Yearly Archives: 2018

The Empire marches on

When The Empire Strikes Back first premiered in 1980, Star Wars fans of every age had their collective minds blown when the AT-AT first marched across the snowy battlefield of Hoth. Since that day, the AT-AT has surely become one of the most referenced vehicles in Star Wars, with the possible exception of the Millenium Falcon. Tim Goddard has put together a LEGO creation intended to show the AT-AT in relation to the new AT-M6 featured in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and in doing so, has achieved a highly detailed, accurate depiction that stands out very nicely. I especially like the use of tiles of many sizes to achieve a paneled look, including a few headlight bricks to pop some tiles out.

Looking at the underside and leg assembly shows a particular attention to detail and captures the complicated mechanical nature of this unique vehicle.

Check out these other awesome LEGO AT-ATs previously featured on The Brothers Brick:

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Easily lift up to 10 tons with the Raptor Mobile Crane powersuit

Dutch builder Pico van Grootveld has been building a series of “Raptor” powersuits over the past few weeks, but his latest is definitely my favorite. The mobile crane variant looks great in yellow with the red crane boom, complemented by warning labels and a whole bunch of gears and other exposed machinery.

See more of Pico’s great powersuits in classic LEGO themes

A cuckoo clock so good it will drive you mad [Instructions]

If you’ve ever wanted for a masterfully crafted LEGO timepiece, Sven Franic has you covered with this immaculate cuckoo clock created for an exhibition contest. Sven will be displaying this in the LEGO House as part of the celebration of the 60th birthday of the LEGO brick. The hands point to the exact time when the patent for the LEGO brick was registered.

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A Castle in drought

Most LEGO castles appear to lie in the grassy woodlands of Northern Europe, the sun-baked sands of the Sahara, or in a dizzyingly vibrant fantasy land. Brick Monkeys, however, is ready to take us somewhere new. This castle is set in what appears to be a drought-stricken clime where you can almost feel the dry leaves crackling as they fall from the trees.

The extensive use of earth tones blends well in this arid scene. The castle itself features many great details also, from the stained glass windows of the great hall to the ramshackle upper roof of the round turret, where plates have been layered haphazardly for a unique texture.

10260 Downtown Diner brings 1950’s flair to Creator Expert modular buildings [Review]

Each January, LEGO releases a new Creator Expert modular building. Last year’s 10255 Assembly Square looked to the past and celebrated the 10th anniversary of the line, beginning with 10182 Café Corner. With 10 years full of European-style architecture, replete with curlicues and fluted columns, the line heads in a new direction this year with 10260 Downtown Diner, taking obvious inspiration from the American West of the 1930’s through 1950’s rather than pre-crash Paris or London (or even New York or Boston). 10260 Downtown Diner includes 2,480 pieces with six minifigs and retails for $169.99 in the US (with the usual regional price differences elsewhere).

What does this change in direction bode for the theme, and what do we think of the new design aesthetic?

Read our hands-on review of 10260 Downtown Diner

Say it with a huge bunch of flowers

People have been conveying messages of happiness, love and sorrow with flowers for centuries. Bigger is not always better when it comes to your favourite bouquet, but when it comes to LEGO flora, there’s something special about big flowers. Chungpo Cheng has built a much larger version of the 1×1 Plant with 3 Stems. In fact, the flower is upscaled about ten-fold — a LEGO version is 1.5 cm tall and the upscaled version is 15 cm tall.

Other builders loved Chungpo’s design so much that they decided to build one too. Miro Dudas‘s version has been spotted growing in the wild.

Majestic mount

It’s easy to glance at this statuesque horse and mistake it for something sculpted in clay, stone or metal, but Grantmasters has created this wonderfully modeled LEGO warhorse using a surprising collection of straight, angled and curved elements more commonly found in the hands of soldiers.

Swashbuckling staircase in LEGO style

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 American swashbuckler film that starred the suave Errol Flynn in the title role. One of the most famous scenes from this movie is the final sword fight between Robin Hood and Sir Guy of Gisborne. Eggy Pop has built a fantastic LEGO version of this scene that will be instantly recognisable to those who have seen the reference movie. I love the candlestick in the corner and the specially constructed doors under the arches The real eye-catching design element is the use of larger brick-built stones to construct the elegant, curved staircase.

A very nice lander

Looking for ideas for your latest spaceman minifigure? robiwan_kenobi has a few great ideas featured in this excellent spacecraft. There are many clever parts used in this microscale model worth noting. The rotors come from Speed Champions hubcaps, and the fuselage uses the mechanical arm from Agents, a mini-fig torso and helmet! Plus any chance to use a ‘one ring’ element form Lord of the Rings is precioussss. The crew is composed of trophy size figures from the LEGO Ideas Saturn V rocket.

The landing craft goes with a larger ground vehicle which features another spaceman torso and helmet at the front.

853663 LEGO Iconic Holiday Magnet [Review]

Each year LEGO reveals new ideas for holiday ornaments, and this time it’s an adorable 853663 LEGO Iconic Holiday Magnet consisting just of 45 pieces. The set is offered for $9.99/€6,99, and the reason for it to be a little bit pricey is a pair of modified bricks with magnets — somewhat peculiar pieces in uncommon color. At the same time, colours are what make this build a very pretty thing to decorate one’s dwelling with.

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Bricks LA, Southern California’s premier LEGO convention, happening this weekend [News]

Southern California’s premier LEGO convention, Bricks LA, will be open to the public this weekend, January 6-7. Beginning Saturday, builders from around the country will gather at the Pasadena Convention Center to showcase more than 13,000 square feet of amazing creations to eager LEGO fans of all ages, and vendors will be selling vintage LEGO sets, LEGO-themed jewelry, custom gifts, and more. Tickets are only $5, with kids under 5 free, and are available online.

The show hours are 9-5 on Saturday, and 9-4 on Sunday.

The Brothers Brick is proud to be a sponsor of Bricks LA.

43-inch LEGO Destiny 2 D.A.R.C.I. knows so very well

Bungie must have had some fascination with sassy robots when creating Destiny 2. Your Ghost companion, the hunter Cayde-6 (voiced by the great Nathan Fillion), and Exodus Black’s AI “Failsafe” always have something witty to say. Even the sniper rifle D.A.R.C.I. has some shade for actions such as quitting multiplayer when your team is losing. The lore for D.A.R.C.I., as well as its interesting, blocky aesthetic and teal tubing inspired my latest LEGO replica.

The build measures over 43 inches long and weighs 9 pounds. It took almost three months to build, but this was due to building every other Saturday, when I would be home from school. For a while, I wanted to build a LEGO prop that utilizes teal elements. As most of the rifle is black, gray, and white, the teal and dark azure details really popped, as does the green scope screen. Despite the LEGO-like look to D.A.R.C.I., its build proved difficult in even spacing of its rectangular details throughout.

See its moving trigger, sliding charging handle, and removable magazine in action, as well as some D.A.R.C.I. gameplay for those unfamiliar with the game, in this video.

More photos of my LEGO replica are on Flickr.