The best LEGO builds tell a story. Take this one by Carter Witz, which begins with a simple premise: what if a magic portal separated a land of summer from a world of winter? What happened to divide these two realms? And what will it take to bring them together again? While you’re pondering those answers, be sure to appreciate the rich combination of plates, tiles, sloped bricks, and plant elements to achieve the textured greenery. Same with the variation of elements that make up the ancient, weathered stone wall. (I count at least twelve different kinds of brick in that wall.) Here’s a better view of the opposite side, where winter still reigns. Rather than simply duplicate the topography of the summer half, Carter added mysterious ruined columns topped with drifts of snow. Enchanting! The post Whichever way you look, a new world awaits appeared first on The Brothers Brick....

LEGO DOTS brought the technique of building geometric mosaics from tiny tiles to a broader audience, and the humble 1×1 quarter circle tile was the workhorse of that line. Builder Palixa and the Bricks employs hundreds of these tiles on a particularly challenging canvas for a mosaic – a sphere! The results are beautiful from every angle, as soothing to look at as it must have been for Palixa to build. This series allows Palixa to combine some of her favorite things: LEGO, mosaics, colors, and math. If the series continues, what polyhedron will she apply her tiling magic to next? A pyramid, perhaps? Personally, I’m hoping for an icosahedron. The post Are spheres the new DOTS? appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Jake Forbes

Take a look at this intriguing LEGO set designed for ages 21 and above. Crafted by builder Versteinert and titled ‘Whiskey Distillery,’ it showcases a plethora of imaginative uses for both common and uncommon pieces, resulting in a creation seemingly tailored for adult enthusiasts. This model serves as the builder’s entry for the third round of the 2024 RogueOlympics, a contest that tasks participants with creating designs using no more than 101 Lego elements. The theme for this round was ‘Volume,’ and I find the approach to such a simple word quite refreshing. Upon closer inspection of the build, one can spot a couple inside-out tires, a selection of Harry Potter wands, a gray cattle horn, and even a magic lamp unique to a certain Disney Villain, among other elements. The post An aged creation: Unveiling the LEGO whiskey distillery appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: John Trevino

Before co-founding Studio Ghibli and going on to win two Oscars for Best Animated Feature, it was Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind that cemented Hayao Miyazaki as Japan’s great animation auteur. Joffre Zheng pays tribute to the film with a brick-built Nausicaä on her swooshable glider racing over a herd of Ohmu as they skitter across the desert. The diorama uses forced perspective to sell how high Nausicaä soars over the titanic bugs. The use of bowed slopes to give the dust clouds a sawtoothed edge does a great job evoking Miyazaki’s style and conveying the Ohmus’ terrifying speed. As a bonus detail, Nausicaä’s glider features an LED that lights up with a button press. For other masterful Nausicaä models, check out these builds from Tino Poutiainen, TBB alum Iain Heath, and Alex Hui. The post LEGO Nausicaä glides to a brighter future appeared first on The Brothers Brick....

No-one likes a show-off. Now I’m not accusing Peter Botcher of being one – although his builds are certainly worth bragging about. But the owner of this enormous LEGO tower? That’s a different story! At the bottom, you’ve got two medieval small businesses: one a bakery, the other a small kiosk. I imagine the owners have to work really hard to get customers. But an alchemist has moved into town, and built their potion shop to tower over the others. What a nerve! I suspect it may backfire on them, though. Elevators won’t be invented for another few hundred years, and going up all those stairs may put off all but the most athletic of clientele… The post Tall towers are all well and good – as long as you don’t mind stairs appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer

I do sometimes wonder where Andreas Lenander gets his inspiration for some of his more fantastical LEGO creations. Part of the fun is taking a guess, and for this one, I’m somehow getting a vibe of mythical Mesoamerican deities. It looks like some form of bird, but equally, it also looks like… Not quite a bird? The strange foliage and dragonfly-esque creature next to it certainly evoke somewhere exotic. Perhaps it’s a cousin of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. As a matter of fact, Andreas has named this piece ‘Kolibri’, and Wikipedia tells me that Colibri is a genus of birds with brightly-coloured plumage from Central and South America. Hey, maybe my hunch isn’t that far off after all! The post A Colibri of the highest calibre appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer

You don’t have to be a member of the KISS Army to lick up this sizzling concert scene from virtuoso LEGO builder Paul Hetherington. In this fantasy staging, The Starchild, The Demon, and The Spaceman shred on pedestals above lava, while The Catman owns the drums from atop a flame-spewing podium flanked by metallic demon dogs and backed by a deafening wall of speakers while Detroit Rock City burns in the background. Doesn’t get more rock and roll than that! Paul artfully blends flat typography and graphic design with a minifig vignette to create this popping poster. (It’s a technique he’s used before, including in this TBB favorite golden age batman masterpiece). I find the use of color particularly striking, with flame shafts and geometric brick-built lava matching the KISS logo. While there are few visible LEGO studs on the stage itself, Paul uses an enviable amount of silver-grey elements to...

How’s this for a classic Star Wars moment captured in LEGO diorama form? It’s 2008, and you’re watching The Clone Wars, surely the last Star Wars movie you’ll ever see in theaters (haha, right?) when suddenly, a normal-looking All-Terran Tactical Enforcer starts climbing a frickin’ purple cliff like some sort of fat metal spider. Tim Goddard uses unevenly layered sloped bricks and tiles laid out in SNOT (studs not on top) fashion to achieve the irregular surface of the cliff. The AT-TE looks great in midi-scale—all the way down to the tiny clone trooper sitting at the turret. The post This AT-TE does whatever a spider can appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Ryan Kunz

What’s your favourite LEGO space theme? I think mine would have to be M:Tron. The colours! The vehicles! The magnets! Over on Flickr, user legomess ticks off all three with this modern take on the theme. They’ve done a great job of blending classic parts (like the magnet holders and neon-green windscreen) with newer ones. The overall design is neat, too. I like how such a big, bulky walker wanders around on its tiptoes! Naturally, it wouldn’t be M:Tron without a bit of magnetic play action. The ‘M’ in M:Tron may have stood for ‘magnet’, but in this case it’s equally apt for it to mean ‘massive’, ‘mecha’, or simply ‘magnificent’! The post ‘M’ is for Marvelous Magnetic Mech appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer

The LEGO Pirates theme might not have the range of sets that we’ve seen in City, Space, and Castle, but for many AFOLs, the Pirates flame still burns as bright as Captain Redbeard’s chin whiskers. For several years now, builder Marcin Dski (Sleepless Night) has been expanding on an original series of dockside modular buildings that bring to life the Golden Age of Piracy in stunning detail, and their latest addition is this majestic chapel. The façade features some attractive use of gold elements for detail work, but my favorite section has to be the powder dome, ribbed with flex tubes and cupola. Sleepless Night’s modular pirate journey started with a re-imagining of their favorite classic set, Lagoon Lock-Up. From there, they added Captain Redbeard’s mansion and a custom house, and now this lovely chapel to tempt freebooters with its golden façade. Here at TBB we are excited to see what...