Yearly Archives: 2016

Pay-what-you-want Humble Book Bundle features great LEGO books [News]

The Humble Bundle is well known in the gaming community for offering packages of excellent older titles and letting buyers choose how much they want to pay. They’re now offering ebooks as well, and the current Humble Book Bundle features a selection of 4 great LEGO books from No Starch Press if you pay $1 or more. If you choose to pay over $15, you can get digital downloads of a full 16 LEGO books. We’ve reviewed several of them, including The LEGO Neighborhood Book, Beautiful LEGO, The LEGO Build-It Book: Amazing Vehicles, and The Cult of LEGO, so you check out what we thought before you commit. If you’re a longtime TBB reader, you’ll recognize a lot of terrific builders in these pages that we’ve featured over the years.

Don’t want to get a digital version? You can find all of these books on Amazon, and many are even on sale right now, like LEGO Space which is only $17.36 in hardcover.

Full disclosure: We builders here at The Brothers Brick are featured in Beautiful LEGO, The Cult of LEGO, and Steampunk LEGO.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The sun sets on Lady Liberty

This LEGO mosaic by Joe Perez features a fiery sunset behind the Statue of Liberty in sharp silhouette, combining standard mosaic techniques for the sunset with sculptural techniques for Lady Liberty. Joe says he created the sculpture based on a photo he took in New York on his honeymoon.

Your mind was a curious mix of madness and genius... I just took away the genius

He’s been known by many names: The Mind Sculptor, Architect of Thought, Memory Adept, Telepath Unbound, the Living Guildpact, Unraveler of Secrets, and Vryn’s Prodigy. But now he needs a snappy LEGO-themed name because Magic: The Gathering fan Sergio just built Jace Beleren out of LEGO. Built in the classic LEGO miniland scale, this LEGO creation is based on original artwork by Chase Stone.

Sergio has also built the other members of the Gatewatch: the lovely necromancer Liliana Vess; the fire wielder Chandra Nalaar; the elven nature-mage Nissa Revane; and their commander the warrior-mage Gideon Jura. In addition to the great figures, the composition and lighting on these photos is simply phenomenal.

Swooshable starfighter orbits the moon

Pico van Grootveld‘s latest spaceship is a smart little model. The building techniques and bricks usage are on point — wheel hubs and dishes creating a selection of smooth curves. The stark color scheme works well, particularly against that lunar backdrop, and the presentation is simply perfect. Too often LEGO space builders can overdo the photo-editing on their images, leaving models marooned in a sea of garish lens flare. Pico gets it just right here — subtle effects providing the streak of engine trails, and colored spots on the twin weapon prongs and the drone’s central eye. An eminently swooshable design, presented well — this is my kind of space building.

Amazing motorized LEGO steampunk sculpture breaks the chains of love

This stunning steampunk sculpture was first revealed at BrickCon in 2015, where it won a well-deserved Best In Show award. Although we covered this creation in our BrickCon roundup post at the time, the builder Paul Hetherington has only just posted his own images — a perfect excuse for us to feature this beautiful LEGO model in more detail.

Continue reading →

First look at 2017 LEGO Friends sets [News]

In addition to the new Technic, City, and Nexo Knights sets we’ve seen in the past few days, there’s a fresh batch of LEGO Friends. The first wave of 2017 includes a full half dozen new puppies, a photo studio, and a great inventor’s laboratory. Take a look at all 15 new sets below!

41314 Stephanie’s House

Check out more brand new sets:
2017 City sets
2017 Nexo Knights sets
2017 Technic sets

If you’re looking for some gifts this holiday season and have your eye on some new Friends, check out some of the great sales going on right now on Amazon. 41130 Amusement Park Roller Coaster and 41101 Heartlake Grand Hotel are both 20% off!

Continue reading →

LEGO Technic sets for 2017 include science ship, monster truck [News]

LEGO announced one new Technic set yesterday morning, the first ever licensed BMW motorcycle. Here’s the rest of the Technic lineup for 2017, though. We don’t have price or piece counts for these sets yet, but this year on the docket we’ve got an awesome scientific exploration vessel, construction crews, and even an RC-controlled tracked monster truck. Check out all seven sets below!

42064 Ocean Explorer

Check out more brand new sets:
2017 City sets
2017 Nexo Knights sets

Continue reading →

Lovely little LEGO lizards

A lot of real-life things recreated with LEGO bricks look bizarre and mind-boggling. But what about some of the most alien-looking lizards on planet Earth? Not one, but two brilliant chameleons came across our radar lately. The first one is by Dvd; it’s a little bit clumsy yet such an adorable lizard. And if its design looks slightly imperfect to you that’s because it was built solely out of pieces from LEGO Creator set 31034 Future Flyers. What a gorgeous alternative creation!

Another chameleon by Mitsuru Nikaido is a great example of an animal mech. These tiny pads, huge round eyes and a long spiral tail give this lizard such a credible design, and putting it on a twig is a beautiful way to present the creation.

Banker’s abode

legostrator has built a very nicely detailed interior belonging to a banker. The scene is loaded with all sorts of cool bits but my favorites are the chair and the fireplace. I love the ornate nature of the chair. It’s a design that I may borrow in the future. The brickwork on the chimney is particularly nice, as is the arch above the fire. Everywhere I look in this small scene, I find more to like. This scene really has a lot going for it.

LEGO Nexo Knights 2017 sets unveiled [News]

Yesterday we got a look at more of the new City sets, and this morning we saw LEGO’s new BMW motorcycle. For a more fantasy twist, take a look at the Nexo Knights sets for 2017. We don’t have word on the price or part counts for the new sets yet, but I spy a number of new elements. Check out all six new sets below.

70351 Clay’s Falcon Fighter Blaster

If you still haven’t picked up any of this year’s Nexo Knights sets, check out our reviews of Axl’s Tower Carrier, General Magmar’s Siege Machine of Doom, The Glob Lobber, Macy’s Thunder Mace, Aaron Fox’s Aero-Striker V2, and the stand-alone figures. And remember, many of this year’s Nexo Knights sets are currently on sale on Amazon.

Continue reading →

Just hop on my powdered doughnut, boy!

When Adventure Time was announced for LEGO Dimensions, I was more excited by fan creations made using the official parts, than being able to play the game with these familiar characters.

As Jake the Dog is practically able to become any shape in the world, he seemed like an obvious target for some great builds. And Andrew Cookston has done just that with a little scene of Jake and Finn in a dungeon fighting off some skeletons, as Jake changes into several forms. It’s a simple idea, but it’s smart little builds like this that I love.

What I really want to see now is a Jake suit build akin to the 76031 Hulk Buster Smash.

One thing bothers me about all of this though… The Jake minifigure from the 71246 Adventure Time Team Pack is orangey yellow, while the Jake-mobile in the 71245 Adventure Time Level Pack is bright yellow. Why the difference, LEGO?

LEGO reveals BMW R 1200 GS motorcycle set, announces new partnership with BMW [News]

This morning LEGO announced a brand new partnership with BMW Motorrad (BMW’s motorcycle brand) and revealed the first product of that partnership: the LEGO Technic 42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure motorcycle. The Technic roadster will have 603 pieces, and stands 18 cm high, 33 cm long and 10 cm wide. The set will include a special commemorative Technic piece to celebrated LEGO Technic’s 40th anniversary in 2017, and will be available Jan. 01, 2017. We don’t have word on the price yet.

While this is the first licensed motorcycle, the news closely follows LEGO picking up the Caterham Seven license, and LEGO has a long history of other licensed vehicles, such as the Volkswagen Beetle and Ferrari F40. Read the full press release below.

Continue reading →