Posts by Daniel

LEGO BrickHeadz Pets 40440 German Shepherd and Puppy [Review]

If you are a pet owner and a LEGO fan, you might have attempted to build a BrickHeadz style version of your pet using parts from the LEGO Go Brick Me set, hoping that one day, LEGO might come out with official sets. Well, your wait is over… especially if you happen to be the owner of a German Shepherd. LEGO recently released a new sub-theme of BrickHeadz called Pets, and LEGO BrickHeadz Pets 40440 German Shepherd and puppy is the first in the series, with the adult dog being number 118 in the BrickHeadz lineup and the puppy being number 119. With 247 pieces, the set retails for US $14.99 | CAN $19.99 | UK £13.49 and is available now.

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.

Click to read the full, hands-on review

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An intimidating armada responds to an alien invasion

If you are planning to respond to a garbled distress call involving aliens of unknown intent, it is wise to bring as much firepower as possible, as spaceship builder Ryan Olsen knows full well. Building a fleet that is recognizable as being part of a larger faction comes down to using certain design elements that can be repeated at different sizes to fit the design of ships with unique purposes, and Ryan pulls this off beautifully. Take the very back of each ship, which includes a blue stripe in the middle of a larger white stripe.

Repetition is another key building technique, and you can see several examples of a simple curved shape, or part, like the ski part used in several ships, and even re-created in brick form for the larger ship. In this close-up of one of the ships, you can also see how a simple part like the dark gray storage container (used as a thruster cowl), can add just the right amount of texture and visual interest.

Dorothea Williams is a saxophone player with soul

Disney/Pixar’s latest animated film Soul is about a music teacher with a secret passion for Jazz, who lands the opportunity of a lifetime, to play alongside his biggest inspiration, a Saxophone player named Dorothea Williams. Chi Hsin Wei has captured this unique character in LEGO perfectly, from her bountiful hairdo to her casual pose. She leans back on one foot while putting her heart and soul into her music. One of my favorite details is the red headband just above her forehead, and if you look closely, you can just see a hint of an earing peeking out from under her hair.

The Emperor arrives aboard LEGO Star Wars 75302 Imperial Shuttle [Review]

Making its first appearance in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the Imperial Lambda-class shuttle is one of the Empire’s most iconic small spacecraft, with its folding wings and tall white dorsal fin. Maybe that explains why LEGO keeps releasing new versions. 75302 Imperial Shuttle is the fifth incarnation at or around minifig scale. The set comes with 660 pieces and will be available on March 1st for US $69.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £69.99.

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.

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Babies are keeping the seas safe for babies, baby

Who doesn’t love babies, especially when they are dressed as sailors in the Imperial navy. Here they go resupplying at the port before setting sail to root out evil in all its baby-hating evil ways. But the babies aren’t the only adorable things in this scene by Kev.the.Builder —- take a closer look at that port, with its tiny red roof and tiny door made from an arched window piece, and that tiny working crane. The tiny tree is also very… very… tiny, and cute.

She’s fast enough for you, old man

When it comes to racing around the galaxy, it’s hard to beat the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs, but that won’t stop Thomas Jenkins and their racing relay team from trying, built for the fan contest Space Jam 2020 relay racing category. I’ve been staring at that front section for quite a while, and I can not figure out how that thing stays together. It really does look like it’s about to fall apart, but at least it’s fast.

If this racing skiff looks cobbled together from spare parts, that’s probably because it is. The racers have to travel over some pretty rough terrain, and sometimes something important falls off.

This lander is out of this world, and I hope it stays there

Some spacecraft are friendly, full of friendly space explorers and friendly scientists. And then there’s this craft by Mitsuru Nikaido, which might be friendly, but I don’t trust it. Anything with more than 2 arms can’t be trusted. But I do like a good set of organic-looking lander arms. And that twisted central structure is pretty sweet.

When trouble comes to town, what will you do?

A new guard is having to learn on the job as bandits attack in this portside scene by Jesse van den Oetelaar, which features some well-textured stone structures, along with a brick-built boat. The dock is nicely detailed, with merchants and a local catching fish. There’s also some great window construction, like the first floor of the middle building which uses the bases of black turntables to frame transparent plates.

$fractured kingdoms, bandit attack$

Wow, this sled is bananas!

If you happen to wonder why so many recently featured LEGO models are using the banana part, it is the seed part in this year’s Iron Builder competition, where LEGO fans who participate are required to use it in their models. In this winter scene by KitKat1414, the banana makes a great tuft of wind-blown hair, but it also gives the sled runners the perfect curve. Bonus points for that stylish lens flair.

Big Ninjago style in a little model

The Ninjago City modular sets are large, there’s no doubt about it. In fact, the latest set in the series, Ninjago City Gardens is one of the 10 largest LEGO sets ever released. When you line up the three sets together they take up quite a lot of space. Well, that’s not an issue with Adeel Zubair, who has built the latest city block in amazingly accurate details.

The inverted brown flower stem makes great tree roots, and the hot dog makes a perfect bridge. One more detail that I love, is the teal corner tiles used for those fancy sloped parts used in the control tower.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. Adeel has shrunk the entire series of Ninjago City blocks.

This fossil collection wins, arms down

There have been a number of great LEGO creations built for the Iron Forge challenge recently. The seed part, or the element that each entry needs to use is the Minifig torso, sans arms, and PaulvilleMOCs makes masterful use of white torsos (one in each fossil).

While the ones on the T-rex and the Triceratops are obviously used for the skulls, trading shoulder sockets for eye sockets, you have to look more closely at the Pterosaur, to find it sprouting wings.

There’s no doubt a-boat it, that’s a fine house

Some LEGO elements really have only one use, at least, to most of us. But Nicolas Carlier has stepped up to the challenge and found a masterful way to use the LEGO boat part, used here as the frame for the front window of this precariously supported wizard’s house. I’m getting a bit of a Weasly’s Burrow vibe here, but that’s alright with me.