Tag Archives: Digital

Behold, the Ancient Navigators!

TBB alum Mansur Soeleman transports us to a faraway galaxy with this intriguing, visually striking LEGO depiction of the inner sanctum of a cadre of alien shipbuilders. The Star Wars Factions RPG provides inspiration for the scene, but the otherworldly costumes and architecture evoke a sense of mystery that would feel at home in any far-flung space opera. Each of the “Ancient Shipwrights” wears a distinct outfit that wouldn’t feel out of place in the Dune universe, though you can spot a Guavian Death Gang mask from The Force Awakens in the leader’s elaborate headdress. Beyond the figures, the antistud floor (regular plates turned upside down) adds an interesting texture to the scene. And while the holo hovering above their heads obviously isn’t LEGO, it certainly adds to the effect. (To get the full experience, see the scene animated here.)

The Ancient Shipwrights - The founder of Haelos Star Yards, a shipbuilding corporation

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Consider this your daily Duolingo reminder

Sometimes, we find LEGO builds that elicit quite conflicting emotions when we see them. Legobricks Bricks‘s digital Duo the owl, mascot of language-learning app Duolingo, is one such build. On the one hand, it’s very well built: the leaves for eyebrows and the upturned dish for a beak stand out to me. The chests of gems and miniature screen really complete the look, too. But on the other hand, I get so many streak reminders from that blasted owl that I’ve seen quite enough of it! In fact as I write this, my phone has just pinged with my latest Finnish lesson for today. Hold your horses, Duo! I’ll get there eventually….

Duolingo

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Dieselpunk for the electric age

We have here an electric automobile, rendered in LEGO, named after Nikola Tesla. Thankfully, though, Flickr user Ghost Hunter Gunn doesn’t spend their spare time making questionable decisions about social media sites and acting like a second-rate Bond villain. Probably. Of late, they’ve spent their spare time upgrading an old build of theirs. This creation is a digital render, but is still faithful to the original. And what a cracking design! Dieselpunk always looks cool to me, but sometimes strays a bit too much on the greasy side. Ghost Hunter Gunn has really leaned into the art-deco with this one, producing great results. It’s definitely more of a looker than the Cybertruck, that’s for sure….

Paragon 'Nikola' hovercar

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Babba Yaga’s Cottage in a convenient snack size

One of the most fun mythical homes has to be the cottage of Babba Yaga. A rickety old shack perched on giant chicken legs…what’s not to love? Corvus Auriac has created a digital build of this Slavic landmark in microscale that’s rife with great part usage. From the Wolverine claws for chicken feet, to the One Ring providing edging to the attic window, to the Ninjago serpent as a plume of smoke, there are fun details everywhere you look. I’m also fond of the minifigure epaulette tree, a technique we’ve seen in some of Covus’ other works. And, as a nice perk for a digital build – all of these parts exist in the real world, too.

Baba Yaga's Cottage

Our archives have you covered if you’re looking for more LEGO-folklore, including a minifigure scale version of Babba Yaga’s cottage. Go take a look!

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An elevated excavator.

Charlie Jones has given construction equipment a futuristic upgrade with this digital build of a quadrupedal excavator. While the main arm looks to be largely stationary, there’s no doubt we’d still have tons of fun making this mech stomp around the sandbox. In the hierarchy of toy vehicles, tank treads beat wheels, but robot legs beat tank treads any day of the week.

SCORP-N Excavator Mech - CAT 2050

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You light up my life

LEGO has released a lot of 1:1 real-world items lately, and if you’re willing to collect them all, you’re well on your way back to a vintage workspace. You’ve got a typewriter and a globe, and even a lunchbox if you’re so inclined. But you’re still on your own if you want to keep working after dark. Builder Castor Troy, in collaboration with builder Max Brich, have found a solution, though. This art-deco inspired lamp is wired with LED lights to shine through that Tiffany-style lampshade. The solid base has just enough detailing to suggest metalwork, which carries up nicely into the delicate curves formed from LEGO plant elements and tubing in the lamp stand proper. It certainly fooled me into thinking this was an antique at first glance, anyway.

LEGO Ideas - LED Lamp

Sadly, this is only an idea at present, as those stained glass bits consist of parts LEGO hasn’t released in transparent colors. But, in the meantime, we can take our inspiration and make our own forays into custom building. In fact, we’ve got a lot to offer in our archives if Art Deco is your thing.

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This castle’s a keep-er

There were few LEGO sets as a child that were precious to me, but one that was just perfect was the Black Falcon Fortress, and in this miniaturised digital form, ZiO Chao has realised a favourite set of mine that I needed to share! In building this in a miniature scale, ZiO hasn’t compromised on detail at all. Everything that made Black Falcon’s Fortress a great build can be found here too.

Micro Black Falcon's Fortress

Let’s explore more of this diminutive fortress here

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You want fries with this mech?

Ivan Martynov routinely builds creations that transport the viewer to different worlds, but this latest digital build digs under them. We’re not sure what this tunnel engineer is constructing with its digging, but based on the colors we’re guessing it’s an upgrade to the intergalactic drive-thru. The yellow and red limbs might not remind you of mustard and ketchup on their own. But paired with those warm brown shades and the rounded shaping…the whole thing is giving off some incredibly charming hamburger-mech vibes. The trans-green eyes even look like a side of pickles. We have seen the future of construction, and it is delicious.

Tunnel Engineer

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A mosaic that’s 487,080 pieces of Mmm-mmm good

Photo-realism is something that many builders strive for in their LEGO mosaics, but the limitations of the real-life scale of even the smallest LEGO tile makes pixelization and grain just a fact of life. While that’s (Usually!) the case for physical LEGO creations, this digital work by Jim James shows just how  far you can take things in the realm of pure imagination. But Jim has done more than build big (81,180 pieces in each label!) – he’s built clever – curling a flat mosaic into a tube to create a truly stunning rendition of the mundane world. Then, because why not, he went the extra mile and replicated the first can into a Warhol-eque display of truly grand scale. 81,180 x 6 = 487,080 elements!

Continue reading →

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Thomas has just got new friends

Do you like trains? Sure, we all do. And Canadian steam engines? Well, those are just super-sweet. I mean check out these great digital builds of U-4-A “Northern Type” engines by Nemowerty. Sure, only five of these were ever built in real life, but that’s no reason to exclude them from having LEGO representation. I love the sleek styling of these 1:44/1:45 versions, and the in-progress view Nemowerty shared is a tempting jumping off point for folks to start building their own.

We’re trying to expand of coverage of great LEGO train builds. Know of a builder who should be on our radar? Let us know in the comments below!

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.

Mattel is Swell – even in a digital age

For many, the late 1980s were a golden age for toys. Case in point, the Mattel Starcom line, and the 1987 release of the Shadow Vampire. John Blackstar has recreated this lost vessel in virtual LEGO, and boy does it hold true to the original. (Here’s a link to a short video featuring the Mattel version.) Sure, LEGO has yet to release some of these elements in the colors seen here…and I’d have to see the exploded view to understand how (or if) some of these bricks are actually connected. But that’s okay. The end result here is sleek, stylish, and makes me want to see LEGO start reviving “lost” toylines. Maybe then we can get some Micronaut crossover action. That’s super-sweet, too.

Starcom Shadow Vampire

If you like to stretch your building imagination beyond the limitations of physical brick, why not take a stroll through our other featured digital builds?

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This 21,000-piece LEGO spaceship is almost too big for its own good.

They don’t just call it SHIPtember because it’s a time to build spaceships. It’s about a Seriously Huge Investment of Parts. And this spacefaring fuel tanker clocks in at more than 21,000 of ‘em. Even for a digital build, that’s a huge investment. In fact, the build is so big that builder ReD M’s computer almost couldn’t handle it. Attempts to render the image resulted in some programs crashing. Thankfully it all worked out, and we can admire all the work that went into this behemoth. I love how the orange and blue work as accent colors against the largely gray spacecraft. And there’s so much detail. There’s barely a surface on this ship that isn’t decorated with a bar or a clip or a paint roller. No wonder the computer struggled to bring it to life.

Interplanetary Fuel Freighter "Khreton"

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