About Josh

Josh is 30+ years old and has more Lego than he has hair. Which really isn't saying much. He builds mostly medieval creations, but dabbles in other genres. He is also a father and uses his kids as an excuse to buy Lego. That justification isn't working as well as it used to, so if you can think of a better justification, feel free to contact him. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Josh's Brickshelf gallery gets messier and messier. Josh also has a Flickr gallery, if you care about such things. He goes by the name "floodllama" there. If you wonder why he goes by "floodllama", you've obviously never owned a llama in flood. Josh feels sorry for you.

Posts by Josh

Put your hands together for the newest member of the family! [News]

We would like to announce the newest member of our blogging team. Chris Malloy has agreed to join The Brothers Brick and we are very excited to see his favorite creations and to hear his opinions.

Chris is a prominent builder, well-versed in multiple themes, and has been a member of the LEGO fan community for many years. He has a very good eye for a well-built creation and has been an innovator in the photography of Lego builds. And to top all that, he is a great guy. He is well-respected on numerous fan sites and is an excellent friend. I am truly excited to have him on the team.

Please join us in welcoming our newest Brother!

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.

‘The Brothers Brick’ and ‘From Bricks to Bothans’ to host joint session at BrickCon

The Brothers Brick and From Bricks to Bothans will be co-hosting a panel and Question/Answer time regarding Lego Blogging.

Andrew (TBB) and Ace (FBTB) are on the official panel, but other staff from both sites will be there as well.

This will take place at 2 o’clock, Sunday afternoon, in the Orcas room (aka Classroom A). This will only be open to attendees, not people who come in during public hours.

Also be aware that things will probably be a little quieter around here through the weekend. I know most of us always mean to post in the evenings but fan conventions are tiring affairs. I seldom feel like opening the laptop when I get back to the hotel.

Lastly, if you are attending BrickCon and see one of us walking about, feel free to introduce yourself. We love to meet our readers. See you at the Con!

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.

Full-size LEGO Ford Explorer

A team of 22 model builders from Enfield recently built a full-scale Ford Explorer for the opening of the new Legoland in Florida. It took them approximately 2500 hours and used around 380,000 bricks! The Explorer will be on display in front of one of the new park’s attractions, the Ford Driving School.

Check out the time-lapse video:

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Rest for the Wicked

Even bandits need to take a break now and again. David Leest bursts back on the scene with this lush little gem. The waterfall, foliage and general landscaping are very nice, but the posing of the figs put the topper on this for me.

Wolfpack On A Break

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Roskilde Domkirke

Lasse Vestergård built this in the style of LEGO’s architechture sets and it came out quite nice. I’m really liking the austere look of this build.

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.

Evacuate!

Bart De Dobbelaer amazes me with the intricacies of his scenes and the action that he packs into them. The scary aliens/bugs in this scene are pretty wild and the backdrop highlights the action perfectly.

Evacuation

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Castle Greebles

Apparently even a castle can be greebly. This fortress, by ErykCoa, packs quite the visual punch. So many different pieces, techniques, angles and colors all vie for attention, but somehow it melts together for a very interesting effect.

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 is how mono-tracks roll.

I have a soft spot for mono-tracks and this one is unique. The top-heavy look that Nick Catling chose really works here.

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.

An unexpected LEGO adventure: Bricks & Minifigs [Review]

Here, at The Brothers Brick, we don’t review stores but I had a very unexpected little LEGO adventure yesterday and I wanted to share it. I realize that this post will only be of interest to people in the Greater Portland and Vancouver area of Washington and Oregon States. I apologize to our readers in the rest of the world. If you don’t live there, feel free to skip this post and bad-mouth me for the rest of the day. I’m okay with that.

I had to take a sudden trip to southern Washington State over the last couple of days and I decided to stop in Battle Ground, WA to see my grandmother. No LEGO was supposed to be involved. Little did I know. I had been told that there was an independent toy store in the area that dealt in used LEGO. I looked it up and the store turned out to be about a quarter of a mile from “Grammy’s House”.

I was much more impressed with the store than I was expecting. For the most part, prices seemed to be about mid-range of Bricklink’s prices. They had a large stock of older sets, some MISB, some opened in the box and some built but loose.

They had large bins of minifig parts, which they were selling for 60 cents a piece or three dollars for a fig. I grabbed up a handful of vintage castle torsos and an assortment of helmets that I was short on. My kids had a blast building figs for themselves as well.

They also had a bins of “building brick” which was sold by large and small cups ($10 and $5) or by gallon-sized plastic bags ($25). My wife was kind enough to fill up a bag with assorted bricks, plates and slopes in green and tan.

There was only one staff person on duty, named Micah, but he was very friendly, enthusiastic and well-informed.

They do not sell online, but have three store locations. They are in Beaverton OR, Canby OR and Battle Ground, WA. If you are in the area, check them out. I had a good time.

Along these lines, there have to be more independent purveyors of used and collectible LEGO out there. If you know of a brick-and-mortar store in your area, feel free to post the location in the comments. Just don’t tell us about your online store. We know about those.

In the interest of transparency, I would like to state that Bricks & Minifigs did not ask for this review nor did they give me anything in exchange. The only freebie that I received was the business card I swiped off the counter.

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.

Suitable

For a blog that gets accused of being mech-centric, we haven’t had a mech or hardsuit on here for over a week. This one will do.

I really like how Knobby Plastic used Jango Fett’s cowl for the head on this hardsuit. It gives it quite a distinctive look.

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.

The Eye of Sauron watches all

Naturally Brickbucki’s latest creation brings up thoughts of Sauron, although the builder doesn’t say that he was thinking of Lord of the Rings when this was built. Regardless of the inspiration, this is a nicely constructed effect.

RedEye

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.

Brides of Dracula

This scene, by Teruel211, actually creeps me out. I think it is the feeling of suspense and the sense of anticipation among the vampires. Notice there is virtually no gore in this? Many people try to build a scary scene by including blood and gore everywhere. That never works for me because the action has already happened. It’s the suspense that gets to me.

Brides of Dracula 01

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.