Yearly Archives: 2019

Tougher than crocodile skin

Crocodiles are one of the toughest animals on the planet. Makes sense, considering their ancestors were around during prehistoric times. So why not create a mech in their image? This excellent mecha croc by Mitsuru Nikaido is one of the coolest I’ve seen. All of the plating and fine detail make for a handsome and fierce opponent.

As a big animal person, I’m always impressed by lifelike body-shaping, and I’m not sure it could be done better here, especially considering it uses a plethora of pieces to give it that mech look. To me, that seems more difficult than building a realistic croc. I love everything about that head, including the lever based used for the eye. The back legs and perfect taper of the tail are also noteworthy.

Mitsuru Nikaido is no stranger to impressive animal mechs. Just take a look at his chameleon (scroll down), lemur, dragonfly, and crane and grasshopper duo.

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TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for June 2, 2019 [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 June 2019.

What was the most challenging part of bringing the newest LEGO Lunar Lander to life? LEGO Designer Lars Joe tells us all, so read on to find out more.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS: Houston, we have a model! (And a cute space ride promotion review and another awesome X-wing spaceship.) This week was about all things SPAAAACE!

LEGO unveils Creator Expert 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander to celebrate 50th anniversary of the Moon landing – LEGO is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing with one small step for a minifigure and one giant leap for LEGO-kind.
Review of LEGO Ideas 40335 Space Rocket Ride gift with purchase – This simple and cute set will be available later this week with purchases more than $99.
Feature: This fan’s quest to build the perfect LEGO X-wing results in an amazingly accurate model – Has Mark Chan built the perfect LEGO X wing? You might be surprised at just how accurate Mark’s model is.

MORE TBB NEWS: We are still getting our first looks at some new sets, and there are lots of new sets on sale for the start of June.

Final images of LEGO Star Wars Boost 75253 Droid Commander set revealed – Check out these new images of the Star Wars Boost set, including R2-D2.
LEGO Hidden Side Diner Shrimp Shack Attack 70422 set is unveiled – The eighth LEGO Hidden Side announced this week features a spooky battle by a haunted diner.
LEGO NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander now available with stellar space patch promotion – You can now get your own LEGO Lunar Lander along with an awesome space patch promotion.

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

A Mon Calamari Cruiser crewed by Mon Calamari

LEGO Star Wars sets do a good job of supplying fans with minifigures of the main characters. But what if you want more to really fill out a scene’s background? If you’re like simon-wild, you build more from other characters’ parts, like he did for his Mon Calamari Cruiser Bridge. The scene on display wouldn’t be half of what it is without some custom characters – they really give it the busy and bustling look of a working command ship. I especially like the high proportion of non-human characters. Oftentimes, it seems that there are so many more humans than beings of other species in the galaxy, but not here: the Mon Calamari cruiser is appropriately crewed by Mon Calamari. The bridge itself is beautiful too. There are enough well-detailed instruments to keep everyone present busy, as well as displays and warning lights to let them know what’s happening.

The zombies are coming, so why aren’t you running?

I would not like to be the lone man with the dog in this latest build from Austrian builder Sanel Lukovic. With only his trusted canine companion and his guns, gear, and guts, things do not look hopeful with a ravening herd of mindless zombies pouring around every corner down the decrepit street. The decay and dereliction of the once bustling industrial sector is beautifully crafted, with exposed studs here and there showing how things have been slowly coming apart. Bits of various brownish hues sprinkled about create the appearance of rusted metal, while the overgrown vegetation tells us that no one with any brains has lived there for some time. So why has the lone figure returned to risk his noggin among such undead adversaries? We don’t know.

What we do know is that the scene itself is huge, with the sprawling rail yards and the broken street. I love the stacked shipping containers with partially opened doors using minifigure hands as handles, as well as the brick warehouse facade with cleverly arched windows. Sharp eyes will notice that the large spool for cables in the foreground is made from two Fabuland tables placed end-to-end. Some builders might disagree with me, but I also appreciate it when tiles are not fully pressed down to look like loose boards, like on the flatbed rail car. Careful details and creative parts usages abound throughout, making this a build that needs to looked at a few times to see everything.

Finding peace with plant pieces

Nothing says peacefulness like a bonsai tree. And what better way to cultivate the perfect tree than to use LEGO to make it just the way you want it? From it’s beautiful base to the winding trunk, Brent Waller‘s bonsai is a picture of serenity. The shape is gorgeous, especially paired with the clean rockwork. The bridge and little fisherman are cute too!

Brent is also the creator of something completely different, but also 100% epic. He’s the fan designer of the LEGO Ideas set 21108 Ghostbusters Ecto 1. Additionally, you’ll need to zoom in on every detail of his incredible Wayne Manor and Batcave.

You’re going to need stronger herbicides

This latest LEGO creation by master builder Aaron Newman is the stuff of nightmares for those who enjoy perfectly manicured lawns and neatly tended gardens. If that is you, stock up on a few 50-gallon drums of your preferred herbicide, or else dial your lawn service’s emergency line immediately! Inspired by the manticore of classical mythology, Aaron’s “planticore” is part flower, part root, part weed, and fully territorial. Stay away from the dandelion head that’s reminiscent of the lion that formed part of the manticore, as well as the many blooms at the tail that effectively evoke the scorpion stinger. The aggressively-posed beast is joined by a swarm of brick-built bees and fierce female faeries to ruin your country club’s casual croquet tournament.

Aaron is well-known in the LEGO community for both his creature builds and his dynamic minifigure poses, and he does not disappoint in either category here. I am personally quite partial to the various Elves hairpieces on his faeries, and the way he uses legs taken off of the hips for more natural stances takes them to the next level. Don’t miss the pink afro minidoll hair as a clever clover blossom, either. The croquet wicket, with the DUPLO ball on its way through, sets the small scale of the build beautifully, and the editing effects with the grass and sky lend it a wonderful outdoor atmosphere. I suspect that I have several stray planticores roaming about in my own yard, judging by the weeds and chaos I see out there; or maybe I am just too busy trying to build LEGO like Aaron to prune and mow…

Porches aren’t complete without swings

Well, maybe that’s not quite true. But they sure are a nice addition to any country-style home. In my mind, front porch swings mean good times on a warm summer afternoon. It appears that Eli Willsea (Forlorn Empire) feels the same way. His excellent use of garage door elements hanging on chains gives it the perfect look. The support beams on their sides for the porch railings look great too, and the flowers/flowerpot couldn’t be at a more perfect scale.

If you’d like to see more of Eli’s work, take a look at our 2018 Creation of the Year. Or maybe watch a video about the making of his build, “Advanced Simulation”.

This fan’s quest to build the perfect LEGO X-wing results in an amazingly accurate model [Feature]

A LEGO Star Wars fan since before Star Wars was a LEGO theme, Mark Chan has spent the last 40 years trying to create the perfect LEGO model of an X-wing fighter. We at The Brothers Brick think he’s done a pretty good job, so we caught up with Mark to get the story of his journey.

Click here to learn about the journey to create this X-wing

The Atlas ICBM, the pinnacle of fifties rocket science

In two months’ time, I’ll be displaying Cold War LEGO models at BrickFair Virginia. This is part of a collaboration with several other builders. I previously built a Soviet SS-20 ballistic missile launcher and an American Ground-Launched Cruise Missile launcher. Continuing my theme of nuclear-armed missiles, my most recent build is another classic: an American Atlas-F.

The Atlas entered service seventy years ago in 1959 as the first American Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. It could be launched from the continental US, fly through space, and then deliver a 3.75 Mt warhead (more than 200 times as powerful as the weapon used against Hiroshima) to a target in the Soviet Union, more than 8000 miles (~13000 km) away.
Continue reading →

LEGO NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander now available with stellar space patch promotion [News]

A new month means new LEGO sets on sale, with June seeing the launch of the recently announced 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander and general availability of 75810 Stranger Things The Upside Down. The Lunar Lander comes with 1,087 pieces and two minifigures for US $99.99 | CAN 139.99 | UK £84.99, and the Stranger Things set comes with 2,287 pieces and eight minifigures for US $199.99 | CAN $269.99 | UK £179.99.

LEGO is also offering this awesome Space Patch reminiscent of those from NASA with purchases of the Lunar Lander from June 1-9 while supplies last. If the previous reaction to the LEGO Mustang Keychain promotion gives us any idea, this patch will be quite popular as well.

For our international readers, many of the newly announced summer wave of sets including Architecture, Friends, Harry Potter and City Space sets are available now as well. (U.S. availability for summer LEGO waves will begin in late June/early August.) Also the LEGO Ideas 40335 Space Rocket Ride promotion we reviewed earlier this week will begin in a few days on June 5th, so if you want to double up on promos you will have to wait a few days.

Spider-Ham, Spider-Ham, does whatever a spider does

You may know him from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or from the comics but, regardless of how you were introduced, Spider-Ham is one of the more creative characters in the Marvel Universe. Alanboar Cheung has captured that creativity in LEGO-form, and this build is fun! Not just in the playful pose, but in the use of parts too. I personally love the hammer built out of turret walls and the chairs used as the ends of his ears. What other creative parts usage can you see? Overall, I think this model is great – a real ham, if you will!