Posts by Kyle Keller

2024 TBB Custom LEGO Advent Calendar – Day 1 [Feature]

All year-round, we here at The Brothers Brick spend our time featuring amazing builds made by the LEGO fan community. But we figured, for the holiday season, it would be great to build something together. For each day from December 1st through the 24th, we’ll be posting instructions to a custom TBB advent calendar build, one part each day. Want to participate? You can find all the parts you’ll need for the TBB Advent Event from our announcement in November. Read on to see what we’re building today!

Better get after it! Day 1 isn’t going to build itself!

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LEGO Icons GWP 40729 Shackleton’s Lifeboat – Really feeling the FOMO! [Review]

With the monster LEGO Icons 10335 The Endurance coming in with over 3,000 pieces, it’s hard to think there’s more that could be added on. And yet, LEGO still drums up some extras with a special gift-with-purchase, LEGO Icons GWP 40729 Shackleton’s Lifeboat, available from November 29th through December 2nd with the purchase of the big ship (US | CAN | UK). So let’s dig into this 232-piece GWP and see if it’s worth prioritizing a buy of LEGO Icons 10335 The Endurance over Black Friday weekend. If you miss the GWP during this window, it may be available from some 3rd party resellers like Amazon or eBay.

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.

Check out the review of this new GWP below!

Eight pieces is all you need to escape lunar orbit

Much as the Apollo missions took us to the moon in the 1960’s with enough technology to easily fit on today’s smartphone, Joel Short brings us back from the landing in 8 simple LEGO pieces. Utilizing the sprue of a pair of 1×1 round plates as the capsule, we see this little spacecraft propelled through a pair of LEGO Space CMF bases toward a 1×1 plate star. Let’s hope they’ve got enough fuel in that flame piece to get them back home!

LEGO and F1 announce the upcoming suite of 2025 racing sets [News]

Debuting at the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024, LEGO has treated us to a wealth of new racing sets ready to speed onto store shelves in 2025. The array of F1 sets operates almost like a subtheme, similar to 2024’s LEGO Space sets, showing up in LEGO City, Speed Champions, collectible blind boxes, and even a Duplo set. With 17 sets in total releasing in the first quarter of 2025 (and collectible blind box cars coming later on in May), it’s a good time to be a racing and building fan. We’ll cover the highlights of this massive set announcement below, but be sure to check the dedicated LEGO Formula 1 webpage for all the new cars and supporting sets coming out next year.

Read on for tons of images and the press release from LEGO

Announcing the TBB custom LEGO advent calendar for December 2024 [Feature]

As many of our regular readers are aware, come December each year, we here at TBB open up all the LEGO advent calendars, showing off each day’s builds along with some choice witticisms from the staff. Well, of course we’re still doing that this year, but we’ve also decided to add on an additional, TBB-exclusive advent event this year. From December 1st to the 24th, we’ll be posting the instructions for 1/24th of a custom Christmas model, designed by me. Has your Yuletide interest been piqued? Read on to find out more!

Read on to find out how you can participate and for the set’s parts list

The two sides of water, captured in LEGO

Take a gander above and below the waterline in this gorgeous LEGO creation by Carter Witz. Color transitions play a huge role in this build, with light gray showing the dry stone and dark gray emulating wet. Common construction patterns are shown above and below the trans-clear liquid laters. However, the nature of erosion is different depending on where you look. Rooted vines and a tree eat away at the air-exposed rock, while seaweed the current buckle the bricks below. Carter once again shows his prowess working in natural forms.

Fuel for one’s car and one’s stomach

Lately, builder Alex Eylar has been absolutely knocking it out of the park with builds dedicated to creating a LEGO-made ambiance. I covered a pair of his brick-built spaces not too long ago, but I think I like Alex’s latest creation even more. A combination gas station and restaurant, this building and it’s superb lighting convey the desert at dusk perfectly. There’s so much detail, including the cacti, shelves inside the convenience store, and signage for the restaurant around back. But my favorite detail is the obscured brown car sitting along-side the building.

Some serious “hustle and bustle” energy

You ever run into a LEGO build that just perfectly sums up your day? While my rushing today was entirely computer-oriented (and involved way too much work in Crystal Reports for my own sanity), the character in this creation by greenarj has far more of a physical speed built up. With a brilliantly-blurred background, this character creation is a stellar woman on the go. Triangle tile sunglasses and banana-curled blonde hair highlight her face. Toothy plates, a banana collar, and a minifigure skirt simulate a white blouse under her black jacket. And don’t forget the banana/bucket handle buckle on her bag, which is absolutely astounding! With all the fruit showing up, I have a sneaking suspicion this lightspeed design is for the Mind that Banana contest over on New Elementary.

LEGO kicks off their Build to Give initiative for the 2024 holiday season [News]

First started in 2017, the Build to Give initiative is a yearly event put on by LEGO to help get our favorite building sets into the hands of the children who need them. This is done each year with the help of LEGO fans across the globe who use social media or shop in physical LEGO stores. Repeating the same goal as was used in 2023, every LEGO heart made in-store or shared on social media (or on the LEGO Play app) with the hashtag #BuildtoGive sends a LEGO set to children in need of play all around the world.

The donation process is done through a network of charities partnering with the LEGO Group this holiday season, which has resulted in helping more than 9.1 million kids over the last 7 years, and can help up to another 1.5 million in 2024. Here at TBB, we’ve got some ideas pumping with an appropriately-themed heart of our own. What kind of heart will you make for #BuildtoGive?

LEGO spaces, with a lowercase S

For me, one of the hallmarks of a great LEGO builder is their ability to create a space. And not just any space, but one with detail, purpose, and a story. Alex Eylar shows their skill in the medium with this great pair of brick-build “rooms.” First up, we have an almost-liminal hallway scene, absolutely intended to give the viewer a case of the spooks. Something about the abandoned flashlight and the burnt-out fluorescent send chills up my spine.

Next up, and far less creepy, this den acts more as a carefully constructed ode to it’s owner, Gregory. From the décor, it’s easy to peer into the life of this sophisticated gentleman: one of billiards, music, and relaxation.

Trick-or-Treating for tiles!

After countless Halloween seasons in the LEGO hobby, I’ve seen pumpkins of every size, shape, and variety. So I certainly take notice when a new bit of “gourd-making tech” hits the scene. Fellow SortLUG member Deborah Higdon has nailed an excellent pumpkin shape in her seasonal mosaic, utilizing curved tiles to create the lobes of the fall fruit. A pair of spooky creatures and some winding vines add to the 3-D elements of the creation. All that’s left is to wish you all a happy Halloween from The Brothers Brick!

LEGO reveals 21353 The Botanical Garden as the next LEGO Ideas set [News]

Veering away from large-scale flowers for a minute, LEGO has just unveiled the next set in the Ideas line: LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden, based on the original Ideas submission by Valentina Bima. With 3,792 pieces, this massive set features a removable roof, 12 included LEGO minifigures, and sections covering flowers, trees, cacti, mushrooms, and other plants. The Botanical Garden goes on sale for LEGO insiders beginning on November 1st, with access to everyone opening up on the 4th, retailing for US $329.99 | CAN $429.99 | UK £289.99. And during the first week of availability, the set will come with the gift-with-purchase 5009005 LEGO Botanicals Entrance Gate GWP for all Insiders adding it to their cart (GWP images not available at time of writing).

Check out all the bodacious botanicals in this new garden below!