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 Star Wars Clone Wars sets at Celebration Japan [News]

The new LEGO Star Wars Clone Wars sets will be available soon, but attendees at Star Wars Celebration Japan got an early look at some of the sets — and the minifigs in particular.

Edge (エッジ) over at レゴ系 (The LEGO System) was there, and took a bunch of pictures of the LEGO Star Wars booth.

Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, and a bunch of clones:

Clones on bikes, including CC-7567:

An overall shot of the booth:

Bonnie Burton from the Official Star Wars Blog also took a handful of pictures of the Clone Wars LEGO, including close-ups of the nose art on the Republic Gunship:

The ladies of the booth:

See lots more pictures in Edge’s blog post.

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.

Swagman robot by Teikjoon

Even robots sometimes get down in the dumps and have to scrounge for a living. Though this reminds me of something from the Futurama universe, Teikjoon sets this lovely little vignette in the Star Wars universe, where — on a planet embargoed by the Trade Federation — unemployed robots “choose to stay operational, scavenging for energy packs”:

Harrison’s 1984 vignette is doubleplusgood

I suspect Harrison may end up spending time at the Chestnut Tree Cafe for his inability to goodthink, but his vignette is doubleplusgood regardless:

Arnold Skolnick’s Woodstock poster in LEGO by Noddy

Artist Arnold Skolnick’s famous poster for a certain “Aquarian Exposition,” billed as “3 Days of Peace & Music,” came to be so closely identified with Woodstock that many people can’t think of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, or The Grateful Dead up on that stage without thinking about Skolnick’s dove perched on a guitar.

Noddy/V1 recreates this iconic poster in LEGO:

Via Klocki.

Wilson’s ATVs evoke deep feelings of nostalgia

“Simplicity” is a word you’ve heard me say a lot here on The Brothers Brick, at least in part because simple creations evoke those nostalgic feelings of sitting on the floor as a 10-year-old and throwing together a bunch of pieces into something so cool you keep it together for years. (I still have a really big gun I built more than 20 years ago lying around in one of my minifig boxes, just because it makes me smile.)

That’s why I love the ATVs that reader Wilson built, in varying configurations:

Click the pic for the full gallery on Wilson’s site, ThinkingBricks.com.

Team Fortress 2 Sentry gun in LEGO by Steve Barker

We were certainly impressed with Brendan Mauro’s Team Fortress 2 minifigs, but Steve Barker rightly says of his Sentry gun (also inspired by Team Fortress 2), “I think I am more proud of this MOC [my own creation] than any of my others so far.”

Justifiably so, Steve, justifiably so!

Via Kotaku, with a hat tip to many readers, including Peter and Jack.

MINDSTORMS NXT Rubik’s Cube solver by Hans Andersson

Hans Andersson’s Tilted Twister is a Rubik’s Cube solver built from only parts available in the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT retail set. Here’s what Hans says:

An ultrasonic sensor detects its presence and starts to read the colors of the cube faces using a light sensor. The robot turns and tilts the cube in order to read all the faces of the cube. It then calculates a solution and executes the moves by turning, tilting and twisting the cube.

Check out the video of Hans’ MINDSTORMS Rubik’s Cube solver here:

If you want to build your own Rubik’s Cube solver, you can check out Hans’ instructions, executables, and source code on his Web site.

And don’t miss the MINDSTORMS NXT Rubik’s Cube solver we featured a year ago, by Daniele Benedettelli.

Thanks for the tip, Clay!

It’s a brand new day for Dr. Horrible

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity, Firefly, and now Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog — everything that Joss Whedon touches turns to gold.

Here’s my take on a scene from Act II of Dr. Horrible:

Go watch all three episodes for yourself on DrHorrible.com (before the end of the day today, though — they’ll be gone after midnight, July 20).

UPDATE: For those of you who missed the free viewing, you can download all three episodes of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog from the Music Store:

LEGO creations inspired by Joss Whedon previously featured on The Brothers Brick:

PLUG members build LEGO underwater

Fernando Correia of TechnicBRICKs and his fellow PLUG members got together recently and did something that I believe has never been done before: They donned scuba or snorkel gear and built LEGO sets underwater. “Okay,” you say, “I did that once at my grandma’s place in Orlando.”

Fine, but did you build the set underwater while it was still in the bag?! Hmm? Hmm? Did you? I think not.

Only slightly less impressive is Fernando building 8418 Mini Loader with full scuba gear on — though not in the original polybag:

(Thanks for the tip, Roger!)

Wait. Who exactly let Keith in?

I’m extremely pleased to announce that Keith Goldman has joined The Brothers Brick as our resident Columnist.

Keith is one of those LEGO fans of near-mythical proportions. Having met Keith in person, I can report that he stands nine feet four inches tall (that’s twelve meters for you Canadians), and is able to levitate his entire LEGO collection with his mind. Despite his telekinetic abilities, Keith has four arms (six metric). To fit in better with mere mortals, Keith is able to change size and shape at will.

Here’s a photo of Keith (center) with his coterie of adherents, better known as KeithLUG — yes, the man has his own LEGO Users Group:

Keith is perhaps best known for his bloated dioramas, including The Omicron Weekend, built with one third of all LEGO bricks in the Western Hemisphere by a division from the US Army Corp of Engineers over the course of a six month period. Naturally, Keith directed the troops remotely with his mind.

Keith is also a LEGO Ambassador from 2008 until whenever he feels like it, bringing order to the LEGOverse (and MOCPages in particular).

As a Columnist for The Brothers Brick, Keith will apply his “oratorical tradition of uninhibited or unbridled commentary” to semi-regular editorials on LEGO-related topics. Hey may also deign to grace us with his own creations from time to time.

Without further ado, please welcome Keith Goldman to The Brothers Brick!

Dekotora by Nathan Proudlove

20+ years ago in Japan, my brother and I stared in amazement every time we saw a dekotora (from “decorated truck”). Of course, like their teamsters brethren here in the States, the Japanese truckers who drove these “art trucks” weren’t always the most savory of characters. Today, dekotora are apparently more popular than ever. There’s even a video game for Nintendo Wii.

Nathan Proudlove‘s entry for the LUGNuts Haulin’ Ass build challenge is an amazingly accurate LEGO rendition of these trucks from my childhood:

Like the trucks that inspired him, Nathan’s truck also looks great all lit up in the dark:

Remyth gets into a bit of a skirmish

The last time we blogged Thomas Wunz, I noted his castle-building skills, observing that he improves with each new diorama.

For his latest, Thomas applies these skills to ApocaLEGO in a scene titled “Clash”:

The architecture is great, and the scene has all the elements of good post-apocalyptic LEGO (including the requisite telephone pole), but what floored me was this photo:

That’s a white car door that Thomas is using as a bandage being unwrapped. That right there is pure genius.