The Brothers Brick

This adorable bionicle puppet by Jason Ruff (AKA Dr. Mobius) is just that…adorable. It’s also hysterical. Check it out. Now.

Following last year’s Winter Toy Shop, LEGO will release 10216 Winter Village Bakery for this holiday season. If the release schedule follows last year’s, then the set should be available on October 1st. For $55, you get 7 ½ minifigs and almost 700 pieces.

Here’s the official announcement from LEGO:

10216 – Winter Village Bakery

Ages 12+
687 pieces
US $ 54.99 UK £ 49.99 DE 54.99 € CA $74.99

Return to yesteryear with this festive holiday scene!

It’s a winter wonderland in this snow-covered little town! A special-delivery evergreen, all ready for decorating, arrives at the tree-seller’s stand by horse-drawn cart, while ice skaters frolic on the frozen pond with colorful lights and a curious owl perched overhead. Just look out for the freshly-shoveled snow piles – one skater has already tumbled in head-first! At the bakery nearby, the friendly baker prepares delicious holiday treats in his oven and rings up sales at the cash register. Push the glowing LEGO Power Functions brick to fill the building with warm interior light! Includes 7 ½ minifigures, snow owl, horse and lots of winter accessories.
• Includes 7 ½ minifigures as well as a snow owl and horse!
• Features LEGO Power Functions light-up brick which lights the interior of the bakery when you push it!
• Includes lots of fun winter accessories like a dark blue minifigure hood with new fur print!
• Prepare holiday treats and ring up sales at the cash register!
• Skate on the frozen pond made of 8×8 transparent blue plates!
• Interesting elements include a camera, tan baguettes, croissants, green apple, 8×8 transparent blue plates, medium blue tiles and even a new ‘caramel’ color for several brick and arch elements outside the bakery!
• Features an evergreen tree for decorating, tree seller’s stand and even a horse-drawn cart!
• Bakery measures 7″ (18 cm) wide!
• Completed model (depending on space allocated between the individual parts) measures 16″ (40 cm) wide, 12″ (30 cm) deep and 7″ (18 cm) high!

This Mesopotamian Ox butt is pretty awesome. I’ve never seen a Mesopotamian Ox but I think Ed Diment got it right. The whole Ox that is, not just the butt.

He built a pair of these for his Mesopotamian Ox Cart, which is pretty neat too.

With an equally zany username, Sprogis Peteris shows that fancy techniques aren’t always needed to build an interesting Lego creation. Check out Crackhead & Honey Bag Man and more on Flickr.

BrickFair 2010 took place last weekend, and I’ve now finally had a little bit of time to recover. Like any LEGO convention, it was a blast! There were a lot of fun times to be had hanging out with other LEGO builders. There were also some great sessions, including a presentation by LEGO designer Jamie Berard (which culminated with the unveiling of the Tower Bridge set).

People have also had some time to put their photos online. This works out well, as my wife had both of our cameras in the Galapagos, while I was at BrickFair. You’ll all have to wait for more photos of the latest award-winning display from my compatriot Nick and I of 3LUG. In the meantime, I’d like to highlight some of my favorites from the con.

The above is part of a diorama depicting the battle of Fort McHenry, the inspiration for the Star Spangled Banner. This diorama incorporated some great detail techniques, including smoke from the cannons, and wall-shrapnel. The builder chose to depict the ship in cross-section, which was a fascinating bit of extra detail. The most amazing thing about this creation, though, was that, according to the MOC card, it was built by a thirteen year old!

I also quite enjoyed the display above, by Jordan Schwartz. There’s some lovely detail work in the railing, and the columns are nice as well.

Forbidden Cove is celebrating their birthday with a fabulous contest with particularly shiny prizes! Chris Malloy (porschecm2) has certainly stepped up with his vignette, The Pirate Aura. I think the whole thing just pulls together nicely, what with the water reflecting the wall and the terrifying face staring back at ye!

Equals Chris McVeigh’s (powerpig) latest creation. I wonder how many points you get for shooting an Imperial Royal Guard. Check out the details to see more angles.

It’s no secret I love pre-WWI cars so Peter Blackert (lego911) was always going to please me with this one. But his pleasing went beyond what it could have been due to his excellent modelling. A fabulous demonstration of what can be done at this larger than minifig scale.

Once in a while, Fedde (Karf Oohlu) applies his humorous use of unusual Lego parts to larger creations. This diorama depicts colored parts being fed by robots to a hungry recycle machine. This creation has definitely made the best (and perhaps the only) use of the Crystal King‘s head.

HKLUG has posted a ton of excellent pictures from the 2010 Anime Festival on their Facebook page.

You should definitely take the time to check them out. The pictures posted here really caught me eye, but there are many, many more.

If any of our readers have information on the actual builders, please let us know so that we can give credit where credit is due. Thanks!

Us castle-people build all sorts of things:fortresses, castles, lovely landscaping, and sometimes the occasional tavern or two. Many of the scenes all include horses–but so rarely to we stop to build a place for the horse. It’s a travesty!

Fortunately, Peter deYeule has taken it upon himself to build a stable. Thanks, Peter. The horses are grateful.

Classic-Castle‘s current 32×32 Building Challenge focuses on the three primary colors–and Harry Russell has risen to the occasion beautifully. His contribution focuses on Red, and the whole atmosphere is simply haunting.

This Liebherr LTM 1200, by Sqiddster is huge. Not only is it huge, but its very well-detailed. Not only is it huge and detailed, it’s also functional!

I think I need one of these around the house. It would be useful for pulling cars out of ditches and such things.

We just got permission from LEGO to publish this a little early. Tonight, at BrickFair, LEGO will officially unveil their latest exclusive set, 10214 Tower Bridge!

The official press release:

10214 – Tower Bridge

Ages 16+. 4,287 pieces.
Price: US=239.99, UK=204.99, DE=219.99, CA=314.99

Build London’s famous Tower Bridge!
Stretching over the River Thames since 1894, the famous Tower Bridge of London, England is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. Now you can add this timeless classic to your LEGO world buildings collection! Designed with advanced building techniques and rare colors and elements, the Tower Bridge is complete with its iconic paired towers and a drawbridge that really opens. Fun to build and display, it locks together solidly but can be taken apart in sections for easy transport. Includes 4 miniature vehicles; a black London taxi, a traditional red double-decker bus, a yellow truck and a green automobile. Completed model measures 40″ (102 cm) long, 17″ (45 cm) high and 10″ (26 cm) wide.

• Includes 4 miniature vehicles: a black London taxi, a yellow truck, green automobile and even a traditional red double-decker bus!
• Features the iconic paired towers and a drawbridge that really opens and closes!
• Includes unique printed shield!
• Features hundreds of 1×1 slopes in tan!
• Many useful arches, angular bricks in tan!
• Includes 4 blue base plates and over 80 windows!
• Tower Bridge is ideal for building and display – it can be taken apart in sections for easy transport!
• Add this amazing landmark to your LEGO world buildings collection!
• Completed model measures an impressive 40″ (102 cm) long, 17″ (45 cm) high and 10″ (26 cm) wide.

Also check out this video for behind-the-scenes goodies:

Alexander Alekseev just posted this farmer and I was stuck by the simplicity. This scene is just about perfect, so I’ll bow out and I’ll let it speak for itself.