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)

Reminder: The Brothers Brick on Facebook & Twitter

We had some intermittent downtime this evening, and I used Facebook and Twitter to communicate with our readers about our status.

That reminded me that it’s been a long time since we let everyone know out there who isn’t already a subscriber on either of those other services that you can get notifications about new posts here on The Brothers Brick without ever leaving Facebook or Twitter.

Like our page on Facebook to get updates about new TBB posts right on your Facebook home page.
Follow us on Twitter for tweets whenever we post something here.

Both of these are great ways to get in touch with us if you’re having trouble with our (sadly all-too-often buggy) contact page. We also hope to have a mobile-optimized site online sometime soon, making it even easier to stay current with TBB when you’re on the go.

While we’re at it, I’ll highlight a few more ways to get your TBB fix beyond Brothers-Brick.com.

YouTube automatically aggregates all the videos we’ve highlighted.
As always, our RSS feed lets you get full posts in your favorite reader, Google homepage, or wherever feeds are supported.
For all the photos we’ve featured from Flickr, there’s a Flickr group. And in case you didn’t notice it in my post about the new modular set yesterday, TBB now has a Flickr account of its own.

Finally, I’ll mention our Google+ page. Unfortunately (the last time I checked), Google hasn’t released an API that lets sites like Brothers-Brick.com post updates to G+ pages, so it’s just a placeholder for now. We know that we have readers at Google, so *nudge nudge*

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.

10232 Palace Cinema officially unveiled – new modular LEGO set [News]

The newest LEGO set in the modular building line, 10232 Palace Cinema is being officially unveiled this evening at BrickFair Alabama in Birmingham. Though LEGO’s official photos surfaced earlier this month, this is the first time we’ve gotten details about pricing and release date. 10232 Palace Cinema will return the line to its traditional price point of $150 USD for 2,194 pieces and 6 minifigs, with a release date in March.

Naturally, Palace Cinema connects to all the other modular buildings.

The set comes with an open-top stretch limo.

The interior includes seats, a projector & screen, and concession stand.

I’ve uploaded all the photos to a photoset on Flickr.

Here’s the official announcement from LEGO:

10232 Palace Cinema

Ages 16+. 2,194 pieces.
US $149.99 CA $199.99 DE 139,99€ UK 119.99 £ DK 1,099.00 DKK

Build a grand premiere at the Palace Cinema!

It’s premiere night at the Palace Cinema! Illuminate the night sky with the spotlights as the child star arrives in a fancy black limousine! Gather the crowd on the star-studded sidewalk, then head into the detailed lobby with a concession stand and ticket area! Take the grand staircase into the theater with a large screen, movie projector and reclining chairs for 6 minifigures. Introducing the latest addition to the LEGO® Modular Buildings series, the highly detailed, 2-story Palace Cinema corner building. This collectible model features a sidewalk of the stars, brick-built entrance doors, posters, sign frontage, a tower with spires and rooftop decorations. Includes 6 minifigures: child actress, chauffeur, female guest, male guest, photographer and cinema worker.

Includes 6 minifigures: child star, chauffeur, female guest, male guest, photographer and cinema worker

Features brick-built entrance doors, posters, sign frontage, tower with spires and rooftop decoration, lobby, concession stand, ticket area, staircase, big screen, projector and reclining seats for 6 minifigures

Vehicles include classic-style limousine

Hard-to-find elements include a red baseplate and dark tan, dark red, and gold pieces

Seat a 6-minifigure audience in the reclining seats!

Play on the star-studded sidewalk, in the detailed lobby or in the big-screen theater!

Collect and build an entire town with the LEGO® Modular Buildings collection: 10224 Town Hall, 10218 Pet Shop and 10211 Grand Emporium!

Palace Cinema measures 15″ (38cm) high, 10″ (25.5cm) wide, and 10″ (25.5cm) deep

Limousine measures 1.6″ (4cm) high, 5.9″ (15cm) long, and 1.9″ (5cm) wide

Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning

March 2013 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone

LEGO minifig-scale ultra-class Liebherr T 282B haul truck by M_longer

We’ve featured many gloriously oversized LEGO vehicles by Marek Markiewicz (M_longer) over the years, including his L 580 wheel loader, TH550 underground mining truck, and Caterpillar 24M grader. Marek’s latest truck is the massive — and fully motorized — Liebherr T 282B haul truck, used in mining and heavy construction.

Marek’s model is fully functional, with working steering and tipper. You can watch this beast in action in his video on YouTube.

BrickArms on Evening Magazine [News]

Will Chapman over at BrickArms was featured on yesterday’s episode of Evening Magazine here in Seattle. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, everyone else in the world can now watch the segment, in which Will talks about the origins of his business and his creative process, and shows off some of the equipment he uses in his shop.

Fully functional 1:12 LEGO Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIa can do everything but fly

At the end of December, Kyle Wigboldy (thirdwigg) posted a LEGO Spitfire fighter plane from World War II that has the most functions I’ve ever seen in a LEGO plane.

Kyle spent about six months on his Spitfire, and the finished model has a wingspan of 112 studs and is 96 studs long. Not only is the Spitfire model gorgeous (too many LEGO Technic models are just skeletons in odd colors), it also includes lots of functionality:

Spinning propeller with adjustable prop pitch
Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engine with working pistons
Working landing gear
Cockpit joystick and pedals that connect to working control surfaces
Working rudder, elevator, and ailerons

The YouTube video shows off all the moving parts.

Read Kyle’s full writeup on Thirdwigg.com, and a more complete review on TechnicBRICKs.

“How are you holding up? Because I’m a potato.”

Alex Kobbs of Kooberz Studios posted his LEGO Portal video back in December, but it looks like we only featured the behind-the scenes video. I recently finished Portal 2 again, and Alex posted about the video on Flickr, so now seems as good a time as any to highlight the main video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V0R8Qpjl8Q

Since this is Part 1, I wonder when Part 2 will be out. Can’t wait!

Freighter over Ice Planet Biodome

Eurobricks is holding a Micro Sci-Fi Contest this month (the trophies themselves are noteworthy examples of the genre), and at mid-month we’re already starting to see some really nice entries.

Ryan H. (eldeeem) enters the fray with this gorgeous biodome on an ice planet, complete with a resupply ship hovering above.

Notice the Modulex bits attached to the side of the freighter as containers. LEGO produced Modulex as a tool for architects in the 60’s until they spun off the company in 1965. Early Modulex bricks even have the LEGO logo on the studs, just like System bricks.

Over the years, LEGO builders have figured out various connections between the two systems (officially not compatible with each other), and Ryan has collected all of the ones he’s aware of in the following photo:

Post-LEGO Modulex with an M logo continued to be available until fairly recently (the company is a successful signage company today), and it’s always interesting to see what new ways LEGO builders incorporate them into their models.

Microscale Minas Tirith stands ready to defend against the tiny forces of Mordor

I’ve always thought that the majestic locations of Middle-earth would make for a great set of microscale dioramas. Last week, we featured George G’s Helm’s Deep, and today I’m pleased to highlight this beautiful Minas Tirith by diegoboy. I love the angling on the great stone outcropping in the center of the city, and parts like minifig ski poles and steering wheel bases add wonderful detail.

diegoboy recently used his micro Minas Tirith as part of a forced-perspective backdrop for a scene titled “The Ride of the Rohirrim.”

The best of Count Blockula: The Mos Eisley Cantina project

As we return to our regular programming, Mike Crowley is being laid to rest in his hometown of Melrose, Massachusetts today. I have so many more favorites I want to share that I’ll be interspersing a few more among the new LEGO models we’ll begin posting again.

One of Mike’s most ambitious LEGO projects was to build a larger-than-Miniland-scale version of the Mos Eisley Cantina and all its denizens. Josh blogged Ponda Baba back in 2008, and this wonderful sculpture of the infamous Aqualish pirate has certainly stood the test of time.

You can almost hear jaunty music when you see all the Bith musicians of the Cantina Band.

Mike’s scale and building style are particularly well-suited to alien creatures like Muftak & Kabe.

You can see all of the characters Mike finished in his photoset on Flickr.

The best of Count Blockula: BrickFAs

One of the things I’ll always remember Mike Crowley for was his ability to put LEGO elements together in new and interesting ways. One of Mike’s ideas was the BrickFA, or Brick Figure Articulation (sort of a LEGO version of Stikfas).

As with all of his other innovations, Mike shared his techniques without expectation of reward or even recognition — true open source LEGO.

The best of Count Blockula: Mario Kart characters

In January 2007, Mike Crowley began building all the major characters from Nintendo’s Mario Kart games, starting with King Koopa himself, Bowser.

Mike soon followed with Mario and Toad:

Yoshi & Donkey Kong:

Mike brought all of these to BrickFest PDX 2007 in Portland, where he had them all in karts that I don’t think ever ended up online (if I remember correctly, Mike hadn’t taken pictures of them in their karts yet before the con, and the figures broke on their way home to Boston). Convention photos are never as good as a builder’s own, but I did manage to snag a shot of all of them together:

BrickFest PDX was of course the LEGO convention where Mike, Caylin, Josh, and I all went out for Chinese at a place called “House of Louie.” We all piled into Portland’s light rail system (MAX), crossed the Willamette River, and got off somewhere that we thought would have better restaurants than the ones around the Oregon Convention Center (remember, smartphones with Yelp and local search weren’t as ubiquitous as they are five years later).

Appropriately and strangely, a white LEGO horse stood on a counter near our booth.

The best of Count Blockula: BigFig Pirate

One of the last major models Mike Crowley posted online was a new type of brick-built figure, the “BigFig.” BigFigs are built from bricks, but look like large minifigs. Mike showed off his new idea with a recreation of the classic LEGO Pirates captain minifig:

In March 2009, Mike wrote:

Basic features include:
– head can rotate
– face / hairpiece can be customized
– arms are connected with Technic axles to prevent “drooping” when holding objects
– hands can rotate
– torso and hip-piece fronts and backs can be customized
– legs are connected using Technic rotating / ratcheting click hinges, allowing for some rotation backward and full 90 degree rotation forward (into the seated position)
– head, arms, hands, hips and legs all separate in the same places that a regular-sized minifig’s do
– the rear and bottoms of the legs have “holes” built into them to resemble those on the legs of a regular-sized minifig and are spaced so as to fit onto “studs” built 2×2 and spaced 2 studs apart from one another.

In case you’d like to try your own hand at building a BigFig, Mike even posted a breakdown: