About Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)

Andrew Becraft is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Brothers Brick. He's been building with LEGO for more than 40 years, and writing about LEGO here on TBB since 2005. He's also the co-author, together with TBB Senior Editor Chris Malloy, of the DK book Ultimate LEGO Star Wars. Andrew is an active member of the online LEGO community, as well as his local LEGO users group, SEALUG. Andrew is also a regular attendee of BrickCon, where he organizes a collaborative display for readers of The Brothes Brick nearly every year. You can check out Andrew's own LEGO creations on Flickr. Read Andrew's non-LEGO writing on his personal blog, Andrew-Becraft.com. Andrew lives in Seattle with his wife and dogs, and by day leads software design and planning teams.

Posts by Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)

Chrome Stormtrooper winners

Since the April Fool’s joke about winning 800 chrome stormtroopers accidentally got posted at 10 PM on March 31 causing a shocking number of you to apparently take the post seriously, we’re making it up to you by giving away 5 of the real thing (which is all we actually have) to 5 of you who commented on the post.

And the randomly generated winners are:

bluesky681
tigre-bleu
Cold Ivory
toksik
bricktrooper403

We’ll shoot you an e-mail to get your contact info to send you the stormie.

Now, with that out of the way, I’ll add one note of caution about Things You Read on the Internet: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And then magnify that by a factor of 83.4% whenever it’s April 1 somewhere on the planet. Eight hundred chrome stormtroopers to one winner? Really, people? Really?

Sigh…

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.

Pagani Zonda C12 S by Firas Abu-Jaber

The Pagani Zonda is one of Firas Abu-Jaber‘s favorite cars — and it’s right up there for me, too. Fira’s LEGO version of this amazing supercar has all the right curves in all the right places.

Check out detail shots on Flickr or MOCPages.

Izzo brings the heavy firepower

While some of us have been taking a LEGO hiatus, one of our favorite Japanese builders has returned from his own. After a break of more than a year and a half, Izo Yoshimura (Izzo’s LegoStyle) began posting new mecha last October. Izzo’s latest was inspired by some Hollywood concept art:

It’s great to have him back, and apologies to our readers (and Izzo himself) for missing the resurgence of such a notable talent. For those of you new to LEGO fandom in the last couple of years, make sure to go through Izzo’s blog, LegostyleLog.

Sucker Punch bunny mech in LEGO by Fredoichi

Although Sucker Punch may be getting reamed by critics, it’s still a visually breathtaking film that is inevitably inspiring LEGO models. Fredo Houben is the first I’ve seen to take on the iconic bunny mech, complete with custom stickers.

Belgium: World Champions of government formation

Occasionally, a LEGO creation emerges of such intriguing oddity that it requires a second and third look. Such is the case with “Someone needs a little bit of motivation” by Matti (Matn). Yes, those are ~~French~~ Belgian fries:

Apparently, Belgium has been without a government for nearly 10 months (292 days and counting). Click through to the photo page on Flickr for the entertaining description of the symbolism in Matti’s LEGO political cartoon.

Peas in a pod

Nearly everything we feature here on The Brothers Brick is fairly complex, and though I would argue that much of it is also artistic, there’s a whole class of photographers who incorporate LEGO into their art in ways that many of us “hardcore” builders overlook. But sometimes, simplicity can be just as pleasing as an awesome 22-foot aircraft carrier.

Two recent favorites in this category of “LEGO in a non-LEGO context” are by French photographer legojeff.

“Rest in Peas” is just plain adorable.

“The White Eyed Peas” would make a fantastic desktop background.

See Ed Diment’s USS Intrepid in person in NYC starting April 15 [News]

Ed Diment (Lego Monster) will be arriving in New York City in two weeks with his USS Intrepid aircraft carrier to assemble and display it at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.

Ed will be there for two full days, Friday April 15 and Saturday April 16, after which the LEGO Intrepid will be on display through September. This is a great opportunity to meet Ed and see his epic World War II vessel in person.

Read all the details on the Intrepid Museum website.

10219 Maersk Train now available [News]

Following the release earlier this year of 10155 Maersk Container Ship, LEGO has just released the nicely complementary 10219 Maersk Train.

As we announced back in February, the set comes with 1,234 pieces and costs 120 USD.

FBTB covers 2011 LEGO Star Wars & more from Toy Fair 2011 in NYC [News]

Though The Brothers Brick couldn’t make it to New York this year for Toy Fair, our friends over at FBTB attended both the press event and the full show, to bring everyone great pictures of new and upcoming LEGO sets.

A few quick highlights…

LEGO Star Wars returns to Episode I: The Phantom Menace with a number of new sets that refresh designs from 10 or more years ago, including podracers and Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator.

LEGO expands its Disney/Pixar line with a System-scale Cars theme.

I’m personally most intrigued by the new Alien Conquest theme, which, if it’s anything like Agents or NinjaGo, has serious potential to be rather awesome. (Xenophobic blah blah blah. I’ll apologize on behalf of humanity when the little green men show up at my front door.)

Check out all of the different themes on FBTB.net.

Happy Valentine’s Day 2011!

Firas Abu-Jaber wishes his rockin’ girl Ruru a musical Valentine’s Day.

Meth-roaches go splat under the heels of the Octan Sec-Mech

The fuel that powers all those racers in the recent LUGNuts challenge has to come from somewhere. And something has to defend that fuel from meth-roaches. Wait, what? Take it away, Mark Stafford!

Click through for the full backstory.

The Daniel Gran Wax Museum of Collectible Minifigures

Well, this is certainly one way to display your Collectible Minifigs. Daniel Gran (shutinc) has built a gorgeous edifice to house his collection.

Daniel apparently plans to run wiring throughout the building to light it up (note the blue lamp up on the roof). Check out the photoset on Flickr to see the interior.