Yearly Archives: 2021

I never get tired of a good octopus

I can think of no creature on this earth more mysterious and otherworldly than the Octopus, with its lack of any bones, three hearts, and 8 seemingly autonomous arms, and a magical grace in the water. I’m not the only one who is a fan of the octopi (one of few creatures with multiple plural forms to go with their other multiple parts) Jens Ohrndorf has put together a simple but interesting model of an octopus seeking a crab lunch. While the use of tires is great at the base of the arms, I am most impressed with the clever use of a space rock to form the large body.

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LEGO BrickHeadz 40492: La Catrina [Review]

Halloween may be over, but the candy-filled spooky holiday is not the only festivities around this time of year. There is also the Day of the Dead, which usually follows Halloween, and lasts a bit longer over two days. This holiday is also joining many other traditions from throughout the year to be commemorated in BrickHeadz style. LEGO BrickHeadz 40492: La Catrina, perfectly captures the event in an adorable skeleton woman in a very colorful dress and flower-covered hat. LEGO BrickHeadz 40492 comes with 141 pieces, and is available now for US $9.99 | CAN $12.99 | UK £9.99

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with a 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

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for November 6, 2021 [News]

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the first week of November 2021.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS We got our first look at a colorful few sets inspired by Encanto, a new animated movie from Disney, and we talked with a LEGO fan who landed his dream job as a LEGO Designer.

[NEWS] LEGO reveals first sets from Disney’s Encanto movie — LEGO revealed the first few sets from the upcoming Disney movie Encanto.
[NEWS] LEGO reveals two new Chinese Festival sets — LEGO gave a sneak peak at the Lunar New Year Festival sets for 2021, plus a Monkie Kid set for 2022.
[INTERVIEW] How Aaron Newman went from being a LEGO fan to a LEGO set designer — We sat down (virtually) with LEGO fan turned LEGO Designer Aaron Newman – Here’s hoping we get some official sets based on his very cool castle reboot.

OTHER NEWS

LEGO Ideas Fender® Stratocaster™ | Designer Video – [Youtube.com] — Take a behind-the-scenes look with the design team behind the LEGO Ideas Stratocaster guitar and amp.
Bricklink Designer Program update – [Twitter.com] — Bricklink announced a switch in the round 2 offerings out of respect for the victims of the tragedy on the movie set of Rust.

This sci-fi craft leaves me feeling thunderstruck

One of the things I miss most now that I live in California is thunderstorms. Sure, we occasionally get a bit of rain. But it’s rare that that lightning flashes or the windows rattle from the vibrations of a thunderclap. And I always used to find that so soothing. So, if I had a chance to take to the skies in the ThunderGlide by builder Rubblemaker, I might never come down again. This craft channels the atmosphere’s own electrical power through its lightning rod to stay aloft as long as a storm is raging. Which is pretty rock and roll, when you think about it. What’s more, the use of ample pentagonal tiles on the wings and the tubing on either side of the cockpit call to mind the keys and pipes of an organ. Imagine flying through the rain in this bad boy with a little Iron Butterfly playing. Yeah, that’s the life for me…

Forget Podracing, Grievous has some new wheels

LEGO Youtuber and LEGO Masters Contestant Boone Langston has created this unusual upgrade for the LEGO Star Wars General Grievous’s Starfighter set. This version adds monstrous wheels, an exposed engine and a spoiler to the vehicle. The build is also reminiscent of the car designs in the Mad Max films and has the fun detail of a scoop used as its front bumper.

Perhaps the droid general will be able to outrun Obi-Wan Kenobi, in this…

There is also a video where Boone breaks down his process, involved creating this unique looking racer.

These LEGO Animaniacs are zany to the max

Warner Brothers’ quirky animated series the Animaniacs may be one of the most popular cartoons that is loved by more adults than kids, especially since many of the jokes are a bit, shall we say, unconventional. Whatever the reason, this irreverent cartoon is in the middle of a revival, starting the second re-booted season on Hulu. To celebrate the new season, PaulvilleMOCs has built these loveable characters in LEGO form. I love their long and scraggly ears, which are a perfect match with their on-screen inspirations, and of course, those big clown noses.

Check out more pics of these colorful characters

LEGO reveals two Chinese Festival sets for 2021 Lunar New Year [News]

LEGO has just revealed the 2021 Chinese New Year Festival sets. For several years LEGO has created sets celebrating the Chinese Festivals, and this year the two sets will be 80108 Lunar New Year Traditions and 80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival. The sets were revealed at the China International Import Expo, which begins today, Jay’s Brick Blog reports. There’s no word yet on the pricing for these sets, but they’ll be available starting Dec. 25 in China and the Asian/Pacific region, while the launch will follow a few days later on Jan. 1 for the rest of the world. LEGO also revealed one new Monkie Kid set as well.

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These brick-built bricklayers make building easier than ever.

Tim Goddard has been building fantastic sci-fi LEGO creations for years now at a rate that almost seems inhuman. But now we’ve finally uncovered the secret behind his LEGO output. He’s had robots helping him this whole time! Bot #1 reviews the schematics that Tim’s drawn up, while #4 uses an extra set of extendable limbs to do the heavy lifting. The use of breathing regulators for feet and roller skates as a key component of the heads on these ‘bots is a charming inversion of those pieces normal usage.

Something Something Squid Game

I’m a big fan of science fiction builds that are more useful than military. BetaNotus has found that sweet spot with their creation Cuttlefish Speeder. This adorable aid for “the fisherman of the future” makes great use of Technic panels to create a streamlined shape, with tan telescope accessories making for an intriguing front grille. The touch of creepy from the Hidden Side 1×1 round eye tiles completes the look, making you wonder if this isn’t also a biomechanical treat. If so, that fisherman might want to feed it more…it’s looking cranky.

I know Cuttlefish and Octopuses aren’t the same thing, but if you’re looking for more tentacle-y goodness, check out our Octopus archives!

This classic Gundam design is portrayed perfectly in LEGO form

Nobu_tary has created this accurate interpretation of the original Gundam from Mobile Suit Gundam. You can tell Nobu has studied the classic design as the proportions and angles of the mech have been faithfully recreated. A white boomerang piece represents the famous “V fin”, while the dark space between the eyes is created a quarter circle tile. Around the middle section is where the cockpit would be located, which portrayed by window frames placed sideways. Even the beam rifle has the stocky proportions of its original counterpart. Let’s hope that the shield is sturdy enough, as it would often get sliced up in the anime.

We are Wanderers of the Void

In a LEGO world of massive spaceships and castles, sometimes it’s the simpler things that really draw your attention.Take these Wanderers of the Void, for instance. They were built by someone who goes by the name of VelociJACKtor. I’m equal parts flummoxed, intrigued, weirded out and awestruck, which is pretty good for such a simple LEGO creation. Who are they? What void do they wander? Are there any others like them? Did they do all that wandering in those shoes? This pair generates more questions than answers. But that pretty much makes them the most intriguing things I’ve seen all day. What do you all think?

Cleaning up after Halloween

It was with sadness that we leave the Halloween season behind us for another year. However, Djokson, at least, seems to be ready to push creepy forward into the more festive holidays. In Harvest, they have taken creative part usage into new levels of disturbing. An old Scala figure, a Bionicle air pump, and a Matrix-inspired, ball jointed, creeping terror give a new twist to “hung by the chimney with care.”

Not ready to hang your Christmas lights just yet? Why not linger a little while in our Horror tag.