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)

Classic-Pirates.com Pillage the Village Contest [News]

The LEGO privateers o’er at Classic-Pirates.com have scoured the seven seas to bring all ye ungrateful, lice-infested, lilly-livered sprogs the biggest pile o’ swag in LEGO contest history with the newly announced Pillage the Village Contest.

There be plenty o’ loot fer all, with LEGO Pirate sets of yore to be had in four dastardly categories:

Division 1 – Large:
- 1st Prize: 6285 Black Seas Barracuda
- 2nd Prize: 6273 Rock Island Refuge
- 3rd Prize: 6279 Skull Island
Division 2 – Medium:
- 1st Prize: 6270 Forbidden Island
- 2nd Prize: 6264 Forbidden Cove
- 3rd Prize: 6265 Saber Island
Division 3 – Small:
- 1st Prize: 6270 Forbidden Island
- 2nd Prize: 6258 Palm Hideout
- 3rd Prize: 6256 Islander Catamaran
Division 4 – Creative Critic:
- 1st Prize: 6270 Forbidden Island
- 2nd Prize: 6260 Shipwreck Island
- 3rd Prize: 1713 Shipwrecked Pirate

(Actually, our GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest boasts some serious prizes, with a Green Grocer, 4 Market Streets, 13 Vintage Minifigure Collections, and 4 Golden Anniversary Sets, but we’ll let the Pirates have their day…)

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.

RichardAM discovers a rather different kind of booty

Mutinous bilge-rat Richard A. McCarthy (Flickr) has encountered some lovely lasses of the sea:

Governor by me onesies

Scurvy seadog Jordan Schwartz strands an Imperial landlubber on a desert isle. Down below, there be nothin’ but a shark and a poop deck.

Says Jordan, “After crashing against a shark infested reef, our lone Imperial Governor is stranded on a small, unstable spit of land. And I think the heat is getting to him…”

(Just for the record, I’m not going to try to talk like a pirate in every post today.)

Jehkay’s maintenance cart is ready to pick your stuff up

Whether it’s the photography, color scheme, construction style, or something more intangible, LEGO creations by Jehkay are instantly recognizable.

I’m not sure what this floating maintenance cart maintains, but it’s got the arms for the job:

(Kinda sorta via Young Spacers.)

And while I’m at it, a linear cannon (with Power Functions):

Sanrio Kuromi by Legokinsfolk

It’s no secret at work that LEGO is my “thing.” Redecorating your coworker’s office while they’re away is also a long-standing tradition. I arrived back from a two-week absence recently to find printouts of Legokinsfolk’s Hello Kitty plastering my office. Ha ha, very funny!

Legokinsfolk‘s latest Sanrio character is My Melody’s arch-rival Kuromi:

The Brickshelf gallery has lots more photos, including shots of how Kuromi’s made.

For more LEGO Kuromi cuteness, there’s always Toshiya’s version.

Keith Brogan scans Mario with 3D scanner and builds him out of LEGO

Keith Brogan ~~[Send us a link if you’ve got it. -AB]~~ used a NextEngine 3D scanner and modo software to build a 3D mesh of Nintendo icon Mario, to which he then applied an array of brick-sized shapes.

Finally, Keith built the large-scale Mario out of real LEGO bricks:

Don’t miss Keith’s post on Luxology Forum for more details on how he combined high-tech with ABS.

Via Gizmodo, with a nod to reader William. ;)

Giant Rocketeer mosaic by Dave Ware

Seeing The Rocketeer back in 1991 was my first exposure to the concept of retro-futurism. Dave Ware has recreated the wonderful art deco look of the movie poster as a LEGO mosaic:

A few key facts from Dave’s post on the brickwares blog:

There are 30,672 studs in the mosaic.
3.75 feet wide and 5.5 feet tall.
It took 70 hours to complete.
The parts alone would likely cost $1,000.

If you’re interested in how Dave created his mosaic, check out several in-progress updates and photos on the brickwares blog.

Deep in the rather moist lair of Doctor Dank, evil goes green...

In another last-minute entry for the Reasonably Clever Brick Science contest, Moritz Nolting gives us “Doctor Dank” and his submarine lair.

Here’s the fairly fishy Professor Dankervoort:

And the lair as it would appear to an intrepid agent bent on infiltrating the mad scientist’s domain:

Don’t miss more pictures in Moritz’ Flickr photostream or the full gallery on Brickshelf.

10189 Taj Mahal now shipping [News]

On my 50-minute flight from Dublin back to Heathrow last month, I had a fascinating conversation with an older gentleman from Mumbai. I don’t normally strike up conversations with strangers on the plane, but he had so many interesting stories to tell I just sat there next to him with rapt attention. 82-year-old Kishore was born in what is today Pakistan, fought for India’s independence, fell in love with the girl next door, lived everywhere from Singapore to London, and today flies around the world touring exotic locales.

As we began our descent and Kishore turned to his newspaper, he nudged me and pointed to the back of the paper, featuring a full-color story on LEGO’s latest collector’s set — 10189 Taj Mahal.

My fellow traveler didn’t know about my love of little plastic bricks from Denmark, but he was so happy to see a familiar sight from the country he was so proud of that he had to share it with me. In moments like that, I’m reminded that LEGO is one of those things that connects people from everywhere in the world.

Okay, one more post from me and I’m off to build my 10081 Sandcrawler ($40 off!) that arrived in the mail today. ;)

Hispabrick Magazine 002 now available [News]

The second issue of Spanish LEGO fan publication Hispabrick Magazine is now available for download (in regular and super-high-res flavors).

In this issue:

Arvo brothers (right, with Iron Man)
Adrian Florea
Modular amusement park rides
Review of LEGO Agents 8636 Deep Sea Quest
And much, much more

With plenty of great photos and even several articles in English, there’s a lot to see in this issue. Be sure to check out all 67 pages of LEGO goodness in Hispabrick Magazine 002.

Korean TV show scenes recreated in LEGO by edulyoung

We’ve featured Brickshelfer edulyoung several times here on The Brothers Brick, often for rather complicated, large-scale sculptures.

This time, I’m highlighting edulyoung’s LEGO creations for their beautiful simplicity:

Somewhere between minifig and miniland scale, edulyoung’s characters are truly unique. The woman’s costume deserves a closer look:

Based on the striped sleeves (and the text in the instructions), I’m fairly certain she’s wearing a Korean hanbok. Anybody out there know what TV shows or novels edulyoung is depicting with these LEGO creations?

Get your entries in for the GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest!

For those of your rightfully envious of all our great prizes and giveaways for Zombie Apocafest 2008 at BrickCon next month, there are even better prizes to be won for our GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest. Remember, the contest is open to everyone over the age of 18 worldwide.

Here are just a few of the great entries readers have submitted so far to the GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest pool on Flickr.

Entries from Alex Eylar (left) and Alan Chia (right).

Entries from Peter Edwards (left) and Aaron Andrews (right).

I’m seeing quite a few submissions that skip one or more of the requirements, so here are a few key points from the contest rules. ;)

Tag your photo “GO MINIMAN GO” on Flickr.
Identify which category your entry is for — 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s.
Add your photo (only one per entry) to the group pool.

Let us know about your entry with a link to the creation and which category it’s for.
If you can, please add one of the GO MINIMAN GO logos to your photo. (If you can’t, let us know in your submission and we’ll hook you up.)

For those of you who prefer your pictures moving, Gizmodo is also hosting the GO MINIMAN GO Video Contest, in which you can win amazing classic sets like 928 Galaxy Explorer and 375 Yellow Castle.

To get you inspired for Gizmodo’s contest, be sure to check out the videos by our very own Nathan Wells, David Pagano, and Nate Burr.

Here’s Nathan’s gorgeous salute to 30 years of the LEGO minifig:

By the way, did you know that the various minifig parts LEGO has released over the past 30 years can be combined in over 8 quadrillion possible combinations? Find out more fun facts like that on GoMinimanGo.com.

If you have a question about our GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest, just leave a comment here. Happy building, and good luck!