Tag Archives: Figures

A hunter weathered and a hunter feathered

There is an ancient manner of hunting that involves the use of a trained hawk to catch the prey. Few now practice such an art, but LEGO builder Hongjun Youn has created one such hunter, who is perhaps one of the two left in Korea, the builder’s home country. Shown with his hawk perched on his shoulder, the pose is regal, the sort of thing you might see in an old National Geographic magazine. What sets this build apart from the crowd is the level of texture, something difficult to do with hard plastic bricks. While the hawk is one of the better ones I have seen at this scale, the best feature is the deeply lined and weathered face of the hawker, implying that he has spent most of his time outside exposed to the elements.

Speaking of the face and the elements, it took me a while to figure out what pieces the builder used. A deep dive into Bricklink revealed them to be a hockey mask from the 2003 Sports theme and another hockey mask flipped upside down; together they make for an impressive and expressive visage. The glorious fur texture around the neck and boot cuffs, as well as the neck feathers of the bird, is accomplished by the use of this armor piece, and the layering of various tattered cloth elements completes the look. All in all, this pair of hunters looks ready to set out into the wilderness and bring back some game.

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Black IKEA bath mats? I thought you said Baphomet The Black Goat!

How many times has this happened to you? You call up IKEA customer service and in botching up the admittedly difficult names of one of their do-it-yourself furniture offerings, you unwittingly summon some demon hell-beast from the underworld. Wait, never? I can’t count the amount of times it has happened to me. Avery Robertson knows what I mean. Probably. Using some clever build techniques, she has conjured up Baphomet The Black Goat and now he’s here to loaf on your Söderhamn sofa for awhile. The LEGO wings and star hair clip usually come in pretty pastel colors but with a red filter the whole shebang is made to look scary as hell. Tattooed on his arms are the words “solve” and “coagula” which either means “dissolve and coagulate” or “loveseat and ottoman” in IKEA speak.

A haunting image of the cleaners of ghost town Pripyat

The HBO Docu-drama series Chernobyl tells a chilling tale of the unfortunate events that transpired on 26 April, 1986. The Chernobyl liquidators, as they were called, were civil and military personnel dispatched to deal with the aftermath of one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents. If a picture tells a thousand words, this build by Red captures the essence of a weary and despondent liquidator in a single pose. The myriad clever use of LEGO parts used, especially for the headpiece, can be hard to make out, but if you look closely enough, you may spot things like a dinosaur piece or a stretched tire.

Then along came an incredible LEGO artist, Ekow Nimako

As an avid builder and a contributor for The Brothers Brick, I have seen a lot of LEGO creations. I mean A LOT of LEGO creations. To put this in perspective as to what it is like to be an adult LEGO builder, I have a LEGO room in my home — most of us do, some more elaborate than others. Whether it be a corner of the laundry room, a repurposed bedroom, or an elaborate add-on suite built for this reason, we all have a dedicated space to build LEGO. A perusal of my phone contacts reveals that the vast majority of my friends are LEGO friends. We eat, sleep and breath this stuff daily. By now I’ve written a fair number of articles and am confident that I can at least amuse if not inspire or enlighten our readers. With all this in mind, you’d think there would be no one to baffle me and put me at a loss for words. But then along came Ekow Nimako.

See more of this amazing LEGO sculpture

This constellation leads straight to Uranus

Uranus stinks. No, seriously, it does. According to scientists, the ice giant’s atmosphere is comprised mostly of hydrogen and helium but also large quantities of ammonia and methane, which are highly volatile in terms of “those who smelt it dealt it” schoolyard logic. If you’d like to head there anyway, you might want to take a gander (or a whiff) at this Night Sky Colossus built by the mysteriously named [VB]. It is a depiction of the dubious sky-god Uranus as an avatar of the night sky. His black form is augmented with a constellation design that utilizes these claw bits in white as well as 1×1 tiles in azure. His head reverses the color scheme for a truly stellar effect. The only other bit of info this builder offers is this; “And Heaven rejoiced in his evil doing.” In other words, this is probably why we can’t have nice things.

This builder is fairly new to us but surely one to be on the lookout for. Be sure to check out this heart that we previously featured.

Plague Doctor Batman has the cure for what ails you

When Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman 80 years ago, they established rules for what he can be. While still following those same basic guidelines, other artists and writers can reimagine Batman with a myriad of possibilities. There has been a Samurai Batman, Robo-Batman, Viking Batman, even an adorable Fairy Batman thanks to The LEGO Movie 2. In the hands of Revan New, we have a fully posable Plague Doctor Batman. Fantastic details abound from the bat-winged trench coat to the brass buckles to the bit of medieval medical equipment in his hand.

The pièce de résistance, however, is his brimmed hat and the arcane bird-like mask worn by actual plague doctors in the 1600s. Revan uses a Harry Potter sorting hat to replicate the bird beak shape, a feature best viewed in this portrait.

Be the belle of your next Beltane

Next on The Brothers Brick runway is the fabulous Ayfoal, who is a druid from Brickenshire. Her fashion designer is none other than builder Letranger Absurde. She is adorned with a sassy buckskin midriff-baring two-piece number that is all the rage in the druid community right now. The ragged green trim of her ankle-length skirt brings her closer to nature while her gloves protect her from getting a little too in-touch with the elements.

Leafy ornaments tastefully accent her armbands and choker, while her low-slung belt holds just the right secret manna potions for a night on the glen. The hip pouch is just a bit wood sprite, just a tad forest elf and oh-so-impishly dazzling! A daring little cow skull adorns her belt, which is trending among the Celtic set at the moment. Her buckskin boots were quite literally made for sashaying along the countryside. While her charmed staff lets us all know who is in charge around here, her little smile exudes confidence and says, I’m willing to play, but only if you’re nice. What a ravishing build!

Whether by sea or by air, this pod is ready for action

This skillfully built pod by Anthony Wilson combines Technic panels with system elements to create a stylish vehicle that would look equally at home deep underwater, as it would in space. One of my favorite details is the gently curving collection of steering handlebars peeking out behind the cockpit. Bright colored trim and tubes also lend a Tron vibe to this single pilot pod. And speaking of pilots, I tip my hat to Anthony for the excellent condition of his Technic figure which is 20 years old, but looks like he’s fresh off the assembly line.

Ariel and these other LEGO Disney characters just want to be part of your world!

Ariel and Ursula recently joined the ever-growing ranks of Disney LEGO characters available in Brickhead form… but today we’re talking about a very different version of these two iconic characters from The Little Mermaid. Mike Nieves has built a well-crafted model of Ariel dramatically posed as she expresses her longing to be part of the world outside her beloved ocean. Her flowing red hair looks very much like it’s on-screen inspiration, and the use of several green curved tiles along her lower body creates the perfect scaly look.

Of course, Ariel is just the start of Mike’s Disney character lineup.

See more of Mike’s sculpted Disney characters

The TBB Field Guide to LEGO Dinosaurs: A Jurassic World Compendium [Review and Infographics]

When the new wave of LEGO Jurassic World sets came out, we couldn’t wait to get our hands on the dinosaurs. The children in us immediately began stomping them around and making roaring noises. Here at The Brothers Brick, we are not ashamed to say we get giddy while playing with toy dinosaurs. We’re also not ashamed to say we are serious nerds. After our dino-dueling escapades, we began to wonder how accurate they are to the real things. As far as scientists can hypothesize, that is. So we did some not-so-archaeological digging — after all, it’s palaeontologists who study dinosaurs, not archaeologists, as Andrew our Editor-in-Chief (and resident archaeology buff) likes to remind everybody!

As it turns out, there is a vast amount of knowledge that scientists have obtained from the fossils of these creatures. That being said, there is a lot of information that they still don’t know, as well as much heated debate on the truth about each one. The Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise has been both heavily criticized and applauded for its attempts at realism. But without getting too wrapped up in the debates, we’ll take a look at the best working knowledge of these dinosaurs. So put on your favorite leather vest or red bandana and paleontologist’s expedition hat, because away we go!

Read on to unlock the mysteries!

Shoretrooper ready for action on Scarif

When the first Star Wars movie not part of the epic series, Rogue One, was released, people had a mixed reaction. Personally, I loved it, and a lot of great characters were introduced. LEGO creator Nobu_tary has been building some amazing creations of a few of them using key parts from the official buildable figure sets, but making a number of delightfully unique design choices to give them personality. Take this shoretrooper, for example.

More LEGO Star Wars characters from Nobu_tary

He might not be the best sniper in the galaxy, but he has his own style

When the death troopers first appeared on screen in the recent Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie, they just might have been the first troopers to actually look menacing. This amazing figure by nobu_tary captures that sinister countenance with ease. The stormtrooper doll featuring minifig helmet helps to represent the scale, and man, that rifle! This model even manages to look at least as ominous as the reference material… maybe more.