Yearly Archives: 2022

The Brothers Brick LEGO Creation of the Year 2022: Giffen Gardens by Kimberly Giffen [News]

If every LEGO creation is a journey, The Brothers Brick team of editors and contributors have made thousands of them during 2022. From bizarre distant planets to heartwarming personal stories, each build is its own world — yet build with the very same LEGO bricks. And when debating and voting on the most best creation, the most memorable one, our team unanimously found themselves longing for something serene, calm and restful. Among the brilliant eight creations on this year’s shortlist, it is Kimberly Giffen who stole our hearts. Her enchanting Giffen Gardens is The Brothers Brick LEGO Creation of the Year 2022.

Click to see more photos of the LEGO Creation of the Year 2022

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for December 31, 2022 [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 4th week of December 2022.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS This week, we returned to Pandora with 2 reviews of sets from the sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. We got our hands on a gift with purchase inspired by the popular classic space theme Blacktron, and took our first look at the new 501st Clone Trooper battle pack. With the year coming to an end, we featured a few looks back over the year in LEGO, both official products, and fan creations featured on TBB this last year. Watch for more end-of-the-year features coming soon, and if you want even more news and reviews from December, check out last week’s Brick Report.

A cool new ship for an old, icy theme

Back in the mid-90s, LEGO gave its Space theme a cool refresh with Ice Planet 2002. Now, EMazingbrix invites us back to the frozen planet of Krysto with this Frostbite Fighter. Full of clever curves and amazing angles, this sleek craft is a big upgrade to Commander Cold’s usual fleet of vehicles. The Ice Planet theme’s color scheme has been strictly adhered to, but there are plenty of parts and technique being used that weren’t available in the original line. The most incredible upgrade, from the explorer’s perspective, has got to be the fully sealed cockpit. That was a real rarity in the line back in the 90s. But I bet that inside of this pilot compartment is warm and toasty.

Frostbite Fighter - Ice Planet 2002

Once you go green, you can’t go back

Spider-Man’s nemesis Green Goblin has never looked as good as he does in this awesome large-scale LEGO version by Nikita Nikolsky. The Green Goblin himself looks mighty good in a scale that makes the pumpkin bombs a perfect fit, but it’s the glider’s use of weird flat silver pieces, many of which came from Bionicle, that caught my eye first. The purple portions are paper shapes that Nikita cut out; I’d have loved to see a brick-built solution but I have to admit the paper looks good. (And for those LEGO purists out there who would complain, there’s plenty of precedent in official sets for incorporating custom paper shapes, such as the little-known Muji line).

Green Goblin

LEGO Star Wars 501st Clone Troopers Battle Pack [Review]

Today we’ll take a quick look at the last of three new LEGO Star Wars sets for January 2023. 75345 501st Clone Troopers Battle Pack returns to the popular 501st Legion, with their distinctive blue markings. In fact, the 501st was the subject of the most recent battle-pack-like set to feature clone troopers, 501st Clone Troopers. Let’s see if it’s a worthwhile return to the subject matter. The set comes with 119 pieces and 4 minifigures and will be available Jan 1st for US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £17.99.

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 the full review

The Man of Tomorrow will handle it tomorrow.

Every superhero deserves a relaxing day off, and Dicken Liu has given us a glimpse into the leisure time of the most super superhero of them all. Clark Kent, aka Kal-El, aka Superman has been popular for decades because he’s so relatable, and what’s more relatable than a delicious hot dog lunch after a productive shopping trip at the LEGO store? Dicken has filled the scene with plenty of great details – from the sidewalk texture to the clever construction of the soda lid and straw. And, besides the Big Blue Boy Scout and the two dogs, there’s a fourth character in the scene you almost need x-ray vision to spot.

Clark's leisure time-02

In the Realms of Unreality, your wish is my trophy

Even if this wasn’t for a contest we’d feature this LEGO Genie anyway because: 1) it was built by Markus Rollbüller and whatever that guy does turns to gold and 2) see reason 1. I mean, do you really need another reason? He was named The Brothers Brick Builder of the Year in 2021 so you know he’s got to be good. But if you need another reason to love this Genie, it is a trophy that can be had over at Brickscalibur if you enter and win in the Realms of Unreality Category. Be sure to refine those rendering skills as this is a digital-only category. Despite this fact, this trophy is not merely smoke and mirrors but actual LEGO bricks that you can presumably rub in the privacy of your own home. While you’re mulling over those possibilities, check out why, as TBB writers, Markus Rollbüller makes our wishes come true.

Brickscalibur 2022 Trophy: The Genie

LEGO 90 Years of Play 40580: Blacktron Cruiser – Classic Space is back in Blacktron [Review]

To celebrate its 90th anniversary, LEGO released some updated versions of classic sets, such as 1978’s Galaxy Explorer. And it looks like the celebration is going to continue into year 91, because for a limited time beginning January 1, 2023, LEGO is offering another classic space update as a gift with qualifying purchases. This time it’s the 6894 Invader set from 1987 that’s getting an update (and a name change), in the form of 40580 Blacktron Cruiser. This 356-piece set will be available free with purchases of about US $190 | CAN $190 | UK £170 or more. Does this set capture the spirit of the original? Is it a fitting companion piece to the 10497 Galaxy Explorer? Let’s blast off and find out.

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

Here’s some LEGO Muppets, but the question is, what is a mahna-mahna?

You know those LEGO builds that you see and get a song stuck in your head? Well, this one from j-p-30 will either look like a fever dream, or will have you going “mahna-mahna” periodically all day. It’s the instantly recognisable Snowths with Mahna-Mahna himself (yes, that is his name, canonically) front and centre. You know, as usual. The characters all have the mad genius of Jim Henson’s puppets in evidence and look very lifelike. The use of leaves in both sets of characters is perfect for their fuzzy features, and the clam for Mahna-Mahna’s big mouth is inspired!

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j-p-30’s flair for LEGO muppets doesn’t stop there. The use of a sharpie does help with some of the character’s distinctive features, such as Kermit’s eyes. How good is his slightly miffed “:3” expression here though? It’s a perfect representation of the way the puppets would deform under the puppeteers’ hand.

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We still have Christmas cheer so long as the eggnog is good

Before you give us gruff that Christmas has passed, you don’t take down your holiday tree right at midnight on the start of the 26th, do you? No, of course not! We keep Christmas in our hearts at least until the holiday food expires. In the case of fruitcake, you could be reluctantly sampling it right up through July. The calendar you bought for Christmas is now 50% off but that doesn’t stop us from featuring this LEGO Christmas stork built by Pascal Hetzel. I don’t want to be the one to explain the birds and the bees to you but almost everyone knows that babies are delivered by storks. The same holds true for Christmas presents for instances when the usual fat man can’t be bothered to stuff himself down your chimney. I love the snow, the roof tiles, and the Wolverine claws used to texture the nest. Frankly, I don’t care who delivers my Christmas gifts, so long as the eggnog is tasty. Is mentioning eggnog around a stork considered insensitive?

The Christmas Stork's Nest

LEGO Avatar 75578: Mako Submarine [Review]

When James Cameron’s Avatar premiered in 2009 it set a new standard for movies, telling an original story with a visually stunning spectacle best experienced in IMAX. 13 years later the first of several planned sequels set on the colorful planet of Pandora aims to equal that ground-breaking feat. LEGO recently released a wave of sets from the first movie letting fans new and old return to Pandora in advance of the new movie Avatar: The Way of Water, and after announcing 5 new sets from the sequel, LEGO sent us a copy to review. The first set in our coverage is 75577: Mako Submarine, which includes 553 pieces and will be available on January 1, 2023, for US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £49.99

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 our full review

Not everything in space is as it seems

The following is an extract from Beginner’s Guide to Space Adventures, by Lunar & Extraterrerestrial Geography – Outerspace (L.E.G.O.) expert Bart de Dobbelaer.*

“When exploring space, it is important to remember that not everything is as it seems. On strange worlds, what you might think are tasty space mushrooms could be anything from energy crystals to the appendages of a colossal planet-dwelling man-eater. It is analogous, if you will, to using LEGO pieces in interesting ways. That part you thought was a space egg? It’s actually the eyeball of a space monster. Remember what we learned in the chapter on basic planetary survival: just because you can’t see the colossal planet-dwelling man-eater, does not mean it cannot see you! The chances that they have more eyes than you are extremely high. And for goodness’ sake, if you suspect it is something that could eat you, don’t try and take it home. The best tool in a space explorer’s survival kit is a brick separator, but the second best tool is caution. Always keep an eye out!”

Beginner's Guide to Space Adventuring - Not everything is as it seems

*Not a real book. Please don’t attempt to buy one from Bart. But do check out his other work.