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)

LEGO GAT-X105 Strike Gundam with AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Striker

The LEGO Ideas Voltron set has made me nostalgic for all the Giant Robot TV shows I watched as a kid back in Japan, not least of which was the fantastic Gundam. Two Rabbits shares my love of all things big and stompy, and demonstrates that passion with a series of really excellent Mobile Suits, kitted out with extra gear like the AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Striker pack with Strike Gundam from the SEED series. Beyond the rocket engines and weapons pods, the highly detailed frame itself is worth a closer look, with great shaping on the legs and torso, topped with the iconic Gundam head.

gunbarrel_striker

From the Wing series, the XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero features gorgeous angel wings and completely different detail on the mecha frame.

wing_zero_v2

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.

LEGO Star Wars 75221 Imperial Landing Craft [Review]

The Imperial Landing Craft was added to the Star Wars canon with the 1997 “Special Edition” re-release of Star Wars: A New Hope. The recent release of 75221 Imperial Landing Craft marks the second time LEGO has produced a version of this vehicle, despite very limited screen time — the first 7659 Imperial Landing Craft was released in 2007. This latest LEGO Sentinel-class landing craft set includes 636 pieces and 5 minifigs (counting Artoo) and retails for $89.99 in the US ($109.99 in Canada | £79.99 in the UK).

Read the full review of LEGO Star Wars 75221 Imperial Landing Craft

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.

Parts pack bonanza with heavily discounted BrickHeadz on Amazon.com [News]

Whether you like LEGO BrickHeadz or not, there’s no denying that they make excellent sources of small parts for your own LEGO creations, often in unusual colors or with unique printed elements. If you’re more of a collector than a builder, BrickHeadz are also a solid investment, since sold-out BrickHeadz are going for two to three times their original price on the secondary market. Regardless of your motivation, LEGO that’s as much as 46% off is hard to pass up!

Without further ado, here are the LEGO BrickHeadz sets currently on heavy discount on Amazon.com. Note that some of the lower-priced items like Thanos and Gamora (at rock-bottom prices of only $5.38 each) can only be purchased as part of orders over $25, but it’s pretty easy to get over that price threshold, so just add them to your cart and keep shopping.





See the rest of the LEGO BrickHeadz on sale now, including Harry Potter, Star Wars, and more

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.

LEGO Harry Potter 71043 Hogwarts Castle, 2nd-largest LEGO set ever released [Review]

At 6,020 pieces, the new microscale 71043 Hogwarts Castle is the LEGO set with the second-highest part count ever, exceeded only by last year’s 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon at 7,541 pieces. This massive Hogwarts is part of the new wave of LEGO Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts sets, including the minifig-scale 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall. In what is sure also to be one of our longest LEGO set reviews ever, we’re immersing ourselves in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World as we take a close look at this massive set, which retails for $399.99 and will be available on September 1st (August 15 for LEGO VIP Program members).

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Harry Potter 71043 Hogwarts Castle

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.

Recreating the Han Solo movie train heist scene with LEGO Star Wars sets [Feature]

The first wave of LEGO Star Wars sets often appear weeks or even months before the corresponding Star Wars movie’s release, often leaving LEGO fans wondering how accurate the LEGO sets are compared with the “real” vehicles in the movie. On opening day for Solo: A Star Wars Story, we looked back at the first wave of LEGO Star Wars sets from Solo and compared them to the movie we’d just seen the night before. Now, with the release of the second wave of LEGO Star Wars Solo sets on August 1, months after the movie’s release, we’re taking a look at the LEGO sets we’ve just reviewed from another angle, focused instead on how the three latest sets work together.

As we’ve noted in our reviews over the last few days, all three of the new LEGO Star Wars sets from Solo: A Star Wars Story feature vehicles and characters from the train heist scene in the first half of the movie, in which Tobias Beckett’s gang uses an Imperial AT-Hauler to try stealing coaxium hypermatter fuel from an Imperial Conveyex Transport on the planet of Vandor. During their attempted robbery, they face Imperial range troopers guarding the train as well as Enfys Nest’s Cloud-Riders on swoop bikes.

Read more about how the latest LEGO Star Wars sets compare to Solo: A Star Wars Story

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.

LEGO sales & deals on Amazon for August 8, 2018 [News]

We hope everyone has been able to pick up something they want from the August 2018 wave of new LEGO sets. But with every new wave of LEGO sets there are discounts on older sets. The LEGO Store will likely not be discounting these sets for quite some time, but there are some gems among the sets on discount from Amazon.com right now. As always, a portion of the sale goes to support the reviews, event sponsorship, contests, and more that The Brothers Brick gives back to the LEGO building community.

LEGO sets 35% off or more





See more LEGO sets 25% off and more

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.

LEGO 75217 Imperial Conveyex Transport from Solo: A Star Wars Story [Review]

The current wave of LEGO Star Wars sets from Solo: A Star Wars Story all depict vehicles from the train heist scene. 75217 Imperial Conveyex Transport is the fast-moving armored train that Tobias Beckett’s gang tries to steal coaxium from aboard their stolen Imperial AT-Hauler while harassed by Enfys Nest’s marauders. The LEGO set is available now, retailing for $89.99 ($109.99 in Canada | £79.99 in the UK), with 622 pieces and 5 minifigures.

Read our hands-on review of 75217 Imperial Conveyex Transport from Solo: A Star Wars Story

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.

Sumo is the greatest sport on earth

I’ve explained elsewhere why sumo (traditional Japanese wrestling) is the greatest sport on earth — it’s fast, complex, and incredibly exciting. I won an apple in my first sumo bout at age three, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Cindy Su apparently agrees with me, because she built this wonderful rikishi (or wrestler — sumo is the name of the sport, not the name of the wrestlers). She layers various round tiles to bulk up the underlying BrickHeadz form, and gives this mountain of a man a stand complete with a Japanese flag to pose on. He has huge arms to shove opponents out of the ring, with an expressive face that seems to say he’s relieved to have just finished a winning bout.

相撲力士(sumo rikishi /りきし)

Interestingly, many of the top wrestlers these days are foreign-born, from countries like Mongolia and Georgia. As someone who spent 15 years getting called gaijin (foreigner, with connotations of “outsider”) in my own home country, I’ve taken a perverse pleasure in rooting for the foreigners in recent sumo tournaments. Of course, sumo wrestlers aren’t born quite so big. They bulk up by eating a special stew called chankonabe, which Cindy has also faithfully created for this rikishi to enjoy.

相撲力士(sumo rikishi /りきし)

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.

LEGO 75219 Imperial AT-Hauler from Solo: A Star Wars Story [Review]

While the first wave of LEGO Star Wars sets from Solo: A Star Wars Story largely focused on iconic standalone vehicles that, in hindsight, had less impact on the movie itself, the three sets together in the second wave released after the movie’s debut depicts a single key scene in the movie. Disguised as Imperial mud-troopers, Tobias Beckett’s gang requisitions an Imperial AT-Hauler on Mimban for a daring coaxium heist on Vandor. LEGO Star Wars set 75219 features this unique vehicle, built from 829 pieces with 5 minifigures, retailing for $99.99 in the US ($129.99 in Canada | £89.99 in the UK).

Read our hands-on review of LEGO 75219 Imperial AT-Hauler from Solo: A Star Wars Story

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.

LEGO 75215 Cloud-Rider Swoop Bikes from Solo: A Star Wars Story features Enfys Nest’s marauders [Review]

The August 2018 wave of new LEGO sets includes a new batch of LEGO Star Wars sets from Solo: A Star Wars Story. We’ll be taking a closer look at each of these, beginning with 75215 Cloud-Rider Swoop Bikes. The set includes 355 pieces and 3 minifigures, and is available now.

Read our hands-on review of 75215 Cloud-Rider Swoop Bikes from Solo: A Star Wars Story

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.

LEGO Disney BrickHeadz 41624 and 41625 Mickey and Minnie Mouse [Review]

Although LEGO hasn’t yet officially announced or listed these online yet, we picked up two new LEGO BrickHeadz sets, 41624 Mickey Mouse and 41625 Minnie Mouse at our local LEGO Store today. Both sets retail for the usual $9.99 in the US (Canada: 12.99 CAD | UK: £9.99). Mickey includes 109 pieces and Minnie includes 129 pieces.

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Disney BrickHeadz 41624 and 41625 Mickey and Minnie Mouse

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 Cover Photo for August 2018: Enchantments, potions and magic!

August is an enchanting time of year — here in the Northern Hemisphere, people are taking summer vacations and looking forward to the heat waves ending as we head into autumn, while in the Southern Hemisphere winter begins drawing to a close. Far more enchanting than the mere changing of the seasons, this magical scene by César Soares is TBB’s cover photo for August 2018. The diorama depicts a wizard’s workshop, replete with potions, ingredients, and arcane equipment. Spend some time getting lost in the details, but make sure you get out before the wizard returns!

Enchantments, potions and magic!

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then read the submission guidelines and send us your photo today. Photos that do not meet the submission guidelines will not be considered, and will be removed from the group.

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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.