Yearly Archives: 2018

Last day for LEGO Forma pre-orders on Indiegogo [News]

Today is the last day to support LEGO Forma, the new experimental product line featuring kinetic sculptures of fish. The only remaining set available for pre-order on Indiegogo (at the time of publishing) is the UK-only base pack featuring a koi fish. The sets should ship at the beginning of next year.

LEGO Forma was announced as a limited short-batch pilot program designed to target LEGO early adopters and determine if there is a market for unique products that don’t lend themselves to other product lines. While it appears the LEGO Forma launch was successful with many perks selling out, the initial amounts of available perks appear to have been reduced in order to show them being “sold out” by the end of the crowdfunding period. It remains to be seen if LEGO considers the effort a success or if the Forma product line will see a general release.

The Brothers Brick will bring you a review of LEGO Forma when it ships, but until then, check out this reverse-engineered version by Jason Allemann (aka JK Brickworks) built completely out of LEGO bricks rather than using metallic skins.

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LEPIN ordered to stop making and selling LEGO imitation products by Chinese court [News]

Earlier today, a district court in China ruled against four companies for infringing multiple LEGO copyrights by producing and distributing LEPIN-branded imitation products. The companies were ordered to “immediately cease producing, selling, exhibiting or in any way promoting the infringing products” and to pay LEGO 4.5 million RMB in damages (about $650,000 US).

The four companies, including Shantou Meizhi Model Co. among others, were held liable by the Guangzhou Yuexiu District Court for copying 18 specific LEGO sets and multiple minifigures in addition to “carrying out unfair competitive acts.” Niels B. Christiansen, CEO of the LEGO Group commented that the rulings “send a clear warning message to other companies who may be copying LEGO products,” and that the company will continue to “take all necessary legal actions to protect our intellectual property rights.”

The ruling is another significant legal victory for LEGO as the company continues to battle imitators in China. Last year, LEGO won a similar case against Bela Bricks for creating, distributing and selling imitation LEGO products. The rulings also provide precedent to continue pursuing many other clone brands who have tried shutting down and reopening with different names to avoid enforcement.

Unsettling figure will haunt your dreams

Sometimes the most effective LEGO creations are those that skillfully employ a sparse economy of parts. This creepy figure from Cezium does exactly that–building genuine character from a handful of pieces. Whilst this (blind?) old lady appears to be only gathering herbs, her eyeless visage and the skull-bearing staff create a real sense of unease. I suspect there’s nothing but a frame beneath the cloth habit, but it doesn’t matter, as what is visible is well done. The face (built from an upside down Raptor body no less!) and the skull are excellent, and the use of spider leg parts for the staff’s tips is perfect. Couple the model-building with atmospheric photography and you have a wonderfully unsettling LEGO creation.

Epic 4-scene collaboration by Shobrick and Cole Blaq, plus an exclusive look behind the scene [Feature]

LEGO TOKYO is a special collaboration between Aurélien Mathieu (better known online as Shobrick) and Cole Blaq. To be precise, it’s really Shobrick’s swan song from the LEGO scene–and what better way to make a grand exit but with a monumental partnership to release four epic scenes that were put together by professional set designers and talented artists.

Click to see the duo’s amazing images of LEGO Tokyo and read about how they were created

A proper vehicle for the true heroes of the city

Every superhero needs a top-notch ride. While Batman has to choose among all of his Batmobiles, other heroes, like firefighters, have a lot to show, too. Steven Asbury, an expert in the sphere of city fire safety, is constantly upgrading the city department’s engines. Here’s the new Arrow XT platform with a ton of things to spy: a dozen of compartments, flashing lights, switches, and some skillfully designed custom stickers.

And on a quiet day, this truck is still a finest jewel of the modern LEGO city.

Take control of Twitch’s LEGO Shock Drone from Rainbow Six Siege [Video]

One of the most fun games I play with friends is Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, a tactical multiplayer game of attack and defend resolving bomb defusal or hostage situations. In the attack phase, I like playing as French GIGN operator Twitch, who is equipped with her own hand-crafted camera drone outfitted with a taser. To show some love for this game, I built the Shock Drone with LEGO in 1:1 scale.

The bulky design of the Shock Drone compared to other operators’ standard camera drones allowed enough room internally for Power Functions. Each front wheel is powered by a motor and controlled by SBrick, which, just like in Siege, allows me to control the drone with my phone. You can see it in action, as well as a glimpse at the internals and a gameplay comparison for those unfamiliar with Siege, in the video below.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for November 4, 2018 [News]

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 first week of November 2018.

TBB NEWS: LEGO Overwatch made a splash announcing surprise pre-orders while the LEGO Ideas Pop-Up Book went on sale.

LEGO Overwatch sets unveiled at BlizzCon, available for pre-order now – Theline contains six sets that are available for pre-order immediately, shipping on January 1st.
9-foot tall LEGO Overwatch D.Va and her mech tower over BlizzCon – The gigantic build uses more than 43,000 pink bricks to create the iconic character from Overwatch.
LEGO Ideas Pop-Up Book and Xtra Accessory Bags now available – New LEGO sets for November include the LEGO Ideas Pop-Up Book and new Xtra Accessory Bags.

TBB FEATURES, REVIEWS & INSTRUCTIONS: We have a variety of content for you this week from an in-depth interview to a review of an upcoming gift with purchase.

Interview with LEGO Ideas Pop-Up Book fan designers Grant Davis and Jason Allemann – The set co-designers reveal their behind-the-scenes secrets of working together.
Review of LEGO Harry Potter 40289 Diagon Alley – The set includes 374 pieces and one minifigure, and will be available between November 9 and 21 with orders over $99 USD.
Instructions to Build your very own BrickHeadz Brick-o’-Lantern – LEGO fan stormythos created instructions to build a Halloween character using pieces from Go Brick Me.

https://youtu.be/b66sSxjtHWk

OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:

Check out the other LEGO news of the week

An inhuman horror from another time

I’m fascinated by Mihai Marius Mihu’s latest Cthulhu themed creation. Featuring a red shrimp-like ‘old one’, whose beady white eyes and muscular torso resonates a sense of otherworldly grandeur. It’s a unique monster design that utilises some excellent modelling skills to creepy effect. The composition sees the demon towering over the diorama’s micro scale fortress, again hinting at an inhuman scale suited to its Lovecraftian subject matter. Working like a latter day Hieronymus Bossch, Mihai’s art shows us the uncanny potential of the LEGO brick.

Giving old builds new life with these LEGO insect automata

It wasn’t very long ago that we featured an interview with superb Japanese builder Takamichi Irie. We’ve also covered a number of his builds on this site. So if you’re having deja vu about seeing this lovely animal before, you’re not crazy! The sleek scorpion is back as one of Takamichi’s signature automata. Using only brick-built cogs and simple mechanics, he’s breathing new life into this automaton and other eye-catching builds.

Click to see this scorpion automata in action!

Take a cable car to the clouds

One of the things I love about Alan Boar’s LEGO creations is the amount of time he takes to research his subjects. In this case it’s the Taikoo Ropeway, an early cable car system built in 1891 to link Hong Kong’s Taikoo Dockyard to the Taikoo Sugar Refinery. The finished diorama, built in collaboration with his wife and son, is rendered in an aesthetic reminiscent of Chinese landscape painting. Designed in monochrome, the Mount Parker setting is wonderfully accented with stylised brick clouds. In front of the clouds, a grey building frames the predominately white ropeway scene, helping to highlight a host of fascinating features.

LEGO Harry Potter 40289 Diagon Alley gift with purchase, available Nov 9-21 [Review]

To celebrate the release of the new Fantastic Beasts movie this month, LEGO is releasing 40289 Diagon Alley as a giveaway on LEGO Shop purchases over $99. LEGO sent us an early copy of the set to review. The microscale set is built to the same scale as 71043 Hogwarts Castle, and includes 374 pieces along with a minifigure of wand shop owner Mr. Ollivander.

Read our complete review of 40289 Diagon Alley

It’s a long road ahead

Route 66 is the mother of all highways in the USA, cutting across the nation from coast to coast through small towns and scenic vistas. Though it’s since been eclipsed by the interstate highway system, it’s captured a special place in history for making the trans-American highway a reality. LEGO builder hachiroku24 brings us back to Route 66’s glory days with an awesome rendition of the highway marker sign, part mosaic and part sculpture. The excellent use of the 4×4 quarter-circle macaroni tiles lends both the numbers and shield outline just the perfect curves.