The LEGO fan community is filled with various builder-driven challenges and monthly themes. One of the most popular challenges for space builders is Novvember, wherein builders use the month to recreate the Vic Viper from Gradius with their own twists. If you’ve been following us here on The Brothers Brick for long, you’ll no doubt have seen a fair handful already. This version by Pascal gives it the Ice Planet makeover, with an opaque windscreen and blocky but studless angles.
I’m a firm believer that the holiday season seems to creep into our lives sooner and sooner each year. Though many are delighted to lean into it, I reserve myself to celebrate Christmas only after Turkey day has passed. Now that it has, I think it’s fair to put up the tree. This year I might take after builder Peter Carmichael and go with a fancy, fake one. The secret to a good plastic tree is the texture of the bristly branches, which the builder has achieved with a ton of three-pronged stem pieces. Subtle but elegant decorations of gold keys and white garland with lights give character to the tree. Capping it off is a delightful, translucent blue snowflake.
The mad rush of sales and events leading up to the holiday season is in full swing, and LEGO is leaning hard into “how many ways can we get collectors to shell out big bucks multiple times over a span of several days?” The first push, the VIP weekend, is drawing to a close, but there’s still a few hours (probably) for VIP members to pick up an interesting gift with purchase. LEGO 5007016 VIP 1950’s Retro Tin is available through November 25th from the LEGO Shop Online as a VIP Gift with qualifying purchases of US $250 | CAN $330 | UK £250. The details about the tin are pretty sparse at LEGO.com, but their US shipping was quick, and we now have one on hand to share with you. Come along and learn the details of this decorative object!
Click to read the full hands-on review
When you think of Monkie Kid sets, bright-colored vehicles, colorful characters, and goofy villains come to mind. But since the theme is inspired by the traditional stories of Journey to the West, there are a lot of things you might not know about the legend behind the theme. With more Monkie Kid sets for 2022 on the way, we wanted to catch up on this set from earlier this year. LEGO 80024 The Legendary Flower Fruit Mountain tells the story of the Monkey King through 6 connected scenes set on a mountain top high among the clouds. The set includes 1,949 pieces and is available now for US $169.99 | CAN $249.99 | UK £159.99
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.
Read on for our full review of this legendary Monkie id set
According to the picture description by Pascal, this Vic Viper has to do something with secret spacecraft technologies. To my surprise, a close look at the build didn’t reveal any hyperdrives, wires, tubes, laser guns, or force shields. I mean, all of these are probably there, but this build looks more like a piece of concept art. It takes LEGO bricks’ geometry to the extreme with elementary shapes. Ultimately it’s the color accents that make the whole thing stand out. Simple and bold!
If you’ve followed builder Tim Henderson for any length of time, you’ve probably guessed he’s a car guy. Tim’s latest build pays homage to Dean Moon, founder of the Moon Equipment brand of racing equipment and accessories. This bright yellow dragster was built by Moon in 1961 and has remained a sort of mascot of the company ever since. Tim’s done an amazing job of recreating the vehicle in minifigure scale, making excellent use of a Legends of Chima hammerhead as the engine. And replicating the “Mooneyes” logo on the side of his Ford Econoline van to haul it is the perfect finishing touch.
Name a more unlikely duo. You’ll be hardpressed to find a more odd pairing than Blacktron and farming, yet that mashup is precisely what Dario Đipić has done with this insane combine harvester. Decked out in the theme’s iconic colors of black, white, and trans neon green, this harvester looks ready to collect…wait, what does it collect? I spy skeletons on the edges of the cutter. Hmm…maybe that does track with Blacktron. After all, the Space Police were always after them for some reason.
Oh, and as for unlikely pairings? Well, ok, maybe there are a few others just as out there. Like Star Wars and Fabuland, which is apparently a whole thing. Don’t believe me? Check out our Fabuland archives.
I recently replayed Halo: Combat Evolved for the first time in years with the updated Master Chief Collection, and I have to say that 20 years on, the game still holds up remarkably well. I do miss those split-screen, multi-TV LAN games with friends, though. This LEGO diorama by DP_Studios_ takes me right back there with that iconic Covenant architecture and the unmistakable and eternally awesome Warthog. The builder has added just the right amount of details throughout to make it feel the way I remember it, though I secretly suspect this diorama actually has more texture than the original game.
LEGO Harry Potter is what got me through my dark ages. When I started to lose interest in the construction toy LEGO picked up the Harry Potter license and started producing one set after another. I was hooked. I managed to collect most of the sets. I do have to admit I missed out on some big ones like the Chamber of Secrets, but my allowance wasn’t sufficient to buy all of them. This is why whenever I see a LEGO fan creation of an iconic Harry Potter moment I get soft in the knees and feel the urge to share it with the world. I know this is my soft spot so I always have to think twice and check if it is really something special. To me this creation by Hugo hits the spot. It is massive in size, filled with details and as a plus, Hugo took several pictures, each depicting different scenes from the movies taking place in this iconic location. We get the polyjuice potion-making, the polyjuice mishap, Ginny going to the Chamber of Secrets, and Ron and Harry forcing Lockhart to go down to the Chamber of Secrets with them. A feast for the eyes if you ask me.
When my calendar says it is December, I always develop a soft spot for LEGO gingerbread houses. This year Nadine Wölfle has me starting a little bit early with her gingerbread house. It’s part of a larger fairytale display and it is actually the house of the witch from the story of Hansel and Gretel. This sugary home features brickwork and icing jointing. There are ingot details on the corners of the building. The roof is a different color than the rest of the building which makes it stand out a bit more. Nadine used a lot of newer elements to decorate the building. There are cotton candy bushes and pie shrubberies. In the background you can spot some additional fairytales. Which ones can you find?
The move to 8-stud wide vehicles for LEGO’s Speed Champions line was a controversial move for some, although the space afforded allows for more detail and realism. Builder Jerry Builds Bricks chose an iconic design to reproduce that manages to pack in the details. A few clever techniques for the doors and wheels let Jerry build this sleek DeLorean from Back to the Future full of features.
Read on to check out more of this awesome model.
LEGO builder Markus Ronge has quite the green thumb! Check out his incredible Jungle Explorer Tree creation. Most LEGO trees I’ve seen go straight up from the ground, but this one curves up convincingly from the rock face. The surrounding vegetation is highly varied and shows the skill Markus has in knowing exactly where each brick should go. Both I and the kayaking minifigure are very impressed.
