Posts by Peter

LEGO holds “Christmas in July” sale with free Nutcracker [News]

Want to get a HUGE head start on that Christmas shopping instead of doing it the day before? Did you miss out on the 40254 Nutcracker set during the last Black Friday promotion? Well you’re in luck, because this weekend from July 28-29th, LEGO Shop at Home US is hosting a “Christmas in July” sale where you will receive the nutcracker set free with purchases over $99 US. There are a couple of sets on sale as well including the popular 10259 Winter Village Station and the Ninjago Quake Mech. Use this link or click the image below to see the sets on sale and make your purchases while supporting The Brothers Brick at the same time!

A sheriff from another world, and I don’t mean the American old west

There’s something indefinable about this alien sheriff by Patrick Biggs that I can’t help but love. He wears the classic old-west sheriff attire–a long black coat with a dark gray waistcoat beneath–but it’s the small details that really bring this character to life, such as the spurs on the sheriff’s boots, his thumb poised on the hammer of his six-shooter, and the excellent sideburns constructed with light gray feathered wings, just to name a few.

Sheriff Takamori

However, I think my favorite part about the build may be the simple use of a Friends star piece as the sheriff’s badge; in other words, using a star as… well… a star, showing that sometimes the perfect part is indeed out there, you just need to find it.

Colorfully camoflauged Sukhoi SU-34 Fighter-bomber

I’ve always wondered why we don’t paint our military jets with blue camouflage so they blend in with the blue sky. Well, after a quick Google search, it appears that the Russians thought the same thing, because the wonderful camoflauge pattern on this Sukhoi SU-34 by ModernBrix is indeed accurate to the real-life jet. It’s an excellent choice, because we rarely see this type of camouflage pattern recreated in LEGO.

Sukhoi SU-34 Medium-Range Fighter/Bomber

Camouflage aside, the shaping is outstanding, especially on the cockpit and fuselage. The builder has also managed to fit side-by-side seating for two pilots in the cockpit — an uncommon feature the Sukhoi is known for — which eliminates the need for duplicate instruments required in the front and back of tandem seat fighter jets.

Sukhoi SU-34 Cockpit

LEGO Nexo Knights meets Warhammer 40k

Although I have never played the tabletop games, I have always admired the aesthetic of the Warhammer 40k universe, particularly the vibrantly colored hardsuits and tanks. Simon Crocker has created an excellent Warhammer-Nexo Knights mashup with his razorback tank, which is based on a heavily armored variant of the Rhino APC from the Warhammer games.

Macy's Razorback

Although the build may initially appear straightforward, closer inspection reveals the complex shaping and techniques used to make the front and back of the APC look so smooth, and to achieve the light bluish gray accents in just the perfect places. Although I overlooked it at first, the use of dark bluish gray panel pieces sticking out by 1/2 plates distance on the front viewports of the tank is particularly clever. As a finishing touch, custom stickers are used to add the fine details and make it especially accurate to the source material.

New LEGO Harry Potter summer 2018 sets now available [News]

The official release date for the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter Sets was originally scheduled for August 1st, but LEGO has apparently moved the release date forward by one month for all the sets based on the Harry Potter books. Five new sets, including 75955 Hogwarts Express and 75954 Great Hall, along with three new Harry Potter themed BrickHeadz sets are now available from the LEGO Shop, both online and in stores. Although many of the sets are on backorder for shipping in two weeks, we still recommend purchasing them now to take advantage of the double VIP points promotion happening until July 7th. Click below for direct links to all the new sets, and look for our hands-on reviews soon!

75954 Hogwarts Great Hall | $99.99 | 878 pieces

Click here to see all the new sets released!

Awesomely angular microspace magnificence

Microspace ships are one of my favorite things, and this Nebula-class Cruise Ship by Silmaril_1 reminds me just why I like them so much. The combination of orange, white, and lovely shaping make this microscale ship quite pleasurable to admire. I particularly like how those light bluish gray greebles are just barely peeking out from underneath the cracks between panels.

Eddy the Electrical Gremlin

Although the build appears to make great use of mostly common parts — which just goes to show you can make an awesome build without buying tons of the latest pieces — it notably uses a white window pane, with white glass held inside as a subtle detail of the front of the vessel.

LEGO reveals two new sets from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts [News]

Lego has just revealed two new sets from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter: one from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, featuring Aragog the spider, and another from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald, which is the latest of the sets being released for this November’s new movie (following 75951 Grindelwald’s Escape). These sets should be available this August as part of the summer wave.


Click here to see all the photos of these new sets!

Twenty-first century Blacktron engineering

For many of us, the original Blacktron sets hold a nostalgic place in our hearts. However, when viewed with today’s building standards in mind, some might say they are lacking a certain modern touch. Andrea Lattanzio has built our black-suited friends a state-of- the-art armored personnel carrier that looks straight out of a 21st century Blacktron remake. The color scheme is spot on: black with yellow accents, and the use of uncommon old door pieces, among others, adds interesting details to the sides of the vehicle.

B-59 | Blacktron Armoured Personnel Carrier

The builder has also made a cool video showcasing the features of the build, including a complete interior with seating for five troopers, opening hatches, and a removable turret.

LEGO Honda CRZ

LEGO Technic cars like this Honda CRZ by Lachlan Cameron never cease to amaze me with their complexity. The build is chock full of excellent techniques, my favorite of which must be the headlights, which are accomplished using transparent black vehicle windscreens with chrome 2×2 dishes inside as the individual light reflectors.

Eagle-eyed viewers may notice what looks like red tape covering the roof and the hood of the car. This is likely because the technic panels used on these parts of the car were never produced in red, so red tape had to be used to make black ones match the overall color scheme–a simple and smart solution to the problem of part availability.

Honda CR-Z - final rendition -

Crazy cool Corellian Star Shuttle

We feature a lot of X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Star Destroyers, and other well-known ships from the Star Wars universe, but rarely do we see the CSS-1 Corellian Star Shuttle, beautifully constructed here in LEGO form by Gamabomb. You may have blinked and missed it, but this ship got a bit of screen time in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace when it brought Chancellor Palpatine to Naboo following the defeat of the Trade Federation army. The builder has done an outstanding job capturing the shuttle’s smooth curves and rounded front end. The fact that it’s so rarely seen built from LEGO — unlike some other Star Wars ships — just makes it all the more awesome.

Click through to see more photos of this wonderful build!

This titan’s lookin’ tight in red and white

The use of repetitive shapes and colors can work wonders in a LEGO model — case in point, this awesome starfighter by Andreas Lenander. The various wings and nacelles all share similar shapes and outlines with red and white plates, giving the starfighter a wonderfully cohesive look. Andreas has made great use of the new X-Wing canopy, and a black cauldron on the engine of the ship.

SFC - Titan

B-24 Liberator Bomber from World War II recreated in LEGO

The B series bombers are certainty some of my favorite airplanes ever created. I can’t help but think of them as battleships of the sky, with the ability to drop tons of bombs while laying down machine gun fire in all directions from a multitude of manned turrets. Nelsoma84 has brought one of these planes to life in LEGO form: the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. Although the B-17 usually steals the show, as we’ve seen before with a B-17 from PlaneBricks and a chrome Flying Fortress by Orion Pax, the B-24 was actually the most-produced bomber and American military aircraft in history. This particular model is based on one of the B-24’s based in Benghazi, Libya, which explains the tan coloring.

These bombers were used in 2,400-mile round-trip bombing raids on oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania which supplied 30-50% of the Third Reich’s fuel. The model has excellent shaping all around, from the tips of the wings to the signature glass nose, and has room inside for pilots and gunners. Custom stickers complete the model’s look and add an additional level of detail.

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