Yearly Archives: 2021

This old school classroom brings back memories.

If you want to build some LEGO furniture, there’s a thing or two to learn from Jannis Mavrostomos, who has constructed a LEGO classroom full of things I remember from my own school days.

Don’t be tardy, click here to make it to class on time.

Beautiful mosaic patterns feature in this grand hall

Andreas Lenander has designed this fantastic looking great hall. Light trickles in through the windows, surrounded by intricate stonework frames. Tall pillars are placed close to the main walkway with extended connector pieces assisting in adding to their height. A grand window overlooks the king who greets an approaching visitor while the guards stand ever watchful. Cast your eyes down to the floor and you can see complex mosaic patterns created by wedge pieces. The outer squares along the path also have some great details with arched pieces creating elegant curves in the patterns.

The great hall

As Andreas says in the video, you wouldn’t want to tip this model upside down, otherwise those wedge pieces will be going everywhere.

The Brothers Brick LEGO Creation of the Year 2021 [News]

Although this year’s shortlist of the best LEGO creations didn’t include a record-breaking number of models, the variety of genres, scales, and building techniques made it particularly hard for The Brothers Brick to pick just one creation. We had to ask ourselves which creation made 2021 remarkable and memorable. The answer is Jan Woznica‘s Tales of the Space Age, which we are pleased to announce as our LEGO Creation of the Year 2021.

Click to see more photos of the LEGO Creation of the Year 2021

Cute forest animals abound at the Everdell Castle

I love how hobbies or interests are able to bring people together. I am quite the LEGO nerd and thanks to LEGO and its community, I’ve met so many lovely people. My partner on the other hand is quite the board game geek and thanks to him I got sucked into the community that comes with the dice. What never stops to amaze me is the amount of love that goes into designing board games. John Snyder and Isaac Snyder drew inspiration from the game ‘Everdell’. The game is filled with cute forest critters and almost magical surroundings. For their latest build, they decided to give the ‘Castle’ card the LEGO treatment.

Everdell Castle

The castle wall looks really organic and irregular at the top due to a fine selection of pieces. We can find dinosaur tails, spider legs and plant limbs used for the wooden castle gate. Each wooden beam gets adorned with a white horn, claw, cone, lever base, or a bulb to represent fresh snow. The main tower has a crazy angle to it and I can’t figure out how the bricks are connected at the place of the angle. My guess is flex tubing but I might be wrong. It may as well be friction and gravity. There are cattle horns used in brown as architectural details. We get flags made out of pentagonal tiles with a little crown attached to it with a rubber band, which looks like a little layer of fresh snow on the top of the flag. The inhabitants of the castle are LEGO animals, which makes this build less than minifigure scale, which allows for parts to be used in a very original way. The skis used for doors look massive and add a sense of grandeur to the castle. Have you spotted the brave little blue hamster defending the castle?

Coming Soon

The world’s tiniest X-files poster in LEGO

Some fans build massive recreations of props from their favorite movies and TV shows. LEGO builder Corvus Auriac has gone the opposite direction with this tiny five-stud-wide microscale model of the UFO poster that hangs over Fox Mulder’s desk in the X-files. The trees made of epaulets provide interesting texture, while the flying saucer works spectacularly considering it’s made of only two pieces—a pair of 2×2 radar dishes attached on a clear rod. Is this the smallest brick-built LEGO poster ever? I’m not sure, but I know the truth is out there.

X-Files Poster

This Gundam Wing mech is ready to lead the charge into battle

LEGO builder Andrej Ramires has built the Tallgeese based on one of the versions shown in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz. Andrej has perfectly captured the look of the original mobile suit, from the rounded shapes of the armor to the smaller details such as the beam sabers hidden on the underside of the shield. The mech has a similar aesthetic to that of a centurion, with the red head tail and circular shield. The large gun has some nice details, including the use of a lamp piece portraying the tip of the gun. Those boosters on the back allow the Tallgeese to travel at high speeds and charge through its opponents with the powerful lance.

LEGO Ninjago 71763 Lloyd’s Race Car EVO – A car with an excess of acceleration [Review]

We’ve come to the last set in our preview of the January 2022 LEGO Ninjago EVO theme. Like the others, LEGO Ninjago 71763 Lloyd’s Race Car EVO, will be available January 1st from the LEGO Shop Online and will retail for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99.  It has an age suggestion of “6+”, an under-represented Ninjago demographic according to what the set’s designer Niek van Slagmaat has shared on Twitter.  This set features an upgradable race car, a small go-kart for the baddies, and three minifigures. Is there enough racing excitement to tempt both the kiddos and the adult fans? And what of the wider range of LEGO collectors? Read on and judge for yourself!

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

Lantern-lit roots over rock

Bonsais have been a hit this year thanks to the introduction of the Botanical Collection 10281 Bonsai Tree. Builder Ashton Douglas took some time to design his own version as a gift. Two bonsai sets and some extra elements came together to create a delightful custom model for Ashton’s friend to display. Though the base and pot are elements from the Bonsai set, rock work, trunk, and interesting foliage make this a beautifully unique build. There’s a wistfulness to the build with the way the pink frog seems to be staring at the lamp hanging from the branches.

Karen's Bonsai

Continue reading

Beware the blade of this Cyberpunk biker

MySnailEatsPizza has created this unique sword-wielding biker. The build is perfectly suited to a cyberpunk environment with the use of clear parts representing neon lighting. There is also a great selection of unusual parts used, such as the wheels which are containers from the X-Pod theme. The tube, forming part of the mohawk, appears to be a flexible cable that was present in various Exo-Force sets.

Night Diamond

The odd-looking helmet is actually a classic mask of Takanuva from Bionicle, placed sideways. A subtle feature of the bike is the seat, where the torso of the buildable Jyn Erso figure is used.

Night Diamond

Still good, even if the gingerbread is a little stale

Christmas has passed but that doesn’t stop us from still drinking egg nog and nibbling on gingerbread cookies. Calories be damned! Am I right? With that in mind, we couldn’t resist featuring this festive LEGO gingerbread stagecoach built by Kristel Whitaker. It has everything you could love in a Christmas-y creation; candy canes, pastries, cute ponies, and a lovely frosted stagecoach and gingerbread driver. There are even some carrots for those who couldn’t be bothered with holiday sweets. I don’t know about you, but I’m smitten. While I sip a spiked egg nog, you can check out all the other times we were smitten by the stuff Kristel has built.

Gingerbread Stagecoach

Exploring LEGO Chinese New Year 80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival [Review]

A couple days ago we took a look at LEGO 80108 Lunar New Year Traditions, the second in a trio of this year’s Chinese New Year series. The whole collection of these sets (including years past) has been fun, adventurous, and feature-packed. They’ve also often been filled with interesting and new elements. 2022 brings us to another Year of the Tiger in the 12 year cycle, and with it we have LEGO 80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival. Join us as we slide into the skating rink to take a closer look. This set has 1519 pieces, including 13 minifigures. It will be available January 10th, retailing for US $119.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £89.99.

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.

Click to take a closer look!

LEGO Ninjago 71762 Kai’s Fire Dragon EVO – Ooh, that’s a burn! [Review]

The January 2022 Ninjago EVO theme has some very targeted “6+” age range offerings.  LEGO designer Niek van Slagmaat shared on Twitter how that age range is a group that’s currently under-represented in Ninjago fans, and now LEGO aims to change that. Among the lures is LEGO Ninjago 71762 Kai’s Fire Dragon EVO, which will be available January 1st from the LEGO Shop Online for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99. This 204 piece set includes an upgradeable Fire Dragon, a drone, and three minifigures. Is this a set that will evolve to be a fan favorite? Read on and see what you think!

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