The Brothers Brick

In this two-for-one post (and an excuse to blog my own creation), I highlight two new ways of having your way in the underwater world of LEGO Atlantis. First, my Harpoon Hunter is a combat mecha to fend off the guardians of Atlantis. The model was a result of my desire to test an incredibly useful joint technique I recently learned.

Next, Moritz Nolting (nolnet) depicts a vicious hunting vessel chasing a mersquid (the fusion of a mermaid and a squidman). I’m happy to see that we both agree on the use of certain plant life for the seabed, but Moritz’s view of the flora and fauna is obvious more fertile than mine.

Figures.com has detailed pictures of the upcoming Harry Potter sets for late 2010. Although you won’t be getting four Snapes in 4737 Quidditch Match, you can count on expanding your collection of Harry Potter minifigs with popular characters such as Ginny Weasley in the non-existent burning of 4840 The Burrow and Luna Lovegood with her Spectrespec glasses in 4841 Hogwarts Express. Check out more pictures in the gallery to see what all is new.

Click here for more new pictures from the other themes.

I’m liking this model of a Peterbilt 359 car carrying truck by bricksonwheels (also on MOCpages) as well as the fancy schmancy cars it’s carrying.

It has an amazing amount of detail inside and out, making the entire photoset worth checking out.

It’s always nice to see something completely new. Today, Théo (Titolian) brings us a truly new use for the white version of canopies — a parachute:

As several commenters noted, one theme missing from the recent news about late 2010 LEGO sets was any reference to LEGO Harry Potter. With part one of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie due out this November, the omission was striking.

LEGO Harry Potter fans need fear no more. Some of the LEGO Harry Potter sets planned for an October release include:

• Hogwarts Castle
• Hagrid’s Hut
• Hogwarts Express
• Quidditch Match

New minifigs include Bellatrix Lestrange and Luna Lovegood.

UPDATE: Toy Fair 2010 has revealed first photos of 2010 LEGO Harry Potter sets.

Here’s the full press release:

BURBANK, Calif.–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) announced today an extension of its successful partnership with leading toy manufacturer, The LEGO Group, to bring the magical world of Harry Potter to fans everywhere. Under the agreement, The LEGO Group is creatively tapping into the Harry Potter magic to develop spell-binding construction sets and a board game inspired by the property in anticipation of the November 19 theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, as well as the upcoming release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011.

“The world of Harry Potter has inspired some of our most successful products and we are thrilled to continue creating imaginative play opportunities for fans everywhere”
“We have enjoyed a longstanding, successful partnership with The LEGO Group around Harry Potter and we are delighted to continue this relationship as we approach the release of the seventh film,” said Karen McTier, executive vice president, domestic licensing and worldwide marketing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “Fans of the franchise will be excited to discover the wonderfully original LEGO products inspired by the beloved stories and characters.”

“The world of Harry Potter has inspired some of our most successful products and we are thrilled to continue creating imaginative play opportunities for fans everywhere,” said Jill Wilfert, vice president, global licensing for LEGO Group. “The magical stories brought to life in the films give us the potential for an incredible array of offerings, the best of which are represented in our upcoming lines.”

Based on the compelling stories and characters of the Harry Potter films, the new line includes six construction sets derived from iconic scenes and locations, including the Hogwarts Castle, Hagrid’s Hut, Hogwarts Express and Quidditch Match and leveraging building surprises of previously released LEGO® Harry Potter sets, some of which ranked among all-time LEGO best-sellers. Available in October, the sets feature new and newly decorated minifigures, like Bellatrix Lestrange and Luna Lovegood.

Additionally, as the LEGO brand rolls into the board game category for the first time in 2010, it brings the Harry Potter property with it in a premium, constructible board game called Hogwarts, launching in August. Players build and then move throughout the iconic castle to be the first to collect various objects to win the game – but even the most skilled players can be foiled by an ability to move classrooms around the board.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games also announced LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4, the latest addition to the blockbuster LEGO video games franchise. Releasing this May on multiple gaming platforms, the game takes players on a magical adventure through the first four Harry Potter books and movies, as they build, make potions, solve puzzles and cast spells.

And don’t forget that TT Games is releasing the LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 video game later this year as well.

Although an infrequent builder, Linus Bohman impresses us with his innovation when he builds. His new creation is a battle machine that not only boasts a twisted design but also an intriguing backstory. Visit the Flickr set to see both!

This Dutch farm by Barbara Werth (McBricker) portrays the beautiful pastoral scene of the Netherlands, complete with the iconic Dutch cows and windmill. Don’t forget to check out the detail pictures, or you might miss cool features like this water spigot.

Adam Grabowski (misterzumbi) built the Warszawa, a Polish automobile from post World War II. The memorabilia in the photos makes for a great feature that adds an nostalgic authenticity to the gallery.

Carter Baldwin has been busy building, or rather, he’s been slowly agonizing over this creation. I saw it as a work in progress way back at BrickFair in August of 2009. This thing has come a long way since then, with many more details being packed in, and a completely enclosed bottom.

This ship is inspired by those of the Homeworld games, like so many good space creations seem to be. This ship has some great areas of transition between angled sections, and there are plenty of nicely angled sections. Carter has also made good use of printed elements and brick-built details, in addition to the now-popular stickers.

I’m always amazed by the endless creativity that happens with Lego. Here, Chris Doyle builds a lenticular image, more precisely with cheese slopes. Check out the effect in the video below.

Keith Goldman‘s latest scene has lots of goodies to soak in, but what do you think is going on? Click on the picture to join in on the speculations.

Lego911 has hand-crafted these two beauties. Lovely, simply lovely.

The Kockice Klub is making their first Lego exhibition in the city of Velika Gorica in Croatia on Sunday, February 14. My friend Matija Grguric wanted me to pass the word, so if you’re in Croatia or the surrounding countries, this is an event you may want to attend.

Nathan Sawaya has created a gorgeous tribute to Waldo H. Hunt, the King of Pop-Up Books. By the way, this is also Nathan’s first castle.

Thanks to Bruce for pointing this out on Classic-Castle.

Typically our little stories about LEGO in the wider news have a tendency to engender some sort of controversy, but one thing I hope most us can agree on: It’s not cool to steal someone’s LEGO collection.

According to the Oakland Tribune, nightmare became reality for Mark Benz, 49, of Fremont, CA. Mark, who is president of BayLUG, drove the creations back from Palo Alto, where he had a large part of his collection on display at the Museum of American Heritage for a display with other BayLUG members. When he got home, he left the collection in his truck for a about a week. On the morning of February 3rd, he found that $6,500 worth of his LEGO collection had been taken in a vehicle burglary the preceding night. Mark told me in an e-mail that, “It feels crummy! Like somebody took years of your life, along with the cost of the bricks!”

According to Mark, the following models and elements were taken:

“About 20,000 parts forming 20 square feet of LEGO models of San Francisco waterfront landmarks: Ghirardelli Square, the new Conservatory of Flowers, Palace of Fine Arts, Maritime Museum and municipal pier, and the USS Pampanito [submarine]. Also, trains taken: California Zephyr, Whale Car, red SW1000 diesel and freight cars, at least 4 small classic town sets: Camera car, speedboat, ultralite and 1 other, about 60 baseplates, and all of the trees used to scenic common areas of BayLTC layouts.”

We thought it might be worth passing along the information since quite a few of you are going to be scouring BrickLink, craigslist, e-bay, classifieds and garage sales for LEGO anyway, so y’all might be the perfect people to keep an eye out for signs of Mark’s stolen LEGO.

Mark also wrote that he’d “very much like to thank all the BayLUG members and All Fans of LEGO (AFOLs) who’ve expressed condolences and sent pictures and support concerning this theft.”

If you run across a sale of LEGO that’s uncannily similar to Mark’s collection and/or a deal that’s too good to be true from the San Francisco Bay area, please do the right thing. I think empathy should be enough, but Mark is offering a $500 reward for the recovery of his collection.

If you have pertinent information, contact Detective Bill Veteran of the Fremont Police Department at 510-790-6800.