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 January 2018.
TBB NEWS & INSTRUCTIONS: We had a week packed full with news from Ideas to minifigures to slick speed racers.
- LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series 18 revealed – Today may be the LEGO brick’s 60th birthday, but the LEGO minifigure’s 40th anniversary is just around the corner with some brand new costumes to celebrate.
- 2018 LEGO Speed Champions sets revealed – Buckle in and get your first look at these sleek cars coming later this year.
- LEGO Ideas second 2017 review results may disappoint – No LEGO Ideas projects were approved this round, but what projects are still in the running?
- Join TT Games as a LEGO Model Designer – Do you want to work designing digital LEGO models for video games? Best. Job. Ever.
- New issue of HispaBrick Magazine available for free download –From snowy cabins to intriguing interviews, HispaBrick is shipping its next edition.
- Build your own Moog Sub Phatty synthesizer – Quy Chau has kindly shared breakdown instructions for his detailed synthesizer build, and it is more complex than it appears.
- Instructions to build a tiny typewriter – Niklas Rosén has a guide to create a nostalgic typing machine that’s almost extinct now with the advent of computers.
LEGO 60th ANNIVERSARY NEWS: Celebrate with us as we mark the 60th anniversary of LEGO’s 2×4 brick by reading some of the fun articles below or building something amazing.
- Happy 60th International LEGO Day from The Brothers Brick! – Sixty years ago today on January 28, 1958, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen submitted a patent application for a toy building brick that changed all our lives.
- LEGO 60th Anniversary Classic limited edition sets revealed – With limited edition boxes and sets on the horizon, the anniversary fun will last longer than just today.
- LEGO celebrates 60 years with a half-ton brick in New York City – To celebrate the 60th birthday of its iconic 2×4 brick, LEGO created a red 10-foot tall brick and placed it in New York City right in front of the Flatiron Building.
- What was LEGO doing the decade you were born? – What year did flesh color faces make their debut? When was LEGO named the toy of the century? Check out this timeline of LEGO milestones for all your answers and more.
OTHER NEWS: There were a few other LEGO news articles from varying places around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:
- Virginia man breaks Guinness World Record for charity by walking over 120ft of LEGO bricks barefoot, Daily Mail – How far do you think you could walk without stopping on a pathway of LEGO bricks? Who will be the next person to beat the world record?
- Inside the utopian, brick-loving world of LEGO’s adult fandom, Wired – 60 years after its invention, the Adult Fans of LEGO community – or AFOL for short – retains a healthy obsession with the humble brick… even if it means a second home for your 4,000-set collection.
- Video: The invention of the legendary LEGO brick, BBC – Go back to when the LEGO brick was invented in Billund, Denmark, in 1958 by Godtfred Kirk Christiansen.
- ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ was robbed of an Oscar nomination, Business Insider – The critically-beloved “Lego Batman Movie” from February 2017 was left out of the best animated feature film race in favor of “The Boss Baby.”
- Why you should never let your children play with plastic hand-me-downs, Daily Mail – First study of its kind reveals toxic chemicals in used LEGO, toy dinosaurs and dolls, though “you should not be concerned if you have old bricks that are in good shape and condition.”
- LEGO expects more profit after IP win In China, Global Finance – An intellectual-property win for LEGO is a breakthrough for other global consumer-goods makers, signaling China’s willingness to crack down on domestic copyright violators.
The LEGO Batman Movie probably got skipped from the Oscar nominations for the same reason The LEGO Movie probably did. Best Animated nominations are picked by people in the animation industry rather than the general membership of the MPA. TLM and TLBM both use CGI to approximate the look of stop-motion animation, and that’s probably at least a little bit offensive to many animators.