LEGO might not have released a stand-alone Space theme since 2013’s Galaxy Squad, but the spirit of space exploration lives on as a sub-theme of City. Two years of great sets have introduced new uniforms, personal mechs, and swooshable ships with an aesthetic closer to Interstellar than retro sci-fi. At last month’s IDS Brickworld, long-time collaborators and Rogue Bricks membrers Michael Diermann and Sascha Brüning debuted a sprawling tribute to the City Space called “Mission on Thalora Prime.” The builders adhere to the aesthetics of the line, from the nougat earth to the modular building style to the alien shrubbery, while expanding in scope and variety. The arid alien landscape is wonderfully done and provides a fun foundation for an aerial walkway to the radar module. LEGO 60430 Interstellar Spaceship has never looked better than here, with hangars to hold a squadron. Michael, aka Boba-1980, shares a video from the event on his...

We never get tired of seeing new additions to the Frogust lineup, even in October, and this spin from LEGO’s newest set designer, Nathan Don, is especially sweet. Dubbed ‘Cherritoad’, this frog gives the theme its just desserts with a whimsical design that wouldn’t be out of place in the Pokémon universe. For a LEGO model, the shaping and techniques are incredible. My favorite details are the wide cartoony eyes and the way the ‘cone’ scales upward (we’d love to see what the inside of this build looks like!). You can’t help but love this little guy! You can read more about this build on Nathan’s Woomy World blog. The post Soft serve toad with a cherry on top appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Jarrett Gercken

A Minecraft-inspired modular? Thanks to A Minecraft Movie’s isekai plot taking real-world gamers into the fantasy land of voxel-based construction, it’s not as weird as you might think! Swedish AFOL Jenny Bergensten, a member of Swebrick, is a fan of the film – specifically Game Over World, the retro gaming shop run by Jason Momoa’s Garret “The Garbage Man” – and she spent much of the summer faithfully recreating the set in LEGO. Jenny recreates the shop inside and out, capturing the faded glory of both Garret, the former arcade star, and a small town main street. Jenny packs the shop interior with gaming memorabilia and glorious relics of 80s gaming. As much as I love the timeless charm of LEGO’s modulars, I would love to see the company try a larger Arcade set, especially after the excellent 40805 Arcade Machine set from earlier this year. To match the film’s details...

Japanese builder Pan Noda is a master at crafting liminal spaces in LEGO. From ancient ruins to cursed malls to surreal swimming pools, their worlds make the familiar look strange or even haunted. Controlled depth of field and a lack of minifigs make scale confounding and dreamlike. Pan Noda’s latest takes one of the most cheerful LEGO elements, the magenta flower with shaft found in so many kid sets and pick-a-brick-bins, and creates one of their most cursed scenes to date. Titled “A Field of Mocking Flowers,” a column rises from an endless field, a smiling face seen in negative space. Is there a structure beneath the blooms that happens to have a face, or is this the visage of some floral hive-mind? Are the boardwalks there to protect the flowers from pedestrian feet, or are they to protect us from this malevolent magenta force? The post Liminal LEGO horror is...

I can hardly believe yet another SHIPtember has come and gone. This year was one of the most amazing turnouts, with many first-time SHIPbuilders and veterans blowing us away with the sheer scope of their creations, from a 500+ stud Halo ring to a five-pronged star-ship with an impressive amount of teal tiles, to a ship built into and around the bones of a giant space whale. From NASA-adjacent to completely alien, this year’s lineup of ships in all manner of 100 stud orientations will make a very impressive poster in the coming months. This SHIP by EliteGuard01 packs more light gray LEGO than the newly released Death Slice, with stands that look sturdy enough to hold up a Christmas tree. And it’s bristling with engines and guns. The two top turrets remind me of the quad cannon from the Millennium Falcon. At nearly 9 feet long and 170lbs, it needed...

Frogust may have concluded over a month ago, but is that going to stop us from featuring awesome LEGO frog builds? You bet your bottom brick it won’t! This delightful dancing duo comes from BigBrickStan. The one on the right is in colours we’ve become accustomed to seeing in LEGO: green and white, with some orange highlights and big beady eyes. Why change a winning formula, right? But the use of prints on the left is equally eye-catching, in particular the torso. That part was originally a Dreamzzz turtle head! Even these amphibians are turtles all the way down, it seems… The post A LEGO frog is not just for Frogust appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer

Grab your preferred hammer or axe, a pint of ale, and join us on a tour of this Dwarven sanctuary nestled within the Red Mountains. Dwalin Forkbeard brought this imposing mountain fortress to life, and nearly every chamber and foothill of it is bustling with Dwarven activity. The faces chiseled into the very face of the mountain bear resemblance to many of the characters within, and the sheer amount of gold and stone that is used tastefully throughout this build feels very true to character for these delvers. The water technique here is lovely, and I’m half-tempted to check for a treasure chest behind one of the waterfalls. At the gate, an unexpected guest is awaiting entry. The added height to the Elvish character works extremely well, and makes the Dwarves stand out even more in comparison. Higher on the mountain, Dwarves dubbed Burin Ironpalm and Master Thorin watch over the...

We’ve seen so much creativity in how minifigs can be customized, from creative use of existing parts, to custom printed minifig torsos, to third-party cloth accessories, to hand-crocheted minifig coats! But for fashionistas, there’s only so much that can be done at minifig scale. Recent buildable figure sets for Wednesday and Wicked offer a new template for creative accessorizing, as seen in this custom couture from Maachi. The Japanese builder draws on the “Gothic Lolita” style that gained popularity in the Harajuku fashion scene in the ’90s and endures to this day. Think doll-style clothes, petticoats, bows, and lace, with lots of black. Maachi uses slopes and tiles to build out a busy bell-shaped dress, which she pairs  with platform shoes and a suitably goth parasol. Here is the original LEGO model, a fairly simple design that invites customization. Elsewhere in the LEGO catalog, we have these stand-alone dresses for Disney...

Hey there, Lino Martins,The Brothers Brick’s own writer, editor and occasional public nuisance here. I’m about to do the most self-serving thing anyone on any LEGO platform can do; show off a bunch of my own stuff. And that’s coming from someone who has given away three different versions of Adult Fan of Lino brick badges! In my defense, and if it will please the court Your Honor, it wasn’t even my idea. One of my higher-ups proposed the idea to me, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s me, so I said sure thing. Without further ado, let’s check out some of the classic vehicles that made me a mover and shaker in the LEGO automotive world. I may even include some insider info not published anywhere else. Let’s start with the Popcorn Wagon. This over-the-top show rod, originally designed by Carl Casper, is a prime example of what...

Inspired by Wes Talbott’s ‘Dungeon Dangers’ template and series of MOCs (see those fantastic sets here), TBB alum turned fellow set designer Carter Baldwin set out to make his own dungeon crawl with an ancient Greek mythological twist. The color choices and contrast are stunning, and the assembly behind the stark blue decorations on the pristine white pillars are more complex than they may first appear. The imposing minotaur is riddled with fun build techniques, my favorite detail being the usage of a full hand and arm assembly to round out its eyes and face. This is a beautiful build that manages to capture both the elegance of Greek architecture and the thrill of a fantasy adventure at once. The post The Mighty Mythological Minotaur appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Jarrett Gercken