I’m generally not one for monochromatic LEGO models, but the shape and details of Nate DeCastro‘s latest all-white starfighter really grabbed my attention (especially after taking a second look on Klocki). Check out the “Q-49 Chandra’s Virtue”:
The canopy opens to reveal another highlight of Nate’s fighter — the interior of the cockpit:
This time of year, we see a lot of great LEGO castles, so it’s nice to see a really excellent presentation of a wonderful castle. Well, this castle by Ichthuz is actually a monastery, but we’ll allow it.
Check out lots more photos on Flickr.
Some of next year’s LEGO Star Wars sets are out a couple weeks early on Amazon.com.
First up, 75005 Rancor Pit
Amazon had also briefly listed 9516 Jabba’s Palace
Three smaller 2013 LEGO Star Wars are also out now on Amazon.com:
Next, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set 79104 The Shellraiser Street Chase
Several other TMNT sets are also available for order a little early:
Finally, the LEGO Lord of the Rings set 9472 Attack on Weathertop
All via FBTB, who’re on a roll this week with the sales news!
What do you get the LEGO fan who probably buys themselves all the LEGO he or she could ever need? Here at The Brothers Brick (TBB), our LEGO holiday gift guide has everything a LEGO fan is going to love — everything but official LEGO sets!
Regular readers will certainly have noticed that publishers have been furiously releasing stacks of new LEGO books lately. We haven’t been able to review all of them here (we’ll get to them, time permitting), but we definitely recommend each of these books.
The Big Unofficial Lego Builder’s Book: Build Your Own City
Authors: Oliver Albrecht & Joachim Klang.
Price: $29.99
Review: Read Tim’s review here on TBB.
The Brick Bible: The New Testament: A New Spin on the Story of Jesus
Author: Brendan Powell Smith.
Price: $19.95
Review: Read Bruce’s review over on GodBricks.
The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide
Author: Paweł “Sariel” Kmieć
Price: $29.95
Review: Read Josh’s review here on TBB.
The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide (2nd Edition)
Author: Allan Bedford
Price: $24.95
Review: Forthcoming here on TBB…
The LEGO Adventure Book, Vol. 1: Cars, Castles, Dinosaurs & More!
Author: Megan Rothrock
Price: $24.95
Review: Read Tim’s review here on TBB.
Moleskine LEGO Notebook
Price: $16.95 (small) to $21.95 (large)
Review: Read Andrew’s review here on TBB.
And if you didn’t pick them up at the time, don’t miss two of my personal favorite LEGO books.
Authors: John Baichtal & Joe Meno
Price: $39.95
Review: Read Andrew’s review here on TBB.
LEGO: A Love Story
Author: Jonathan Bender
Price: $24.95
Review: Read Andrew’s review here on TBB.
Read the full LEGO gift guide after the jump!
Christmas is just a couple weeks away, but there’s still time to pick up a bit more LEGO and put some boxes that have that special rattle beneath the tree. Both the LEGO Shop and Amazon.com
Amazon.com has listed 10197 Fire Brigade
Two large LEGO Star Wars sets are also on sale:
is $50 (19%) off, at $209.99.
is $90 (23%) off, at $309.99.EDIT: Oops! Sorry for the double-post on the SSD. We’ll keep both posts up, though, since they have different info…
LEGO.com is still doing free shipping on all orders over $99, and you can pick up a free Gandalf minifig with any purchase of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey game.
Free shipping and guaranteed delivery by Christmas end at midnight EST, December 18th.
Naturally, the new LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets won’t be available until a day later, starting on December 19th.
We’ll post a reminder in a week.
I once tried to build a microscale LEGO version of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but never got very far. Bart Willen has certainly been more successful, with a LEGO rendition full of spires and columns atop a cliff.
Via MicroBricks.
In case you missed it, Disney will be releasing a new movie starring Johnny Depp by Gore Verbinski (who directed the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the excellent Rango) next July based on the classic Western Lone Ranger. After LEGO Prince of Persia and Pirates of the Caribbean, it should come as no surprise that LEGO will be releasing a line of sets, due out in April.
Update: LEGO released their Lone Ranger site too early and got in trouble with Disney. Since this is just a silly mistake, we’re complying with their request to remove the image.
No official word on the sets, but rumors are rampant on the web, so I’m sure you’ll be able to find the list of sets (the titles of which are full of movie spoilers) if you really want to.
Hillel Cooperman over at BrickPOP has built a lovely vignette of his family in their living room on Chanukah (which starts this evening at sunset).
Hillel says, “Some details include presents, our three cats, all five family members, the menorah, the lit shamash (the candle you light the other candles with), soufganiot (jelly donuts – a holiday tradition), and a lit fire (thank you light brick). Enjoy!”
It’s not often you see actors from movies with their minifigure counterparts, much less in full costume. The cast of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, though, was recently visited by their smaller LEGO selves.
Martin Freeman meets minifig Bilbo Baggins:
William Kircher with his awesome Bifur minifig:
Sir Ian McKellen admires his Gandalf minifig:
See the full gallery on Facebook.
Japanese artist Azuma Makoto usually creates his botanically themed pieces from real plants, but occasionally dabbles with materials as diverse as Astroturf and LEGO. One of his latest pieces is a gorgeous recreation of a bonsai pine tree built from bricks.
Click the pic to see more photos on the artist’s Facebook page.
Via MAKE, a text message from my mom, and the rest of the Internet (we’re a little behind on this particular item)…
We generally pass up all the “World Record attempt!” tower builds that seemingly happen constantly, because, well, they’re not all that interesting (and most often promote some business or event that doesn’t need any additional coverage from us). But a recent experiment by the Open University is a bit more intriguing.
According to the article on the BBC, Dr. Ian Johnson and his team set about to answer the question, “How many Lego bricks, stacked one on top of the other, would it take to destroy the bottom brick?” And how tall would that hypothetical tower be?
Based on calculations of the average 2×2 brick’s weight and measurements of force exerted on the brick by a hydraulic ram until the ABS failed, it would take an average of 432 kg (950 lbs) to crush the unlucky brick. That’s a hypothetical 375,000 2×2 bricks, towering 3.5 km (2.17 miles) into the sky.
Dr. Fleming says, “The material is just flowing out of the way now and it’s not able to take any more. We’re getting a plastic failure. It means the brick keeps on deforming, without the load increasing. Metals can be plastic, and this plastic is being plastic.”
Read the full article on the BBC, and feel free to suggest other LEGO experiments in the comments! Who knows, we might head to a local university lab ourselves and give your test a try.
The latest LEGO video game from TT Games, LEGO Lord of the Rings,
Having played most of the LEGO video game since the original LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game back in 2005, the LEGO game franchise was starting to feel more than a little repetitive (which is why I’ve skipped the second incarnations of LEGO Indiana Jones, the LEGO Star Wars re-releases, and so on).
Every game until now has had several things in common:
No, TT Games hasn’t really revamped the basic formula in LEGO Lord of the Rings, but there are a few important differences.
Read the full review after the jump.
