Posts by Chuck Hagenbuch

LEGO Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square: The GOAT? No, the goat! [Review]

Today we get to dig in to a highly anticipated tribute to/reimagining of/reviving of the beloved 10193 Medieval Market Village. LEGO Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square contains 3,304 pieces and 8 minifigures and will be available from LEGO.com and LEGO retail stores for Insiders on March 1st, and to everyone March 4th, for US $229.99 | CAN $299.99 | UK £199.99. It’s over twice the price of the original Medieval Market Village, but also over twice the pieces – and inflation happens, so: how does it do? Is the sequel worthy of joining the village? Let’s get our wattle and daub 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 our full review!

LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31149 Flowers in Watering Can: Transformations and the conservation of studs [Review]

Traveling the yellow brick road from the savannah to the windowsill, we arrive at a home for some flowers and winged creatures. Today we take a look at LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31149 Flowers in Watering Can. This set caused us to sit back and reflect a bit on the nature of 3-in-1 sets and if more thought is going in to the secondary models than used to – and if so, is it working? Here’s our review of this 420-piece set, which is available now from LEGO.com for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99.

Read on for our full review

LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals [Review]

We continue our look at 2024’s Creator 3-in-1 sets with the largest one announced so far, LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals. Realistic animal models are a Creator tradition, even going back to the precursor Designer Sets – that’s 20 years! Let’s tour this 780-piece set, which will be available January 1st and retail for US $64.99 | CAN $84.99 | UK £59.99. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the flamingo.

Read on for our full review

LEGO Icons 40681 Retro Food Truck Gift with Purchase: Bold bonus flavor? [Review]

Over the past decade or so of modular buildings, there has frequently been a gift with purchase available early in the year to accompany it, sometimes with a thematic link. The Detective’s Office launch was accompanied by the 40140 Flower Cart bonus polybag that included a hidden barrel of cookies to tie into that modular’s cookie-smuggling story. More recently LEGO 40586 Icons Moving Truck, which includes furniture to be delivered to LEGO Icons 10312 Jazz Club, came out a few months after that modular. This year, LEGO 10326 Natural History Museum broke tradition by coming out a month early, and now for the turn of the year, LEGO Icons 40681 Retro Food Truck contains 310 pieces and 2 minifigures and will be available with some purchases in the new year at LEGO.com and your local LEGO retail store. An obvious note: it’s really hard to give a thumbs up or down on a gift-with-purchase without knowing what you’ll need to spend to get it. So we’re taking a look at the build and will update the review with our recommendation once the threshold is announced.

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 our full review!

Train Engine Shed? Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time

If this handsome structure from builder legolux1973 looks familiar, you might recognize it from its young, wild, LEGO World City days as 10027 Train Engine Shed. Since then, though, it’s moved to the country and developed a quiet, studied sophistication clad in dark red. Only one engine bay is needed these days, but it’s grown to make space for modern locomotives and there’s a small office smartly tucked to the side. The black half-circle arched windows top off the banks of windows, and note the small 1x2x2 window with grille tucked in sideways above the bay doors. The scene is finished with lots of little details, including some fuel containers (Octan, of course!), a pallet jack with a pallet and boxes, a little portable tool cabinet, and lots of tasteful landscaping. We’ll raise a grease can to you, Train Engine Shed!

Legolux1973 LEGO Engine Shed 01

LEGO Ideas 21344 Orient Express revealed [News]

LEGO Ideas switches to a new track with the reveal of 21344 Orient Express. The Orient Express is a classic train that is a part of popular culture, most prominently in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express novel and its movie adaptations. The Orient Express first ran in 1883, and though the original incarnation ceased operation in 1977, you can still ride the Venice-Simplon Orient Express in very similar coaches today. The set rumbles in with a 4-6-0 steam locomotive, a 3-axle tender, a restaurant car, and a sleeping car with two classes of accommodations. Built from 2,540 pieces and including 8 minifigures, it will be available from LEGO.com and LEGO stores worldwide starting December 1st for US $299.99 | CAN $TBD | UK £259.99. 

Click here to see more of The Orient Express

LEGO Creator 40602 Winter Market Stall Gift with Purchase [Review]

LEGO often makes holiday sets that are available as gifts with purchase in November and December. This holiday season, that will include LEGO Creator 40602 Winter Market Stall. It looks like a toy seller’s stall at a holiday night market, and suggests you create your own additional stalls – or perhaps the night market is a destination for the trolley from 10308 Holiday Main Street, or going even further back, you could add it to the stalls from 10235 Winter Village Market! After initially posting this review, we’ve learned that the set will be available with a minimum purchase of (US $170 | CAN $220 | UK £150), nor when it will be available on the LEGO website. But when is, will it be worth stretching for another stocking stuffer? Let’s put on a pot of hot cocoa and see.

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 our full review!

LEGO reveals LEGO Botanical Collection 10329 Tiny Plants [News]

LEGO today revealed an addition to the popular Botanical Collection sets, LEGO Icons 10329 Tiny Plants. This set contains an assortment of nine small potted plants, from succulents and cacti to what looks like a small jade plant and maybe an African Violet. Each plant has a dark orange “terracotta” pot; there are three sizes of pot with three plants for each size, offering lots of variety to pick and choose what you display. This bundle of tiny cuteness includes 758 pieces, will launch on December 1st, and is already available for preorder from the LEGO Shop online at US $49.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £44.99.

Click for more on this new GWP

LEGO Dreamzzz 71461 Fantastical Tree House [Review]

Today we try to shake off our summer daydreams to return to the LEGO Dreamzzz theme with a look at the second-largest set released so far, 71461 Fantastical Tree House. This represents the heroes home base in the Dream World – their “dream landing” – and in addition to the alternate build choices core to the Dreamzzz building experience, the treehouse has lots of flexibility in how it’s arranged. Here’s our review of the set, which contains 1,257 pieces, 7+ characters, and is available now for US $109.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £94.99.

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 below!

LEGO Art 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man breaks the mold [Review]

LEGO Art started out three years ago with four portraits, where the most variation in physical depth was the height of a stud. LEGO 31206 The Rolling Stones broke out of the rectangular frame and added a bit of depth and 31208 The Great Wave took the depth a bit further, but with LEGO 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man, LEGO have boldly gone right out of the frame! The set also combines larger plates and slopes with varied size tiles to replicate the style and shading of a comic book. Let’s take a closer peek together at the set, which checks in at 2,099 pieces and is available now for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £169.99.

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 hands-on review of LEGO Art 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man

LEGO Dreamzzz 71453 Izzie and Bunchu the Bunny and 71454 Mateo and Z-Blob the Robot [Review]

So far we’ve looked at some sets from the larger end of the Dreamzzz line, but the eleven set range has a wide range of price points. The less expensive sets feature some of the same fantastic minifigures and imaginative builds, so let’s take a closer look at two of them: 71453 Izzie and Bunchu the Bunny and 71454 Mateo and Z-Blob the Robot. These mech-like sets each come with a hero, a large companion, and some sort of nightmare villain. 714543 Izzie and Bunchu the Bunny comes with 259 pieces, 1 minifigure, and 1 Grimspawn, and can be preordered now for US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £18.99; 71454 Mateo and Z-Blob the Robot has 237 pieces and 2 minifigures and can be preordered for US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £18.99. Both sets will be widely available on August 1st.

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

LEGO Harry Potter 76421 Dobby the House-Elf: Bad Dobby or good Dobby? [Review]

The June 2023 Harry Potter wave includes one sculpture-style set, 76421 Dobby the House-Elf. Dobby does not have wings, or other animation, but does seem in the same vein as other larger-than-minifigure-scale creations. Here’s our review of this very, very light-nougaty set, which contains 403 pieces, and is available now for US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £24.99.

This set is based on a license The LEGO Group has with the Warner Brothers films, not J.K. Rowling directly. The transphobic views expressed by Rowling do not reflect the values of The Brothers Brick or, indeed, those of The LEGO Group. The magical world Rowling created, in which many who felt a bit different could see themselves, meant a great deal to so many people, including those that Rowling now demeans. TBB affirms each individual LEGO fan’s choice to claim a piece of the world for themselves, or to reject it entirely.

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