Tag Archives: Dan Ko

Briiiiiiicks... Briiiicks!

The stereotype for zombies is that they wander aimlessly, looking for brains. But Dan Ko‘s is a little different. If you listen closely, you’ll find that some of them aren’t actually looking for brains, but for bricks. It seems even AFOLs aren’t safe from the zombie apocalypse. Brains are no good! Zombified Fans of LEGO (ZFOLs) need bricks to fill their heads with. This one has turned to a pink roller skate, which by coincidence does look a bit like a regular brain. All the better to blend in with the horde of the undead!

Zombiiiies!

Flippin’ in my flops

While autumn is in-uh-bloom, which means torrential downpours here in the Pacific Northwest, LEGO extraordinaire Dan Ko takes us on a summer vacation. He’s competing in the infamous Iron Builder competition and we’re all as pleased as Hawaiian Punch, by golly! He’s used four of the requisite red Technic Rotor Blades to construct the neat beach chair. I suppose that alone would have pleased the Iron Builder Gods but he’s gone the extra mile to depict a sunny beach scene in a travel case. I can feel the warm sand getting into all my nether bits! With Iron Builder, there’s no telling what our esteemed builders will do! Here’s to hoping Dan Ko will take us on vacation again soon.

Flip or Flop

A dark LEGO knight of a different feather

This armed and armored knight by Dan Ko may look simple at first glance, but there is lots to crow about — starting with the beak made with swords paired with a large claw part. The wide wings made with angled bow pieces give the perfect impression of feathers. But the hero of this build would have to be that great sword that is giving me major Final Fantasy vibes.

The Crow Knight

MC Vespa; full-time DJ, part-time pretty boy

Clever LEGO builder Dan Ko graces the pages of The Brothers Brick once again and this time he drops MC Vespa. He’s got cool shoes, a radical haircut, and a face like a Vespa. No seriously, it is a Vespa! The part can be found in the Friends Heartlake City Bakery. Check out that doofus grin! It has more than a few of us at TBB headquarters chuckling at this very nice parts usage. Please peruse our Dan Ko archives to learn why we think Dan is the king of NPU while you, on the other hand, just sort of loaf on the couch.

MC Vespa

A miniature meeting of the Middle-Earth minds

There’s so much Nice Parts Use (NPU) in Dan Ko‘s adorable LEGO Lord of the Rings wizards that I don’t know where to start. Look at Gandalf the Bley here. His beard consists of upturned eggshell pieces, and the top of his staff uses a skeleton leg. His nose is also a rounded 1×2 plate, which may not necessarily qualify as NPU, but it’s a great choice nonetheless. As for Radagast the Reddish-Brown, his beard uses an arch piece to give some shape to his face. In the hat, you’ve got an ingot flanked by the frankly genius choice of a pair of minifigure chairs. They give him so much character! Dan has even repurposed some wood stickers to add detailing to his cloak. That is NPU par excellence! Do we need a new acronym for this? NSU – Nice Sticker Use?

The Secret Meetup

A kooky koala using just thirty LEGO pieces

We’re used to seeing larger LEGO creations from Dan Ko but this time he presents a cute koala using only thirty pieces. He tells us the koala is among the wildest and most dangerous animals in the world, if not the whole universe. Wait, does Dan know something we don’t? I was already aware Australia housed thousands of animals hellbent on killing us all but I didn’t know the koala was among them. Crikey!

In the wild

Which one of you goes “Kowabunga”?

Ever struggled to remember which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was which? If so, Dan Ko has provided a handy guide in LEGO form, with some beautifully-made sculptures. I never was that into the show, so I always had a hard time remembering the names (although I do recognise this first one as Donatello). Normally I just wondered how they ended up settling on these particular adjectives for characters in a kids’ show…

“OK team, we need some new animal characters for a kids’ TV show. Any ideas?”

“Turtles! But on their own? A bit four-legged – let’s make them mutant turtles, so they can be humanoids. And let’s make them ninjas too. Ninjas are cool! Still not relatable enough though… How about we have them be teenagers? The Mutant Turtle Ninja Teenagers! And we can name them after Renaissance artists!”

“Uh… Sounds great. The name needs some work though…”

1/4: Donatello

See the rest of the gang after the jump

He isn’t the Boogeyman. He’s the one you send to kill the Boogeyman.

Builder Dan Ko has applied his special LEGO character treatment to the man, the myth, the legend: Mr. John Wick. The construction here is downright lanky, and appropriately so for Keanu Reeves’s titular hitman. As such, the build does a lot with a little, relying heavily on the perfect part choices for John’s slacks and jacket. The hair is an impressive tussle of various claw pieces, while his beard is nothing more than a double-wide cheese slope. But the most brilliant bit has got to be the 1×1 tile stuck inside a vertical clip for Baba Yaga’s nose. It feels perfectly in proportion with the rest of the construction, and is right in line with Dan’s impressive record of brick-built facial formations.

Baba Yaga

Never ending fun in the sun

It’s that time of the year again when the Rogue Olympics contest sweeps the LEGO community. The first round’s theme is “Above the clouds”, and builder Dan Ko delivers this wonderful scene from the 1984 film The NeverEnding Story. Coming in at 27 parts, the scene features Atreyu and Falkor flying through the sky, an iconic and immediately recognizable scene from the movie. What I really like about this build is Falkor. The luck dragon’s body comes together with a series of battle droid bodies. At this scale, they work well to bring the Falkor’s face and body to life.

Die unendliche Geschichte

There’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow this St. Patrick’s Day

LEGO builder Dan Ko wishes us all good luck and fortunes on this St. Patrick’s Day. I checked my lineage and I’m Portuguese, French-Canadian, Polish, and Ukrainian. No Irish. No matter our heritage we can still appreciate the neat techniques used to construct this lucky leprechaun. If it’s alright with everyone I may still have a healthy pour of Jameson later and toast in honor of all my Irish friends. And if anyone kisses me today thinking I’m Irish, then I’ll just smile, raise my glass, and take it all in stride. If you celebrate the occasion, then Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you and yours.

St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun

A carry-on that can carry you away

Have you seen the chaos that is air travel lately? Well, Dan Ko has crafted the perfect solution for the weary traveler. This Pacman Speeder is a hoverbike that gets you where you need to go in a hurry. And, when you reach your destination, it’s small enough to fit on a bellman’s cart and store in the hotel closet. Now that’s traveling in style.

Pacman Speeder Sharing System Technology

This tiny Star-Lord makes us wanna dance

The new trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 just dropped this past weekend, so what better time to look back on the previous installments of the franchise? Dan Ko was inspired by the upcoming Star-Lord’s helmet set to build a smaller version of the helmet, and then he completed the look with a brick-built Star-Lord. Peter Quill’s signature Vol. 1 look is recreated to great effect here, with the minifigure cape and wedge plates forming his long coat. And suspending the figure in the air via the thrust of his jet boots is the perfect finishing touch.

Star-Lord