Tag Archives: Creatures

Creepy crawly or fuzzy & fluffly (yes, that’s possible in LEGO), we love our LEGO animals. Check them out here, and fall in love yourself.

10,000 bricks bring forth a monstrous black dragon

We do not feature Bionicle and similar creations on The Brothers Brick very often, but when we do, you can be sure they will be the absolute best of the best. Such is this enormous dragon built by Yeonghun Joe. The builder loves dragons, and it shows: Two months of daily building to bring this monstrosity to life. The end result is almost a meter-long and over half-a-meter-tall, 10,000-piece masterpiece that has more going for it than just its size.

The dragon has great dynamic shaping and an intense texture throughout, achieved with elements like wing pieces, armor parts, and shields. To a critical viewer, the wings may look too skeletal, but I am glad Yeonghun did not use cloth pieces here, as it might actually diminish the effect — and a brick-built solution would definetely be too heavy. As for the head, I am pleasantly surprised; when I advise people on dragon building tecniques, I tell them not to make teeth as they more often than not look bad, but in this case and at this scale they look just as they should. Creations made of Bionicle (and related themes’) pieces are usually poseable, so I wonder – is it so with Yeonghun’s dragon as well?

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Well aren’t you handsome?

Brick Brickolson has created a beautiful monstrosity in “Captain Bashface”, a mutant Mr. Potato Head pirate look-alike. The asymetry in this build is superb, with no two limbs matching with the main body itself being lopsided. While all the eyes, tentacles, and robot arms are great, my favourite part is that simple but effective belt buckle and the belt build itself. It draws the eye to that wonderful, grotesque mouth.

When good means ugly and scary!

I have no idea what sort of creature Djokson built or what inspired it, but I do know that I like it! It looks like a head sculpture from a totem pole that decided to wake up and walk around scaring the pants off of folks! The nose ring is a great touch and the cleverly placed double slopes for those teeth make it look menacing! And of course, those threatening eyes will surely give you nightmares all week long! How I’d love to have a bunch of these to give away as Christmas presents to my frenemies that really deserve them!

The sea was angry that day, my friends!

Like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli… No. It was like four unfortunate fishermen losing sight of the shore and falling prey to the whims of a fickle leviathan. You know, THAT old story. Strange isn’t it? This LEGO scene by Andrew JN is full of impending doom, but it’s actually quite lovely. The icy water has a beautiful texture and it’s almost as if you can feel the mist on your face. As for the source material, Andrew says his build was inspired by a rubbery kracken and a sinking LEGO ship.

Statistical data says the Internet is 50% cats

And yet the LEGO side of the Internet seems to have a lower percentage of cats than average – not surprisingly, as the characteristic cat’s head and legs offer a significant challenge for builders and can be done wrong very quickly. The latest builder to pick up the challenge is that Russian jack-o- all-trades Timofey Tkachev.

This time Timofey tries a technique of staggered layered plates to achieve complicated natural curves, which has been used to create LEGO cats before, but what appears to be different here is the intensely detailed face, and that the cat seems to be partially poseable. The playful pose adds a lot to the presentation, as do the LEGO basket and ball (which is an official piece, by the way).

The LEGO community and the dark side of comments

The online LEGO community is an all-around friendly place and quite open to newcomers, with very few exceptions. What few realize is that this comes at a high price; the comments exchanged by builders are friendly and positive — and often that means only positive. And here lies a potential pitfall, because honest critiques and (seeming) negativity tend to be avoided for fear of creating awkward situations. Additionally, not all builders want to receive constructive feedback. The end result is that most creations gather a plethora of dry comments that do not really help the builders improve much. I have been passively raising awareness to this problem for years now, but never have I gone to such lengths as Aaron van Cleave, who has made a series of bad creations as a social experiment.

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Oh this is the night, it’s a beautiful night, and we call it bella notte...

Who knew those LEGO hot air balloon panels would make perfectly floppy pupper ears? Well as you can see, builder LEGO 7 knew. In fact, their spot-on take of the iconic spaghetti scene from Disney’s Lady and the Tramp is packed full of tremendous NPU (Nice Parts Usage) which gives these two pups a cuddly, soft appearance. The only thing missing from this creation is moonlight and accordion music.

Over 9,000 LEGO bricks complete an epic Chinese dragon

LEGO dragons are always great to see, but HUGE ones are even better! This is the case with this incredible, 150 centimeter long (nearly 60 inch) Chinese style dragon built by Ming Jin, and the beast is also currently the only LEGO creation on their photostream. The build has beautiful curvature achieved by a rather simple segmented body design, with subtle angles between individual segments.

There are cheese slopes covering most of the body, giving an impression of scales and other details like spikes and flame pieces as characteristic Asian dragon features. While legs and to some extent the head possibly expose too much of the inner structure, the beautiful long body more than carries the creation.

Ravage your rivals in this red robotic raptor

I never mistake a build by Moko. His style is unique and colorful, similar to that of anime and Gundam concept art. In his most recent creation, the Raptor, Moko rocks a dark red and gray color scheme, a combination too rarely seen in mecha. I love the swiveling turret with mounted machine gun, and the use of tank treads as the ammo belt.

The Raptor can also collapse into a “parking mode”, making it easier for the drivers to dismount.

Who is your favourite beetle?

Ringo is mine. Wait, we’re not talking about the band? Jokes aside, while the stag beetle may not be amongst my favourites, this one by Grant Davis must be one of my favourite LEGO recreations. There is lots to like about this scaled-up insect, from the detailed legs to the realistic head and the Iron Builder competition’s seed part used as the wing covers – with the base placed just deep enough in the inverted tire for their curve to flow naturally.

The only gripe I have with it are the wings’ supports, the kind of which I have never seen in a real beetle before.

Give me a home where the tiny buffalo roam

Isn’t it marvellous what builders are able to come up with using literally handfuls of LEGO bricks? We’ve featured Grantmasters microscale slight of hand before. Looking at this elegant build, it’s possible to imagine fields of these thirsty beasts thundering the Great Plains in vast numbers. I’ll leave you with these inspirational words from a Buffalo: Stand your ground. Have a tough hide. Keep moving on. Cherish wide open spaces. Have a strong spirit. Roam wild and free. Let the chips fall where they may!

Clockwork dragonfly takes a rest

The placing of a LEGO model in a natural environment generally makes for poor photos which ruin the illusion of scale. However, this bejewelled clockwork dragonfly by Duncan Lindbo is the exception to the rule. The parts and colour choices here are perfect, creating a wonderful impression of functional mechanical elements and a smart clockpunk aesthetic. Displaying the dragonfly on a real lily-pad turns out to be a stroke of genius, highlighting the model’s non-biological nature, and perhaps prompting musings amongst more philosophical viewers on the contrast and blurred boundaries between artifice and life.

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