LEGO Designer Pierre Normandin is no stranger to trains–he grew up loving them and has designed many of the LEGO City trains available the past few years. He recently shifted within LEGO to the Creator Expert team and had the chance to flex some building muscles by designing the recent Fiat 500 and now an even more detailed train! In this designer video, Pierre talks about his love of trains, why the Crocodile Locomotive is so iconic, and how the set started off larger and eventually grew to be 7 studs wide to include more detail.
10277 Crocodile Locomotive set comes with 1,271 pieces used to create the brown electric locomotive, a buildable display base, an informational placard, and two conductor minifigures. It is now available from LEGO for US $99.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £89.99. Make sure to read our interview with LEGO Design Lead Jamie Berard about the creation of this LEGO train and the design effort that went into it.
LEGO has revealed an entirely new product line of mosaic sets featuring pop culture portraits called LEGO Art. The four initial sets revealed include Iron Man, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, and Star Wars Sith. Each of the adult-targeted sets contains an average of 3,250 pieces, a new brick separator, several new elements, an exclusive signature tile, and instructions and extra parts to build 3 or 4 different designs per set. Each set comes with a curated building soundtrack, and as an added bonus, three copies of either the Iron Man or Star Wars sets can be combined to make an “ultimate piece” triple the size of a single portrait.
Each LEGO Art set comes in a box the size of a pizza and will retail for US $119.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £114.99. The Iron Man portrait will be available globally (including the US) exclusively from LEGO on August 1st. The other three portraits will be available globally from LEGO and various retailers starting August 1st, except in the US which will have to wait a month until September 1st.
The LEGO Friends Summer 2020 sets featuring the National Geographic partnership are now available in the U.S. and Canada. The LEGO Friends sub-theme focuses on jungle conservation with sets that feature rescuing baby elephants, pandas, sloths, llamas, and tigers. The sets also feature behind-the-scenes interviews with real-life people who rescue animals and are meant to inspire kids to be more environmentally conscious.
The sets have been available in the UK for a month and were announced they would go on sale elsewhere on August 1st, but it appears LEGO has made them available earlier than intended. The sets feature the National Geographic Explorers logo, and LEGO announced it is also donating to the National Geographic Society to fund grants in species conservation.
Take a look at each LEGO Friends set now available after the jump.
The LEGO is now selling several new Marvel sets in the U.S. and Canada. Standouts include the golden Iron Man Helmet, a larger Avengers Tower, and a play-scale Helicarrier. Several of these sets were already available in the UK, though it appears the Iron Man Helmet is currently only available in the Americas.
We’ve sorted through all the new Marvel sets that are now available (including a few older polybags that are newly available for purchase online), and we’ve included the sets names, piece counts, prices and box pictures below.
The newest LEGO train set 10277 Crocodile Locomotive is now available online for US $99.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £89.99. The train comes with 1,271 pieces used to create the locomotive, display base, and two conductor minifigures. To motorize the Crocodile, you will need to purchase two additional Powered Up Components, 88009 Powered Up Hub and 88013 Technic Large Motor.
LEGO’s newest Disney set 43179 Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse Buildable Characters is now available for pre-order from LEGO for US $179.99 | CAN $229.99 | UK £169.99. The set comes with 1,739 pieces to build both Mickey and Minnie Mouse as well as autographed bases and several accessories.
These characters are bigger than they seem in photos, so check out our hands-on review of Mickey and Minnie or the video beneath the jump to see the scale and construction of each, including several new elements.
LEGO is also offering a gift-with-purchase of 40411 Creative Fun 12-in-1 with orders of at least $85 through July 26th or while supplies last.
In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the last week of June 2020.
LEGO Ideas announced that Seinfeld, Home Alone and a typewriter will become new sets, and we got a hands-on look at the newest Disney, Ninjago, Jurassic World and Technic sets. Read on to see everything you may have missed from the week.
TBB REVIEWS: We got an early look at upcoming Disney, Ninjago, Technic and Jurassic Worl sets, and the baby dinos stole the show!
Review of LEGO 71705 Ninjago Legacy: Destiny’s Bounty – The Destiny’s Bounty is back! This Legacy Edition of the Ninja’s HQ ship is a redux of the original set from 2012, and we’re taking a look at how LEGO has upgraded it from 680 pieces to almost 1,800.
TBB FEATURES: The Brothers Brick is celebrating Pride Month with a series of articles exploring LGBT+ LEGO topics, plus some instructions for the cutest Razorcrest ever.
TBB LEGO SET NEWS: The new LEGO set announcements keep on coming with new Technic, National Geographic City and Friends, and LEGO Ideas sets on the horizon.
How Bionicle saved LEGO, Popular Mechanics – [Subscription required] How a brain tumor inspired Bionicle, one of the most popular toys of a generation.
LEGO and National Geographic have announced they are partnering on a new line of LEGO City and Friends sets meant to inspire kids to be more environmentally conscious. The new sets (which have been available in most countries since June 1st–available in the Americas starting August 1st) feature ocean exploration and animal rescue themes. The sets include a menagerie of new LEGO animals including a hammerhead shark, anglerfish, manta ray, baby pandas, sloths, alpacas, and multiple elephants.
The sets feature the National Geographic Explorers logo, and LEGO announced it is also donating to the National Geographic Society to fund grants in ocean exploration and species conservation. As part of the campaign, LEGO has also launched an “Explore the World” website and video series to help kids develop creative ideas to address real-life environmental issues.
In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the third week of June 2020.
It felt like we were back at Toy Fair New York with all the LEGO product reveals this week. Read on to make sure you didn’t miss out on any of them!
TBB NEW SET ANNOUNCEMENTS: We got our first look at the new Star Wars sets including the upcoming advent calendar, a new train, a full lineup of Super Mario sets, an iconic Disney duo and some upcoming Technic sets. Which are you most excited about?
TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: We’ve jumped into the red zone with new Ninjago sets and saw a Technic motorcycle that was big enough to take a ride.
Review of LEGO 71720 Ninjago: Fire Stone Mech – Ninjago ninjas love their mechs, and the summer 2020 wave has another addition to their arsenal in the Fire Stone Mech. We take a hands-on look at this new set in our review and see just how nifty it really is.
BrickLink is celebrating its 20th anniversary,BrickLink – The source of all the parts you could ever want is celebrating with a “20 Days of BrickLink” event to showcase the company’s history and future and how the community played a part in its success.
Which actor has the most minifigures?, Brickset – Our friends at Brickset have searched through their database of 12,000 different LEGO minifigures to see which actor has the most.
NINJAGO: Master of the Mountain Teaser Trailer, YouTube – Get a sneak peek at the all-new season of the NINJAGO TV series where the ninja travel to the fabled Kingdom of Shintaro and uncover an obscure dungeon underworld.
Why every tech founder needs LEGO to keep sane, The Next Web – Leading a team can sometimes be lonely and it’s important to take one’s mind off things every now and again. So don’t feel bad about splurging on a LEGO set.
LEGO has unveiled a brief video and photos of a real Ducati Panigale V4 R motorcycle with a Technic exterior. The hybrid model is meant to celebrate the European launch of the 42107 Technic Ducati Panigale V4 R. The motorcycle’s exterior was created by LEGO Certified Professional Riccardo Zangelmi, who had never built with Technic elements professionally before this project. The final model weighs 400 pounds (180 kg) including the motorcycle innards, is composed of 15,000 bricks, and took 400 hours to build. Unlike other life-size models, this LEGO Ducati exterior has no glue and was created by hand and not using 3D modeling software.
42107 Technic Ducati Panigale V4 R currently retails for 54.99 GBP and will sell for$69.99 USD | 99.99 CAD when it launches in the Americas on August 1st. (Editor’s note: The press release below states that the set will cost $59.99 USD but we have independently verified with LEGO that the price will actually be $69.99 USD which is consistent with the price displayed on the LEGO Store Online.)
LEGO has revealed seven new Star Wars sets based on everything across the galaxy including the films, television shows, a visual dictionary, and even Disney’s theme park land, Galaxy’s Edge. The sets include two brand new ships, multiple desirable minifigures, a few refreshed models, and the 2020 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar. (Spoiler alert: we’ve included photos of the Advent behind the jump at the far end of this article.)
LEGO has officially revealed their newest Disney product, 43179 Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse Buildable Characters. The set comes with 1,739 pieces to build both Mickey and Minnie Mouse in dynamic positions as well as autographed bases and several accessories.
