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.
Unsurprisingly, LEGO is going all out promoting The LEGO Ninjago Movie, which made $20.4 million in its first weekend (compare to $53 million for The LEGO Batman Movie earlier this year or the original LEGO Movie at $69 million). Following quickly on the heels of the newly revealed Ninjago Movie wave 2 set images, LEGO has released a pair of BrickHeadz characters from the movie, 41487 Lloyd and 41487 Master Wu. Both sets, which will only be available through the end of 2017, retail for $9.99 US/$12.99 CAD and are available in LEGO Stores and online already.
Master Wu is built from 89 pieces, and features his straw hat, kimono, and walking stick. Master Wu’s eyes and cloak toggles are printed.
Lloyd includes 102 pieces, with printed elements for his eyes, headband, and ninja gi.
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With several official LEGO Technic sets over the years (most recently the 42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure), LEGO motorcycles are a frequent subject among custom model builders, but none in the last year or two have quite captured my attention like this fantastic 1957 Harley-Davidson Sportster XL built by Taiwanese LEGO fan Maxime Cheng.
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The Paleolithic era wasn’t just painting mammoths on cave walls and running screaming from saber-toothed tigers and onrushing glaciers. Inspired by the book Barna Hedenhös by Bertil Almqvist, Swedish builder Sarah demonstrates that it was also important to take time for yourself — to relax and have a good time. The wooden table tennis setup with wooden sticks for the net is adorable, though I question where a pair of Cro-Magnon people got metal frying pans for their paddles. I’m betting it was Doctor Who…
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Not all great LEGO spaceships need to be colored variations of “realistic” gray, nor must they be actual ships in space. Master of motorized LEGO builds mahjqa has built a jarringly beautiful planetary exploitation crawler or “landship” named Khagaan, which has two smaller, fully motorized rovers to gather resources and space junk. The main vehicle is 43 inches long (109 cm), weighs 20 pounds (9 kg), and the builder says he used 25,000 LEGO pieces to create it.
It’s not often that we’re fooled into thinking that a LEGO video is a render rather than the real thing — it’s more frequently the other way around — but watch through to the end of mahjqa’s video to see behind-the-scenes footage proving that all but the background and dust are practical effects (the real-live feline interloper proves it).
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When LEGO sends The Brothers Brick an early copy of a LEGO set to review, receiving it a few days before it’s widely available is generally not a problem. We just spend a couple evenings building, photographing, and writing up the review — no big deal. But when the new 75192 Ultimate Collector’s Millennium Falcon lands with a resounding “thump!” on our doorstep two days before it’s available to LEGO VIP Program members, that’s a bit of a different story. TBB Senior Editor Chris Malloy and I have spent literally every spare moment since last Monday (a week and a half ago) slaving at the brick to bring you our hands-on review of the largest LEGO set ever released.
The new UCS Millennium Falcon includes 7,541 pieces with 10 minifigs, and costs USD 799.99. That obviously makes it the most-expensive LEGO set ever released, and we’ll address the price later in the review.
Fair warning up front that this review will be as much about the subjective build experience and our Gestalt perspective on the completed model as it will be about details like parts, minifigs, and building techniques. We expect that many of our readers will not be able to afford an $800 set, and we want to give you as much vicarious insight as possible into the end-to-end experience. We’ll also do our best to compare this set with the earlier 10179 UCS Millennium Falcon from 2007.
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.
Just like the release of the LEGO Star Wars sets from The Force Awakens in September ahead of the movie’s release in December, LEGO has released their sets from The Last Jedi several months in advance. We’ll be digging into the sets over the coming weeks, starting today with 75187 BB-8.
LEGO BB-8 includes 1,106 pieces and retails for $99.99 in the US (with different prices elsewhere).
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One of my favorite video games of all time is Final Fantasy VII, released more than 20 years ago on the Sony PlayStation console. Such iconic characters must inevitably undergo the BrickHeadz treatment, which works very well for the anime styling of character designer Tetsuya Nomura. LEGO builder Ben Fong has captured the look of the two antagonists Cloud Strife and Sephiroth as they’re depicted in the 2005 film Final Fantasy: Advent Children.
Cloud wields his enormous Buster Sword, and Ben has even included the stud in Cloud’s left ear.
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.
The LEGO Ninjago Movie hits theaters in a few weeks, on September 22, and we’re continuing our reviews of the LEGO sets released to support the movie. The movie tie-in line includes a number of mecha, with 70615 Fire Mech coming in at 944 pieces and 6 minifigs at $69.99.
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.
The new 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon has been one of the worst-kept secrets in LEGO’s history, with numerous teasers and leaks over the past several months. However, while the set’s existence may not be a surprise, we finally have all of the official details straight from LEGO HQ. The new UCS Falcon will include 10 minifigs, and clocks in at a whopping 7,541 pieces, comparable to the massive 7,500-piece LEGO Falcon built by Swiss LEGO fan Hannes Tscharner. This makes the new Falcon the largest LEGO set ever released. The set will hit stores on October 1st for $799.99, and will be available early for VIP members beginning Sept. 14.
LEGO is sending The Brothers Brick an early copy of the set to review, so check back soon for our full review of this enormous new set.
Back in 2007, I attended BrickFest PDX in Portland, Oregon, where LEGO Master Builder Erik Varszegi unveiled the original 10179 UCS Millennium Falcon. The original UCS Falcon was built from 5,197 pieces. So, where do those extra 2,500 pieces go? First, the exterior is considerably more detailed, with a lot more tiles taking the place of plates, along with many more rounded pieces that weren’t available in 2007, including a new 4×4 quarter circle tile.
Second, confirming the speculation among LEGO Star Wars fans, the set also has several interior sections.
And finally, another reason the part count is higher is that several details can be swapped out to turn the Classic Trilogy Falcon into the Episode VII/Episode VIII Falcon, with a square sensor dish and different details on the front of the mandibles.
The designer video with set designer Hans and graphic designer Maddy showcases many of the set’s play features and design details, and is definitely worth a watch.
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The Duesenberg Motors Company was founded in 1913 by two German-born American brothers in Minnesota. They specialized in race cars and ultra-luxery cars — when a Ford Model A Town Car cost just $1,200, a Duesenberg might cost $15,000 (over $270,000 today). These cars were not for the average Depression era family! Dennis Glaasker has successfully captured the luxury and craftsmanship of these amazing cars with another stellar LEGO vehicle, full of custom chrome details and working features.
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The oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo is Sensō-ji, founded in 645 AD and dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. Taiwanese builder ZiO Chao, whose massive SHIELD Helicarrier we featured last year, has been building travel themed LEGO mosaics over the last few months, and his latest is the iconic “Thunder Gate” at Sensō-ji. Beyond the gate, a street of shops leads up to the temple itself, and ZiO has captured the roofs of the shops using forced perspective.
While not quite as intricate a LEGO build, ZiO has also built the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing. I love the beautiful simplicity of the yellow roof and red columns against a clear, blue sky.
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LEGO builders have been inspired for years by the antigravity racers in the 1995 PlayStation game Wipeout. Marius Herrmann demonstrates his mastery of yet another LEGO genre with a trio of racers, building on his perfect Bugatti Veyron and Thunderjaw from Horizon Zero Dawn. All three use custom decals and are presented on really cool stands, begging for space on any video game geek’s desk.
The first anti-grav racer incorporates harsh angles with detailing from red leaves.
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.
