Tag Archives: Mitch Phillips

From collectible minifig to majestic model, this Aarakocran Ranger soars

Ever since the release of LEGO Dungeons & Dragons Collectible Minifigures 71047, builders and role-players have been celebrating the mix of new fantasy elements to play with. While the figures are great out of the box, D&D has always been about making your own characters. Some builders prefer to stick to minifig scale for their custom creations, but Mitch Phillips always goes big. Mixing Bionicle, Constraction, and System parts, Mitch’s Aarakocran Ranger strikes the perfect balance of fluffy and and fierce.

Aarakocra Ranger

There are many great techniques to appreciate, from the intense eyes crafted from nested ninja scarves to the lush wings to the excellent sword brooch. If you’re curious about how an expert goes about designing articulated characters like this, Mitch generously breaks down his process in a video. MitchBuild walkthroughs are among the best resources available for understanding how to integrate disparate LEGO parts.

This isn’t Mitch’s first D&D ranger character. During the 2024 Bio-Cup, he rolled a critical hit with this Dragonborn Ranger.

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.

All that gold, and it’s still not the blingest thing on this Bionicle

Who’s the coolest Water Toa from LEGO’s Bionicle line? Gali, the OG? Nokama, perhaps, who appeared twice as a Toa as well as a humble Matoran? In truth, Mitch Phillips (AKA Gamma Raay)’s unnamed Toa of Water might have them both beat. There’s some serious bling on show here: an enormous gold door makes for a nice shield. The cape is pretty majestic, too. But the biggest party piece is actually the mask. Don’t recognise it? That’s because it’s exceedingly rare – handed out during the 2015 LEGO Inside Tour, only 200 of these transparent-blue ones were ever made! As a result it’s something of a collectors’ item, but it’s refreshing to see it used in a MOC. At the end of the day, it is still just a LEGO piece!

Toa of Water

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.

King Gleeok brings three times the LEGO trouble to Hyrule

Gleeoks are the three-headed dragons who have menaced Link going back to the very first Legend of Zelda game. King Gleeok, introduced in Tears of the Kingdom, is the most fearsome incarnation of the recurring boss to date, and makes for one of the most menacing LEGO dragons we’ve ever seen. Built by Mitch Phillips, the model wasn’t created via Ultrahand, but instead employs a masterful blend of System and Bionicle techniques to achieve the inticate organic design. The three toothy heads first catch the eye, colored to match the elements of Thunder, Flame, and Frost. Then you might be drawn to the spidery wings whose membranes come from the sails of several LOTR Corsair ships. Perhaps my favorite section of the build is King Gleeok’s scaly chest, which, if you look closely, you can see is made from red discs affixed to a net and wrapped around the torso.

KING GLEEOK

It’s such a complicated build with unusual parts that you can’t fully appreciate it from pictures alone. Thankfully, Mitch guides you through the build process on his YouTube channel.

To see more of Mitch’s Zelda-inspired builds, fire up your Sheikah Slate and check out his pug-faced LEGO Bokoblin and (my personal Zelda nemesis) this terrifying LEGO Lynel.

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.

You can keep your LEGO minifigures. Just bring me Han Solo!

I am absolutely in love with this exquisite LEGO rendition of Hoth-version Han and his tauntaun by Mitch Phillips. Creating the look of fur can be quite challenging when using smooth bricks, and Mitch utilizes nearly every texture in the LEGO arsenal to make it happen, employing rocky pieces, tubes, Bionicle bits, and of course official cloth parts. They all come together to make quite the epic “horse” and rider combo from Empire Strikes Back, full of detail and character while also being highly poseable.

Han and Tauntaun

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.

This LEGO Bokoblin isn’t afraid of any sword-wielding Hylians

For all the beauty we can find in the Hyrule of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we also have to deal with the dumb, squealing baddies known as Bokoblins. And while the creature from the game won’t win any beauty contests, this LEGO version by Mitch Phillips is worth its weight in Rupees! There are so many excellent part choices here, including the minifig capes used in the ears, Clickits nose, and a mix of System and Bionicle pieces to bring this henchman to life. But the part that saves the day again and again is the ninja bandana. You can find it on the Bokoblin’s wrists and encircling its eyes, providing some exquisite texture to this Hylian menace.

Bokoblin

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.

Super-sizing a super-sized Bionicle titan

Bionicle? Sure, it was great. But not the Toa – the bigger Titan sets were where it was at! There’s been a glut of builds from the Mahri Nui subtheme surfacing lately, and Mitch Phillips has contributed this awesome re-imagining of Maxilos and Spinax. I recognize a lot of the pieces from the original set here, which is always nice to see in re-dos like this. Of course, Maxilos (the… I was going to say human one; bi-pedal one, I guess?) has his mask, but he’s also clearly been hitting the gym. Dude has been getting ripped since being taken off the shelves!

Maxilos and Spinax

The dog-like Spinax has also bulked out a bit. So much so that the original headpiece is big enough to be used as the upper legs, as well as the head. I love meta parts use like that! The yellow cables on its back are probably my favourite addition though. With the added lighting, they give off a very cool cyborg feel. I see only one problem with this build: it makes my copy of Maxilos and Spinax look like mere Matoran…

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.

You wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of this looming creature!

Mitch Phillips has built this fascinating creature that integrates organic-looking features into a mechanical design. The slender proportions and the sharpened claws of the model provide the creature with a menacing aesthetic. Curved tube pieces are used to form the piping at the chest while possibly representing robotic organs. The circular piece at the head is actually the invisibility cloak piece from the Harry Potter sets and presents the model with an appearance reminiscent of ancient aliens from science fiction shows. The large number of twisting cables suggests this could be an exoskeleton for an even more terrifying creature. The metallic colour scheme works to great effect under the light, accentuating the curves of the rounded pieces.

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.

You wanted a CD player for your speeder bike, right?

There’s creative part usage, then there’s what Mitch Phillips has accomplished with Frequency Clipper.  You might recognize that old-school Insectoids wing at the rear, or the Hero Factory shoulder armor on the sides. But the key feature has to be that Bionicle Borahk CD-ROM at the front. Talk about taking your tunes wherever you go…

Frequency Clipper

In the mood for more great Speeder Bikes? Cruise our archives for more creative builds!

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.

This dragon works for scale

This elegant LEGO dragon by builder Mitch Phillips is inspired by the red dragons from East Asian mythology that are said to bring good luck and happiness. I think it’s working, as this build makes me happy indeed. I love the elegant curves and the fact that many of the dragon’s scales are made from minifigure flippers. The red fins are complemented by orange Technic teeth as a different texture of scaling. Blue colors in the robot arms fingers and large fins mirror the crown of three-leaf plates in the head.

龍

A closer look at that head reveals the intricate build in the eyes–highlighted by the use of the “One Ring” from the Lord of the Rings theme to add a touch of chromed bling. This dragon is fierce, but also a thing of beauty.

龍

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.

You might want to have that looked at

Whether it be Candida, Athlete’s Foot, or…Jock Itch fungus can live and breed on our skin. This LEGO Infested Legionary built by Mitch Phillips has it so bad, he has mushrooms growing on his skin. Mitch tells us that when his comrades were asked about his strange behavior, they all claimed he was a fun guy. This humanoid fungus among us is indeed a creature of Mitch’s imagination. However, as if itchy nether bits weren’t problematic enough, this creation has an unsettling real-life inspiration; zombie ants. I am not kidding. Zombie ants. Their minds are controlled by fungal parasites that command its ant host to do its bidding. And speaking of mind control, I’d like you to check out another entity that Mitch built who also does the bidding of others.

Infested Legionary

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.

Go west, life is synthetic there

“It doesn’t look like anything to me…” The stock response of the hosts from TV show Westworld is absolutely not applicable here. Mitch Phillips‘ LEGO rendition of a host being put together is immediately recognizable — the striking Vitruvian Man and the surrounding printing technology provide one of the show’s iconic images, familiar even to non-fans. But a closer look reveals some excellent building techniques on display as well as a fine capture of the overall feel. The robotic printing arm is well put together from a selection of Technic parts, and the half-formed host is a mass of different pieces, brilliantly conveying the idea of synthetic musculature. The lines on the torso, in particular, are excellent — check out those abs! The presentation of the model is spot-on too, with dramatic lighting creating a real sense of scale — this looms in the image, much larger in the eye than it is in real life.

Westworld Host Printing

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.