Living in California comes with three major caveats: It’s expensive, it shakes occasionally and it’s pretty flammable. For the first two it’s a matter of wanting it enough and being prepared, for the third it’s having some of the bravest, skilled and determined firefighters in the world. It also helps to have the proper equipment, like this HME type 3 4x4 wildland fire engine by builder sponki25. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

Whenever LEGO releases a big set, talented builders the world over get inspired to build similar models, but better and more epic. You see it with UCS LEGO Star Wars sets, modular buildings, castles (from Helm’s Deep to Hogwarts), and Batmobiles. It also happens in the LEGO Technic world; LEGO releases a 42110 Land Rover Defender, and out of the woodwork start crawling rugged off-roaders like this one by Manuel Nascimento. Not only did Manuel build an enormous and detailed Defender, but he also built a whole display base to demonstrate its capabilities. You can sleep on a Land Rover? That’s intense (get it? in tents?). But the lights and winch work, and it has a working transmission, too, and could in theory drive. But since it weighs in at 14.33 lbs (6.5 kg) driving it is a bit out of the question. Who cares, though, since looking at it is...

Purple treeze all in the ground. Don’t know if they’re growing up or down. Is it crystal or purple ice? Whatever it is, Duncan Lindbo built a tree that’s nice. Queue Jimi Hendrix guitar solo – Duncan’s magical-looking tree is constructed from transparent purple Bionicle elements, which are lit throughout to give it a sparkly, crystalline appearance. If something could be grown from a shard of the Dark Crystal I’d imagine this would be it! If you’d like to see more of Duncan’s work in purple, be sure to check out his loathsome worm we featured back in September. The post The amethyst bonsai appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Matt Hocker

Farmers don’t seem to be the type who like to be messed with, but that doesn’t stop aliens from messing with them pretty much since man has learned to plant green beans. Lokiloki29 builds a micro-scale scene depicting the classic battle between hapless farmers and the alien invaders who are hellbent on doing weird things to their livestock and crops. The gravel road beside the barn is a whole slew of these laid in sideways while the dismembered minifig hands cleverly depicts a cornfield. While small, the tractor is accurately created using just a few parts. I’m pretty sure I saw that exact model on the John Deere website. I’m not sure what this poor farmer did to deserve a close encounter of the probing kind. But to our new alien overlords, I like my beef tenderized and singed with just a touch of pink on the inside. The post This...

Today, LEGO has taken the wraps off the January wave of sets for its augmented reality theme introduced earlier this year, Hidden Side. Each brick-built set pairs with the Hidden Side app to create a game about finding and catching ghosts to save the fictional town of Newbury. The new wave of six sets features more locations around the town such as a fairground, portal, and even a subway station, each with a spooky twist. There’s even an ominously named “Lighthouse of Darkness.” The new sets will be available immediately after Christmas, beginning Dec. 27. Part counts and US prices are yet to be revealed, but you can check out the rest of the set information below, along with the official press release outlining a study on the effects of physical versus digital play in children. 70427 Portal | €19.99 | Available Dec. 27, 2019 The LEGO® minifigures Jack, Axel Chops,...