The Brothers Brick

Stefan’s (-2×4-) Battlestar Galactica hanger, comparable to ChiefLUG’s, is an impressive display for a one man build. The tiles on the dividers add a nice texture to contrast with the smooth floor and wall.

Guy Himber (V&A Steamworks) recently kicked off a series of LEGO creations that each incorporate a Knights Kingdom II shield.

Guy started with a clockwork lionfish (above) and followed it with an eagle ray (below).

As always, Guy combines SYSTEM, Duplo, and Bionicle elements in new and interesting ways.

Ernesto Carillo has posted his completed diorama of an Imperial factory that produces AT-STs (or “chicken walkers”). The scene is full of technical detail, and the lighting effect added to the photo is excellent.

Today is the fourth anniversary of The Brothers Brick!

I said last year that 2007-2008 was the year that The Brothers Brick transitioned from “just a LEGO blog” to a full-fledged LEGO fan community. While this community that we all belong to continues to grow, 2008-2009 may be the year that The Brothers Brick transitions from “just a LEGO blog” with a large fan community to trusted LEGO news source.

Unlike years past, the broader LEGO fan community didn’t experience any major crises during 2008-2009. Brickshelf is still around, and little plastic bricks continue to be available just about everywhere. Nevertheless, a number of interesting trends emerged in the last 12 months.

Power to the people!

Two key events in 2008-2009 demonstrated how much power organized groups of consumers can have in their relationship with the company that produces their favorite little plastic bricks.

The headline: Dear LEGO: We want 7979 Castle Advent Calendar!.

In news that shocked and saddened LEGO Castle fans outside Europe, The LEGO Group decided not to release 7979 Castle Advent Calendar in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries.

The set was the first to have the jester, peasant girl, and new witch.

While many of us promptly found other channels to import them ourselves (Josh and I ordered five or six from Italy), we collectively worked to find a way to get the set to more fans elsewhere.

LEGO heard our hue and cry — thousands of votes on our poll, 80+ comments on my “Dear LEGO” post, and 100+ comments in a thread on Classic-Castle.com. Although changing LEGO’s supply chain and marketing plans proved impossible, North American LEGO Community Team member Steve Witt tracked down a pallet of sets in a distribution center in Tennessee, and managed to prevent the sets from being shipped back to Europe or destroyed (!).

Thanks to this community activism and the quick thinking of community advocates like Steve, hundreds of LEGO Castle fans were able to get their hands on this lovely set. (Here’s hoping we don’t have to repeat this for the rumored LEGO Pirates Advent Calendar this year!)

The headline: LEGO Pick-a-Brick price increases on LEGO Shop at Home.

When The LEGO Group dramatically raised the prices of many individual bricks available through the online Pick-a-Brick service, LEGO fans here and elsewhere rallied together to express how upset we were with this change.

We talked to our LEGO Ambassadors. We called LEGO ourselves. We sent letters.

In the unprecedented move that followed, a large multinational corporation changed its pricing structure based on direct consumer input.

Enter the n00b!

As the LEGO fan community grows, and as children who grew up with computers are set loose on the Internet younger and younger, the adult LEGO fan community is forced into situations that require interactions with these younger LEGO builders.

Despite stellar efforts by community leader Sean Kenney, MOCpages has become a byword for childish behaviors and ineffective communication. Similarly, children violating Flickr’s 13-and-older terms of service continue to flood LEGO-related groups with blurry photos of Rainbow Warriors, trade requests, and indecipherable chatter.

Plagiarism and outright copyright violations have emerged as major problems, particularly on LEGO.com. Children have even submitted photos to contests of LEGO creations built by prominent adult fans — and won. In the absence of careful moderation (at least looking for plagiarism) by LEGO, the Brick-Busters group on Flickr scours LEGO.com, identifies the real owners, and reports violators.

How the adult fan community will respond to the broader issue in the long run — are these things a threat or an opportunity? — remains to be seen.

All about you, by the numbers

• 1,200 registered readers
• 4,600 subscribers to the RSS feed
• 3,526,161 visits
• 8,277,564 page views
• 1,291,240 unique visitors
• 1,400 new posts

Readers of The Brothers Brick are just about everywhere in the world.

Starting last year, I began listing the top 30 countries where our readers come from (seems more interesting than just the top 10). The overall list hasn’t changed very much, but Hong Kong jumps nearly ten places and South Korean edges out South Africa for #30.

I believe the biggest change in our keywords reflects the shift of the blog to trusted LEGO news source. Though we continue to get many links from non-LEGO sites, more and more “sibling” LEGO sites are linking to news stories on The Brothers Brick.

* Excluding variations on “The Brothers Brick”.

With the exception of a post covering our post-apocalyptic display at BrickCon 2008 and two very large LEGO battleships, the 10 most popular posts were all news items.

1. Zombie Apocafest 2008: Children, avert your eyes!
2. Ed Diment finishes HMS Hood – in 20-foot-long minifig scale!
3. 10193 Medieval Market Village to be released in 2009
4. First pictures of 2009 LEGO sets
5. First pictures of LEGO Power Miners sets
6. 2009 LEGO Star Wars box art
7. Possible 2009 LEGO sets [Rumor]
8. LEGO Star Wars 10188 Death Star pics reveal interior and 21+ minifigs
9. LEGO and Brickstructures present LEGO Architecture
10. LEGO battleship Yamato, largest LEGO ship ever, completed after 6 years

Finally, stuff for the historically minded:

• My original welcome message
• First anniversary post
• Second anniversary post
• Third anniversary post

For years, Andrew humored my Discworld obsession by periodically blogging creations based on Terry Pratchett’s silly fantasy world, but now I get to do it myself. Sylvain (captainsmog) has created a new line of custom minifigures based on members of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. Makes me want to build a Watch House for them. From left to right: Detritus, Littlebottom, Angua, Carrot, Vimes, Colon, Nobby, Visit-The-Unbeliever-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets, Reg, and Dorfl.

Sylvain also built a great robot based on Hayao Miyazaki’s Laputa (or Castle in the Sky).

That alien queen needs to be bombarded from orbit. This microscale U.S.S. Sulaco by 2×4 seems up to the job.

Via MicroBricks.

Kevin Fedde had this burst out recently. Watch out, it could happen to you.

Johan van den Heuvel (Teddy) uses his master LEGO architecture skills to create this public library that fits well into a modular town layout. The Greek revival style of the building is truly well done. Check out the gallery for more photos showing a peaceful courtyard in the back.

Billy McDill brings his ‘A’ game to town with this classic confrontation.

ArzLan knows, perhaps it’s a giant centipede with a deadly stinger and a hungry appetite.

Pictures from ComicCon have been showing up all day and there is some great stuff on the horizon for LEGO fans! Joe Meno has been getting some great shots. Thanel is running around there also and has promised more pictures tomorrow.

Prince of Persia Figs:

Camel and Ostrich:

Woody and Buzz:

Army Men!

Jon Hall (jonhall18) has built a great Savoia S.21 seaplane, but the centerpiece of this LEGO creation for me is the custom minifig of Porco Rosso himself.

Thanks for the link, Horace!

Nick Crocco (Steam Pirate) is taking the apocafication of official LEGO sets to great heights.

An armored city bus emerges from 7641 City Corner.

Nick replaces the stickers on the truck in 7733 Truck & Forklift with Space Police III stickers of the same underlying design.

I think it’s awesome that the LEGO designers took an existing LEGO City design and essentially apocafied it themselves for Space Police III. And it was brilliant of Nick to notice.

Of course, it looks like Nick could use some more zombies. Fortunately, we’ll have plenty available at BrickCon.

Aaron Andrews goes retro in this lovely scene.

Don’t have time to grow and care for some flowers? Do what JDavis did. Build ‘em!

You can should check out their other sculptures too. There’s some really nice stuff in there.

It’s official, the 10198 Tantive IV (Rebel Blockade Runner) playset will be released in September at a reasonable $149.99 for 1,408 pieces and 5 minifigs including the exclusive Captain Antilles.

The page on the LEGO Shop online is live now, though the set does not appear to be available for preorder yet.

The Star Wars™ saga begins!

Blasting through space with Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer in pursuit, the Tantive IV blockade runner carries Princess Leia, C-3PO and R2-D2 on a vital mission for the Rebel Alliance. Celebrate the entire Star Wars saga with this all-new version of the very first starship seen in the films! The Tantive IV features an opening cockpit, rotating and elevating turbo laser cannons, rotating radar dish, removable roof section and interior command center. It also includes an opening compartment with removable cargo transport vehicle and 2 detachable escape pods for the droids to make their getaway with the Death Star plans! Includes Princess Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, Captain Antilles and Rebel Trooper minifigures. Measures 20.5″ (52 cm) x 7.5″ (19 cm) x 5.5″ (14 cm).

• Includes 5 minifigures: Princess Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, Captain Antilles and a Rebel Trooper!
• Open the cockpit and place 2 minifigures inside!
• Turbo laser cannons on top and bottom can rotate and elevate
• Features a removable roof!
• Lots of interior details including Leia’s desk and command center with seats for 2 minifigures!
• Open the storage compartment to reveal the cargo transport vehicle
• Features rotating radar disc and 2 detachable escape pods!
• Measures 20.5″ (52 cm) long, 7.5″ (19 cm) wide and 5.5″ (14 cm) tall

UPDATE (AB): The LEGO Group was kind enough to send along a few more details on pricing and a batch of additional photos for us to share with you.

10198 Tantive IV will be available September 1, 2009 at the following price points:

• United States: USD $149.99
• Canada: CAD $199.99
• United Kingdom: GBP £97.86
• Germany: EUR €149.99

Here’s the famous rear view of the Tantive IV:

This shot of the cockpit includes a good close-up of Captain Antilles:

The command center creates some nice playability in the center of the ship:

And what Rebel Blockade Runner would be complete without two droids aboard an escape pod?

If you ever wondered what happened to Daniel Z’s Hrothingas Castle, here is the conclusion to his castle evolution project, showing that not even the mightiest fortresses can stand up to the erosion of time.

Here’s a cool progression picture showing all stages of development:

The power functions IR speed remote control has been recalled by LEGO from the US and Canadian market due to the potential hazard from the overheat of the batteries. This marks only the third LEGO product to be recalled. For more information, click on the picture below to access the official report.