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)

Pugs + Exo Suits is TOTALLY A THING!

Remember how I suggested that you should take a picture of your pug with your LEGO Exo Suit? Well, that is now TOTALLY AN ACTUAL THING!

Where there’s a meme, a LEGO version by our own dear Iain is not far behind! Here’s a micro-LEGO Mr. Oliver Twist the Pug with a micro-LEGO LEGO Exo Suit! So meta…

Cooper‘s adorable pug Quatchi takes a taste of the Exo Suit’s Communication Link.

Keep those pug + Exo Suit photos coming, dear readers! For those with a LEGO Exo Suit set, all you need is a pug. Frustratingly, pugs may be back ordered.

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.

Have a pretzel at the Buried Barrel Tavern

Letranger Absurde combines lots of homy details with excellent landscaping in this little scene that evokes an underground tavern. The One Ring and two sai accessories as the handle and ironwork on the door are a really great parts usage.

BrickCon 2014 call for presentations [News]

If you’re planning on attending BrickCon 2014 in a couple of months, why not lead a panel discussion or share some knowledge? BrickCon is looking for presentations and speakers.

Details below…

BrickCon still has slots open for presentations. Please submit your proposals to Thomas Garrison [tws AT morfydd DOT net] as soon as possible.

Most BrickCon sessions default to “classroom”-type slots for of up to 50 minutes in rooms that can accommodate up to forty people, but time, room configuration, and space are flexible—just let us know. Computers with projectors are available in all session rooms (please see more below).

Speakers are eligible for comped registration. See
http://brickcon.org/builders/about/request-for-presenters/?builder=true
For this to happen your proposal must be accepted prior to registering, so send it in now.

Besides sessions, activities already planned are listed at
http://brickcon.org/builders/schedule/activities/?builder=true
but more are possible.

For preparation and scheduling reasons, all proposals must be received andcomplete by September 7. This includes PowerPoint-type slides, which must be transmitted to our A/V department by that date. Outside computers or slides/pictures not previously sent to the A/V department will not be permitted. Sooner is better!

RIP Robin Williams – LEGO tributes

There isn’t a whole lot we can add to all the outpouring of love and grief over the last couple of days in the wake of the actor Robin Williams’ death. His humor and creativity remain inspiring to many of us, and the LEGO building community began showing their appreciation almost immediately.

Dave Shaddix created this beautiful and haunting mosaic in just two days.

Meanwhile, InbBlotPhoto posted this group of minifigs inspired by Robin Williams’ many memorable roles.

LEGO Creator holiday set 10245 Santa’s Workshop unveiled at Bricks by the Bay [News]

While Josh, Caylin, Ian, and I were all off having a little TBB BBQ last night (thus the delay, sorry readers), 10245 Santa’s Workshop was unveiled at Bricks by the Bay in California.

Designed by Marcos Bessa (another pug lover, by the way), Santa’s Workshop includes 883 pieces and 6 minifigs, and will retail for $70 in the US. The set features the workshop itself, Santa and Mrs. Claus, elves, a sleigh with brick-built reindeer, and toy-making machinery. 10245 Santa’s Workshop will be out this October.

See more photos in our Flickr photoset. Here’s the full press release from LEGO:

10245 Santa’s Workshop

Ages 12+ | 883 Pieces

US $69.99 – CA $89.99 – AU $119.99 – DE 69.99€ – UK £59.99 – DK 649.00 DKK
*Euro pricing varies by country. Please visit shop.LEGO.com for regional pricing.

Have festive family fun building Santa’s Workshop!

Enjoy the magic of Christmas with Santa’s Workshop, a festive addition to the LEGO® Winter Village Series! Gather your family around the Christmas tree to build this enchanting winter wonderland. Help the elves make the toys, feed the reindeer and help Santa load up his magical sleigh. Santa’s wife has baked cookies and the clock tower shows it’s nearly time for Santa to deliver the presents—all at the most wonderful time of the year! Includes 6 minifigures: Santa with red gift sack, Mrs. Claus with cookie tray and 4 elves with pointy ears and hats.

The enchanting LEGO® Creator Santa’s Workshop model is full of festive magic and includes a beautiful sleigh, reindeer and a Christmas tree.

Includes 6 minifigures: Santa with red gift sack, Mrs. Claus with cookie tray and 4 elves with pointy ears and hats

Features beautiful sleigh with red and gold detail and dark green padding, 4 reindeer and a baby reindeer, building with detailed interior, clock tower and Christmas tree

Building features stained glass window and Christmas lights on roof

Accessories include: 4 wrapped presents in assorted sizes and 4 toys including a blue classic spaceship, yellow car and a pink wand

Also includes North Pole sign, Santa’s Workshop sign and a summer holiday picture of Santa and his wife

Gather everyone around the Christmas tree!

Help Santa take off in his sleigh!

Family dual-building experience: includes separate brick sets with instructions for adults and children aged 8 and over

Santa’s Workshop measures over 6” (16cm) high, 3” (8cm) deep and 9” (24cm) wide

Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning

October 2014 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone

And here’s the designer video:

One does not simply fly into Mordor

There’s been an argument circulating recently on the web that Gandalf’s original plan to get the One Ring into Mordor was via Air Eagle. It’s an interesting textual analysis, though unsupported by Tolkien’s copious notes and background information. The latest hilarious video by Brotherhood Workshop illustrates the counter-argument.

The video features the massive Barad-dûr by Kevin Walter that we featured a few years ago.

Fear not! The LEGO Exo Suit is not a limited run [News]

It’s been about a week since LEGO released the new Exo Suit, and there’s been quite a lot of rumor and conjecture circulating about how many will be available, and whether backorders placed after last Thursday night will be fulfilled. I had a conference call with LEGO staff in Enfield and Billund yesterday, and they all reassured me that the “limited run” rumors (especially the rumored number of “10,000”) are completely false.

If LEGO’s own word isn’t enough, here’s Oliver Twist the Pug to inspire confidence.

We’ll be closing down the LEGO Exo Suit raffle next Friday morning so that we can ship out the set in a timely manner, so head on over to that post and leave a comment if you want to win one.

But the important update here is that our raffle isn’t the only way for you to get an Exo Suit — go ahead and order your Exo Suits (and click through from The Brothers Brick if you’d like to support what we do), and LEGO will fulfill those orders once their supply chain catches up with this initial burst of demand. The LEGO Shop online currently lists the set as either “Temporarily Out of Stock” or “Sold Out”, but this is more of a website status issue than a predictor of future availability. Once they become available on each site, LEGO reassures me that you can go ahead and order them with confidence:

United States: LEGO Ideas Exo Suit
Canada: LEGO Ideas Exo Suit
United Kingdom: LEGO Ideas Exo Suit

And since I’ve included a photo of my pug Ollie with my own Exo Suit that arrived last Thursday, let’s totally make pugs + Exo Suits a meme. Here’s a completely different pug who is also named Oliver (!!!) with an Exo Suit from Ilia. Post those pug + Exo Suit photos and share them here in the comments, on Facebook, and on Twitter! Bonus points if your pug is also named Oliver.

Zaldrīzes rises

It’s time for some awesome Bionicle. Behold the great green dragon Zaldrīzes by Mitch (Gamma-Raay). He looks like he’s about to leap up into the air and swoop off with a roar.

I like the rear shot above because it showcases the dragon’s white spine, the Ninjago sails, and the sawtoothed tail so well, but the front view of Zaldrīzes is no less formidable. The light blue fringe on the skull also ties in beautifully with the tip of the dragon’s tail.

While we’re at it, Mitch also proves that you can build a pretty awesome spaceship from Bionicle, too! Annapurna is from last year’s SHIPtember (which I’m sure we’ll be hearing about quite a lot over the next couple of months).

Did you miss out on ordering an Exo Suit?

Last Thursday night, LEGO.com was so overloaded that many of us weren’t able to get through to order the new LEGO Ideas Exo Suit. My own order got stuck, but the good people at LEGO unstuck it without my even having to call them. Nice!

The experience was memorable enough for Rob D. (agaethon29) that he commemorated it with this little scene.

And in case you missed it, we really are giving away a copy of the set, lightly customized by our own talented Simon (your choice of his custom model or the set’s disassembled parts). Head on over and leave a comment to enter the raffle.

Announcing ChronoCon 10,000 BC for BrickCon 2014 in Seattle [News]

BrickCon 2014 is less than two months away — October 2nd through 5th in Seattle. Each year, starting with Zombie Apocafest 2008 and continuing through Big in Japan and Numereji 2421, The Brothers Brick sponsors a collaborative display for our readers. After five continuous years, we took a break last year, but we’re back this year with “ChronoCon 10,000 BC.”

The basic idea of ChronoCon is that it’s a convention for time travelers and time travel enthusiasts. We were inspired last year by the release of the official Back to the Future DeLorean and the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, but the great thing about a convention for time travelers is that it can be held any time! So, you know, we’re not a year behind schedule after all…

Chaos and anarchy are built into the underlying theme, so please don’t expect a lot of guidelines from us — the whole point is to get creative. We do expect intersecting timelines, anachronisms, and paradoxes, so the parking lot outside the ChronoCon venue will likely have multiple DeLoreans and a variety of TARDISes (bonus points for not arriving in a DeLorean or TARDIS).

That said, we have three very broad guidelines that will help pull the overall display together:

The overall scale is minifig-scale.
The underlying baseplate color is Green. ChronoCon takes place in a primordial jungle.
If you introduce a major paradox or anachronism (like a Roman army marching in to fight some velociraptors), create an appropriate time portal, vortex, or wormhole that explains it.

Here are the prize categories (subject to change, addition, and our whim):

Best Time Machine: After all, how did all the time travel enthusiasts arrive in 10,000 BC?
Most Amusing Anachronism: Mash up those timelines and get building!
Fiercest Fighting Dinosaur: Yes, there will be a dinosaur battle arena!
Best Convention Booth or Event: What’s a convention without T-shirts, celebrity signings, panels, and knick-knacks?

There’s a ChronoCon 10,000 BC group on Flickr, where you can see photos we’ve collected so far of LEGO models consistent with the general idea, as well as discussion threads.

If you haven’t registered yet for BrickCon, do it now. And then get building!

An evening with The Continental

Lino M. remains one of my favorite automobile builders, churning large-scale cars each month as part of LUGNuts challenges. For last month’s challenge, Lino built a Rolls-Royce Phantom II from the 1930s. The clean, elegant lines look like they’re ready to carry a Rockefeller or Carnegie to an evening at the Metropolitan Opera.

The seedier side of Heartlake City

A good indication of a builder’s talent is that he or she attracts the attention of several of our contributors separately. When I first bookmarked this scene by Rickard and Helen, I hadn’t noticed yet that it was the same team that had built the despots and notables (posted by Carter), the South Park characters (posted by Ralph), or one of the top three BRICKNADO winners chosen by all of us.

It’s actually not unusual for a Town layout at a LEGO convention to have a trailer park on the edge (demonstrating that Town builders do, in fact, have a sense of humor), but it’s rare to see such a lovely trailer or range of amusing detail.