Yearly Archives: 2023

A LEGO Super Mario power-up that’s totally lit!

I can’t believe LEGO would do this to us! A few days ago, the toy company unleashed a horde of 71426 Piranha Plant sets on the world, creating all kinds of hazards for your average LEGO Mario just trying to save a princess. Any time you see a brick-built green pipe from here on out, assume one of these bite-y flowers is lurking within. But don’t worry, because Dicken Liu has totally got your back with the perfect power-up to scorch your floral foes. Upon acquiring the Fire Flower, you can either bide your time and snipe the piranha plants when they pop out, or run through the level spamming B the entire time. The choice is yours.

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Take a country break in this art-nouveau villa

So you’ve been into town, you’ve visited the LEGO bank that Eero Okkonen built, and now you feel like you need a bit of a break from the hustle and bustle of city life. Luckily, Eero has you sorted for accommodation there too! Why not head down to Villa Mauski for a short stay? It’s just as art-nouveau, but with all the peace and quiet the Nordic forests do so well. You don’t even need to chop wood for the fire, the wood shelter is already full of 1×4 arch pieces for that!

Round the back, you’ve got a slice of forest to call your own in case you do need more wood. But those trees are so pretty, it would seema waste to chop them down! There are a lot of good uses of the so-called macaroni tube here. As in Eero’s previous architectural build, they’re used as a motif on the villa’s archway, but they’re also in the smoke and in the trees. You know, maybe just a short stay is not long enough to spend in Villa Mauski!

The Q’Endar Alliance travels through space in style

You may recall Scott Wilhelm’s LEGO Iron Horse spaceship we’ve featured last month. We were thrilled to learn that it brought along a few of its friends and, as impressive as it is on its own, the aforementioned Iron Horse isn’t even the showstopper. Scott brings the same striking color scheme and meticulous attention to detail to an entire fleet he calls The Q’Endar Alliance.

Click to discover the entire fleet

76269 Avengers Tower revealed as the largest – and the tallest – LEGO Marvel set to date [News]

Today, LEGO unveils the long-awaited and heavily rumoured Marvel 76269 Avengers Tower set. The headquarters becomes the new ultimate collectors pieces, stealing the crown from the last comic-based high-rise, 76178 Daily Bugle. With 90 cm / 35.5 in, the new Tower sets the record for a LEGO super heroes model, beating the newspaper editorial by just 8 cm, and also becomes the largest set of the theme – 5,201 pieces, which about 1100 pieces more than the notorious Hulkbuster. Avengers Tower goes on sale on November 24th for US $499.99 | CAN $669.99 | UK £429.99. In addition, from 24-27th November LEGO Insiders members will receive a free LEGO Marvel Taxi set which includes an iconic New York yellow taxi and four minifigures including Black Panther, a taxi driver and two outriders when they purchase the LEGO Marvel Avengers Tower.

Perfect LEGO patronus is a potent Potter protector

Builder Chi Hsin Wei has been on an absolute roll lately, churning out some truly brilliant LEGO creations over the last few months. But this latest ode to Harry Potter may be my favorite work of the bunch! Improving significantly over the recent 76414 Expecto Patronum set, this glorious stag of light blue brick utilizes an array of curved slopes and clip hinges to bring the translucent beast to life. And the spell’s caster is no slouch either with their flowing black robes. It’s quite the difficult task to replicate loose clothing in the LEGO medium, but Wei handles it like a pro!

A spaceship that’s a head-turner and a head-scratcher

You ever look at a LEGO creation, and feel your brain going into overdrive trying to figure out how it was made? That’s what’s happening with Caleb Ricks‘ Dragonfly Interceptor here. For starters, the unusual colour scheme – primarily light aqua – almost makes it look like a digital build. But no, this one is fully 100% real. Which means Caleb must have somehow figured out a way to make all of these mad angles match up while accounting for pesky physics. And he’s worked that cockpit piece in around three 6×6 inverted cone pieces! The whole design is really unique. Maybe it’s best just to appreciate its beauty without thinking about the internals, though. I need a lie down after trying that!

More 2024 LEGO sets revealed, including Monkie Kid, Friends, and Lunar New Year [News]

The 2024 LEGO set news keeps on coming. A handful of LEGO sets have appeared on LEGO.com today, while two more have been revealed at the China International Import Expo. As might be expected, most of the sets are in the ever-expanding line-up of sets surrounding Chinese traditions and folklore, such as 80112 Auspicious Dragon. Of particular note though is an enormous Monkie Kid set, 80054 Megapolis City 5th Anniversary. This set features 2,330 pieces and a modular construction.

Most of these sets will be available for purchase from LEGO.com from January 1, 2024. Scroll through the full article below to see all the photos, with pricing and part count details (where available).

See more pictures after the jump

New LEGO set for November 2023 now available for purchase [News]

Here we find ourselves at the top of another month, on the precipice of new releases on LEGO.com. And while November may not have as many offerings as we got in October, there are a pair of gifts-with-purchase available right now to help sweeten the deal. Access to one of the GWPs requires you to be a member of the LEGO Insider program if you haven’t joined yet.

Check out all the new sets below

A solitary outpost on a foreboding moon

I love when a futuristic LEGO build treats space as a hostile environment, and this lunar station by Dan O’Connor is a prime example. With lots of unique window areas, you get the impression these explorers are trying to see as much of the alien landscape as they can, while knowing they’re resigned to only going outside on rare occasions. Thankfully, they’ve got a few space suits and even a droid to assist in any outside-the-airlock activities.

See more views of this space base diorama

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for November 4, 2023 [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 2023.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS Welcome back to another Brick Report! We’ve missed you since last week! You are in for a treat this week: we had two big set reveals and a whopping four reviews, including of one of those revealed sets!

[NEWS] 10326 LEGO Icons Natural History Museum revealed as the next modular building set — The 19th(!) modular building in the Icons series is revealed as the Natural History Museum.
[REVIEW] LEGO Icons Modular Buildings Collection 10326 Natural History Museum – A mammoth modular indeed! — The new modular reviewed by Kyle has the most pieces so far..does that make it worth a purchase?
[NEWS] January 2024 LEGO sets revealed, including Jurassic Park T-Rex Skull, Minecraft, Super Mario, & Sonic the Hedgehog — Get ready to find out how you’re going to be spending your money when the New Year rings in!
[REVIEW] LEGO Icons Botanical Collection 10329 Tiny Plants – Lots of itty bitty pots — Our resident brick botanist Bre continues to review the Botanical Collection with the latest offering.
[REVIEW] LEGO Ideas 40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei Gift with Purchase: Will it do the Fandango? — Theo explores the newest GWP from LEGO: does it reach the stars?
[REVIEW] LEGO Super Mario 71426: Piranha Plant — Daniel goes head to head with the new Piranha Plant.

OTHER NEWS

Bricklink

BrickLink is offline with a message saying they are investigating unusual activity.
A ransomware message was posted on the Bricklink forums, but it’s unknown yet what, if any, information may have been compromised.
Bricklink has not issued a public statement on the situation beyond the maintenance message on the site itself. It is still down as of the writing of this article at 13:00 EDT.

The frog mecha-army leaps into action!

Everyone’s got their favourite LEGO element. It might be the popular headlight brick, or something completely rogue like a Clikits flower. (Hey, each to their own!) I have a sneaky feeling that some of Simon Liu‘s favourite pieces are those pertaining to frogs. Why? Well, he’s listed as a Frog King in a group on Flickr, for starters. And the Frog King has assembled an amphibian army to do his bidding! This exosuit for the rank-and-file, for instance, houses a Super Mario frog hat.

Click here to see what other frog parts have got an armoured upgrade!

LEGO Icons Modular Buildings Collection 10326 Natural History Museum – A mammoth modular indeed! [Review]

The first time I was ever able to go to a LEGO store, I walked out of there with a modular set. I was on a work trip to the Seattle area back when I lived in Indiana, and I remember being so excited driving back to the hotel from Bellevue with 10211 Grand Emporium sitting in the backseat. I knew that it would still be weeks until I would be back home building it, but I couldn’t care less. Since then, the Modular Buildings Collection has had a special place in my heart. And while I’m not the kind of builder to keep them all assembled on a shelf, I still see them as the pinnacle of architectural design at minifigure-scale. So, with the impending release of the new LEGO Icons 10326 Natural History Museum, let’s see how it measures up to the rest of its kin. With 4,014 pieces, this is the largest of the modular buildings to date. It’s currently available for pre-order on the LEGO website, with release on December 1, retailing for US $299.99 | CAN $389.99 | UK £259.99.

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

Go on a guided tour of the new museum below!