Posts by Jen Feeny

LEGO 41843 Family Christmas Tree – A holiday tradition in the making [Review] 

Designed with collaboration in mind, the festive LEGO 41843 Family Christmas Tree invites families and friends to build together. With split instruction booklets, modular sub-builds, and clever engineering, the set allows for simultaneous progress, turning construction into a shared experience. In our house, that meant an all-hands-on-deck build session with both kids and grown-ups chipping in for a bricktacular afternoon of holiday fun. Packed with whimsical minifigures, hidden play features, and a finished design that’s perfect for display or imaginative play, this is a set that brings holiday magic to the table in more ways than one.

LEGO Family 41843| 3172 Pieces | Available October 1 to Insiders, Oct 4 to all |US $329.99 | CAN $379.99 | UK £269.99

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Come along as we unwrap LEGO’s biggest holiday set together

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 Death Star’s Tie Fighter with Hanger Rack – how does the GWP measure up? [Review]

It would be an understatement to say that LEGO Star Wars 75419 Death Star has been a Force Lightning rod for controversy since it was formally revealed last week. As you can tell from our review, the hands-on experience left us feeling as fried as Luke after his encounter with the Emperor. Surprisingly, the accompanying gift with purchase 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack, has generated almost as much attention, mostly negative. A lot of this stems from LEGO’s publicity photos showing the TIE Fighter with the set, despite it being a limited-time exclusive, garnering the label “DLC” after video games that seemingly lock off part of a complete game under a paywall. Even if that wasn’t the intent, it’s not a good look, especially when this “missing piece” is part of LEGO’s most expensive set yet. Questionable marketing aside, how does the bonus set hold up? And how does it compare with past Gifts with Purchase from past premium releases?

LEGO Star Wars 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack | 236 Pieces | Available October 1 as a free GWP with the Death Star, while supplies last | US $999.99 | CAN $1299.99 | UK £899.99

Our thoughts on the Tie Fighter GWP follow

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.

Tiny builds, big imagination. Talking bricks with Dan Ko [Interview]

Longtime readers of The Brothers Brick will definitely be familiar with the builds of Jordan Jivkov, better known as Dan Ko, one of the most prolific builders of recent years, who specializes in small models that are packed with personality and wit. He honed his skills as an Iron Builder and continues to show up in LEGO challenges like Brickscalibur and the Rogue Olympics. It’s no surprise he’s been featured here dozens of times since 2020. In addition to sharing his models, Dan has also been generous with sharing ad-hoc instructions for his most popular builds. This month Dan is starting a new venture: a website where Dan can release free digital instructions every week for delightful builds that can be made from a modest collection of parts. We thought this would be the perfect time to catch up with Dan on his site, his journey as a builder, and the state of LEGO fandom.

Click for our interview with Dan and some of our favorites of his tiny builds

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.

Let’s crash the castle with these mighty LEGO minifigs and their custom gear [Minifig Monday]

For minifig fans, there are few themes as enduring as the medieval knight. Classic castle themes brought the age of chivalry to LEGO back in 1978, and the factions introduced since then continue to grow to this day (you can even invent your own, like the chicken knights, with the Minifigure Factory). Today we’re taking another look at knights with a special focus on customized weapons and armor made from 100% LEGO parts.

Many minifig creators these days are inspired by the dark gothic settings of FromSoftware’s games.  Natashia (motherofcatdragons) pays tribute to Elden Ring’s Night’s Cavalry, armed with a perfect flail.

Sandman_BrickStudio is a new face on the custom minifig scene but already creating some incredible characters. This helmet crest technique is brilliant, as is the truly epic two-handed sword design.

Red Impala repurposes a fencing helmet to equip this holy crusader. The ayers of cloth on the armor are so clean and effective. It would be a pity if this knight got blood on them.

Our celebration of medieval weapons and armor continues…

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 set designer Wes Talbott gets his dungeon delving on in a trio of fantastic MOCs

As a LEGO set designer for Elves, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Zelda, and Wicked, it’s fair to say that Wes Talbott knows a thing or two about bringing fantasy to life at minifig scale. Last year, the builder’s Fire Breathing Fortress reimagining with Chris Perron took our breath away. Now Wes is back with a trio of vignettes titled Dungeon Dangers. The first scene stars a hideous slime made from trans green macaroni tubes from the Dreamszzz sets. My favorite technique is the spiral columns decorated with thorny vines in metallic silver.

Wes was so pleased with the vignette design of a hexagonal base framed with three columns that he kept the pattern across the full serries. The crystalline spider sparkles, but again its the corners that capture my eye with an innovative technique for stalagnate columns. Apparently Wes came up with the concept a few years ago but never had a chance to use it until now. Spider eggs made from clusters of clamshells is another standout technique.

Wes’ final fantasy vignette follows, along with a bonus from the builder

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.

Lakeside cottage is peak LEGO coziness

When Kimberly Giffen isn’t helping out behind the scenes at The Brothers Brick, she’s building incredible LEGO dioramas that blend ornate architecture, impeccable landscaping, and a masterful use of color. Like this cozy cottage! What’s remarkable about Kimberly’s models is how organic they feel. Structures break the grid, and a pleasing asymmetry informs every element of the scene, like the irregular brick-built water or the shaping of the weeping willow.

Cottage

My favorite feature is the rounded rooftop of ingots and tiles. Again, you can see the subtle asymmetry that makes the cottage feel more lived in.

If you’ll be at BrickCon this weekend, you can see this build in person and say hi to Kimberly and other members of the team at the Brothers Brick table, where we’re hosting a Steampunk collaborative build. She’ll also be bringing this model to Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark later this month. Here it is getting ready for transport. Good luck, Kimberly!

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 Star Wars 75419 Death Star: Imperial Folly [Review]

How do you approach a set like LEGO Star Wars 75419 Death Star? LEGO’s worst-kept secret is more than just another set for collectors. It’s an escalation in testing the limits of how far fans will go to prove their commitment to the tribe. It’s a viral-ready stunt just waiting to be put on a wakeboard. It’s a totem to draw fans to their LEGO store to see it in person. It is set to make the Imperial Dignitary’s hat the must-have accessory of the season. And it’s also a remarkably well-engineered diorama that captures so much of what makes minifigure-scale LEGO an enduring delight. But I’m getting ahead of myself. First I have to build this thing.

LEGO Star Wars 75419 Death Star |  9023 Pieces | Available October 1 | US $999.99 | CAN $1299.99 | UK £899.99

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Punch it, Chewie.

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.

One builder missed out on the Flying Moon Car GWP and builds 19 variants instead

Not every Gift With Purchase is a classic, but the Flying Moon Car from earlier this year had big nostalgia appeal with its retro space stylings. Builder Andrew Lee missed out on the offer and felt lunar remorse. Fortunately, LEGO makes the instructions freely available (here’s a link to the moon car), so Andrew had a go at making his own, with a cherry red paint job.

Why stop there? Soon, one moon car became a month-long marathon of making a space city’s worth of variants, each more delightful than the last. Andrew started small with a closed-top version.

See all 19 of Andrew’s wild Moon Car variants below

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 breaks price ceiling with $1000 LEGO Star Wars 75419 Death Star [News]

On Andor Season 2, the Emperor managed to keep his “Energy Project” a secret until it was all but ready to unleash its power on Alderaan. In this galaxy, rumors of a $1000 LEGO Death Star have been floating in the fandom all year. The price seemed both impossible and inevitable. Today LEGO confirms the rumors with the reveal of LEGO Star Wars 75419 Death Star. The set is breaking several records aside from price.  The most minifigures (38!). Biggest set by weight (16.3kg, 36 lbs). Most Hot Tub Stormtroopers (1). Rather than a full sphere, the design opts for an open diorama approach that allows for intricate interior scenes. Like the first Death Star playset, the newest battle station draws on both A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, while also including easter eggs from the LEGO Star Wars video games. The minifigure lineup includes Rogue One architects Galen Erso and Orson Krennic, but sadly perpetuates Geonosian erasure with no Archduke Poggle the Lesser. We’ve been toiling away like workers on Narkina 5 to assemble our own copy, and we’ll be back soon with our full review.

LEGO Star Wars 75419 Death Star |  9023 Pieces | Available October 1 | US $999.99 | CAN $1299.99 | UK £899.99

Click to see more of LEGO’s massive moon… er Death Star

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.

This Star Wars C-Wing is an A+ in our books

LEGO role-play communities fuse building with storytelling, and one of the biggest rpgs going is Star Wars: Factions. Sentinel_Brix has been spinning epic space opera adventures with original characters and vehicles in the sandbox George Lucas started. The builder’s latest addition is a New Republic era fighter from the Incom-FreiTek Corporation, makers of the iconic X-Wing. The C-wing is rookie friendly and sports the livery of Sentinel’s Flame of Zhar syndicate.

C-Wing-Starfighter

Sentinel’s dessign is heavily-inspired by concept art from Jason Hazelrot. My Favorite feature that the builder added is the unique landing configuration. And of course all of the encyclopedic lore!

Visual Dictionary - C-Wing 03

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 Ideas 21362 Mineral Collection revealed – a real gem [News]

The LEGO Ideas program is such a strange label, where TV shows and movie vehicles stand alongside pieces that wouldn’t look out of place in a science museum. Case in point, the 70th Ideas set, LEGO Ideas 21362 Mineral Collection, debuts on October 1 alongside Gizmo from Gremlins. The Mineral collection feels akin to the Insect Collection, which is one of our favorite sets of recent years. Featuring six mineral samples and modular shelving, it’s a display piece that you can mix and match to your tastes. The set is based on the fan design from Dario Del Frate, with slight variations to the minerals presented. We’ll be back soon with our full review.

LEGO Ideas 21362 Mineral Collection | 880 Pieces | Available October 1 | US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99

Additional pictures and product details follow

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.

Pokémon’s fighting dragon Koraidon in LEGO

I can still name the first 151 Pokémon (thanks Pokérap!), but to keep up with today’s nine generations of pocket monsters, sometimes I need to consult an expert. Koraidon, co-mascot of the last mainline game, Pokémon Scarlet, is a Fighting/Dragon type who can also transform into a motorcycle/jetski/plane. BigBrickStan worked off-and-on over the past year on this tryhard lizard to learn “constraction” building techniques, skills that served Stan well in this year’s Bio-Cup. That means using minimal stud-based elements and drawing on creative parts usage, like conical hats for the knees and a Vidiyo strap for the chest stripe. This LEGO take on Koraidon has the hulking menace of a Kaiju. With all that beautifully sculpted musculature, flight mode might be a challenge, but in running mode, he probably turns into a monster truck.

Koraidon(?)

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.