Posts by Theo Spencer

6,000 LEGO bricks. 4 years of building. 3 months of coding. One seriously cool life-size Halo rifle

One thing that’s easy to forget about the protagonists and antagonists: they are big. Master Chief is just over 7 foot tall in his armour, whereas Elites can reach 8’6″ according to Halopedia. Enter Bryce Dempsey with a reminder in LEGO form. A big reminder! This shock rifle has been built according to its appearance in the latest series instalment, Halo Infinite. It’s been a proper labour of love, too: four years in the making, with 6,000 pieces adding up to a replica as accurate as it is heavy. 20lbs, apparently!

It’s not just a screen-accurate replica, though. Bryce has managed to pack in a bunch of working features, perhaps most impressively incorporating LEGO Mindstorms into the moving panels from the weapon’s overheating animation. There’s some pretty clever engineering behind it, not least of which is the code in the EV3 module. It only took, oh, you know, THREE MONTHS to write?! Be sure to check out Bryce’s excellent video talking about the trials and tribulations behind this epic replica!

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Re-mastering a LEGO Star Wars masterpiece

There’s just something about big LEGO Venator Star Destroyers (and not just their official kit). They’ve been a popular vehicle for Star Wars builders, and if you look through our archives, you’ll find an excellent midi-scale Venator by FlyInSpaceMOCs. Ah, yes, the Negotiator… Hard to believe that was more than three years ago. A builder can come a long way in that time, and to illustrate that point FlyInSpace elected to return to this Clone Wars staple vessel. Except this time, it’s twice as big!

Step this way to see more of this enormous LEGO Star Wars build

LEGO x F1 Academy: thoughts on brands, tie-ins and progress [Editorial]

Here’s a pop-trivia question for you. Who is the biggest tyre manufacturer in the world – i.e., who makes the most? I’ll give you a second to think about it. No doubt many of you know the answer already, if you’re reading this. The answer is, of course, LEGO. And after so long at the top of the tyre tree, they are finally getting involved in the real-world automotive sphere with a surprise partnership with F1 Academy, as announced the other day.

This represents the culmination of a big year for LEGO and Formula One. 20 sets have so far been released across five themes, including an entire wave of Speed Champions sets. LEGO has been a major presence at F1 races, most notably the Miami, British and Las Vegas Grands Prix. But even then, this latest announcement surprised many, including me. It got me thinking about LEGO’s relationship with IP partners, bringing in new fans, driving positive change in both motorsport and the world at large, and how to do a brand tie-in properly. And I got a bit carried away – so enjoy this long, rambly read!

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This LEGO microscale city is guarded by the power of arts and crafts

Among many other things, Athena is the patron Greek goddess of handicrafts. That makes Loic Gilbert‘s microscale LEGO statue the perfect tribute to her! It would be a fine figure taken on its own; add some colour and you have a flesh-and-blood Athena. But with that monochrome palette, and in the context of a well-crafted microscale settlement, it becomes absolutely massive! She’s a good choice of guardian too, seeing as one of her other patronages is warfare. Do gods and goddesses get to choose their patronages? Those two make an odd mix on the face of it. Maybe after a long day of warmongering, sitting down with some knitting or a LEGO set is the perfect way to unwind. Seeing as Athena is also the goddess of wisdom, I won’t question it.

LEGO livery debuts at Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix, coming March 1 to Speed Champions

No partnership has been more significant for LEGO in 2025 than Formula 1. LEGO’s line of F1 cars are among the best Speed Champions sets ever, and putting the F1 drivers in life-size brick-built cars at the Miami Grand Prix caused a viral sensation. The latest piece of news may top even those, though: next year, LEGO is going racing in real life! In a partnership with the all-female feeder series known as F1 Academy, the newly formed LEGO Racing is debuting car number 32 in LEGO colourways, with Dutch racing driver Esmee Kosterman behind the wheel.

And, of course, you will be able to buy a LEGO version of the car from next March 1. 77258 Speed Champions F1 Academy Car fits in the same bracket as other F1 sets in size and price, albeit with a reduced 201 pieces. (Hey, funding an F1 Academy drive won’t come cheap!) On a serious note: barely a week goes by that we’re not talking about LEGO tying in with some brand or a new product activation. And yes, this is fundamentally a move driven to make money for both parties. But it would’ve been easy to just produce a set and be done with it; it’s nice to see LEGO going the extra mile and trying to make a positive difference in the sport.

LEGO Speed Champions 77258 F1 Academy LEGO Race Car | 201 Pieces | Available March 1 |US $27.99 | CAN $34.99 | UK £21.99

More set details and LEGO’s official press release follow

LEGO Icons 40768 Type 15 Shuttlepod: to boldly gift where no-one has gifted before [Review]

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).

LEGO Icons 40768 Star Trek Type 15 Shuttlepod | 261 Pieces | Available November 28 to December 1 with purchases of 10356 U.S.S. Enterprise | US $399.99 | CAN $489.99 | UK £349.99

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LEGO Icons 10365 USS Enterprise: a ship worthy of the name [Review]

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.

LEGO Icons 10356 Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D | 3,600 Pieces | Available November 28 | US $399.99 | CAN $489.99 | UK £349.99

*There are a few different ways of working this date out – this is the calculator I used, for reference!

Boldly go with us to inspect

HereticCreations discusses Halo, play features, rebuilds and more [Interview]

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!

Stay glassy, fans of LEGO

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?

We’re big fans of this massive minifig and their supersized LEGO spaceship!

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!

Taxidermy is so much easier with LEGO bricks

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!

LEGO Icons 10366 Tropical Aquarium: deep-dive into the world of re-colours [Review]

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.

LEGO Icons 10366 Tropical Aquarium | 4,154 Pieces | Available November 13 | US $479.99 | CAN $599.99 | UK £399.99

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