Tag Archives: Contests

Build your own reversible LEGO Castle Byers model from Stranger Things [Instructions]

Does your copy of 75810 The Upside Down look a little lonely displayed all on its own? To help celebrate the TBB Upside Down building contest, we’ve got step-by-step instructions to build a minifigure scale Castle Byers to keep it company. Created by yours truly, the creation features both Will Byers’ pleasant-looking forest abode and an upside-down version in the same style as the official set.

LEGO did release a tiny version of Castle Byers which we reviewed recently, but we think this one fits the theme a bit better. The instructions PDF can be downloaded here, along with the Bricklink Studio digital file. And if you have an itch to build more Hawkins locations and their corresponding upside-down versions, don’t forget to enter our TBB Upside Down building contest! There’s only a week left to enter, with the deadline on August 15th. Now’s your chance to swoop in and win a copy of 75810 The Upside Down, along with the LEGO store exclusive Castle Byers build.

The Art of Violence

No, it’s not the subtitle of the latest Jason Statham movie or a poorly translated version of Sun Tzu’s classic text, it is a building contest sponsored by the new-age musical duo Siercon and Coral. I will let Sean and Steph explain the concept:

This is a stylized ‘Violence’ Contest. This is all about art. This is NOT a contest in which we primarily want to see hacked limbs and excessive amounts of blood. A more artistic and graceful scene will score far higher than any simple depiction of slaughter.

However, make it meaningful, sober, deadly, and more importantly… artistic. Many Asian movies have done this exceedingly well. ‘Hero’ is one of these movies in our opinion. (Please use discretion if you intend to watch, as there are some questionable scenes). Artistically speaking, however, it is one of our favorite movies.

Here are three of the best early entries to inspire and motivate you, if the custom trophy provided by Sean and Steph isn’t enough motivation. For the rest of the boilerplate (details, restrictions and minutia) head over to the Art of Violence thread on the Lego Contest Network Flickr Group.

First up is “The Last Stand” by TBB favorite Mark of Falworth.
(LCC) The Last Stand.

The middle-man is Ru Corder and his “Fall like a thunderbolt“.

Fall Like a Thunderbolt

The triad is complete with .Bricko’s ode to Pat Benatar, “Love is a Battlefield“.

Love Is A Battlefield

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that the last entry had nothing to do with dancing pimps and working girls. My advice to you, constant reader, should you enter the fray, is to avoid the color red…it seems to be dominating the early entries. Good luck to everyone involved with the contest!

TBB Cover Photo “Contest”

How would you like to have your photo featured on either our Facebook or Twitter page for an entire month? We’ve created a Flickr group called TBB Cover Photos to give you that chance.

It’s simple: Just add a high-quality picture of your LEGO model to the group. Once each month, we’ll select two photos for our cover pages, one for Facebook and one for Twitter. You then get bragging rights for a whole month!

Tips for success & glory:

  • Landscape photos work better than portrait photos for cover photos. We’re most likely to pick photos that have lots of detail across a wide part of the picture.
  • Regular readers will be familiar with our high standards for presentation. As the “face” of TBB for a whole month, the photos you submit should be something we might blog — even if we haven’t yet.

Here are some examples of the aspect ratios to keep in mind:

Facebook cover specs  TBB Twitter Cover Diagram

Legalese: Please keep in mind that by joining and submitting a photo to the group, you are granting permission to The Brothers Brick, Facebook, and Twitter to use the photo (with full credit to you, of course).