What do you get the LEGO fan who probably buys themselves all the LEGO he or she could ever need? Here at The Brothers Brick (TBB), our LEGO holiday gift guide has everything a LEGO fan is going to love — everything but official LEGO sets!
LEGO Books
Regular readers will certainly have noticed that publishers have been furiously releasing stacks of new LEGO books lately. We haven’t been able to review all of them here (we’ll get to them, time permitting), but we definitely recommend each of these books.
The Big Unofficial Lego Builder’s Book: Build Your Own City
Authors: Oliver Albrecht & Joachim Klang.
Price: $29.99
Review: Read Tim’s review here on TBB.
The Brick Bible: The New Testament: A New Spin on the Story of Jesus
Author: Brendan Powell Smith.
Price: $19.95
Review: Read Bruce’s review over on GodBricks.
The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide
Author: Paweł “Sariel” Kmieć
Price: $29.95
Review: Read Josh’s review here on TBB.
The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide (2nd Edition)
Author: Allan Bedford
Price: $24.95
Review: Forthcoming here on TBB…
The LEGO Adventure Book, Vol. 1: Cars, Castles, Dinosaurs & More!
Author: Megan Rothrock
Price: $24.95
Review: Read Tim’s review here on TBB.
Moleskine LEGO Notebook
Price: $16.95 (small) to $21.95 (large)
Review: Read Andrew’s review here on TBB.
And if you didn’t pick them up at the time, don’t miss two of my personal favorite LEGO books.
Authors: John Baichtal & Joe Meno
Price: $39.95
Review: Read Andrew’s review here on TBB.
LEGO: A Love Story
Author: Jonathan Bender
Price: $24.95
Review: Read Andrew’s review here on TBB.
Custom LEGO kits
The Standard Model
Designer: Iain “Ochre Jelly” Heath
Price: $39.99
Description: A little LEGO Stephen Hawking to call your own. How awesome is that? Very.
Review: Read Andrew’s review here on TBB.
Brickmania
Designer: Dan Siskind
Prices: $6 & up
Description: From custom accessories and minifigs to World War II vehicles and castle kits, Dan was one of the first LEGO fans to sell his own designs online. He’s still going strong today.
Review: Read Andrew’s review here on TBB.
Ichiban Toys
Designer: Christopher White
Prices: $17.99 & up
Description: Nicely designed LEGO models inspired by Star Trek, Batman, Back to the Future, and more.
Review: I picked up their DeLorean to review for TBB a while back, but just never got to it. Like other LEGO models designed by adult fans, it’s fairly fragile, but looks awesome. The custom set even came with alternate sources of power (a hook for lightning and a little Mr. Fusion for your 21st-century trash).
Brick-themed apparel & accessories
Show your brick pride with some awesome shirts. There’s lots of LEGO-themed apparel out there, but these are our favorites.
BrickShirts
Price: $14
Description: From a minifig Vitruvian Man to the original patents for LEGO, these shirts have genuine geek style, and are a great value. BrickShirts proprietor Bob Kojima releases new designs all the time, many with just the in-joke to help other AFOLs identify you in a crowd.
cutebricks
Prices: $5 & up
Description: Seattle designer Mary Mohsenian creates wonderful jewelry from LEGO bricks for both men and women — earrings, cufflinks, necklaces, and more.
Glennz Tees
Price: $21.95
Description: Graphic designer Glenn Jones creates a lot of really excellent, often very funny T-shirts. I own several, and would love to own more. His shirts include a couple of brick-themed designs, including Severed. (Unfortunately, my favorite, “Evolution,” is no longer available.) Glenn is releasing new designs all the time, so we’re sure others will follow.
iPhone 4 Brick Case
Price: $19.99
Description: An iPhone case with LEGO-compatible studs on it. Bling your fruit-themed smartphone by sticking bricks to it.
LEGO on Etsy
Description: Support artists and designers worldwide by buying unique, hand-made (often one-of-a-kind), and vintage items. In addition to cutebricks, there’s a world of brick-themed goodness on Etsy, including the wonderfully clever I Will Never Lego.
nanoblock: Not LEGO at all, but still awesome
Finally, if you’d like to try something really different, you might consider nanoblock
Iain over at The Living Brick has not been shy about sharing his love of nanoblocks, so head on over there and look for more news & reviews.
Some great books.
We love “The Cult of Lego” and look forward to buying the Technic book!
I actually like the Brick Bible, but the guy who made it, being a GREAT builder, is an atheist who is trying to malign the Bible.
The Old Testament version is better, albeit very bloody (some Christians try to sanitize it).
The New Testament has more “editorial” comments, several of which are demonstrably false and dishonest interpretations.
But there’s no debating the great building and many entertaining displays!
I thought it was important to mention so no one gets a “bait and switch.”
@”Lego King of Facebook”:
How is your ad hominem attack on Brendan Powell Smith’s own beliefs or his intentions as an artist relevant to this holiday gift guide?
And “demonstrably false and dishonest interpretations”?! Who are you to lay exclusive claim to an understanding of a nearly 2000-year-old sacred text? There are as many interpretations of New Testament doctrine as there are Christian denominations, sects, cults, and believers. So, you or your denomination are the only one with the “correct” interpretation? Which “true” interpretation do you subscribe to? Catholic? Orthodox (Greek, Russian, Serbian, or Coptic)? Lutheran (if so, which synod)? Southern Baptist? Seventh-day Adventist? Branch Davidian?
If you’re going to leave irrelevant comments full of religiously motivated attacks and logical fallacies, don’t bother leaving comments at all.
Andrew,
I’d love to hear the logical fallacies I included.
The nature of the “Brick Bible” could lead someone to believe it was inspired by a straightforward reading of the Bible, which it is not—at least in some portions.
I also own almost every book produced by Reverend Powell Smith; you may have overlooked my praise in my comment for his work; but it is QUALIFIED praise and in the sake of full disclosure I commented.
With the qualifications given, I’m still glad it is included in the Lego gift guide.
I would further add, the Smallworks Brickcase is one of THE BEST gifts for people who “you can’t think of ANYTHING to get for them!” with an IPhone.
The Brickcase gets sooo many compliments, and is a practical way to ensure you are able to build a little regularly if you’re busy! You GOTTA customize it!
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brick_Testament#section_1
I would encourage everyone to do their own “homework.”
My calling BP Smith an atheist is informative, as it is his claim and in the public record, not an ad hominem attack.
Now, let’s all go and “play well!”