Tag Archives: Fantasy

In the company of dwarves

The first installment of Peter Jackson’s sprawling Hobbit adaptation hit theaters almost two years ago now. Shortly after the premiere, Finnish builder and TBB regular Pate-keetongu decided to build two of the dwarves from the movie. And he just kept going! Now, his grand opus is finally complete. So we present to you, the company of Thorin Oakenshield in LEGO (or as the builder describes it on his blog, the “Hobbitsplosion“).

As breathtaking as the above spread is, it cannot do the individual builds justice. So we encourage you to check out the full album on Flickr, or visit the builder’s blog for lots of close-ups. Each character’s hair, costume and equipment has been accurately captured, making each one instantly recognizable.

And coincidentally, I recently interviewed this builder for a coming issue of LEGO fan magazine BrickJournal, where you’ll be able to learn more about his inspirations, building techniques, and impressive body of work.

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.

“The tales and songs fall utterly short of your enormity, oh Smaug the stupendous!”

Regular readers will know that we’ve featured many LEGO dragons over the years, but I think on this occasion YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID now that heavy-duty character builder Shawn Snyder has decided to get in on the game with this recreation of Tolkien’s Smaug. From head to tail it’s 28 inches and the wingspan is a whopping 35 inches!

We used Sauron’s seeing-stone to track down the damp cave that Shawn hides in, and dispatched our goblin hoard to interrogate him about his latest bunker-busting creation…

TBB: You’re best known for creating large figures and busts of humanoid characters from videogames such as Halo and Assassins Creed, or movies like Iron Man and Predator. What inspired you to attempt a monster this time?

SS: I’ve actually wanted to make a dragon for quite some time. It wasn’t until ArchLUG did a collaborative build of Laketown that made me commit to finally attempt it. After all, Laketown needs a Smaug!

TBB: Tell us about the build. How did you get such a large yet detailed model to stay in one piece? Did it present any new building challenges for you?

Continue reading →

Dragon Kill

In his posting for this model on Flickr, builder A Plastic Infinity composed a list of reason why prospective viewers should take the time and leave a comment. Most of them were fairly boilerplate self promotional offerings like “Because it’s my favorite!” and “the photos are good this time.”, but my favorite was definitely “Medusa tails!“. How can I possibly argue with that logic?…so enjoy the Medusa tails, and the rest of this scene from an up and coming builder.

Although I blogged the creature a few months ago in a Sunday round-up, the builder has since added a decorative base and is therefore worth a second look. Enjoy “Quane in Wonderland.”

すげえ！かっこいい！

The title of this post was stolen from a comment by FateHeart on this fascinating model and photo by 62778grenouille, and I couldn’t agree more. The Japanese text roughly translates, to “dude! cool!” which is exactly the way I feel about this model: enthusiastic but also sort of dumbfounded into an uncommunicative state…which isn’t too useful when blogging.

Some of the translation programs I checked had the text reading “dude! What’s up!”, which also works within the context of this post and my feeling about this model. Welcome to the weekend (週末へようこそ。).

Sail Across the Desert

Our hopscotching around the planet for New Guy Saturday draws to a close with one final stop in beautiful Lagoa Santa, Brasil. Felipe Avelar (Felipe Descomplicado) makes in inaugural appearance on TBB with a fantastical conveyance he calls a Flying Sailskiff. File this model somewhere between Jabba’s sail-barge and a flying bathtub, but is pleasantly free of any conventional notions of Steampunk. I really like the spotter minifig with the walkie-talkie way up on the bow, and the nice glow of the lighting through the plate sails.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s exploration into new talent, we now return you to your regularly scheduled slate of veteran builders and associated boilerplate.

Shinjen the Samurai

Facebook tipster Curtis D Collins is pretty sure that Shinjen the Samurai is fit for your discerning consumption. Curtis, if you’re wrong about this one buddy, that’s it for you. You’ll never get so much as a toe in the revolving door of TBB Headquarters. Your name will be no good in this town. The constant readers of this site will decide your fate as a tipster for TBB in the comments. Even their silence can be deadly.

I happen to love this model by Vlad Lisen (Rhymes_Shelter), and I think the readers will too. That face! You’re probably safe this time Collins…but watch your step my friend, especially around Tripod and Gould, those two are spoiling for a fight.