Yearly Archives: 2018

LEGO Bumblebee in beetle form is one sweet ride [Instructions]

The new, much-anticipated Bumblebee movie has inspired LEGO fans to build some fantastic creations recently, from this large-scale figure by Ekow Nimako to this transforming model by Jerry Builds Bricks and this cute model in Volkswagen Beetle form by hachiroku24 is the latest. One of my favorite details is the gently curving back of the car, which very closely matches its real-life inspiration. The extra curvy front wheel well is also a very nice detail and helps to complete this iconic car profile.

Lego Bumblebee car MOC

Click through to see the parts list and instructions to build your own LEGO Bumblebee

Japan Brickfest 2019 – Registration closes on 31st December [News]

2019 will be the 5th anniversary for Japan Brickfest Kobe Fan Weekend, which is now the largest international LEGO fan event in Asia. Unlike other years, there’s only a single round of registration regardless of whether you’re contributing a build or just attending the event. So, hurry up and sign up before its too late! Registration closes on the 31st of December at midnight, (JST) Japan Standard Time.

Sign up here to participate as a builder or just a visitor.

Japan Brickfest is held at the Canadian Academy in Rokko Island, Kobe and hosted by KLUG (Kansai LEGO User Group). Japan Brickfest is a charity event with a percentage of the entry fee being donated to Children Charities and other charities. A portion of admissions and sales will be used as a donation to nursing homes.

The Brothers Brick is an official sponsor of Japan Brickfest

A battleship for the digital age

Specializing mostly in digital builds, CK-MCMLXXXI has made quite the beauty of a spaceship with his recent build, The Solomon & Guggenheim. Certain bricks may not exist in the colours used in this build, but that is really not the main quality of the creation. Pieces like a tile with UNITED text print (from the LEGO Ideas Saturn V) and all sorts of modified tiles such as ingot pieces, pentagonal tiles and 1×1 tiles with a rounded side make for some great patterns and colour blocking that look like a legitimate spaceship. The shaping with a large portruding segment on the bottom and all sorts of crazy angles just add to that and the end result is quite an enjoyable sight.

The Solomon & Guggenheim

LEGO Minecraft Big Figs Series 1: 21148 Steve with Parrot, 21149 Alex with Chicken, and 21150 Skeleton with Magma Cube [Review]

Minecraft keeps getting bigger — and I’m not just talking about the game’s record-breaking sales. The original LEGO Minecraft set I helped design back in 2011 as part of LEGO’s early Ideas platform was microscale, mostly due to the steep constraints of hitting a roughly $30 MSRP target. Later, that first wildly successful set was followed by more microscale sets, and finally in 2014 the theme got upgraded to our original vision by introducing minifigure-scale sets. Recently, LEGO bumped up the scale a bit with 41612 Steve and Creeper BrickHeadz. Now LEGO Minecraft is upping its game once more with a new line called Big Figs, and we’ve got the first series comprising three sets to review: 21148 Steve with Parrot, 21149 Alex with Chicken, and 21150 Skeleton with Magma Cube. Each of the sets contains a large figure paired with a small animal from the game, and will be available January 1 for $14.99 USD.

Click to read the full hands-on review

To boldly research where no one’s researched before

We’re going far away from civilization into the cold reaches of space with this LEGO ship by Chris Perron. But it’s not for fame or glory — no, this ship has a more noble goal: to research! Even Chris admits he’s not quite sure what it’s researching, but one thing is clear: it looks awesome outfitted with highly scientific doodads and whatsits. And there are lots of interesting techniques, from the mix of struts holding up the large side-mounted instruments to the cheese slopes crammed into the front of the ship’s long probe.

Research Vessel

The one thing that worries me, though, is that the ship doesn’t look big enough for an airlock, which might be bad news for the astroscientist doing an EVA.

Smooth sleek spaceship soars the solar system

Give me a sleek looking ship in black and white any day and I’ll fall for it – just like the Ranger from Interstellar or the classic NASA Space Shuttle. This build by Oscar Cederwall stands out strikingly with some red highlights over a classic black-and-white design. I really love the effort of the arrowhead detail at the front of the ship, formed so perfectly with cheese slopes. Hardcore LEGO fans would also notice two very rare parts – the red X-pod lids on the wings and the extremely long boat hulls that appeared only once in a LEGO Speedboat set.

Vanguard Planetary Defender

Here’s another look at the ship without special effects added to the scene.

Vanguard Planetary Defender

LEGO Speed Champions 75890 Ferrari F40 Competizione [Review]

LEGO owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is famous for his love of Ferraris, and has been known to show local Danish LEGO fans around his garage full of them. So it’s no surprise that LEGO has had a longstanding partnership with the Italian supercar maker, going back more than 20 years and spanning multiple themes and even systems, from Duplo to Technic. The 2019 Speed Champions 75890 Ferrari F40 Competizione features the sleek supercar built between 1987 and 1992. This version includes 198 pieces and retails for the usual $14.99 (£12.99 in the UK and $19.99 in Canada).

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Speed Champions 75890 Ferrari F40 Competizione

The LEGO Movie 2 sets now available with free movie tickets offer [News]

As a late Christmas treat, all the new LEGO sets in the initial wave from The LEGO Movie 2 are now on sale. LEGO unveiled a whopping nineteen sets from their upcoming sequel in November and we took an early look at 70841 Benny’s Space Squad with more reviews to come.

There are plenty of exciting minifigures, new elements, and even a brand new “Vibrant Coral” color.  LEGO is also offering two free tickets to see the movie with $60 purchase of these sets between now and January 15. (Hold onto your receipts though, because it is a little complicated to claim the tickets–you have to take a picture of the receipts with VIP number listed and upload it to receive a Fandango code starting on January 16.) The LEGO Movie 2 hits theaters on February 8.

Check out all 19 new sets from The LEGO Movie 2 now on sale

When your keys become Christmas bells

During Christmas, many of us decorate our homes, trees and more, so why not our keys? Chungpo Cheng has the right idea with this classic Santa keychain creation.

Santa Claus Classic Key Chain

The only problem in this case would be finding keys large enough! The builder has super-sized the classic Santa Claus minifig which still used a pirate cap instead of the modern purpose-moulded piece. What is most amazing in this creation is not just the accurate recreation at the scale (those hands are especially cool!), but the fact that each individual body part is its own finished creation, as seen on the picture below!

Santa Claus Classic Key Chain

Now I really want to see a whole range of up-scaled minifig body parts that can be mixed and matched like the originals!

Holiday cheer rolls into town on a LEGO gingerbread train

What better way to celebrate the season than with a delicious gingerbread train? Well, maybe not so delicious, but this build by TBB alumnus Tim Lydy certainly looks incredible! All aboard the Gingerbread Express! The colors and parts usage are full of fun. And perhaps one of the best aspects is that the giant tree “cookie” on the third car spins, much like the one from the 2016 LEGO 10254 Winter Holiday Train set.

Gingerbread Express

Dashing through the decades of LEGO’s holiday advertising [Feature]

This time of year is one of the busiest for toy manufacturers, including the LEGO Group. In an effort to associate the brand with holiday gift-giving, the months of November and December bring a flurry of wintry-themed advertising. While much of the LEGO Group’s current advertising campaigns exist online, the company has a long history of producing holiday advertising in magazines, comic books, and mail order catalogs (aka LEGO Shop at Home catalogs). Our elves have been hard at work, sifting through the archives for some of the LEGO Group’s most memorable seasonal ads. Hop in the sleigh and hold tight for a wild ride back through time.

See more LEGO holiday advertising through the years

One night in Bethlehem

In my humble opinion, the variety of nativity scenes makes them a whole world of their own in terms of art motifs. With all the possibilities open, I still decided to go for a very classic approach with mine, both in terms of imagery and building style. It has actually been on my to-build list for ten years, which is from before I even knew about the online LEGO community. Primarily this was a build for myself and my family to put under our Christmas tree, but there is also no harm in sharing it.

Nativity main

The construction is pretty basic with a generic stone wall and some layers of ground on the base, but there are still a few fun techniques that I have tried. The first one being 1×2 tiles connected to upside-down plates with minifig hands, which makes for some neat offsets and the texture you see. The downside of this technique is basically the same as with all of my other ones, that being its terrible fragility. There are ways of improving on it, but that is something for the future. The second technique is a bush/tree using a six stem flower stem piece as the basis and plates around it. I was inspired by a builder whose name I can not recall for the foliage, but when I find him again I will update the photo description on my Flickr.