Yearly Archives: 2019

Jason Allemann of JK Brickworks to keynote BrickCon 2019, sponsored by The Brothers Brick [News]

BrickCon 2019 is only one month away. For those who don’t know, each year BrickCon hosts some of the most talented builders at the longest-running LEGO fan convention in Seattle. The general public can see the amazing models these builders bring during the weekend of October 5th and 6th by purchasing tickets. However, registered builders have their own private convention during BrickCon, participating in classes, games, workshops and a keynote. This year, we are excited to announce the keynote will be delivered by Jason Allemann of JK Brickworks and is sponsored by none other than The Brothers Brick.

Jason (the J in JK Brickworks) is no stranger to The Brothers Brick. We last interviewed him about his latest LEGO Ideas set 21315 Pop-Up Book. (And yes, we said latest because he also created 21305 Maze and has another project currently under review.) He is known for his mastery of movement, creating kinetic sculptures out of LEGO like Sisyphus pushing a boulder, a galloping horse, motorized rail cars and most recently a graceful flying luck dragon. Not only does he share his build process, but he also goes to the effort of sharing instructions for most of his creations helping us all become better builders. If anyone epitomizes BrickCon 2019’s theme of “Just Build It,” it is Jason.

BrickCon 2017’s keynote was given by Ty Keltner, who built the food pictured below for The Brothers Brick collaboration.

In addition to the keynote, The Brothers Brick is also organizing a reader collaboration called the Brick Banquet–a life-size LEGO potluck. Builders attending the full private convention can bring any full-scale food item to the TBB table to participate in the feast.

Whether you come to see everything with general public tickets or register for the private convention as a builder, we hope to see you at BrickCon 2019!

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.

Six LEGO sets from Disney’s Frozen II revealed [News]

Today we’re getting our first official look at the tie-in sets for Disney’s upcoming Frozen II. As the sequel to the incredibly popular 2013 animated movie, the new film will follow the further wintertime adventures of sisters Anna and Elsa and snowman Olaf and is slated for release Nov. 22 of this year. Six new sets based on the movie were revealed by toy retailer Kockarium, so we’ve got all the details below. There are four regular sets, and two in the 4+ line (which used to be known as Juniors). We don’t have USD prices, but we do know an approximate Euro price for each.

UPDATE | Sept. 11, 2019: The images contained within this article were sourced in good faith based upon their being made public by multiple toy retailers, including Kockarium. The LEGO Company has determined that these retailers should not have published the images, and have asked that the images be removed from The Brothers Brick as well. In furthering our good-faith efforts, we have removed the images. We will return the images to the article at a later date once they are made public again.

Click to see all 6 new sets

A glorious day down on the farm

LEGO Castle is a building style dominated, perhaps understandably, by LEGO castles. It’s good to see the less militaristic side of medieval life depicted in the bricks — particularly when it’s as well done as this Manor House and farm scene by Peter Ilmrud. The main building is excellent — stone walls evoked with lots of texture, a nicely-built thatched roof, and the typical “Mock Tudor” woodwork enlivened with sand green window frames. The surrounding farm is wonderfully detailed with a field of corn, a carrot and pumpkin patch, a paddock for the horses, and a filthy-looking pig sty.

A lower-angle image gives a nice close-up view of some of the finer details, including the attention paid to the different types of paving and path, the tiled roof of the outbuilding, and those wonderful crops…

This is some rescue...

Some things from Star Wars have been built so often in LEGO form that my eyes start to glaze over as I look at them. X-wing fighters, for example, or TIE fighters. It takes something extraordinary about them now to merit a mention (I did recently write up an AT-ST and a Y-wing, other examples of frequently-built vehicles, so it does happen!). Other things, most often scenes, have hardly been built at all. Detention Block AA23 of the first Death Star, including the trash compactor, has certainly been built before, but this version by markus19840420 is the best I have seen. The immersive nature of the shots, with a cinematic feel, is perfect for the scene.

Click to see where they are taking this..thing

Dad was a murderous dwarven berserker

Sometimes you got to take a break from cracking rib cages and crushing skulls to stop and marvel at the beautiful miracle of life. That is the scene that Eero Okkonen has presented us today with a piece he calls “Munburr, the proud father”. With armor still on and the left side of his face covered in what might be blood or warpaint, this murderous dwarven beserker takes pride in the tender little life he had helped bring into this world. While a proud papa, Munburr, like many new dads, appears rather perplexed at the bundle of joy in his gauntlet covered arms. His expression seems to say, “If you can’t kill it and you can’t eat it, then what the heck can you do with it?” They’ll figure it out over time as the baby will likely grow up to be a murderous dwarven beserker just like his dad and they’ll go off on dwarven beserker adventures together, the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon and all that. Isn’t the Circle of Life grand?

Secrets of the new LEGO Star Wars UCS Imperial Star Destroyer revealed by the designer himself [Video]

LEGO senior designer Henrik Andersen is taking the covers off of the newly announced 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer… quite literally. In the designer video posted by LEGO, he shows off the Technic core and backbone of the ship and shares some interesting facts about the model.

Click to read more and watch the video.

LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series returns with 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer [News]

LEGO’s next Star Wars Ultimate Collectors Series (UCS) set has officially been announced as 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer. The ship is the Empire’s and Darth Vader’s flagship from A New Hope named the Devastator. The set will come with 4,784 pieces and two Imperial minifigures of an officer and a crewmember. The Star Destroyer will be the third-largest LEGO Star Wars UCS set of all time and will be available for US $699.99 | CAN $849.99 | UK £649.99 starting September 18th for LEGO VIP members with general availability beginning October 1st.

The Devastator was the second spaceship ever on screen in a Star Wars film, chasing after the Tantive IV above Tatooine in the opening shot of A New Hope. Just like the movie, this LEGO Imperial Star Destroyer follows the release of the not-quite-UCS 75244 Tantive IV from earlier this year.

Click to get a closer look at the new LEGO Star Wars UCS Imperial Star Destroyer

Reactor online, sensors online, weapons online

1984’s BattleTech brought the mech designs of Japanese anime crashing into Western table-top gaming. Two years later, MechWarrior expanded the universe into a wider role-playing game. These two games were responsible for introducing a whole generation to the glorious concept of giant mechanical walkers shooting at one another. Kale Frost has put together a cracking LEGO version of the Timber Wolf mech — the series’ signature design. The details are spot-on with the upper body slewing to the left on spindly legs whilst missiles burst into the air from the shoulder-mounted pods. All systems nominal.

A trio of big Boeing planes by BigPlanes

Sometimes a builder’s chosen name fits perfectly with what they like to build. My case in point, these three big Boeing 7-series passenger jets built by someone who goes by the name of…well, BigPlanes. On the far left we have a Lufthansa 737-500. Next to it in the center is a now bygone Pan Am 707-120. Finally, on the far right is my favorite, a Southwest Airlines 727-200. So far this builder has stayed true to his name but may have to change it to “Big-Planes-And-Also-Some-Other-Stuff” if he chooses to diversivy.

Here is a photo of the Pan-Am 707 with three minifigs to help appreciate just how big these big planes actually are.

LEGO announces new Star Wars mobile game: Star Wars Battles [News]

LEGO has revealed LEGO Star Wars Battles, a mobile game coming in 2020 to Apple and Android devices. The game will combine elements of tower building, tower defense, character collecting and of course, good old fashioned player vs. player combat.

Characters, vehicles and locations will be drawn from across the extensive Star Wars universe so you can finally watch Yoda take down Kylo Ren on Scarif in a podracer, if you really wanted to. No word on a release date just yet, but hopefully it will come soon enough to help fill the gap before LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga hits consoles next year.

More photos and full press release below.

Thinking inside the cube

With skull rings and a long pointed goatee, I wouldn’t be what you’d call a “square”, yet whether it be a Borg Cube or a transforming Rubik’s cube, I get a kick out of things designed with a cube shape. It should come to no surprise then that this White Cube Bot built by Anthony Séjourné fits squarely into the things I totally dig. A white object on a white background can be difficult to photograph but with good lighting, a great camera and just enough light gray details to make it pop, Anthony has done an excellent job here. I can just imagine it zipping around on its wheels doing whatever it is cube robots are assigned to do with their time.

Which LEGO sets have the most part count of a single element? [Feature]

LEGO enthusiasts love uncovering every tiny detail and bit of trivia that they can get their hands on. One of the questions that resurfaced recently was to identify the set that has had the highest number of the same parts — parts that are repeated not just in element design, but also in color. We found this thread on Facebook (login required) where the question was raised, which led to a Brickset discussion, and thanks to dvdweyer, we have an answer. He’s extracted the Rebrickable database for the most up to date status — at least until the next “biggest LEGO set ever” takes over one of the spots in this list.

We’ve then used the extracted details to form an infographic and added additional statistics to highlight the percentage of elements in comparison to the whole set. Here are the Top 13 sets visualised with the highest part count.

See more LEGO parts trivia after the jump