Welcome to Day 5 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2018 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team. If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. Let’s take a dive into Day 5! For Day 5, we have bounty hunter droid IG-88 from Star Wars, a snowman ornament from Friends, and a sled from City. Dave: IG-88 is at least more interesting than a battle droid. I got him earlier this year in the 75167 Bounty Hunter Battle Pack, and at least he comes with two extra silver arms. Friends actually comes closer than last year making a snowman but it still looks like a weird...

A few months ago, I wrote three articles on how I built the E-1 Tracer aircraft model. I haven’t built much in the intervening months, but recently I have started on a new project: an MH-53M Pave Low helicopter. This is a somewhat different cup of tea. It’s not a fixed-wing aircraft and I am not starting from scratch. Instead, I am starting with an old model that I built ten years ago. This means that there is a lot less planning involved. The proportions of the old model were pretty much spot-on, but there are many parts and techniques that didn’t exist or weren’t possible ten years ago. As a result, the old model looked, well, old. In this and subsequent articles, I’ll go into how I am building this new version and how newer parts and techniques change how I approach the design. Until their retirement in 2008, Pave...

In season one of Stranger Things you are continually guessing at the nature of El’s gifts, and the power of them. You might have been wondering why the bad guys were so afraid of her, then this scene happened and you were pretty much as shocked and stunned as the kids she was escaping with, and I’m guessing totally hooked for the rest of the season. An iconic moment brilliantly recreated by Norton74. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

I’ve never played Magic the Gathering, but it was real popular at my house for a couple weeks a few years ago. I can’t say I recognize this character either, but that doesn’t diminish my appreciation for him (her? it?). Builder Pate-keetongu has crafted a strange but wonderful character here, with the skill and creativity we’ve come to expect. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

I’m not at all familiar with the anime Ergo Proxy, but I know a good build when I see one, and this is a VERY good build. Sheo has captured the likenesses of the characters perfectly, and uses slope pieces to great effect. Original linkOriginal author: James Morr