Back in the 80’s as a teenager in Japan, one of the biggest doses of American pop culture I got was Miami Vice. I’m not sure Ryan Link — whose LEGO mosaics of Ferraris we featured last year — whether Don Johnson’s car was Ryan’s inspiration for this sleek, angular Ferrari Testarossa, but it’s certainly a spectacular LEGO rendition of an iconic supercar.
See more photos of this great LEGO Ferrari
Those of us who attended a LEGO club meeting here in Seattle this past weekend got to see Taylor Walker wield his enormous LEGO Darksaber inspired by Sabine Wren’s new weapon in Star Wars Rebels. Despite the brick-thin blade, the life-size weapon is incredibly sturdy, reinforced by subtly integrated Technic beams in the blade’s black core.
While the blade and its sturdiness are certainly impressive, the handle has a great design, with geometric striping, an angled hilt, and small gold details.
Alternate X-wings and TIE Fighters certainly aren’t unusual among custom LEGO Star Wars creations, but this pair of starfighters by Christian Lintan looks like it could have been built from the all-white LEGO Architecture Studio set, though of course many of the parts don’t come in that set. Despite the parts limitations, Christian has achieved great shaping, particularly on the X-wing — the sides of the nose, the engines, and even the flash suppressors on the S-foil laser cannons are all unique design solutions, not just a recolor of an official set.
Christian builds almost exclusively in white, and while that might sound boring on paper, I was mesmerized by his photostream on Flickr (and he also has an Instagram). Check it out!
The first words in my review of The LEGO Movie three years ago were “I’ll admit it: I had very low expectations for The LEGO Movie.” But as we’ve all discovered since then, everything was awesome! Nevertheless, I attended a press screening this evening of The LEGO Batman Movie with fairly moderate expectations, not expecting a miracle twice.
While I would be hard-pressed to call The LEGO Batman Movie miraculous, much of the movie does deliver on expectations set by its predecessor, from its constant stream of sight gags and totally unexpected cameos to the largely brick-built world that the minifigs inhabit.
Read the full review of The LEGO Batman Movie
With a pivotal role in Rogue One supported by an official 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter LEGO set, it’s not surprising that LEGO builders have embraced the newest addition to the Star Wars fleet with custom LEGO U-wings like the one from Joshua Brooks. Taking things to the next level with his very first LEGO model posted on Flickr, Mirko Soppelsa has built a huge UCS-scale U-wing with smooth lines, great detail, and lots of functionality.
See more photos of this custom UCS U-wing
We’ve just completed the drawing for our giveaway of the LEGO Death Star. Congratulations to reader Bobby in New York! More than 12,000 people entered the contest, so the Force must be very strong indeed with this one.
Since we announced the giveaway a month ago to celebrate 100,000 fans on our Facebook page, TBB’s readership has continued to grow, and we’re now pushing 150,000 already. It’s you our readers who motivate us to bring you the best LEGO creations, news, and reviews from across the web, so look for more giveaways like this in the future as we give back and say thanks.
Congrats again to Bobby!
As I mentioned in my review of the LEGO Star Wars 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter set released ahead of Rogue One, I wasn’t a big fan of the new vehicle until I saw it in action in the movie. But seeing it dropping Rebel commandos onto the beaches of Scarif and provide close air support like a UH-1 “Huey” helicopter gunship during Vietnam certainly changed my perspective on the ungainly looking Rebel vehicle. Joshua Brooks has created an excellent custom version of the U-wing, and set it against the weathered walls of a hangar inside a Massassi temple on Yavin IV.
As a team of Rebel commandos boards the U-wing, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor head for the stolen Imperial cargo shuttle.
See more of this great LEGO Star Wars vehicle
The volcanic eruption in 1883 that destroyed most of the island of Krakatoa was so violent that instruments recorded the blast wave traveling around and around the world several times. Scientists estimate that anybody within 10 miles would have been deafened immediately. Emil Lidé captures this catastrophic natural disaster in LEGO with a beautiful microscale diorama. A bright blue sea and tropical jungle encircle the doomed peak, while flames erupt from the top of the mountain.
Emil demonstrated his mastery of miniature LEGO landscaping with the LEGO tree instructions we featured a few months ago, and these even tinier trees look fantastic.
Tiny Turbos were a series of 4-wide vehicles LEGO released between 2005 and 2011, but they have lived on as a popular style of custom LEGO creation. Jonas Obermaier has been building some great custom Tiny Turbos, and this latest showcases some great details, from the overpowered engine to the large machine gun and spiky rear wheels — a perfect vehicle to raid the Bullet Farm. The presentation is also excellent, with stunted sticks surrounding a warning sign on an otherwise blank tan base.
If you like Jonas’s post-apocalyptic truck, we expect you’ll love his LEGO Red Rocket truck stop from Fallout 4.
As we announced just a few weeks ago, The Brothers Brick is giving away one copy of the massive LEGO Star Wars set 75159 Death Star. Enter to win from this link, or by clicking the Contests section on our Facebook page. The winner will also receive an awesome TBB logo T-shirt, stickers, and some really sweet A. Lemur buttons.
Earlier this week we brought you the news about the newly unveiled LEGO Boost robotics system, an entry-level System-based building and coding toolkit designed to make it easier for kids to get into programming and robotics. We also think LEGO Boost has the potential to bring the more complex creations of adult LEGO builders to life, so we’ve been curious to learn more. I’m in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), so I was able to swing by the LEGO booth to talk tech with LEGO Boost engineers and designers.
That’s me on the left, with Lasse Lauesen, the lead computer engineer on the Boost project. LEGO Boost is being designed and developed by the same team behind LEGO Mindstorms, with collaboration from Playthemes designers like lead designer Simon Kent and well-known fan builder turned LEGO designer Carl Merriam.
What struck me first about all the LEGO Boost models on the tables at CES was the color scheme. The primary color scheme of dark azure (the same color as the gorgeous 10252 Volkswagen Beetle) contrasts beautifully with the orange and white, with plenty of bricks also in black and greys. Designer Simon Kent told me that the team chose these colors very consciously as a gender-neutral palette. And I agree — it’s a fairly strong departure from the aggressive black, red, and white of Mindstorms EV3, without swinging the pendulum all the way toward “baby” colors.
Read our full hands-on coverage from CES
One of the new vehicles in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and released as a LEGO Star Wars set is 75154 TIE Striker, which includes 543 pieces with 4 minifigs for $69.99.
With Rogue One in theaters for more than two weeks now, our review will reference spoilers. If you haven’t seen it yet, do so — the movie is excellent — and then come back and read our full review of the LEGO set.
See the full review. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!