The Brothers Brick contributor Chris Doyle returns yet again with more Mosaic Madness.
Just in time for Halloween, I’ve adapted artist Christopher Cooper‘s Voodoo Glow Skull image into LEGO form. And, yes, it glows in the dark. Keep reading to see it in action, and learn a bit about the build.
The Brothers Brick contributor Chris Doyle is back with more mosaic madness! This time, he’s reworked the LEGO Art 31203 World Map into a vibrant octopus. He also shares the instructions necessary to build this version of the World Map yourself. You know. If you want to.
This amazing stylized character build of Persona 5’s Ann Takamaki by Joseph Zawada pushes the limits of LEGO art in impressive ways. The offset round tiles in the hair highlights suggest an entirely new style of mosaic building, and the use of negative space in the mouth to create thin lines and shapes not possible with existing brick is an inspired move. I also have to note the creative part usage in the eyes; I’ve spotted everything from minifigure hands to flex tubing. Truly, this is a work of art.
Check our our art tag for even more examples of great creative expression in the plastic brick medium.
Today LEGO fans come together to celebrate the LEGO Bionicle theme that ended its run in 2010. Since then, August 10th or 8/10 in American date notation format is bestowed by fans to be 810NICLE day. Builders and designers commemorate their much-beloved franchise with builds, art, and varied ways to revive their love for the theme. Joining the celebrations, LEGO designer Nicolas Vás used LEGO elements from the 31203 World Map and transformed it into a map of Mata Nui island, the locale for the early years of Bionicle adventures.
When I was a kid I was a sucker for toys, t-shirts, candy or books with a lenticular printing. Lenticular printing is a technology in which lenticular lenses are used to produce printed images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles. Back in the 90’s it was everywhere! Okay Yaramanoglu used a whole lot of LEGO cheese slopes in their latest creation to achieve this effect.
From one side we can see everyone’s favorite neighborhood hero, Spider-Man. But shift it a bit and his nemesis Venom is pictured. This pairing of good vs evil makes a perfect subject to use the lenticular technique on. And best yet, the build is not made to look like a framed picture or a poster, but rather it’s built to look like an actual comic book, complete with binding, book cover, differently colored pages on the inside and a barcode on the cover.
Lego Designer Fiorella Groves put up a challenge to the world when she shared that a secret easter egg was hidden in plain sight across her LEGO 31203 World Map creation. In less than 24 hours, it seems we have an answer with some clever sleuthing from the LEGO detectives within the TBB social media fan base.
Can you find the easter egg hidden in plain sight?
The World Map is currently the largest LEGO set with a total number of 11,695 pieces. We hear from LEGO Designer Fiorella Groves that because it’s a LEGO-based map, you can simply customise it the way you like it.
The World Map mosaic released by the designers at LEGO was clearly a winner with the constant hits to our servers on our review of the set. Having said that there was quite a bit of chatter in the forums on the decision to go with a white continent while the oceans had topography details. What if it was reversed with a bit of creativity thrown in? Lysander’s Stud Studio took that very step and depicted the national flags of the country as best as possible and leaving the wide oceans a consistent blue.
With 11,695 pieces, the newest LEGO Art set 31203 World Map breaks the record once more with the highest piece count in a set in the company’s history, nudging out last year’s 10276 Colosseum by several thousand pieces. Like the Art sets released before, World Map consists mainly of 1×1 round tiles which create the continents and the oceans. The set is built on 40 interconnecting baseplates which can be arranged in 3 different ways to display different portions of the world in the center. However you arrange it, the set is 25.5 in. (65 cm) high and 40.5 in. (104 cm) wide. The World Map will be available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores globally from June 1, 2021, priced at US $249.99 | CAN $349.99 | UK £229.99, and from other retailers globally starting August 1, 2021.
Be sure to also read our full, hands-on review of the LEGO Art 31203 World Map mosaic, and check out the full press release and images below.
There are large LEGO sets, and there are really large LEGO sets. And then there are the ones that take things to an entirely different level. Say hello to the biggest LEGO set ever — LEGO Art 31203 World Map. At 11,695 pieces, this new LEGO Art mosaic is the largest set ever released, beating out the 10276 Colosseum by 2659 elements and the Star Wars 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon by more than 4000. But quantity doesn’t always match up with quality. Come along as we explore the highs and lows of this new set, which will be available June 1st from the LEGO Shop Online for US $249.99 | CAN $349.99 | UK £229.99 and will become available from other retailers globally from August 1st.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Click to read the full hands-on review
One of the coolest things about LEGO building is how it can cross over with other art forms. This stunning mosaic by Deep Shen was inspired by a cross-stitch pattern. Translated into LEGO, it uses about 6,700 pieces to cover 160×104 studs (that’s about 50 inches x 32 inches) and took two weeks to build. The end result was definitely worth the investment in time and parts, as it really captures the majesty of the peacock.
The LEGO Company is well-known for its excellent customer service. The products are generally high quality, and when errors occur they are quick to issue replacements. However, we recently encountered an unfortunate scenario that left a bad impression. While many of the products we review are provided for us by LEGO itself (which doesn’t mean, of course, that we always give them positive coverage), just like most of you, we also buy a lot of LEGO through regular retail avenues. That’s where I come in. My name is Chris Doyle, and I’m a contributor here at The Brothers Brick. Frequent readers may also recognize my name from the LEGO Art super hero mosaics I’ve been building lately. It’s fair to say I’ve spent a lot (a lot a lot a lot) of money on LEGO mosaic kits and related parts over the past year. When LEGO announced their new 40179 Personalized Mosaic Portrait kit, I quickly found an excuse to buy it. But what do you do when the 6,002-piece set you order arrives and it only has 4,502 pieces? Somewhere along the way, LEGO substantially changed the number of pieces included in this set. Here’s my experience.
