Monthly Archives: February 2020

Hands on with LEGO Minions: Rise of Gru sets at Toy Fair New York [News]

Live from Toy Fair New York, we have close-up photos of the five upcoming LEGO sets from Minions: Rise of Gru announced yesterday. The sets include buildable Minions complete with fun interiors, a Chinese temple, new minifigures, and more.

These five Minions sets range in price from US $19.99 to $49.99 and will be available starting April 27th.

CLick to get a closer look at the LEGO Minions: Rise of Gru sets

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Hands on with LEGO Star Wars sets from The Mandalorian at Toy Fair New York [News]

Live from the show floor at Toy Fair New York, we have close-up images of 75292 The Razor Crest and BrickHeadz 75317 The Mandalorian & The Child. Over the past two weeks, LEGO unveiled its upcoming sets based on The Mandalorian, Disney+’s popular series placed within the Star Wars universe, and now we have a hands-on look.

The BrickHeadz set consists of 295 pieces, and the Razor Crest consists of 1,023 pieces, including a Baby Yoda minifigure. They are slated for release on Aug. 1st and Sept. 1st respectively, though the Razor Crest is currently available to preorder for US $129.99 | CAN $159.99 | UK £119.99 and will be a LEGO Store and Amazon exclusive when it releases Sept. 1.

Read our full report from TFNY on the highly anticipated Mandalorian sets.

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.

LEGO unveils new five new Friends Play Cubes Series 2 at Toy Fair New York [News]

LEGO has revealed the followup to the Friends Play Cubes with a Series 2 offering at Toy Fair New York. Series 1 was released earlier this year in January. Play Cubes are tiny vignettes with stickers and mini builds featuring various themes related to a mini-doll’s passions. The glittered cubes enable builders to create scenes and makes it easy for compact storage and on-the go play.

Click to have a closer look at the Friends Series 2 Play Cubes

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LEGO 71027 Collectible Minifigures 10th Anniversary unveiled at Toy Fair New York [News]

At Toy Fair New York today, LEGO has revealed the latest LEGO Collectible Minifigures, celebrating the 10th anniversary since they were first introduced in 2010. These will be available on April 19, 2020 and priced at USD $4.99 each. This will be the 20th installment of the regular Collectible Minifigures series (not based on a license like Disney or The LEGO Movie) to be released over the past decade.

Click to reveal the details of each minifigure

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LEGO unveils life-size D-O droid from Star Wars at Toy Fair New York, available in April [News]

LEGO has revealed the latest life-size LEGO Star Wars brick-built figure: the droid D-O from Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. Live from the show floor at 2020 Toy Fair New York, we have close-up images of the upcoming UCS-like set, 75278 D-O, which includes 519 pieces and will retail for US $69.99 starting on April 19th ahead of the “May the Fourth” Star Wars holiday.

D-O comes hot on the heels of the newly announced LEGO Star Wars sets based on The Mandalorian revealed earlier this week.

Click to take a closer look at D-O

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TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for February 22, 2020

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 third week of February 2020.

Everyone’s favorite tiny green bundle of joy finally makes his bow in an official LEGO set. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.


TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS: This week we saw the release of a new Minions line, got crafty with DOTS, saw more behind the scenes with LEGO Master’s host Will Arnett and everyone’s fondest wish for a Mandalorian set finally came true.


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:

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The typical Tokyo taxi is a Toyota

New Dehli had the Hindustan Ambassador, London the FX4 and New York the Checker Marathon and the Ford Crown Victoria. All of these taxis became instantly recognizable icons for their respective cities. What about Tokyo, you may wonder? On a visit Japan, you will occasionally see modern MPV-like vehicles, but the typical Tokyo taxi is a boxy contraption called the Toyota Comfort. They seem to be everywhere. I must have taken about ten taxi rides during my own trips to Japan and I’m pretty sure all of those were in a Toyota Comfort.

Toyota started building them specifically for use as taxis for a whopping 22 years, starting in 1995. You may expect them to be high tech, but these cars are actually fairly basic. A particularly Japanese exception is that the driver can open and shut the rear doors at the push of a button, from behind the wheel. The doors are an important part of the build, of course. On most of my LEGO cars, the rear doors cannot open without the front doors being opened first. However, I wanted this particular model to look good with the rear doors opened. They are attached to a little arm that slides in and out and I have added appropriate window frames. I also added a “Kawaii” passenger. The Comfort may not be as iconic as London black cab, but my collection of Japanese cars would be incomplete without one.

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.

How many studs does it take to make a supercar?

The good things about standards are that there are so many of them. Take for example the seemingly simple measurement of how wide a LEGO car should be. The City theme usually sticks to four and six stud widths, and most fan creations have followed that guideline. That standard certainly made things easier for collaborative town displays. But recently we’ve got a game-changer in a new 8 stud wide standard for Speed Champions vehicles. Builders have already started to explore this larger scale’s additional detail and upgraded real-world shaping. But not every stud count has to be even. Jonathan Elliott has created a De Tomaso Pantera supercar in a seven stud width.

De Tomaso Pantera

Jonathan’s 6-stud version was already great, but there’s a lot to love about this new take. Built around the new Speed Champions windscreen, it also incorporates new mudguards and more extensive use of 1×2 cheese slope tiles. The shaping is just superb, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Jonathan tackles next at this scale.

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.

Baby Yoda is back – in flat form

Now that LEGO has finally gotten with the times and released official versions of Baby Yoda – in both BrickHeadz and minifigure form, LEGO fans can focus on building him in new formats. A devout follower of the Church of Baby Yoda, Neil Snowball, jumped at the chance to build our lord and savior in mosaic form. The likeness is uncanny and the thick black borders give it the stylized appearance of a cartoon or 8-bit video character. One thing is for sure, he’s just as cute in two dimensions as he is in three.

If you’ve read this far, you may be waiting for me to acknowledge that officially, the character is named “The Child”. Listen, I know that. You know that. I know you know that. He may be The Child in official labels, but in my heart, he’ll always be Baby Yoda. Unless he decides to fist bump me, and I try to be cool and call him “Yode”.

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.

LEGO reveals five new sets based on Minions: The Rise of Gru [News]

Ramping up to the New York Toy Fair this weekend, LEGO has revealed five new sets based on the upcoming film Minions: Rise of Gru. The sets include a quirky lab, a plane, and a bike, a small “Kung Fu” temple, and two large buildable Minions. The sets range in piece count from 87 to 876 pieces, and will be available April 27th ahead of the movie premiere in July.

Notable features include colored bananas, new elements for the Minions minifigures, and a nod to the successful Chinese New Year sets launched earlier this year. The brick-built Minions feature Kevin and Stuart who can also be dissembled and built into Bob as an alternative build.

Take a closer look at each of the five new LEGO Minions sets

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Forever chasing windmills

This next LEGO render is brought to you by a builder who goes by the controversial name of Hanwasyellowfirst. I know what you’re thinking; thems fightin’ words! But before you go on a righteous rampage it is important to know that there are very fine people on both sides. Now that I’ve squelched that potential disaster let’s take a look at this awesome creation. Based solely on this image, I can imagine this structure atop a craggy mountain in an exotic bygone world. I’m loving the rustic wood finishes and the ramshackle roofs. Brown owls used as gargoyles here are an inspired touch and increased availability of these elements make for some excellent uses. This is a brilliant piece but alas does not come in green yet. (Ahem…LEGO, are you reading this?) In my opinion, the most exciting aspect of this creation is it rests atop a rather small footprint.

Mountain Windmill

A rearview reveals that the rooms within this mountain windmill are just as fun and just as haphazard as I had imagined. I can get lost for hours marveling at all the interesting and fanciful details this creation beholds. How about you?

Mountain Windmill

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What wonders does this shop hold?

I’m all about a good seek and find, particularly when it involves unique LEGO pieces. Personally I prefer finding those parts in a bulk brick bin, but looking at them from a distance is still cool, especially when they’re arranged in such a lovely fashion! This little potion shop built by Sebastian Bachórzewski is loaded with exciting finds. Those fancy shelves are pretty neat too! I spy, anyone?

Mr. Chong's Potion Shop

Be sure to check out some of Sebastian’s other builds, including two different stacked cities.

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.