When Half-Life debuted in 1998, it changed gaming forever, foregoing cutscenes in favor of a story that unfolded in gameplay. The developer Valve’s embrace of tools and mods would see Counter-Strike, Portal, and more born from Half-Life’s foundations, and that would grow into Steam, the world’s dominant PC gaming platform. Half-Life also features some all-time great enemy designs that look amazing in LEGO in a new collab. giikei_mocs kicks things off with the silent protagonist, Gordon Freeman.  Built at a comparable scale to the recent Iron Man Mk3, Gordon looks slick in HEV suit (Mk4, maybe it was a Tony Stark design). Of course he comes armed with his signature crowbar. The builder promises instructions will come in the future. Giikei also assembles the iconic Headcrab, seen both solo and attached to an unfortunate host. Depicting in FPS mode with Gordon’s crowbar is a great touch. pakaru_builds contributes an energy-wielding Vortigaunt, a...

OK, I’ve got some lore questions for all the Pokenerds out there (including you, Eero Okkonen – for reasons that will become apparent). So Earth used to be roamed by all these gigantic creatures, right? Not just dinosaurs, but massive insects and wooly rhinos and mammoths and all the rest. One theory is because the atmosphere was more oxygen-rich, enabling supersized fauna. So in the Pokemon universe, there must have been massive versions of what we have today, right? I’m not so worried about this “Giant Primordial Quagsire” that Eero shows us – what about the already massive ‘mons like Eternatus, or Gyarados, or Alolan Exeggutor? You wouldn’t want to get caught in a battle by them in the primodial wild! The post Good luck fitting this huge LEGO Quagsire in a Pokeball! appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer

From Superheroes to Fairies, Mermaids to Pirates, Mini-dolls are more versatile than they often get credit for. When The Brothers Brick asked me to take a look at the Summer wave of LEGO Friends sets, I found all kinds of new and uncommon mini-doll parts to use as seed pieces for some fantastical scenes! Most of the Summer sets revolve around the core Friends group of Autumn, Ollie, Liann, Nova, Leo, Aliya, and Zac (with Paisley being oddly sidelined to just one set). While 6 different skin tones represented across 8 characters is great for diversity, it makes interchangeability a challenge. But I love a challenge, that’s part of why I customize mini-dolls in the first place! Hi! I’m Llano, AKA @femmefromtheblock on Instagram. Last May, Pirates was one of the prompts for @FriendsBASH, a new custom mini-doll challenge I hosted, and I host pirate challenge @WeArrrFamily every September, so obviously...

Forty years ago today, Jim Henson’s cult classic Labyrinth debuted, blending innovative puppetry, fantasy worldbuilding, and the looming presence and music of David Bowie. While the movie was a commercial disappointment at launch with mixed reviews, the film’s reputation grew over time as a home video hit and has been rediscovered by generations of new fans drawn to the intricate hand-made world and the allure of its human stars. New Zealand based builder Centuri Chan paid tribute to the film with a large-scale diorama that blends brick-built characters with a microscale model of the Labyrinth and Goblin City packed with details that fans of the film will appreciate. Centuri Chan’s door knockers perfectly recreate their puppet counterparts and are hands down my favorite part of the build. If you want to see more of this build, you must first choose which door to knock. One leads to the castle at the...

Rob “Dasnewten” Morrissau is a LEGO builder who’s been around the block a few times. Heck, the first time he was featured on this here blog was way back in 2007! And he’s still going strong, with a build that takes inspiration from two other space veterans. The first is Theo Bonne (Titolian), who created the D.O.A.S satellite back in 2011, before he went on to join LEGO as a set designer. That in turn inspired Hase0 to create a manned version, which we featured here at the time. Rob took his time with his iteration, but that allowed him to take advantage of plenty of new parts released in the meantime. And that makes for a great refresh of a classic piece of LEGO space design! The post LEGO space veterans combine across the stars and the years appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer

LEGO shipwright and Pirates fan Marooned Marin has created several impressive tall ships, from a remake of the Black Seas Barracuda to take on the Black Pearl. The builder’s latest is a cut above, and not just because of the saw-toothed prow that looks ready to rip through seas or rival ships. This time, it’s Captain Hook’s Jolly Roger that gets reimagined, but while the minifigs used are all from Disney, nothing about the ship’s design is taken from the animated classic. Instead, Marin finds a boldly original take that blends cartoony curves and nautical authenticity. Marin built out the ship’s interiors with as much detail as the hull, with bunks for the crew, a galley, and an impressive captain’s quarters complete with an organ. There’s even a jail cell for oversized fairy prisoners. Perhaps the most impressive feature it the ship’s stern that’s designed to look like a skull, complete...

Gladiators, ready! No, it’s not the next round of Iron Builder starting up. It’s just another LEGO build by Tim Lydy. Well, we say ‘just’ another LEGO build; in truth this builder is showing great prowess in his arena! Tim has done a great job of sculpting the muscles, for one thing. And yes, those 1×1 medium nougat studs are, ahem, well placed. Let’s focus on the armour that makes these Murmillo gladiators so recognisable! The different shades of gold serves to draw the focus to the helmet, where rings and clips are used to brilliant effect to create a nice organic faceplate. Whoever is building this guy’s opponent: may the Gods be on your side! The post Aren’t you glad(iator) to see this epic LEGO warrior? appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer

A couple of weeks ago, we posted about victoriabuilds‘ superb entry into her resident LEGO User Group’s building challenge, involving a lot of furniture made from a tail/tentacle piece. This week, we’re also posting a build from ToroLUG’s building challenge involving a lot of furniture – but it comes from Slick_Brick! And it’s funny how a similar prompt and idea can yield such different results. The rocking chair is the centrepiece, but that ball of yarn and knitting needles are great too. The cat makes more conventional use of the seed part, as does… Whatever lurks under the floorboards. Is that what was doing the knitting? The post Beware the seed part that lurks under your floorboards! appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer

House of the Dragons is back with a vengeance as Season 3 kicked off on Sunday. BuilderKamil Karpiński pays respect in LEGO to a standout pair from season 2: Meleys the Red Queen and her rider Rhaenys Targaryen. Kamil has proven adept at building minifig-scale monsters over the years, drawing on the world of The Witcher and Slavic mythology, and those skills shine in Meley’s design, specially the head and those piercing eyes peeking out from blade brows. Rhaenys looks great in minifig form too, wearing her wrinkles and armor proudly. Seen in full, Meleys is truly dragon royalty, with nary a stud in sight, but oh so many spikes. Custom cloth works wonderfully for the leathery wings. As a fan of LEGO dragons, I wish that LEGO would incorporate supple cloth like this into their catalog for wings instead of rigid sail cloth or plastic. The post Meleys the Red...

In celebration of the upcoming  LEGO Icons 11374 Arcade Pinball Machine, we’re sharing this classic article on the incredible Classic Space themed pinball machine built and programmed by TBB contributor Bre Burns. Look for Bre’s review of the new set later this week! Pinball machines bring out the kid in all of us, hanging out in an arcade losing quarters and setting high scores. And the Classic Space era of LEGO sets appeals to so many of us who got our first LEGO sets back in the 70’s through 90’s. The Brothers Brick contributor Bre Burns hits it out of the nostalgia ballpark with a fully functional LEGO pinball machine called “Benny’s Spaceship Adventure.” She spent several months perfecting the design with over 15,000 LEGO bricks, including LEGO Mindstorms NXT programmable bricks to make sounds and count your high score. Bre has kindly shared loads of details about her LEGO masterpiece,...