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)

A hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Following quickly on the tiny heels of the excellent microscale Rivendell, Austrian LEGO builder Patrick B. has crafted the Hill from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, also in microscale. Patrick’s tiny scene is complete with Bag End under a large tree and Bagshot Row beneath. Each of the round doors has a unique color, and the path leads across a bridge to the Green Dragon Inn, which Patrick also built in minifig-scale recently. I particularly love the fences, but don’t miss the tiny boat built from a paper minifig hat.

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LEGO Ideas 21310 Old Fishing Store [Review]

While everybody is understandably excited about the massive new Ninjago City set, September 1st also brings us the latest LEGO Ideas set, 21310 Old Fishing Store. The set includes 2,049 pieces and four minifigures for a retail price of $149.99 in the US.

The Brothers Brick interviewed the design team when we visited LEGO headquarters back in May, with the first announcement of the set’s approval last October, so read on to find out if this fan-designed set was worth the wait.

Read the full review of LEGO Ideas 21310 Old Fishing Store

The LEGO Ninjago Movie 70620 Ninjago City, 3rd largest set of all time, now available for LEGO VIP members [News]

Following fast on the heels of our hands-on review of 70620 Ninjago City, the third-largest LEGO set of all time is now available to order from the LEGO Shop online. The set includes 4,867 pieces and 19 minifigures (by our count), and retails for $299.99 in the United States.

The set will be available more broadly starting on September 1st, but is currently available only to LEGO VIP Program members. Of course, you can just sign up for a VIP membership for free, so that means the set is available to everyone now, assuming you’re ready and able to cough up the three hundred bucks for it. We think it’s totally worth it.

70620 Ninjago City joins 10258 London Bus, LEGO Boost, and the rest of the LEGO Ninjago Movie sets released on August 1st.

Chase on the Lothal Highway

Talented LEGO Star Wars builder Inthert has been dabbling with circular dioramas over the last few months, and his latest depicts a key scene in Star Wars Rebels when the crew of the Ghost speed out of town after stealing Imperial munitions. The base mixes vertically oriented cheese slopes with embedded 1×2 slopes, as well as a couple of different scales — a trio of microscale vehicles with a tiny but perfect “nano-scale” communications tower.

What I really love about this little diorama, though, is the amazing exploding TIE fighter.

It’s too bad she won’t live! But then again, who does?

While it’s hard to surpass Tyler’s LEGO Blade Runner spinner police hover-car, many great LEGO builders continue to take up the challenge, and we can all enjoy the results. The latest challenger is Calin, who achieves a smooth, virtually stud-free look with some great parts usage — just check out the baseball cap on the front “wheel.”

With the new Blade Runner 2049 due out in just a couple of months, it’s also great to see LEGO creations inspired by the next movie. Calin has built a small-scale version of the police hover-car, with its more angular lines.

Summer comes to an abrupt and tragic end...

There are many ways in which summer can come to an end — going back to school, traveling to a different hemisphere, or — as Tokyo Tag Team demonstrates — as a result of an invasion by body-snatching, one-eyed aliens who sneak up from behind while you’re playing at the beach with a big green ball. The alien’s arms are fairly standard, but the dark tan pieces encircling the creature give it a fearsome, armored look, while the large Mixels eye gives the terrifying entity a comical appearance.

Watch the first teaser trailer for Brick MADNESS [Video]

Back in 2012, filmmaker Justin McAleece used Bricks by the Bay as a background to film scenes for his independent film Brick Madness. Five years later, the director has shared the first official teaser trailer for the mockumentary, which is scheduled to premiere publically in September.

Brick MADNESS teaser trailer from Blare Media on Vimeo.

One of the really cool real-life aspects of the movie is that Carl Merriam designed many of the models used by the actors in the movie back during filming, and now Carl works full-time as a set designer in Billund.

Soak up the sun next to this lovely green Volkswagen T3 Westfalia camper van

Back in 2011, LEGO introduced the 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van to its line of Creator vehicles (followed more recently by the lovely 10252 Volkswagen Beetle). Both these official sets are at a larger scale than LEGO’s own Miniland scale, which is the scale that TBB’s own Ralph Savelsberg frequently builds his cars and trucks in. Ralph’s latest vehicle is VW’s T3 Westfalia camper van, complete with a pop-up top for extra head room when you head inside after a long day of drinking cold beverages from a cooler while sitting in your lawn chair.

Ralph makes extensive use of hinged connections and 1×1 “cheese” slopes attached sideways to achieve subtle angles throughout the model, from the section below the windscreen to the shape of the van’s body underneath the sliding door. Naturally, the interior upholstery is a lovely checked pattern of orange and tan.

All aboard the Kintetsu Railway at Hyōtan-yama Station in Osaka

There’s a strong possibility that I’ll be traveling to Japan for work later this year, and I’ve spent the last couple of evenings revisiting childhood haunts via Google Maps and looking at rail connections to get from one end of the country to the other. This train station by Japanese builder Kaz Fuji was thus quite timely as I plan potential rail travel to places like Kyoto and Nara.

See more of these Japanese trains and the train station

Westminster Abbey, Saint Margaret’s, and the Palace of Westminster in tiny LEGO microscale

We’ve featured the marvelous structures of master LEGO architect Rocco Buttliere quite frequently here at The Brothers Brick, from downtown Chicago to his recent 12-foot Golden Gate Bridge. Rocco’s latest LEGO build captures the heart of the sprawling Westminster World Heritage Site in the City of London, centered (or centred, if you prefer) on Westminster Abbey, the Church of St Margaret, and the Palace of Westminster where the UK Parliament meets.

See more of this iconic London location

All aboard the workhorse of every port and harbor

Master LEGO shipwright Arjan Oude Kotte continues to impress with his latest watercraft, a highly detailed American harbor tug that would look at home on Elliot Bay here in Seattle or on the Hudson River in New York. A sliding door opens into the detailed wheelhouse, with an engine under the stack.

Arjan’s tugboat looks beautiful as a model displayed on a stand, but the lower hull is removable for inclusion in a display like this lovely harbor scene full of maritime charm.

Check out Arjan’s photoset on Flickr for more interior and breakdown shots.

Saw Gerrera’s guerrillas snatch some kyber crystals

The Jedha ambush scene in Rogue One has proven to be a popular subject for LEGO Star Wars builders, with some excellent scenes by builders such as Dunedain98 and Graham Gidman. Now, German builder Boba-1980 has built a rather substantial version of this pivotal scene, with uniquely “Star Wars-y” buildings surrounding the action in the square itself.

My favorite building is the one left of the arch with the balcony, populated by some ill-fated partisans. The builder has achieved the curve of the balconies by combining 1×1 round bricks with regular bricks.

There are realistic details throughout the diorama, including inset sections of walls that look like sections of plaster have flaked off in the ancient city.