Posts by Theo Spencer

Cooking up a storm in the Iron Builder competition

There’s another round of Iron Builder going on at the moment between Jonah Schultz and Maxx Davidson. As you’d expect, they’ve both been knocking it out of the park, and that’s at least partly helped by the seed part: a LEGO minifigure baseball bat! Maxx’s kitchen is what’s caught my eye. There’s some nice retro styling here, and of course you can see the bat used in the fridge handles and as a utensil handle in the pot. Less conspicuous, but no less ingenious, are the uses as an oven tray and what I believe is a pepper mill or grinder. The latter also makes clever use of a Technic clutch part in red!

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LEGO Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, Super Mario & more among LEGO sets revealed at San Diego Comic Con 2024 [News]

San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) has become a favourite place of LEGO’s to reveal new sets, and we’ve been treated to five all-new reveals over the first day of the convention (as well as a first look at the previously-announced 41838 Travel Moments). The pool of characters for your Dungeons & Dragons adventures is increased from September 1st thanks to a Collectible Minifigure Series, 71047 LEGO Minifigures – Dungeons & Dragons. No doubt these will pair nicely with 21348 Red Dragon’s Tale, and you can pre-order them now for US $4.99 | CAN $5.99 | UK £3.49. Another noteworthy minifigure makes a comeback in a Star Wars set, too: 75388 Jedi Bob’s Starfighter turns LEGO folklore into a tie-in with the upcoming Rebuild the Galaxy mini-series. That one releases in just a few days on August 1st, retailing for US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £34.99.

Sets from Super Mario, Minecraft and Sonic the Hedgehog themes have also been unveiled for release in October this year. Pictures of those – and more of the above – after the jump!

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An awesome minifigure redux needs an awesome set redux to go with it

Retro minifigure callbacks have become something of a theme in LEGO’s Collectible Minifigure Series. In CMF Series 25, for instance, we got a callback to the beloved Fright Knights of the 1990s, with Basil the Batlord re-imagined as a Vampire Knight. But what’s a Batlord without a noble steed? Enter talego, who has reduxed the dragon in 6007 Bat Lord to go with the figure. And the results are awesome! It looks suitably frightening in all-black, with some custom red wings to match. Take a close look at the head, too: a sausage gives the dragon not only eyes, but pupils too. And not only are the Batarangs thematically great, they double perfectly as both eyebrows and horns!

Learn how to build spaceships like a true master AFOL [Instructions]

There are some LEGO builders who, every time they present a new build to the world, have us scratching our heads wondering how on earth they’ve made those pieces fit together like that. For no one is that more true than Nick Trotta, whose spaceships feature frankly mind-bending ways of connecting things together. Have you ever wanted to see how he does it? Well, he’s just released instructions for one of his models, so you can do just that! This spaceship was featured here way back in 2018, and it still looks just as good now as it did then. You can build your own using the instructions over on his website!

And while you’re here – why not take a look through some of his other builds that have graced our Nick Trotta archives since the Resonance made its first appearance?

Aye-aye-aye... Is our reaction to this surprisingly creepy jungle critter

Long-time TBB readers will know that our unofficial mascot is a lemur. Why? Well, not only is A. Lemur our resident dogsbody, he’s also the cutest* member of the TBB team, and therefore best suited to the role. Don’t tell him, obviously – he’ll ask for a snack raise, and he already pretends to be the boss when Andrew isn’t looking. In all seriousness, we should count ourselves lucky; we could have ended up with something creepier, like Velocijacktor‘s aye-aye. Now these little primates can be pretty un-nerving in the flesh, at least if Google Images is anything to go by. But rendered in Bionicle pieces, and eyeing up that poor little beetle, suddenly it looks like an other-wordly horror. Yep, we can be content that we just have to contend with our lemu-hey! No! For the last time, the server cables are not for eating!

*relatively speaking, of course

LEGO’s Fortnite collaboration extends to four new sets, all available now for pre-order [News]

Last year, LEGO announced a collaboration with Epic Games and their smash-hit Fortnite, culminating in the TBB review of LEGO Fortnite survival game that we shared just as 2023 ended. Since that first announcement, many have been wondering if some of the Fortnite favourites would make the jump from the screen to actual bricks. Today, we have the answer with four new sets releasing this fall. With some sets meant for play like the minifigure-laden LEGO Fortnite 77073 Battle Bus and others intended for the mantle with the 1,414-piece LEGO Fortnite 77072 Peely Bone statue, these sets offer tons of references to the game and it’s perennial characters (however, mainstay Jonesy remains missing from these offerings). All four sets are available now for preorder (with links and pictures below), and will be released on October 1st.

Drop in to see all four sets and pre-order links after the jump!

Take a break in this courtyard of calm

Hot on the heels of one great immersive Arabic LEGO scene, comes another courtesy of Ids de Jong. Although made on a slightly smaller scale, it shares some similarities in scope, giving us a view into the courtyards that are so typical of this style of architecture. The arch pieces framing the entrance immediately set the tone for where we are, and the minarets and towers in the background employ forced perspective to give the impression that we’re somewhere in a bustling city. And that’s all great – but what my eye is drawn to is that mosaic at the front. It uses some clever LEGO geometry: the ridges on those inverted slopes are a half-plate thick, which combines with two more plates to give the exact width of the tiles on the corners!

Prepare to meet thy (map) maker!

Some of the best LEGO builds are the ones that not only have a story behind them, but that subvert expectations somewhat. Now I’m not talking about all the Nice Parts Use (NPU) in Eli Willsea‘s little vignette – although it is absolutely chock full of it. A wrench is used as a very sturdy-looking door handle, doors make for an elegant staircase, and candles mimic scrolls on shelves made out of Duplo elements. The bucket handles shoved into lever bases for the bookstand are cool too. This creation is titled “Madeline the Map Maker”, but is that really all she is? Look how brooding this place is… The dark red evokes something a little sinister to me. And it’s not helped by Madeline’s black robes. Perhaps we should be wary of where these maps might lead us!

The cutest cherry bomb this side of the Mushroom Kingdom

When you think about it, the Super Mario world has a lot of role reversal in it. Suddenly, humble plumbers are superheroes, mushrooms become a deadly nuisance, and cherry bombs are made to look so harmless you could almost describe them as cute. Make no mistake, those wide eyes are those of an explosive killer: the Bob-omb, as recreated here by Łukasz Alagierski. The bulk of it uses a technique known as the Lowell Sphere, with a few additions to recreate the features of this cold-blooded killer. The cherry on top of this cherry bomb is the fuse, made by twisting LEGO string into a rope!

LEGO Technic 42172 McLaren P1: Does this hypercar live up to the hype? [Review]

LEGO has been on a bit of a roll with model cars this year. A new wave of Speed Champions sets, an iconic car from the 1980s, Technic models of Formula 1 and Formula E cars, and now, the latest entry into the 1:8 scale line of Technic supercars. Except… This one isn’t just a supercar. 42172 LEGO Technic McLaren P1 depicts one of the first hybrid hypercars from 3,893 pieces, and will release this August 1st for US $449.99 | CAN $589.99 | UK £389.99. The Technic Ultimate line has a reputation for pulling out all the stops, with a price tag to match. Will the McLaren live up to this high standard? Read on to find out!

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.

Click here to continue reading our review!

Respect! Power! Banana (abs)!

Just the other day, I was singing the praises of Maxx Davidson‘s LEGO building skills courtesy of a yellow taxi-crab. However he’s raided the yellow parts bin again, and this time I don’t think I can be as complimentary. Now we’re no strangers to unsettling builds on The Brothers Brick; we’ve featured everything from Eldritch horrors to gory brick-built bloodbaths. After all that, I never expected a muscular Minion to be the thing to give me sleepless nights. I’ll admit, the bananas for chiseled abs are kinda neat. But I don’t like how seductively this guy is looking at me, particularly with that flex going on. Some things, once built, just can’t be unseen.

Maxx says he’s “truly sorry” about this one. We’ll go and cleanse our minds in our archives of Max’s less-disturbing LEGO builds, and consider it “apology accepted.”

Chronicling the history of the Octan Racing Team [Feature]

The Octan energy company holds a special place in the hearts of many in the LEGO community. On the face of it that might seem rather strange – it’s only an energy company, after all, and a fictional one at that. (Well, mostly fictional – as discussed previously on TBB.) But it has been an ever-present in LEGO’s Town and City lines, and more besides, since its introduction in 1992. Its famous red and green roundel has adorned everything from petrol stations to football jerseys in the brick-built universe.

However, there’s one Octan activity that has always held a special fascination for me personally: motorsport! Their association with racing goes back almost as far as the company itself. But how did this enormous energy mega-corp get involved with motorsport in the first place? Did their monopoly on fuel extend to a winning streak on the circuit? Inspired by a livery spotted in a video game, I thought I would take a stab at answering these questions. So join the starting grid with me, dear reader, and let’s find out about Octan’s racing heritage!

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