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)

2nd Japanese LEGO CUUSOO project launches with Hayabusa space probe

The second fan-created LEGO CUUSOO project has just been released in Japan, and will be available from the LEGO Shop online later in 2012. The set depicts the Hayabusa probe, which brought bits of an asteroid back to earth.

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Here’s the full press release:

BILLUND, Denmark – The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa, the second LEGO® CUUSOO release, has gone on sale in Japan, while a limited number of Hayabusa sets will also be available exclusively online via shop.LEGO.com later in the year. No release date has been set yet.

The original Hayabusa model on LEGO CUUSOO was built by Daisuke Okubo and achieved 1,000 supporters on the Japanese-only version of LEGO CUUSOO in the spring of 2011. LEGO model designer Melody Louise Caddick designed the final model, refining earlier concept models based on Daisuke’s original project.

The model is priced at ￥ 4,118 in Japan, USD49, EUR49

LEGO CUUSOO is a website where LEGO fans can submit their ideas for new LEGO products and collect votes to make their ideas become a reality. They can also vote for other users’ ideas. It can be found at http://lego.cuusoo.com

LEGO CUUSOO began in 2008 with a Japanese site that attracted hundreds of ideas and saw thousands of votes cast by a 35,000-strong community. It was launched globally in October.

The first Japanese product, the Shinkai 6500 submersible, went on sale in Japan in February 2011. A project backed by Minecraft developer Mojang became the first user-sponsored project to be approved on the global version of LEGO CUUSOO.

Ideas supported by 10,000 votes are examined by a LEGO jury to check the models meet LEGO standards of safety and playability and support the LEGO brand. Consumers who have their ideas chosen for production will earn 1% of the total net sales of the product.’

Hayabusa (“falcon” in English) is an unmanned spacecraft built by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), designed to travel to a small near-Earth asteroid named Itokawa and return sample material to Earth. Hayabusa’s mission began in 2003 and ended successfully in 2010.

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.

LEGO Space Shuttle ascends to 115,000 feet [Video]

The Space Shuttle program may have ended, but in late December 2011, Romanian teenager Raul Oaida launched its LEGO doppelganger 35,000 meters (115,000 feet) into the upper atmosphere. Raul achieved this singular feat by stringing the LEGO shuttle beneath a weather balloon — with the permission of German air traffic control.

Read more about the launch on Raul’s blog. Thanks to the dozens of readers who made sure we posted this. ;-)

Atlas shrunk

I was in the process of blogging some sweet Star Trek micro-vessels by Jake (we’ll come back to them in a minute) when I stumbled on this earlier beauty that I just can’t pass up. Jake’s microscale spaceship Atlas has a really interesting shape, and even a detailed underside. The ring is composed of the LEGO tires that we all have bins of.

But back to the Star Trek ships, here’s my favorite. See all of them in the photoset on Flickr.

Karibachi San Zero sky-fi fighter with bonus mini-mecha

We’ve gone far too long without featuring a lovely sky-fi fighter by Fredo (Fredoichi). Fredo’s Karibachi San Zero incorporates minifig legs in some really interesting ways.

And since we didn’t feature them while he was building these mecha back in September, here’s a roundup of four awesome variations on a theme.

Itsy-bitsy cargo-hauler

I’m a sucker for a lovely micro cargo ship, and this one by Evan B. (LJ) is no exception. I love the offset yellow strut thingy, and the way the cargo containers are arranged is excellent. The rear section with the bridge and engines also includes enough detail to satisfy any fan of greebles.

LEGO invests 500 million on wind farm – energy-neutral by 2020

The LEGO Group’s parent company just announced that it is investing over half a billion dollars (3 billion Danish krone or 400 million euros) on an offshore wind farm off the coast of Germany.

The wind farm will have nearly 80 turbines, and will provide more power than LEGO’s production facilities will be projected to require in 2020, thereby enabling the company to become effectively energy self-sufficient within the next eight years.

This news follows LEGO’s announcement last summer that they are reducing LEGO packaging box sizes and obtaining their wood products from sustainable sources.

Dragon unearthed

While a great LEGO model always catches my eye, it’s sometimes the presentation that I really fall in love with. Carson Hart proves that the three-quarters “hero shot” isn’t always the best way to showcase a LEGO model with this top-down view of an excellent dragon skeleton, presented on a sand background.

(And thanks to Skyrim, I have to wonder how many bones and scales I’d get if I searched the dragon…)

LEGO ISS built aboard International Space Station inside zero-G build bubble

Sending LEGO into space isn’t actually all that new, but an astronaut building a LEGO model of the spacecraft he’s in certainly is. Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa recently built a LEGO version of the International Space Station while aboard the ISS itself.

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The full story and more photos are over on collectSPACE, and you can watch a NASA video on YouTube as well.

Gotta love that special build bubble to keep the LEGO elements from floating away to who knows where inside the ISS.

The top video games of 2011 recreated in LEGO

Organizers for the 15th Interactive Achievement Awards approached Alex Kobbs back in October to create a montage of the top video games of the year, animated in LEGO. Alex used clips from some of his earlier animations, including the super-awesome Gears of War 3, and a whole batch of new animation to create the opening sequence shown in Last Vegas earlier this month.

And don’t miss Alex’s making of video.

The Secret LEGO World of Arriety

It’s no secret that Iain Heath (Ochre Jelly) and I share a LEGO Ghibli passion, so I was pleased but not surprised that he celebrated the release of The Secret World of Arriety (written by Hayao Miyazaki, based on the classic children’s book The Borrowers) with a lovely Miniland Arriety.

Check out Iain’s write-up about the build (with a bonus micro-review of the movie) over on The Living Brick.

10224 Town Hall officially unveiled – due out March 2012 [News]

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly five years since 10182 Cafe Corner was released. The latest LEGO Exclusive addition to the modular building series takes the structure’s scale to a new level, with the 2,766-piece 10224 Town Hall, due out next month.

See all the photos in my photoset on Flickr.

10224 Town Hall

Ages 14+. 2,766 pieces.
US $199.99 CA $249.99 DE 179.99 € UK 149.99 £ DK 1499 DKK
Keep the wheels of commerce turning with the authentic Town Hall!

This classic 3-storey town hall building is the latest addition to the LEGO® Modular Buildings series. This highly-detailed model features large entrance-way columns and coat of arms, a tall bell tower with clock and a large skylight giving a view inside the building. On the ground floor, the large hall, tax office and auditorium are perfect for servicing the town’s citizens. Take the working elevator up to the secretary and mayor’s offices on the second floor, furnished eloquently with desks, chairs, paintings and even a frog sculpture. There’s even a balcony for addressing the town’s citizens. On the third floor, a spacious meeting room features a large conference table, chairs, globe and plants. Includes 8 minifigures: mayor, secretary, bride and groom, press woman, janitor and 2 children.

Includes 8 minifigures: mayor, secretary, bride and groom, press woman, janitor and 2 children

Features painting, desks, chairs, sculpture, lamp, conference table, globe, plants and bench

Functioning elevator with space for 2 minifigures and ladder access to roof

Bell tower features bench and maintenance ladder

Roof features skylight with view inside the building

Measures 10” (25.5 cm) wide and 20” (50 cm) high

Address the citizens from the balcony!

Combine with other LEGO® Modular buildings like the 10218 Pet Shop and 10211 Grand Emporium!

LEGO Minecraft Micro World set officially unveiled, includes Micro Mobs [News]

There’s been a lot of speculation about the first LEGO CUUSOO set, so the official announcement is a welcome relief. The set is due out this summer.

The set splits into four sections.

See all the photos in my photoset on Flickr.

Here’s the official press release:

LEGO® Minecraft™ Micro World details unveiled, available for pre-order

BILLUND, Denmark – The LEGO Group and Mojang have released purchase details and pictures of the LEGO® Minecraft™ Micro World today.

The new set, which was the first to receive 10,000 votes of support from users on the global LEGO CUUSOO idea collection platform, will be available for purchase in summer 2012, but can be pre-ordered from today, exclusively through Mojang retail partner Jinx.com for $34.99 €34.99 at http://www.jinx.com/LEGOMinecraft. The sets will also be sold in select LEGO brand retail stores and the LEGO online shop from summer 2012.

“LEGO Minecraft Micro World is designed to celebrate the essence of the LEGO concept and the Minecraft gaming experience,” said Paal Smith-Meyer, Head of the LEGO New Business Group. Each set features four cubic modular vignettes that can be connected to recreate the Minecraft experience in LEGO bricks. One Minecraft block is represented as one 1×1 LEGO plate with a tile on top — not a perfect cube, but the best approximation at the chosen scale.

LEGO Minecraft Micro World includes two of Minecraft’s most iconic characters, Steve and a Creeper, represented as “Micro Mobs.” The model presents a standard for building a Minecraft world that can be configured any way the builder likes.

The surface of the modules comes off to reveal mines and hidden resources beneath. Fans can build their own landscapes, stack cubes on top of each other, to build the world of Minecraft as they wish.
The product was developed in collaboration with four LEGO fans: Chris Malloy, Michael Thomas, Kyle Tingey, and Bjarne Panduro Tveskov. These fans developed concepts alongside LEGO designers and helped shape the product into its final version.

Upon seeing the physical model the first time, Mojang founder Markus “Notch” Persson exclaimed: “Woohoo!”

LEGO CUUSOO is a website where LEGO fans can submit their ideas for new LEGO products and collect votes to make their ideas become a reality. They can also vote for other users’ ideas. It can be found at http://lego.cuusoo.com.

Ideas that are supported by 10,000 votes have a chance of being selected to become part of the LEGO Group’s product portfolio. Consumers who have their ideas chosen will earn 1% of the total net sales of the product.

Mojang will donate the 1% proceeds from LEGO CUUSOO to charity.

For more on the co-creation process for LEGO Minecraft Micro World, see the LEGO CUUSOO blog at http://legocuusoo.posterous.com.

Special congratulations to TBB’s own Chris Malloy for his involvement in the launch of the first global LEGO CUUSOO project!

Let the inevitable discussion ensue.