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 mosaic of Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”

When Iain blogged Alanboar Cheung‘s timely sculpture of Alan Rickman earlier today, I was reminded that I’d also been intending to highlight his excellent LEGO mosaic of 19th-century Japanese woodblock artist Hokusai’s famous print of “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.” For several years when I lived in Yokohama, I had a similarly distant but much less dramatic view of Mount Fuji, which I particularly enjoyed during the winter when the mountain’s peak was capped with snow. Alanboar’s mosaic uses a “studs up” technique, stacking LEGO plates rather than attaching them “studs out” on a baseplate.

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75137 Carbon Freezing Chamber from Empire Strikes Back [Review]

We’ve been so focused on LEGO Star Wars sets from The Force Awakens that you’d think we’d forgotten there was an Original Trilogy thirty-odd years ago (I deny the existence of any Prequel Trilogy). For their January 2016 assortment, LEGO hasn’t neglected Episodes IV, V, and VI though. Although still a challenge to find here in North America, LEGO sent us a copy of 75137 Carbon Freezing Chamber from The Empire Strikes Back and I’m pleased to bring you this review.

The set includes 231 pieces and three minifigs. Once available, we expect this set to retail for around $30 in the US (it’s £19.99/29.99€ in Europe).

As we noted when the first official pictures of January 2016 LEGO Star Wars sets appeared back in December, the interior of Cloud City on Bespin hasn’t been depicted in a LEGO set since the rare 10123 Cloud City was released in 2003.

Click through for the full review

LEGO Star Wars 75133 Rebel Alliance Battle Pack [Review]

Although there still seems to be a supply chain issue here in North America, where new 2016 LEGO sets are rather hard to come by, our friends in Billund have sent us another batch of sets that we’ll be reviewing here on The Brothers Brick over the next week or two. LEGO continues to expand its range of minifig-centric Battle Pack sets with 75133 Rebel Alliance Battle Pack, alongside the 75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack I reviewed over the weekend. The set has 101 pieces, including 4 minifigs, with a price of $12.99.

Click through to read the full review

CHIPS – Central Headquarters Imperial Pursuit Squad

In a rather unexpected conceptual mashup, SPARKART! has titled his pair of Imperial Scout Troopers on Endor “CHIPS,” or the “Central Headquarters Imperial Pursuit Squad.” Actual minifigs are wildly out of proportion, so their massive heads are put to good use in these large-scale figures astride nicely detailed scout speeders.

SPARKART!’s Star Wars twist on the American TV show that aired from 1977-1983 (the same years during which the Original Trilogy was released) is Imperial propaganda, of course, with a rather amusing backstory:

CHIPS followed reel-life troopers Larwil Jonbak (TB-1337) and Eriest Frapon (TB-1983) through several tours of duty throughout the Empire and Outer Rim territories. The series ended with a cliff-hanger; On the forest moon of Endor, the troopers were captured by the Rebellion. As vile terrorist human Rebels looked on and laughed, our heroes were readied to be cooked alive by the Ewoks…

Slayn & Korpil A/SF-02 B-wing assault starfighter

Our friends over at FBTB are hosting a “Star Wars Evolved” contest inspired by the upgraded T-70 X-wings in The Force Awakens. The premise of the contest asks the question, “What would other Star Wars vehicles look like 30 years later?” xiei22 answers the question for the B-wing with this chunky blue and white beauty.

I’m a sucker for schematics, so here’s a nice graphic explaining the enhancements. The original B-wing packed the punch of a capital ship, so the extra guns and rotating turrets are a particularly lethal upgrade.

(The builder doesn’t specify the model number for his B-wing, but I’ve taken the liberty of incrementing it, just like the Incom T-65 X-wing became the T-70.)

Astrid the Vanquisher conquers all

Talented Bionicle builder Djordje strikes again with another wonderful character, as always featuring unusual parts usage. For “Astrid the Vanquisher” Djordje has included an inside-out tent from the Lone Ranger sets as the Valkyrie’s skirt. Similarly, her shoulders are built from “big-fig” masks from the colorful Knights Kingdom series.

Interview with Hannes Tscharner, builder of 7,500-piece Millennium Falcon from The Force Awakens

When I first saw the amazingly detailed 7,500-piece Millennium Falcon the day after Christmas, I knew right away that it deserved worldwide attention. The model was built by someone who went by the screen name “Marshal Banana“, whom I recognized as the builder who’d created the wonderful 10,000-piece Jawa Sandcrawler back in 2011. Less than two days after I’d posted the Falcon, my prediction came true and the Falcon was everywhere, from “geek” sites like Kotaku and GeekWire to major news outlets like Time Magazine and USA Today. But we still knew almost nothing about this talented builder.

Now that he’s back from a well-deserved holiday, I’m pleased to bring our readers this in-depth interview with Hannes Tscharner, builder of both the Falcon and Sandcrawler.

Hannes shares a bit about himself, along with tips on photographing LEGO models and editing the photos for presentation. We also learn how he organizes his collection, what he uses to add lighting to his models, and more.

Click through for our interview with the builder of the 7,500-piece Millennium Falcon!

75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack [Review]

As part of their January 2016 assortment, LEGO released a number of new minifig-centered battle pack sets as army builders for The Force Awakens, including 75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack. The set has 112 pieces, including 4 minifigs, with a price of $12.99.

There really aren’t spoilers to worry about with this review. Still, I’ve managed to write what are probably far too many words for such a small set like this, so hit the jump.

Click through to see the full review

LEGO Star Wars 75139 Battle on Takodana from the Force Awakens [Review]

The January 2016 LEGO sets continue to arrive on our doorstep, so we continue our flurry of new set reviews with 75139 Battle on Takodana. This new set from The Force Awakens was released on January 1st and retails for $59.99.

As I did when reviewing 75140 Resistance Troop Transporter and other recent LEGO Star Wars sets, I’ll bury the full review under the jump, but I WILL be referencing spoilers in this review. If you’re reading a LEGO Star Wars set review about a set from The Force Awakens nearly three weeks after the movie was released, I think it’s safe to assume you’ve seen the move.

If not, SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Click through for the full review!

Beware the Greye Cliff Fortress!

W. Navarre ended the year with a flurry of activity aimed at the 13th Colossal Castle Contest and might have a shot at the Master Builder prize with the breadth and variety of his entries. My personal favorite is one of his last, this foreboding fortress built into a cliff that appears to be spewing lava!

In addition to the fearsome skull on the front, the fortress has an interior. Behind the door is a working portcullis.

LEGO Dimensions January 2016 Fun Packs 50% off from Amazon [News]

Amazon.com has just discounted the January 2016 assortment of LEGO Dimensions Fun Packs from $15 to $7.50, or 50% off. Pick them up now if you haven’t preordered them already (and the discount should also apply even if you have, thanks to their pre-order price guarantee). Fun Packs work on all platforms.

The Back to the Future Doc Brown Fun Pack includes Doc Brown and a Time Traveling Train from Back to the Future III.

Click through to see more LEGO Dimensions deals

The University of Chicago Lab Schools’ Gordon Parks Arts Hall in LEGO

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools is a private school affiliated with its namesake. Donors recently provided funding for a new arts wing designed by architects FGM and Valerio Dewalt Train. As a thank you gift to the donors (Mellody Hobson and her husband George Lucas), the school commissioned alumnus and faculty member Dave Kaleta to build a LEGO replica of the new facility.

Since the gift was planned to coincide with completion of the building, Dave was given access to blueprints and even the building site itself. Even though the gift was intended for the Lucas household, Dave tells me that he resisted requests to include a minifig Yoda somewhere in the display, since the donors themselves had insisted that the new building be named in honor of American photographer Gordon Parks (1912-2006).

See more photos in Dave’s album on Flickr, along with his build notes and description of key architectural details.

About Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)

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