Posts by Kyle Keller

LEGO Insiders Weekend 2023 offers two days of sets and deals [News]

The holiday shopping season is kicking into high gear this weekend, and LEGO has planned two days full of sales and special offers on its website for those that participate in the Insiders program. Several sets like LEGO Icons 10315 Tranquil Garden, LEGO Batman 76252 Batcave Shadowbox, and LEGO Icons 10323 PAC-MAN Arcade are offering 3x Insiders points with purchase. And a handful of others are even going for 4x Insiders points, like LEGO Technic 42130 BMW M 1000 RR. But if none of those sets are on your list, the entire site has 2x points for the whole weekend.

For those packing their digital shopping carts full of sets, there are a pair of gifts-with-purchase that are available: LEGO Creator 40602 Winter Market Stall for orders of US $170 | CAN $220 | UK £150 or more, and 40595 Majisto’s Magical Workshop for orders greater than US $250 | CAN $330 | UK £220.

And while you’re on your way to complete your digital Christmas shopping (or just shopping for yourself, if you’re like me), please consider heading to LEGO US | LEGO CAN | LEGO UK via our affiliate links on The Brothers Brick. By using those links, you help to support our efforts to highlight the best builds, news, and reviews in our LEGO community. We use the funds generated via links like these to cover server costs, event sponsorships, and other ways The Brothers Brick serves the LEGO hobbyist community.

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LEGO Majisto is a BIG Dragon Masters fan!

The Dragon Masters faction (a.k.a. Dragon Knights, outside of the US) from LEGO’s Castle theme has been on the minds of many thanks to the upcoming 40601 Majisto’s Magical Workshop gift-with-purchase. And for builder terauma, it’s clearly a big deal! I mean, that explains this jumbo-scale minifigure of the wizard himself. Based on the proportions of 40649 Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure, mega-Majisto makes the dragons from his faction look like whelps by comparison. It’s a great reference to my favorite of the brick-built medieval armies of the 90’s.

A 2,500-year-old LEGO creation on the shores of the Aegean

LEGO builder Justus M. Has taken us all the way back to Ancient Greece with his contribution to the recent Rogue Bricks collaboration. Each build in the series touches on the myths and society of the time, here showcasing a fishing village on the outskirts of Troy. A pair of huts make up most of the scene, with walls cobbled in various bricking textures to symbolize the mud clay that these buildings were actually made from. These angular houses contrast the smooth, weather-worn rocks in the foreground, showing their age in silence amid the bustle of the scene. But my favorite bit are definitely the exquisite cypress trees littered about. Each one an agglomeration of upward-pointing leaves knit tightly together so as to appear as a single green leafy tube – a difficult task given the nature of the parts used.

This LEGO Bokoblin isn’t afraid of any sword-wielding Hylians

For all the beauty we can find in the Hyrule of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we also have to deal with the dumb, squealing baddies known as Bokoblins. And while the creature from the game won’t win any beauty contests, this LEGO version by Mitch Phillips is worth its weight in Rupees! There are so many excellent part choices here, including the minifig capes used in the ears, Clickits nose, and a mix of System and Bionicle pieces to bring this henchman to life. But the part that saves the day again and again is the ninja bandana. You can find it on the Bokoblin’s wrists and encircling its eyes, providing some exquisite texture to this Hylian menace.

A LEGO Super Mario power-up that’s totally lit!

I can’t believe LEGO would do this to us! A few days ago, the toy company unleashed a horde of 71426 Piranha Plant sets on the world, creating all kinds of hazards for your average LEGO Mario just trying to save a princess. Any time you see a brick-built green pipe from here on out, assume one of these bite-y flowers is lurking within. But don’t worry, because Dicken Liu has totally got your back with the perfect power-up to scorch your floral foes. Upon acquiring the Fire Flower, you can either bide your time and snipe the piranha plants when they pop out, or run through the level spamming B the entire time. The choice is yours.

Perfect LEGO patronus is a potent Potter protector

Builder Chi Hsin Wei has been on an absolute roll lately, churning out some truly brilliant LEGO creations over the last few months. But this latest ode to Harry Potter may be my favorite work of the bunch! Improving significantly over the recent 76414 Expecto Patronum set, this glorious stag of light blue brick utilizes an array of curved slopes and clip hinges to bring the translucent beast to life. And the spell’s caster is no slouch either with their flowing black robes. It’s quite the difficult task to replicate loose clothing in the LEGO medium, but Wei handles it like a pro!

New LEGO set for November 2023 now available for purchase [News]

Here we find ourselves at the top of another month, on the precipice of new releases on LEGO.com. And while November may not have as many offerings as we got in October, there are a pair of gifts-with-purchase available right now to help sweeten the deal. Access to one of the GWPs requires you to be a member of the LEGO Insider program if you haven’t joined yet.

Check out all the new sets below

LEGO Icons Modular Buildings Collection 10326 Natural History Museum – A mammoth modular indeed! [Review]

The first time I was ever able to go to a LEGO store, I walked out of there with a modular set. I was on a work trip to the Seattle area back when I lived in Indiana, and I remember being so excited driving back to the hotel from Bellevue with 10211 Grand Emporium sitting in the backseat. I knew that it would still be weeks until I would be back home building it, but I couldn’t care less. Since then, the Modular Buildings Collection has had a special place in my heart. And while I’m not the kind of builder to keep them all assembled on a shelf, I still see them as the pinnacle of architectural design at minifigure-scale. So, with the impending release of the new LEGO Icons 10326 Natural History Museum, let’s see how it measures up to the rest of its kin. With 4,014 pieces, this is the largest of the modular buildings to date. It’s currently available for pre-order on the LEGO website, with release on December 1, retailing for US $299.99 | CAN $389.99 | UK £259.99.

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.

Go on a guided tour of the new museum below!

10326 LEGO Icons Natural History Museum revealed as the next modular building set [News]

After 18 previous installments, the next LEGO modular building has been debuted online. And with 12 more pieces than 10255 Assembly Square, 10326 LEGO Icons Natural History Museum will be the largest modular building to date. The set includes 7 minifigures (not counting two statues), an adorable pug, and an array of museum displays including a solar system model and removable brachiosaurus skeleton. Clocking in at 12″ (31 cm) tall, 14.5″ (38 cm) wide, and 9.5″ (25 cm) deep, the museum fits right in with other modulars like LEGO Icons 10312 Jazz Club and LEGO Modular Buildings Collection 10297 Boutique Hotel. Available for pre-order today, 10326 LEGO Icons Natural History Museum will be available from LEGO.com on December 1, and will retail for US $299.99 | CAN $389.99 | UK £259.99

Explore the museum below!

Experience the Wonder of this LEGO Super Mario creation

Super Mario Wonder has been taking the internet by storm lately, with rave reviews for the brand-new side-scrolling video game far and wide. Builder mc tung has brought one of the new power-ups from the game, Elephant mode, into the LEGO-verse with this impressive creation. Mario, sporting his typical hat and mustache, has grown a trunk and giant ears on his quest to save the Flower Kingdom. The trunk technique employed here is particularly nice, giving it a wicked bend atypical for LEGO. It’s an ingenious character build that’s got me saying “wowie zowie” for sure!

LEGO makes a 40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei with their latest GWP offering

Debuting today on the Australian LEGO website, we can now see a new gift-with-purchase available to shoppers. The winner of the Ready, Set, Go STEM! contest on LEGO Ideas, 40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei celebrates the accomplishments of a renowned polymath and the father of observational astronomy. This build marks another addition to the string of sets celebrating famous individuals, including Amelia Earhart and Jane Goodall. Consisting of 307 pieces, 40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei will be available from November 1st through November 16th as long as supplies last, from LEGO.com and LEGO stores with a minimum qualifying purchase of US $130 | CAN $TBD | UK £130

Click for more on this new GWP

Giddy-up! It’s time for a ride on this LEGO Iron Horse

Clocking in at 105 studs long, this Seriously Huge Investment in Parts (SHIP) by Scott Wilhelm may not have made the SHIPtember deadline of Sept. 30th, but it’s still a masterful work of interstellar spaceship-ery. The hints of red stick out brilliantly on this carrier, adding a pop of color to shades of tan and gray. The detail work is simple but well-accomplished, and I adore the tiny turrets lining the top of each “wing.” But my favorite bit has got to be the cavernous docking bay on top of the SHIP, lined with some great technical texturing. If you’d like to see more of the B212 Iron Horse, or the rest of the Alliance fleet made to commemorate 10 years of SHIPtember, be sure to check out Scott’s Flickr album.