Posts by Dave Schefcik (TBB News Contributor)

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for July 16, 2017 [News]

TBB NEWS: The forecast this week includes a steady amount of reviews and deals, with a smattering of new sets to tide you over until next week.

Review of Tips for Kids – Transformers: Cool Projects for Your LEGO Bricks — This 208-page soft-cover book includes detailed instructions for nine models including an 800-piece transforming Optimus Prime.
LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes 2018 to be presented at San Diego Comic-Con 2017 — The three new medium-sized sets will feature some of our favorite heroes, like Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as characters that have never been released as LEGO minifigures before.
Review of LEGO Batman Movie 70916 The Batwing — With 1,053 pieces, this set is just 400 pieces smaller than the gigantic 70916 The Ultimate Batmobile, and retails at $89.99, which makes it the second largest set of the summer LEGO Batman Movie wave.
Review of LEGO Ninjago 70623 Destiny’s Shadow — The LEGO Ninjago Movie and the new 2017 Ninjago sets that will accompany the film are set to release this September, but until then take a look at this creative ship.
Amazon.com LEGO sales & deals for Prime Day 2017— Every year, Amazon.com has run a Prime Day promotion for Amazon Prime members, and this year there were quite a few LEGO deals. We also announced that our readers in the UK and Canada can now support TBB when they purchase from Amazon through Brothers-Brick.com.

See more LEGO news after the jump

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for July 9, 2017 [News]

TBB NEWS: The summer is certainly here because this was an extremely slow news week. But we have an imaginative ad campaign, a LEGO meme investigation and the second Comic-con exclusive revealed, just for you.

Quarter of a million brick LEGO McLaren 720S goes from zero to ABS in 2000 hours — Built by the team at Bright Bricks, this 720S McLaren comprises a staggering 280,000 bricks and took a team of six builders over 2,000 hours.
An investigation into the origins of the LEGO Foot Soldier comic — Where did this painfully well-known LEGO meme originate? We’ve found the creator, Lim Heng Swee based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

OTHER LEGO NEWS: This week had a few other interesting LEGO-related news articles, so here are the best of the rest.

The Story Behind LEGO’s Brilliant Print Ads From the Cannes Festival, AdWeek — LEGO makes some of the most delightful advertising around, and this series of print ads from Ogilvy Bangkok are just about perfect, from concept to execution.
Supergirl and Martian Manhunter BrickHeadz Exclusives Coming to Comic-Con, Comicbook.com— Behold the second exclusive Comic-con set you’ll have a very hard time getting, available for purchase at the convention if you win a random drawing.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for July 2, 2017 [News]

TBB NEWS: This was the week of the British invasion with the new London Bus alongside a few sets revealed from another summer blockbuster.

LEGO Creator Expert 10258 London Bus revealed — This 1,686 piece set will be an awesome addition to the LEGO Creator vehicle lineup, taking its place right next to another British icon, the 10242 Mini Cooper, and the spectacular 10253 Big Ben.
3 LEGO sets from DC’s upcoming Justice League movie revealed — This year is finally the year for all the big DC superheroes to get together, and LEGO has announced the first three sets from the theme.
New Elementary LEGO typography competition results — Back in May we told you about the LEGO typography competition taking place over on the LEGO-elements-and-colors-obsessed blog New Elementary. The stunningly creative results are in!
LEGO Space: ICE Titan – exclusive free download and interview — The Brothers Brick enjoyed the book LEGO Space: Building The Future, and now we have some exclusive content and an interview with the creators.

OTHER LEGO NEWS: This week had a few other interesting LEGO-related news articles, so here are the best of the rest.

Spider-Man and Venom LEGO BrickHeadz Swinging in to Comic-Con, Hollywood Reporter — Behold the latest exclusive Comic-con sets you’ll have a very hard time getting!
Building a Statue of Liberty out of LEGO, USA Today — After a mere 292 hours and 125 pounds of plastic bricks, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., has a new Statue of Liberty in its lobby.
‘They Love Freedom’: Ai Weiwei On His LEGO Portraits Of Fellow Activists, NPR — Listen to this interview with Chinese artist Ai Weiwei about his LEGO portraits of activism now on display at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.
A Brief History of LEGO Hair, Racked — Read how the term “LEGO hair” has affected popular culture and became an entry on the Urban Dictionary.
20 Years After the Great Lego Spill, They’re Still Washing Ashore, Inverse — Twenty years later and millions of LEGO pieces are still washing ashore in England.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for June 25, 2017 [News]

TBB NEWS: The past few days should have been called Ninjago Week, based on all the new sets and minifigures revealed from the upcoming movie. Take a look at the cool mechs, dragon boat and the massive Ninjago City.

LEGO Ninjago 70620 Ninjago City set revealed — This jaw-dropping and eclectic set is one of the largest sets in LEGO’s history, with 4,867 pieces and 16 minifigures, and is coming your way this fall.
First ten LEGO Ninjago Movie collectible minifigures revealed — The newest collectible minifigures series was revealed and will feature your favorite ninjas and supporting characters from The LEGO Ninjago Movie. We have your first look with a plethora of new parts.
Second half of LEGO Ninjago Movie collectible minifigures also revealed — LEGO later revealed the second half of the series, and from the adorable Unikitty top to an ugly sweater, it appears that the complete series will be another highly sought-after collection.
LEGO reveals more pictures for upcoming The LEGO Ninjago Movie sets — LEGO has revealed more photos of sets for their upcoming The LEGO Ninjago Movie including 70618 Destiny’s Bounty, 70612 Green Ninja Mech Dragon, Toys R Us exclusive 70616 Ice Tank, Target exclusive 70613 Garma Mecha Man, and Walmart exclusive 70610 Flying Jelly Sub.
New items from Citizenbrick, Brickarms and Eclipsegrafx — Last week was a big week for fans of custom made LEGO figures and accessories, with three of the biggest 3rd party vendors releasing new products.

OTHER LEGO NEWS: This week had a few other interesting LEGO-related news articles, so here are the best of the rest.

‘LEGO Ninjago Movie’: See How Designers Turned Film’s Setting Into Epic Model, Yahoo! — LEGO designers worked hand-in-hand with filmmakers to make sure the Ninjago film matched the toy aesthetic, and vice versa.
How I Built an AI to Sort 2 Tons of LEGO Pieces, IEEE Spectrum — A GPU-based neural network was the only way to handle a garage full of LEGO for builder Jacques Mattheij.
LEGO model of Titanic built with 125,000 pieces on display in Cavendish, CBC News — The model is nine feet long and took Ben MacLeod more than three years to build.
LEGO Boost and Friends tops Argos toy predictions for Christmas 2017, Mirror — LEGO and tech toys look set to dominate Christmas wish lists this year (already!?).

Second half of LEGO Ninjago Movie collectible minifigures revealed [News]

Yesterday we brought you the first ten LEGO Ninjago Movie collectible minifigures (complete with bowls and cereal) and today LEGO has revealed the second half of this series. Here they are below, with our initial impressions. It appears that the complete series will be another highly sought-after collection. Go ninja, go Ninjago!

Lloyd

After seeing the amazing bowls from yesterday’s Lloyd minifigure, today’s is a bit more straightforward with standard ninja garb. However, a possibly new 3×3 tile with the blueprints of an awesome dragon mech as well as the new tassel piece at the bottom of his sword are welcome additions. It appears that he will also come with a hairpiece, doubling his dashing looks.

Flashback Garmadon

We called it yesterday, folks, with a younger Misako comes the downright terrifying Flashback Garmadon. I’m not sure if it is the smooth blonde locks or the aviator glasses, but this Garmadon strikes more fear into me than his normal-decked out villain look. He comes with a camera and a lovely photograph of his cozy volcano home. At least we now know where La-Lloyd got his hair from!

Continue reading →

First ten LEGO Ninjago Movie collectible minifigures revealed [News]

This week we’ve seen a flurry of new sets from the upcoming LEGO Ninjago Movie, including the massive and eclectic Ninjago City, a gorgeous dragon ship, and many cool new mechs. To round out the theme, LEGO has announced a Ninjago Movie themed series of collectible minifigures and revealed half of them today. Here they are below, with our initial impressions. Tomorrow, LEGO will reveal the second half of this series (including the pink haired girl from the packaging and a standard issue Lloyd in ninja garb). But from just the ten that we have seen, it appears that the series will be another highly sought-after collection for both fun and parts. So stay tuned for even more LEGO Ninjago Movie news coming this week!

Lloyd Garmadon

It looks like we are in for a beautiful oriental bowl set with new utensils, as well as a new molded head with hoodie. From the scrunched up packaging, it appears that the series will also include a ninja version of La-Lloyd too.

Volcano Garmadon

These volcano PJs are adorable and the upper shorter torso could be used for a cute kids sleeping set. But what stole out attention is the beautiful bowl rounding out the new dish set.

Continue reading →

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for June 18, 2017 [News]

TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: We got our first look at the new Ninjago Movie sets and chatted with a LEGO designer about Boost and the stunning Saturn V.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie box images now available — It’s more than 3 months till the premiere of The Lego Ninjago Movie, but the we’ve already begun to get a glimpse of the sets.
Interview with LEGO designer Carl Merriam about Boost and Saturn V — While in Billund earlier this month, TBB spoke with LEGO designer Carl Merriam who co-designed 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V and has been working on LEGO Boost, just released for pre-order.
Review of LEGO Batman Movie 70913 Scarecrow Fearful Face-off — This set has 141 pieces, making it the third-smallest box among the LEGO Batman Movie sets, but its retail price of $14.99 makes it a perfect choice for Bat-fans looking to add to their collection.
Largest LEGO Minecraft set 21137 The Mountain Cave now available with free canvas tote bag — Coming in at an impressive 2,863 pieces and a retail price of $249.99, this minifigure-scale Minecraft set is the second-largest new LEGO set this year, coming behind the 4,002-piece modular 10255 Assembly Square.
Japan Brickfest 2017 – Kobe Fan Weekend report — In its third year running, the largest fan event in Asia featured 270 builders from 11 countries, including Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and even as far away as Germany.
The Brothers Brick 2017 Readers’ Survey — This is your last week to win 75105 Millennium Falcon by filling out our TBB Readers’ Survey. We want to hear what you think about what we do.

https://www.youtu.be/TVe5XPU10Zc

OTHER LEGO NEWS: This week had a few other interesting LEGO-related news articles, so here are the best of the rest.

How fan films shaped The LEGO Movie, Vox — Since the early 1970s, LEGO enthusiasts have been making home videos called Brickfilms which shaped LEGO’s current film universe.
LEGO space shuttle might not reach space, but it can fly around the room, Nerdist —The first LEGO space shuttle get’s an upgrade from aerospace engineer Adam Woodworth.
LEGO Worlds Rockets Into Space Next Month, Kotaku — LEGO Worlds is receiving a content expansion that explores one of the oldest and most beloved themes in the toy line’s history, LEGO Space.

Largest LEGO Minecraft set 21137 The Mountain Cave now available with free canvas tote bag [News]

The largest-ever LEGO Minecraft set 21137 The Mountain Cave is now available from the LEGO Store for VIP members (free to join). Coming in at an impressive 2,863 pieces and a retail price of $249.99, this minifigure-scale Minecraft set is the second-largest new LEGO set this year, coming behind the 4,002-piece modular 10255 Assembly Square.

As the name implies, the set features a sizable stone mountain (12in, or 31cm, high at the peak) that’s riddled with caves. The mountain’s footprint is 20x11in (53x29cm), and has minecart tracks, a small home, and a light brick that can be positioned to illuminate a jack o’ lantern, lava, or several other features. The set comes with several new printed elements, along with two minifigures (Steve and Alex), plus a cave spider, wolf, baby wolf, slime, 2 small slimes, 2 bats, zombie, enderman, skeleton, sheep and a charged Creeper.

LEGO is also offering a free exclusive canvas tote bag with purchases of $199 or more from now until the end of the month, while supplies last. Enter the code JUNE at checkout to apply the offer.

Take a peek behind the scenes to see how the huge 21137 The Mountain Cave was brought to life:

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for June 11, 2017 [News]

TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: TBB reports from LEGO headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and we get to escape the rathtars ourselves. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Interview with LEGO Star Wars designers — We sat down with the LEGO Star Wars Design Director as well as the Graphic Designer to pick their brains about how your favorite sets go from concept to finished product.
Three huge LEGO dinosaurs move into LEGO House — TBB reports live from the nearly-completed LEGO House that three massive dinosaurs now calls home. One each of DUPLO, TECHNIC and a SYSTEM, each dinosaur is three meters tall!
Advance look inside LEGO House reveals dinosaurs and mountains — TBB got a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the impressive models, displays, and creative experiences in the LEGO House in Billund, opening September 28th
Review of LEGO Star Wars 75180 Rathtar Escape — With this playset, you get raging rathtars, new Star Wars minifigs (Kinjiklub and Guavian death gangs!) and the classic aging pair of Han Solo and Chewbacca.
Review of LEGO City Jungle 60161 Jungle Exploration Site — We dive into this huge set to check out all the new elements from the Jungle theme, like the jaguar, spider, and kayak, plus eight awesome minifigures.
The Brothers Brick 2017 Readers’ Survey — Speaking of Han Solo, this is your last week to win 75105 Millennium Falcon by filling out our TBB Readers’ Survey. We want to hear what you think about what we do.

OTHER LEGO NEWS: This week had a few other interesting LEGO-related news articles, so here are the best of the rest.

Adam Savage and Tested Crew Build the Epic LEGO Saturn V Rocket, Nerdist — Do you even knoll!? The Tested crew tackle another hard-to-find LEGO set and discover the true pleasures of advanced SNOT techniques.
Meet a giant Wonder Woman and her DC pals, made of LEGO, CNET — The Art of the Brick: DC Superheroes jumps across the pond from London to Washington D.C. to save the day! Nathan Sawaya used more than two million bricks to bring these classic comics to life.
Biggest mosaic made of LEGO bricks in Malaysia unveiled, The Sun Daily — This eight meter by 3 meter mosaic made of 87,000 bricks in Malaysia kicks off its “Let’s Go Raya” celebration. A fan-built Kampung House Diorama is also on display.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for June 4, 2017 [News]

In addition to the best LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick also brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the first week of June 2017.

TBB SET NEWS: When it rains, it pours! This week we’ve gotten an early look at the new Old Fishing Store and Thor sets, along with availability of LEGO’s new Summer wave. Happy shopping!

LEGO Ideas 21310 Old Fishing Store revealed — The latest addition to the LEGO Ideas range is a stunning 2,049 brick set based on a design by Dutch builder Robert Bontenbal, and available September 1st.
Summer 2017 wave of new LEGO sets now available, including Star Wars, Saturn V, and more — Summer is here, and the floodgates of LEGO sets have opened with 55 new sets available this week.
LEGO Boost is now available for preorder — LEGO’s new coding and motorization toolkit is now also available for pre-order from the LEGO Shop, shipping August 1.
LEGO officially reveals sets for Thor: Raganarok — Some amazing new minifigures join the Marvel Super Hero lineup with two sets from the anticipated upcoming Thor movie.

Continue reading →

LEGO Boost is now available for preorder [News]

In addition to 55 new LEGO sets launched this week, LEGO Boost is now also available for pre-order from the LEGO Shop (shipping August 1). The kit was launched at the CES technology conference earlier this year and TBB was there to get a first look at the entry-level coding and motorization toolkit. We also got to sit down with the Boost designers in Billund this week, so stay tuned for an inside look at this intriguing new system. The 17101 Boost Createive Toolbox will retail for $159.99 and will include 840 pieces, plus a LEGO Move Hub, Interactive Motor and a Color & Distance Sensor

Summer 2017 wave of new LEGO sets now available, including Star Wars, Saturn V, and more [News]

Summer is here, and the floodgates of new LEGO sets have opened with 55 sets available as of today. Fans of Star Wars, Superheroes, City, Creator, Friends, Elves, LEGO Dimensions, and The LEGO Batman Movie have a lot to look forward to. And to sweeten the deal, LEGO is offering a cute free Minifigure Travel Pack and free shipping with purchases of $35 or more from the LEGO Shop.

STAR WARS: From Rathtars to the Quadjumper, LEGO has a plethora of new Star Wars sets including several battle packs, a Jedi Starfighter, a Freemaker ship, and a crispy Anakin.

75178 LEGO Star Wars Jakku Quadjumper, 457 pieces, $49.99 USD