Tag Archives: Daniel Olvera

Taxidermy is so much easier with LEGO bricks

There are many important events on the LEGO calendar, ranging from month-long build challenges to contests and competitions. But arguably one of the most important is the annual Creations for Charity drive, where LEGO builders come together to raise funds for charity through their builds. Daniel Olvera has thrown this taxidermied centipede into the ring for this year. Taxidermy seems like a much easier job in LEGO; much less gruesome. And no matter how many small LEGO elements you use, they’re surely easier than trying to coax an insect into a frame without damaging it further!

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Wake the kids and the neighbors, it’s the Red Screaming Face Bug!

LEGO phenom Daniel Olvera tells us that he and his fiancé enjoy wild and creepy taxidermied bugs in shadow boxes. Having a small taxedermied bug collection myself, my antennae perked up when I saw this Lohita Grandis. It is also known as the Red Screaming Face Bug due to its, well, red screaming face pattern. Insects and other animals with a large false face do this sort of thing to scare off predators and, while I fancy myself as top of the food chain, I’m pretty sure my face would be screaming if I saw this out in the wild. It’s one of those things that’s best viewed within the protective confines of a shadow box rather than crawling in your tent at night.

Bones-to-Brick collaboration celebrates prehistoric life in LEGO

From Johnny Thunder to Jurassic World, LEGO has a long history of sets featuring dinosaurs and other prehistoric life, but as much fun as it can be to pose a mighty molded Spinosaurus, we’re partial to brick-built dinos, like a Creator 3-in-1 T.Rex or the recent Mosasaurus Boat Mission. Of course, our favorite creatures of all are original creations from the LEGO building community, like those that were just unearthed as part of the Bones to Brick collaboration. Seven talented builders contributed an ancient creature in their own style, and we’re excited to share the full collaboration. These builders are also all veterans of the BioCup, the annual competition that also kicks off this month, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing more from this crew very soon!

J6Crash presents Ankylosaurus magniventris, an armored dinosaur of the late Cretaceous. Sand blue and black bricks make a pleasing combo, and the technique of laying claw elements flat to create ridges along the back is brilliant.

Benjamin Anderson is next up with Dimetrodon limbatus, a creature of the Cisuralian period, some 40 million years before dinosaurs showed up. There’s a lot to love about Benjamin’s creation, but I’m smitten by the spine sail with a colorful gradient created from alternating teeth.

The paleontology tour continues after the break

Ghidorah joins the kaiju battle!

The Brothers Brick feed has been looking extra kaiju-y lately and we’re all thrilled about it. That’s because a group of friends got together to build the coolest LEGO kaiju ever. You may recall recent appearances from Mothra and Godzilla. Now Daniel Olvera joins the big kaiju battle with King Ghidorah! I just discovered HBO’s Turner Classic Movies hub so I’ve been rewatching all the great kaiju movies of my youth and loving every guy-in-a-rubber-suit-with-the-zipper-showing minute of it. Sure the monsters are fighting battles for reasons understood by no one, it’s a whole lot of schlock and you can totally see the strings on the flying rockets but that’s all part of the charm, really. Don’t tell Godzilla but I was kinda rooting for Ghidorah all along. If you love kaiju and other monsters as much as we do, then grab some popcorn and click the blue link to dig into our archives.