Yearly Archives: 2018

Enjoy a fire-breathing brew that’s good to the last dragon.

Who wouldn’t want a fantasy-themed coffee machine? To meet the demand, Anthony Wilson has built an adorable little fellow named Vay the coffee dragon. Vay is packed full of character, thanks to a pair of big eyes and the positioning of his body. His fistful of coffee beans is the essence of hospitality. This is in contrast to the hand tucked behind his back, seemingly saying, “what are you waiting for? Drink up!” Vay’s sleek curved body suggests he is fast in flight, which seems appropriate given his daily caffeine intake. Equally impressive is the coffee machine itself, which uses transparent colored pieces to show the water level in the reservoir. We dare you to drink this cup of joe. It’ll give you scales on your chest!

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.

Bricks LA LEGO convention in California is just 2 weeks away [News]

We’re only 2 weeks away from the start of one of our favorite LEGO conventions, Bricks LA. Open to the public January 5-6 at the Pasadena Convention Center, Bricks LA will showcase amazing LEGO creations from all over the country, along with a hosting a variety of LEGO-themed vendors, a brick play area, and more. Tickets cost just $5, making Bricks LA one of the best-value conventions in the country.

For adult builders interested in a more in-depth LEGO experience, Bricks LA’s Very Important Builder (VIB) convention starts the day before, January 4, and allows access to panels, prizes, displaying your own creations, participating in LEGO-themed games, and more. You can still squeak in a last-minute registration in by visiting the VIB page for tickets, which run $65 for the 3-day convention. Several members of TBB staff will be attending, so we hope to see you there!

The Brothers Brick is an official sponsor of Bricks LA

A beautiful brick-built boar that will leave you singing, “Hakuna matata!”

Builder keiichi kamei is no stranger when it comes to building phenomenal LEGO sculptures. Earlier this year, you might recall us sharing his New Year lion dance mask. With 2019 being the year of the pig, keiichi is back with a majestic-looking LEGO wild boar. His boar looks like the real deal, thanks to intricate sculpting of the animal’s body. A combination of curved and angled slopes form the overall shape of the body, which is nearly void of studs. Meanwhile, the positioning of the legs is reminiscent of how boars trot around while they forage for food. Better watch out for those tusks, though!

2018 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 22

Welcome to Day 22 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2018 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team.

If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. Will we get something new for Day 22?

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

Special delivery! – the best LEGO holiday greeting cards through the years [FEATURE]

Around this time of year, people enjoy the classic tradition of sending holiday greeting cards to one another. The LEGO Group, too, has dabbled in making Christmas cards over the years. Naturally, they’re LEGO-themed. From the 1980s through the 1990s, the UK LEGO Club mailed out Christmas cards to each of their members. The LEGO Group has also issued holiday greeting cards for its employees. For at least the past two decades, LEGO has included a card with each annual employee gift building set. They even designed cards for employees back in the 1980s. These cards often featured elaborate models designed by LEGO master builders that are quite interesting. Suit up and hop into our sleigh, because we are taking you on a nostalgia-filled trip through some of LEGO’s most memorable “Brickmas” cards.

Click to read the full article on LEGO Christmas cards

Sit tight Santa! Travelling at 1800 miles per second isn’t easy. [Video]

Not many have figured out that Santa’s portly figure is dreadfully important to making sure he stays firmly in his sleigh at the speeds he needs to cover the world in a single night. A slight miscalculation on dietary needs lands him in trouble. Jason Allemann never ceases to amaze me with his elegant and magical mechanical LEGO builds. They’re often very simple but always hit a home run by capturing just the right details to make to hypnotize. This build has a playful theme with Santa Claus on a sleigh pulled by four reindeer that sway from side to side above a tiny village. It shouldn’t be too hard to spot Rudolph among his other mates and Santa hanging on for deer life.

Play the video below to see it in full action

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jason Allemann (@jasonallemann)

Charming LEGO gingerbread house from Pixar’s Up

As the holidays draw closer, and the decorations, twinkly lights, and baked goodies fill our homes with joy, LEGO creators around the world are busy building snow-covered or otherwise holiday-themed models. Frequently featured builder Jonas Kramm has created a mashup of his microscale house from Up in the form of a gingerbread house. Even though it is based on the colorful balloon-borne building, it would fit right in with a collection of other gingerbread houses, with its frosting-covered roof, colorful candies, and candy cane striped pillars.

LEGO Star Wars VIP Black Card Gift 5005747 VIP Frame – Was it worth the wait? [Review and Editorial]

Earlier this month, LEGO announced the one and only promotion so far for LEGO VIP Program “Black Card” holders. The Black Card is a special VIP card given to people who’d purchased 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon the first several months that it was available after its release last September. The Black Card and this “exclusive” promotional gift is limited to a relatively small number of LEGO builders and collectors — even among the “hardcore” LEGO builders on staff here at The Brothers Brick, only two of us purchased the UCS Falcon last year during the time when LEGO was issuing Black Cards — so we wanted to share our observations about the promo set as well as our experience as Black Card holders so far.

2018 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 21

Welcome to Day 21 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2018 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team.

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

Free-to-play “Classic Space Adventure” game – interview with programmer Johan Alexanderson [Exclusive Feature]

Adult fans of LEGO sometimes have skills that go beyond building masterpieces with bricks. Once in a while, we discover great gems that showcase a different talent combined with the love for LEGO, like the amazing handcrafted wooden LEGO we recently featured. Not too long ago, while scouring the web for great creations to feature here at The Brothers Brick, I came across something that didn’t strike me as worth exploring at first glance. But something compelled me to take a closer look, and I’m glad I did! The effort behind the creation of what I uncovered is astounding! Over 400 pages of programming and 2 years in the making, LEGO enthusiast Johan Alexanderson coded a full-blown game in honor of the LEGO Classic Space theme in retro-classic gaming styles from the 80s.

Johan Alexanderson (who also goes by the online handle LegoJalex) will be familiar to readers of The Brothers Brick — we’ve showcased more than a few of his excellent builds in the past (including his E.T Phone Home movie classic), and we featured an exclusive interview with him about his his LEGO creations. This article continues from where our last interview ended, when Johan mentioned a programming project to be revealed later. Before we speak to him again on his 2-year journey creating “Classic Space Adventures,” let’s take a quick look at the game itself.

Find out more about Classic Space Adventures

This transforming mecha makes the best turtle formation

Continiuing from his recent transforming jellyfish mech, the superstar LEGO mecha builder Moko makes a more defensive, turtle-themed one. Do not let its protective posture fool you — this turtle is armed as heavily as it is armoured!

The animal form is great, but the turtle-like elements extend to the mech form as well, with its bulky shape, as well as a beak-like forehead. All the wedges on the back, set at complementing angles, make for a convincing turtle shell that gives an imposing presence to the mech form as well.

Real paths have curves

In a world where it seems as if a castle builder’s merit is measured in part by their best stone and timber medieval cottage, it is not hard to imagine that the motif has been perfected over the years. Though it is nearly impossible to invent anything new, builders like David Zambito still manage to bring something fresh to the table.

It is no surprise that I will point out the sloping path as ingenious and unique. It is so simple and effective that the real surprise is the fact we haven’t seen such paths everywhere! But I should not ignore the patchy snow on the frozen pond, achieved by combining clear and white slope pieces, or the stone walls on the cottage. What really brings the creation together is the smoothly flowing snow, made out of an assortment of curved slope pieces.

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!