Ah, LEGO’s gifts with purchase. To some they’re as important as phasers or transformers, to others they’re a form of evil second only to the Borg. But love them or loathe them, we have another one to look forward to: 40768 Type 15 Shuttlepod, the companion set to the recently revealed 10356 USS Enterprise. The Onizuka here will fly your way with the Enterprise if you order it between November 28th and December 1st (US | CAN | UK).
Reviewer’s log, stardate -297548.10*. A curious missive appeared on the bridge today: a new Starfleet vessel has been sent to us for appraisal. Its designation? LEGO Icons 10365 USS Enterprise. This is not a starship in the conventional sense. It consists not of tritanium or duranium, but of plastic bricks – 3,600 of them, in fact. For such a large ship, it has an impressively small contingent: nine minifigures, representing one of the finest Next Generation crews ever to journey the cosmos. Naturally Starfleet doesn’t auction off its ships, but we’re informed that back on Earth, this particular model costs US $399.99 | CAN $489.99 | UK £349.99. Its maiden flight takes place on stardate -297491.25 (or November 28th, depending on your timeline).
We’re also informed that this is the first time its manufacturer – LEGO – has entered the Starfleet fold. Hans B. Schlömer and Crystal Marie Fontan from the design and graphic design teams, respectively, briefed us with some classified information and insights, which we will distribute as we go along.
*There are a few different ways of working this date out – this is the calculator I used, for reference!
If there are two things I love spending my time doing, it’s building LEGO and playing Halo. And despite a long-standing line of Mega sets, it’s the LEGO Halo builders online that I find myself in awe of. And none more so than HereticCreations! In case you couldn’t guess, this builder specialises in Halo creations, and in prolific fashion too. With a Flickr gallery containing over 800 photos, they’ve built everything from Flood-infested Covenant to enormous UNSC juggernauts, and plenty big and small in between. We chatted with Heretic about their journey into LEGO and the process behind their many builds. But first, we have to ask the most important question of all…
The Brothers Brick: So let’s start with an icebreaker: best Halo game, in your opinion?
HereticCreations: I think Halo 2 has the best story and music, but for the gameplay and art direction, I’d have to go with Halo 3. My answer for overall favorite could really be interchanged with any of the Bungie games, depending on my mood. I appreciate all of them each for different reasons.
ODST is my pick, personally. Click here to hear more from HereticCreations!
Much has been made on this site and elsewhere of the new re-colours that LEGO has been introducing recently. Sometimes it’s new parts in existing colours, sometimes new colours altogether. But I feel like transparent colours tend to slip under the radar somewhat. Not so for Mattia Careddu – it’s clear he’s a fan of translucent LEGO! This glassy fellow almost doesn’t look brick-built, and in truth I’m not even sure I could tell you where many of these pieces come from. Somehow, I’m getting balloon creature vibes – perhaps because of that Jeff Koons-esque trans-green dog?
LEGO’s up-scaled minifigure models (or MiniBigs, as I like to call them, which is going to catch on any day now I’m sure) have proven to be a popular concept for creative AFOLs to run with. Pascal Hetzel must have seen our April Fool’s post and created his own big classic space minifigure. But, not content with merely creating a massive minifigure, he’s built a supersized spaceship to go with it! And true to Neo-Classic Space form, it’s got plenty of greebles and texture, making it far more than a simple up-scaled model. If you can call such things simple, that is!
This thing is so big, I’m sure it would’ve reached the 100-stud long threshold required of SHIPtember builds. If you want to see more enormous LEGO ships, be sure to check out our archives!
There are many important events on the LEGO calendar, ranging from month-long build challenges to contests and competitions. But arguably one of the most important is the annual Creations for Charity drive, where LEGO builders come together to raise funds for charity through their builds. Daniel Olvera has thrown this taxidermied centipede into the ring for this year. Taxidermy seems like a much easier job in LEGO; much less gruesome. And no matter how many small LEGO elements you use, they’re surely easier than trying to coax an insect into a frame without damaging it further!
Four years ago, LEGO released an intriguing Creator set that stood out for its uniqueness: 31122 Fish Tank. What a great idea! A way of bringing some aquatic LEGO into your home without all the yellow of their traditional underwater themes. Clearly, some bright spark at LEGO saw that set, and went: OK, but what if we made it bigger? That’s clearly just speculation on my part – but the end result is the same: 10366 Tropical Aquarium, which releases this November 13 for US $479.99 | CAN $599.99 | UK £399.99. Among its 4,151 pieces, it counts a large number in new or rare colours, and in good quantities at that. But there’s more to this set than just new re-colours! Take a dive into the tropical waters, and let’s check it out together.
NPU: Nice Parts Use. Often used to denote a cool or unusual use of a LEGO piece. LEGO themselves have been no stranger to this concept, and themes like the Botanical line have taken that maxim even further. And although we’re only now getting a first glance at the latest LECO Icons set, 10366 Tropical Aquarium, that first glance is full of parts in new colours! We can see what appear to be two fresh colourways of hat and some new transparent leaf pieces among its 4,154 pieces. The price of admission seems accordingly high – US $479.99 | CAN $599.99 | UK £399.99 – but you’ll have to wait for our review to find out if there’s treasure in that sunken chest or just a soggy old boot! This colourful coral tank with its fishy inhabitants is slated for release November 13th.
Dive in for more pictures of LEGO’s latest underwater exploration
You know when you can hear a picture? Well I can hear this LEGO tripod built by Ivan Martynov. The sound I can hear is ‘ooo-laah’. If you’re confused, go and listen to Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds. In fact, even if you’re not, you should do that anyway – it’s a brilliant album. But back to Ivan’s build – which is based on art by one Henrique Alvim Corrêa. It’s full of spindly, biomechanical bits that don’t look like they should hold even this LEGO build’s weight, let alone a deadly heat ray. But that’s the wonders of Martian tech for you!
Without wishing to toot my own horn, I’m proud to count being a fluent francophone as one of my diverse skills. That list also includes making mediocre LEGO builds and being able to recite the first 10 digits of Pi off by heart. There’s nothing mediocre about seb71‘s tiny water craft; a build which, despite using only 30 pieces, still conveys a great sense of movement and drama. But it did pose some questions, not least of which was what a ‘coup de tabac‘ is – the title of this piece. As it turns out, despite literally translating to ‘hit of tobacco’, it’s a maritime term for a sudden, violent squall or storm at sea. And with such careful selection of constraction pieces, Seb has really nailed his impression of just that!
Frogust may have concluded over a month ago, but is that going to stop us from featuring awesome LEGO frog builds? You bet your bottom brick it won’t! This delightful dancing duo comes from BigBrickStan. The one on the right is in colours we’ve become accustomed to seeing in LEGO: green and white, with some orange highlights and big beady eyes. Why change a winning formula, right? But the use of prints on the left is equally eye-catching, in particular the torso. That part was originally a Dreamzzz turtle head! Even these amphibians are turtles all the way down, it seems…
Ever since its first Advent calendar back in 2011, Star Wars has been a regular feature of LEGO’s holiday season offerings. Even so, in the last few years, it’s felt like they’ve been ramping up the Life Day celebrations. We (well, LEGO employees) got to see an extremely limited candy cane X-wing in 2019. In 2023, it was a small diorama with Finn, Rey and Chewie to coincide with an animated Christmas special. And this year, we get 40806 Gingerbread AT-AT – a set as unique as it is festive! We haven’t been entirely complimentary of this year’s Star Wars sets; can we end on a high note?
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.