Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is one of the main non-destructive techniques at the disposal of modern archaeologists. While Tyler Sky says that this crew of LEGO space scientists are on a geomorphology survey expedition, I like to imagine that they’re xenoarchaeologists hoping to discover buried alien civilizations. Built in realistic grey, the GPR vehicle evokes the retro-futuristic vibe of Classic Space LEGO, while the shape of the sensor array on the front appears to be eminently practical.
Every colorful rock band needs a colorful ride in which to clatter from gig to gig. There are few bands more colorful than this group of space rockers (though I miss my favorite green space man, who must have been relegated to be a roadie), imagined by the eccentric mind of Julius von Brunk, and Julius has built The Highway Stars an appropriately garish purple space jalopy.
While the band certainly provides an entertaining distraction, the real star here is their space car, The Astrosurfer, which has a detailed interior and even a brick-built engine under the hood.
Check out lots more groovy photos in Julius’ photoset on Flickr.
Holy haberdashery, Batman! The highly anticipated 76052 Batman Classic TV Series Batcave has just been released early for LEGO VIP Program members. If you’re not already a VIP member, signing up is free, and gives you access to sets like this early, as well as points you can redeem for future purchases from the LEGO Store (both online and in person).
The set includes 2,526 pieces with nine minifigs — Batman & Bruce Wayne, Robin & Dick Grayson, and Alfred, along with villains the Joker, Catwoman, the Riddler and the Penguin. The set retails for $269.99 in the US, $329.99 in Canada, and a variety of other prices elsewhere.
We’ll have a full review of this new set to share with you in the next couple of days.
You can support contests and giveaways like our Brick Bank giveaway on Facebook by clicking through from here to order your LEGO.
If you’re in Canada, use this link: 76052 Batman Classic TV Series Batcave
And if you’re in the UK, use this link: 76052 Batman Classic TV Series Batcave
One of our traditions for TBB contributors attending BrickCon every year is to enjoy inexpensive sushi at one of the two nearby revolving sushi (回転寿司) joints. If you’ve never been to a revolving sushi restaurant, you grab small plates of sushi from a conveyer built that moves around a counter that surrounds the prep area. It’s fun and delicious! Japanese builder Dr.Peisan has used LEGO Power Functions to motorize a revolving sushi restaurant.
Built on four 32×32 baseplates, the restaurant is full of funny scenes and interesting characters. There’s a group of aliens (the ultimate gaijin) tasting earth food, a reporter using a fake mic, Emmet from The LEGO Movie, and even BB-8. I expect the sumo wrestler to give the lucha libre guy a run for his money… I’m personally most impressed by the wide range of different nigiri, rolls, and desserts that roll by.
You can see lots more pictures on Flickr and the builder’s blog (in Japanese). You’ll also be able to see this in person in Kobe at Japan Brickfest 2016 in June.
The 2016 New York Toy Fair continues through tomorrow, but with the LEGO preview event we attended on Saturday morning, we’re ready to summarize our coverage here at The Brothers Brick. Our friends over at From Bricks to Bothans have also provided excellent coverage of all the licensed themes, so be sure to head over there and check out comprehensive coverage from them (with the event limited to just two hours, we missed a few things while trying to cover everything). Similarly, Joe Meno has also posted photos on Flickr.
The biggest news from Toy Fair was the official unveiling of 75098 Assault on Hoth.
Let’s just say that the reaction from the LEGO Star Wars fan community was … mixed, as illustrated by this useful diagram that’s been circulating on Facebook (we’re trying to dig up the original source — give him or her a shout-out in the comments if you know).
One item we haven’t covered yet is our demo video of the new Ghostbusters 3 Ecto-1.
Click through to see the rest of our Toy Fair 2016 coverage
Back in 2009, I wrote a lengthy post titled How to get featured on The Brothers Brick, in 3 easy steps. A lot has changed in 7 years, for both TBB itself and on the web more generally, and it’s time we shared how we go about finding and selecting what to highlight here on The Brothers Brick in 2016.
The “three easy steps” I outlined back then are still 100% true:
But it’s worth revisiting what we expect in terms of presentation and “findability.” I’ll also cover what we consider newsworthy, in case you have an event you’d like us to feature or a hot tip you’d like to share.
Click through to learn how to get your MOC, event, or news item featured!
Although we’ve already seen official photos of the LEGO sets from the Angry Birds movie, we had a chance to see them in person and play with one of the larger sets while at Toy Fair in NYC yesterday. All of the sets are scheduled for release in April 2016.
75825 Piggy Pirate Ship includes 620 pieces and will retail for $59.99.
You can see it in action in this video:
Click through to see more photos of LEGO Angry Birds
The LEGO Ninjago theme has had an odd release cycle this year, with sets available outside the US months in advance of the largest market for LEGO, and product details only available at the last minute — LEGO only provided final details of the March 2016 Ninjago sets earlier this week. So, with the caveat that not all details are available or 100% confirmed at this time, here’s what we know about upcoming LEGO Ninjago sets, as revealed at Toy Fair in New York this morning.
70592 Salvage M.E.C. (439 pieces)
See more 2016 LEGO Ninjago sets
Alongside the summer 2016 LEGO Star Wars sets LEGO unveiled at Toy Fair this morning in New York City, we bring you the next batch of LEGO Marvel Superheroes sets, scheduled for release in March and August.
Captain America: Civil War is scheduled for release in May, but LEGO will be releasing a number of new Captain America sets in March.
76047 Black Panther Pursuit (287 pieces at $29.99)
76050 Crossbones’ Hazard Heist (179 pieces at $19.99)
Click through to see all the 2016 LEGO Marvel sets
As often as we feature LEGO mecha here on The Brothers Brick (and make excuses for doing so), I’d really love to see more of the massive, kaiju-hunting Jaegers from Pacific Rim. A couple years ago, Jason Corlett built a monstrous LEGO Cherno Alpha at micro-fig scale (the tiny one-piece figures that come in LEGO games and sets like the Shield Helicarrier), and he’s just followed that up with the Australian Jaeger Striker Eureka.
Striker Eureka stands 2 feet 8 inches tall (81 cm) and 18 inches wide (46 cm), and is built from more than 5,000 LEGO pieces. Jason says he spent 86 hours on the build.
Click through for more of this massive LEGO Jaeger!
In advance of our coverage from New York Toy Fair this coming weekend, LEGO has provided us with some details missing from previous coverage of the 2016 Ninjago line, including full product descriptions, higher-res images, and confirmation of a March release date. When LEGO had sets like 70605 Misfortune’s Keep and 70603 Raid Zeppelin available in mid-December to send us for review, we were actually expecting a January release, but January has come and gone somewhat to our confusion, so it’s good to finally have confirmation of the real street date.
Final product descriptions follow each image below, but be sure to click through to Flickr and check out the first full-res images of the 2016 Ninjago sets.
70604 Tiger Widow Island (450 pieces at $49.99)
Mighty Dogshank is approaching carrying her huge anchor weapon. Fight back with Nya’s katana and drop coconuts on Dogshank from the tower and Sensei Wu’s hot air balloon. Watch out for Sqiffy’s pirate flyer and make the palm tree fall to knock him off the ladder. Hide out in the cave — and beware of the giant venomous spider roaming the island! Defeat the pirate invaders and free trapped Lloyd from the special Djinn Blade!
70602 Jay’s Elemental Dragon (350 pieces at $29.99)
Jump into the dragon’s saddle and grab the reins. Snap the jaws and adjust the head, wings, legs and tail for awesome battle poses. Dodge Cyren’s harpoon hook shooter and the pirate flyer’s six-shooting rapid shooter. Fire the spring-loaded shooters to take down the flyer and then release Nya from the Djinn Blade!
Click through for complete coverage of the March 2016 Ninjago sets
Today is Chinese New Year, celebrated around the world by people from many different countries. According to the Chinese Zodiac, this is now the Year of the Monkey, so LEGO builders have been posting a plethora of simian creations in honor of our cousins.
Many of the LEGO models feature Sun Wukong, the Monkey King hero of the Chinese epic Journey to the West (and its many adaptations for film and TV). Donna Liem puts the iconic hero astride a cloud in the sky.
Click through for more monkey madness!