction, why the detraction?

I’ve got to be honest, I never liked constraction figures from LEGO. Personally, I thought Bionicle was lame and more than a little cheesy, the Knights Kingdom, Ben 10, superheroes, and Legends of Chima big figures even worse, and the Star Wars ones at best mildly interesting. Better than Galidor, certainly, but not by much. I was a System builder, period. Perhaps my position is evolving, however, or else I just love great LEGO building when I see it, because this character from Matt Goldberg is amazing. The color blocking is on-point, with bold, crisp red contrasting with the grey, and that gold visor just pops. The whole head is just perfect, in fact. Add in some superhero power bursts, and you have a dynamic sci-fi hero ready to save me from my anti-constractionist bigotry.

Who’s your favorite bounty hunter?

Although he may have started as a secondary role in the trilogy’s middle child, there’s no denying Boba Fett is the king of the Star Wars bounty hunters. LEGO versions of the man in Mandalorian armor abound, whether it’s an official helmet or BrickHeadz, or one of the myriad fan creations, we Star Wars fans can’t seem to get enough of Fett. And here with one more version that’s almost as cool as the caped mercenary himself is Letranger Absurde. This enormous brick-built figure stands more than a foot tall and has all the details right down to the braid over his right shoulder. Sadly, Letranger has released only this single image, so we can’t get a good look at one of Fett’s coolest tools: the jetpack.