Yearly Archives: 2020

Arvo brothers bring Robocop to life with LEGO – I’d buy that for a dollar!

If you haven’t heard of the Arvo Brothers before, they’re Ramon and Amador Alfaro Marcilla, a pair of Spanish builders who are known for truly amazing LEGO sculptures. Their latest effort pays tribute to the 1987 classic, RoboCop. Standing around 2 feet tall, this towering figure is a dead-on recreation of Peter Weller’s portrayal of the titular character and is filled with intricate and screen-accurate detailing.

The first thing that becomes apparent is that there’s a level of articulation built into this sculpture. The shoulders, elbow, and head can all be adjusted to create a variety of bad-ass poses. The next thing that you notice is the spectacular part usage. There are just a few LEGO studs exposed, enough to let you know what he’s made of, but so few that you’re still required to really lean in to be sure. Curved tiles and slopes are everywhere, smoothing out the shapes and creating a perfectly streamlined set of armor.

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LEGO BrickHeadz, Creator, & Iconic sets revealed for 2021 [News]

LEGO has revealed a number of new sets today from the BrickHeadz, Creator, and Iconic lineups, ranging from buildable roses to a yellow taxi. The sets include two kits with buildable flowers that expand on the recently announced LEGO Botanical Collection 10282 Flower Bouquet, though unlike those flagship sets these don’t bear the new 18+ adult-focused black packaging, instead wearing LEGO’s generic “Iconic” packaging. Another pair of sets brings two of the most widely recognized for-hire vehicles, with a classic yellow New York City taxi and a Tuk Tuk, a small auto rickshaw widely used throughout the world, and especially popular in India and Southeast Asia. Several BrickHeadz also join the fray, with duos of a Dog & Puppy and Cat & Kitten, along with a trio of adorable Pandas for Chinese New Year. And finally, rounding out the crowd is a buildable teddy bear with hearts for Valentine’s Day. All of the new sets will be available starting January 1.

Don’t miss these other upcoming 2021 LEGO sets:

Check out more images of the new BrickHeadz, Creator, and Iconic sets below.
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LEGO Collectible Minifigures 71029 Series 21 [Review]

After 10 years and 20 numbered series and numerous special series, LEGO’s insanely popular Collectible Minifigures are changing up the formula a bit. Clad in vivid green packaging and first announced just two weeks ago, Collectible Minifigures 71029 Series 21 breaks from tradition by including just 12 unique characters, which come packed in new case sizes. The figures themselves tread the same ground as previous series we’ve enjoyed, with a wide variety of characters from different periods and walks of life, as varied as a boy with a violin and an Aztec Jaguar warrior. Officially dropping January 1, they’ll be available from LEGO for US $4.99 | CAN $4.99 | UK £3.49. Let’s take a look at what all this dynamic dozen brings us.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Click to read our full, hands-on review of Minifigures Series 21

2020 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 17

Happy holidays to all of our fellow LEGO builders! As is tradition, we at The Brothers Brick will be opening our advent calendars as we count down to Christmas. We’ll also be sharing commentary on each one, which will be both insightful and hilarious!

This year we have new Harry Potter, Star Wars, City and Friends advent calendars to open. We will be sharing images of the new calendars every day through Christmas, and hope that you’ll join us! Let’s see what there is to open on Day 17.

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The future is looking brighter all the time.

The nostalgia brought on by a quality LEGO Back to the Future DeLorean build is always welcome. Joey Klusnick has us looking forward to the future, too, with a version of this iconic vehicle that’s perfectly scaled for minifigure adventures. I’m really digging the use of transparent trapezoid flags and grey spikes to construct the windshield.

hero

This build looks great from every angle, with just the right level of detailing to get key design elements across without falling into a mass of incomprehensible greebling. It’s sleek and smooth, and a stunning example of what you can do with pop culture if you really put your mind to it.

profiles

I think this really shows how LEGO creations can evolve over time. Compare this build with the 2013 LEGO CUUSOO DeLorean – both have their merits, but I know which one I’d rather have on display at my house today.

The Mountain, the Ocean and the River

I know we’ve featured the windmill before, but Hanwasyellowfirst made two additional builds called ‘Ocean House’ and ‘Riverside Scholars’ and they are exquisite! If these were LEGO sets, I would buy them in a heartbeat! There is a lot of creative parts usage in these buildings. I love how the spoked rounded top window look in combination with the ornamental lattice . There are quite a few different roof designs with all sorts of different parts used for shingles. Did you notice the fish ornamental used on top of the roof. I am not sure if Hanusedtobeyellow used it as a nod to the first LEGO ninja sets or if it is just a coincidence, but I am going for the first option. The riverside scholar building has the ornamental fence on it’s side, which looks stunning. The best thing about this building has to be the framing of the door and the foliage on the roof.

The Mountain Windmill, The Ocean House and The Riverside Scholars

LEGO City 60304 Road Plates: A whole new system for your town [Review]

For most of my life, if you wanted streets in your LEGO town, you either cleared a path on your floor or table or used some LEGO baseplates printed with the road pattern. These big baseplates predate even the minifigure, and are a classic staple of the LEGO system. But for 2021, LEGO is changing things up, introducing a new design for roads that uses a modular plate and tile system. To kick things off, the new core system is 60304 Road Plates, which retails for US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £17.99 and includes 112 pieces. Let’s take a look at the new system and see if it stacks up.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Click to read the full hands-on review of the new LEGO Road Plates

2020 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 16

Happy holidays to all of our fellow LEGO builders! As is tradition, we at The Brothers Brick will be opening our advent calendars as we count down to Christmas. We’ll also be sharing commentary on each one, which will be both insightful and hilarious!

This year we have new Harry Potter, Star Wars, City and Friends advent calendars to open. We will be sharing images of the new calendars every day through Christmas, and hope that you’ll join us! Let’s see what there is to open on Day 16.

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Behold! The Power of Rome!

You can hear them an hour before they arrive. Ten thousand footsteps all in perfect sync, marching to war, wielding spears and swords and covered in armor. That’s the image builder Big Stannis creates with his epic Roman legionnaires.

Rome: Total War (2004)

This build is nearly beyond description. You can’t help but stare at the shouting soldier above, hearing his voice command the 144 troops into battle. I’m super impressed by the use of little yellow hands to form Rome’s symbols on the shields. The pieces use in the armor and helmets is equally expert.

Oddly, my favorite part is the dirt. Yes, the brown and tan pieces. I’m a sucker for well-constructed LEGO dirt, and this is another masterpiece. Using the round flat bricks is a method I haven’t incorporated into my builds, but I will now!

Minifigures, monster trucks, and Technic pins – LEGO’s 2021 Spider-Man sets are full of surprises [Review]

On January 1st, several  new Spider-Man themed sets will be available from LEGO. Among them are three vehicle-centric offerings: 76174 Spider-Man’s Monster Truck vs. Mysterio (US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £44.99), 76173 Spider-Man and Ghost Rider vs. Carnage (US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK ), and 76172 Spider-Man and Sandman Showdown (US $9.99 | CAN $13.99 | UK £8.99).  Spider-man really isn’t known for his reliance on vehicles (much less monster trucks), but he does have some amazing friends, and as a result there are a lot of interesting minifigures to explore here. Not to mention a spectacular Technic discovery in that tiny Sandman set. Intrigued? Then read on and see what’s up!

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with early copies of these sets for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Click to read the full hands-on review

This epic 5000-piece Razor Crest from the Mandalorian is the perfect tribute to the trendiest spaceship out there

By this point, I’m pretty sure everyone and their mother has watched The Mandalorian (except my own mother, who only watches PBS). It’s a popular show, and for a good reason: it takes the western-cowboy movie vibes of A New Hope and runs with it, letting us see a grittier side of everybody’s favorite space fairy tale kingdom. It’s got a cute little Yoda-species kid, a more fleshed-out version of the mysterious Mandalorian Boba Fett, and plenty of epic gunfights. As a result, the spaceship that hauls around Mando (a.k.a. Din Djarin), the Razor Crest, has become almost as recognizable as the TIE Fighter or the X-Wing. And just like those venerable ships, the Razor Crest has received the epic treatment from Jarek Książczyk (Jerac), a master Star Wars LEGO builder.

The Razor Crest

Click to see more of this beautiful bounty hunting craft

LEGO Technic 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE “AF Corse #51” [Review]

Did you know that LEGO has been partnering with Ferrari for more than 15 years already? Over the years, the companies presented more than 50 building sets, and in 2021, the fruitful partnership continues with LEGO Technic 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE “AF Corse #51”. This is the third appearance of the iconic 488 GTE in a LEGO product; in 2018, 75886 Ferrari 488 GT3 Scuderia Corsa featuring a minifigure of Danish race car driver Christina Nielsen and 75889 Ferrari Ultimate Garage came with nearly identical mini-copies of the car. The new Technic model, although still being a red Ferrari covered in a ton of stickers, has very little in common with the Speed Champions sets since it consists of 1,677 pieces and is almost half a meter long. The set will be available from January 1, 2021 for US $169.99 | CAN $229.99.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
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