Posts by Theo Spencer

Convene the Covenant and start the Great Journey

A bunch of spaceships and speeders, driven by aliens, and all decked out in purple? This can only be a LEGO rendition of the erstwhile villains of the Halo series, crafted by the aptly-named Heretic Creations. The range of parts available in purple is not as limited as it once was, but the curves of the Covenant craft can still be very tricky to replicate. They’re admirably done here, though – especially the Phantom (that’s the big dropship on the left). Just as impressive is the way the aliens themselves are made. The feathers on the Hunters’ back are great, as are the helmets for the Engineer’s shell. But it’s the High Prophets of Mercy, Truth and Regret that really draw the eye with their gold headdresses!

The Great Journey has begun

As you might expect, Heretic Creations have plenty more Halo creations in their photostream – but you can also take your own Great Journey through our Halo archives to find even more.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Robot dogs are man(agement)’s best friend

They say that the dog is man’s best friend, right? So here’s a question, prompted by Devid VII‘s excellent LEGO hardsuit-and-robot combo. Do robot dogs still count as being your best friend? Surely there’s no reason why not. Even if it’s your colleague? Well, that might depend on its purpose. With a hardsuit such as this it’s fairly obvious: it makes lifting stuff easier, travelling faster, and gives a bit of extra protection. But what is this dog here for? Quality control? Worse still, could it be this guy’s manager? Don’t get me wrong, I have a good relationship with my superiors. But I’m not sure I’d be taking them for walks or playing fetch with them…

YWBS - Yellow Work Bunny Suit and TaKo

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LEGO Star Wars 40755 Imperial Dropship vs Rebel Scout Speeder: the battle packs are back! [Review]

We’ve mentioned it a few times already this year, but 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of LEGO’s Star Wars line. Everything from Ultimate Collector Series sets to promotional items has been marking the occasion. The last hurrah in 2024 celebrates an important aspect of the Star Wars theme, and a mainstay since their introduction in 2007: battle packs! 40755 Imperial Dropship vs Rebel Scout Speeder combines two classic battle packs, and re-imagines them in a 383-piece set that will retail for US $39.99 | CAN $54.99 | UK £34.99. It even comes with an exclusive minifigure!

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.

Let’s see if this battle pack can recapture the old magic…

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Icons Botanical Collection 10340 Wreath – deck the halls with boughs of plastic [Review]

Christmas is coming soon. Yes, yes, I know, we haven’t even had the autumn equinox, let alone Halloween. But in the world of retail, things are starting to ramp up. It’s no different at LEGO, who are releasing two festive additions to the Botanical Collection line. The more obviously festive of the two (in the Western world, anyway) is LEGO Icons 10340 Wreath, a 1,194-piece set that you can pre-order now for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99. Alternatively, it may also be available through third-party resellers such as Amazon or eBay. It will hit shelves from October 1st, but will you want to deck your halls with it come the holiday season? Read on to see what we make of it.

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.

Let’s wrestle with the build of the wreath below!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Star Wars 40730 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber: Return of the GWP [Review]

Nothing quite says Star Wars like a lightsaber, does it? Many a happy childhood has been had waving around anything from sticks to plastic replicas and making humming noises. While many film props have seen official LEGO sets (think the helmet series), lightsaber replicas have been restricted to Gift-with-purchase (GWP) slots. 40730 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber is set to be the third such promotion, with availability from October 3rd through to October 10th. To qualify for it, you’ll need to spend a hefty US $499.99 | CAN $649.99 | UK £429.99 on 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge. Read our review to find out if it’s a weapon worthy of the Jedi, or if it should be consigned to the Pit of Carkoon…

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.

Continue reading

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Star Wars 75397 UCS Jabba’s Sail Barge: Time to set sail, or wait for set sale? [Review]

The LEGO Star Wars line is no stranger to big, expensive sets. Since the second edition of the UCS Millenium Falcon in 2017, we’ve averaged one $500+ set every other year, ranging from the minifigure-scale 75313 AT-AT and 75331 Razor Crest to Star Destroyers both Imperial (75252) and Republic (75367). In 2024, we are being graced with another – and for once, it’s not overwhelmingly grey! 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge is the latest entry to the Ultimate Collector Series line, and a minifigure-scale one, at that. With 3,942 pieces, it will retail for US $499.99 | CAN $649.99 | UK £429.99, and may also be found at third-party retailers like Amazon or eBay. This LEGO Sail Barge will start crossing the Dune Sea from October 3rd for LEGO Insiders, while journeys for everyone else start from October 6th. Jabba has invited you on board as a guest of honour; should you join him?

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.

Read on to see how our cruise aboard the Khetanna went!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Don’t bug me with your PC problems!

There’s two things I love in this world: great LEGO builds, and word-play. Philippe Moisan‘s latest build has both in spades! You might think it looks like an insect’s apartment – but in fact, this is a computer. Don’t believe me? Well for starters, there’s a literal computer – i.e. an object to compute or calculate – in form of an abacus. There’s a bunch of hard discs on the walls; a deck of (expansion) cards on the shelves; a mother (surf) board; some (integrated) chips; and of course the fan. But front and centre of it all is a problem. This PC’s got a bug! But as long as they still let you access The Brothers Brick, I think we can let them stay…

The secret life of: a computer

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Ideas 21352 Magic of Disney unveiled [News]

The latest challenge on the LEGO Ideas platform tasked builders to celebrate ‘100 Years of Fairytales’. The winning build was announced last September, and today, we get a look at the finished product: 21352 Magic of Disney. Designed by LEGO Ideas user 2A2A, this latest set contains 1,103 pieces depicting characters from throughout Disney’s history. That extends from recent feature films like Encanto – from whence we get a Bruno minifigure – all the way back to Mickey as he appeared in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Retailing for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99, this celebratory set will release this coming October 1st.

See more magical pictures after the jump!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

A brick-built vision of life in the post-apocalyptic desert

The year is… sometime in the future. The passage of time has long been forgotten by the dust. And if you don’t have your wits about you, you, too, will be forgotten. This is the dystopian vision that Polish LEGO builder Marcin (bigfig2000) brings us. But for all its post-apocalyptic caution, it’s impossible to take your eyes off this huge diorama! It depicts what looks to be an outpost in the desert, an oasis of sorts among the chaos. That isn’t to say there’s no disorder here, though! It’s absolutely jam-packed with details, characters and little stories forming.

WT01 front

Come and see who’s hanging around – if you’re brave enough…

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Icons Botanical Collection 10370 Poinsettia – Big points for the poinsettia? [Review]

We’re big fans of LEGO’s Botanical Collection here at TBB; heck, it inspired a whole collaborative display at BrickCon recently. It seems to be popular with the public at large, too, as new sets keep popping up. One of the latest to be announced is LEGO Icons 10370 Poinsettia – a flower native to Mexico with, believe it or not, a link to the holiday season. With 608 pieces, it will retail for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £44.99 from October 1st, although you can pre-order it now. (It may also be available from third-party sellers such as Amazon or eBay.) Now there’s loads of time until the festive season starts, but might this flowery offering be worth picking up before then? 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.

All signs point to our poinsettia review!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Barging across a cyberpunk river in style

Such is the size and scope of the cyberpunk New Hashima collaborative project, we’re still seeing new LEGO builds from it that pop up several months after it made its debut. Gus (Faëbricks) showed off a little Octan fuel truck back in spring that caught my eye. And now, it comes with a helping hand in the form of this neat hoverbarge! It reminds me of chain ferries that you might find linking two sides of a river or harbour. And that in itself is no mean feat: balancing the recognisable features of contemporary life with sci-fi elements, while its purpose remains clear. The same could be said for the truck, for that matter. Masterful design, Gus!

Hoverbarge - 2

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Hitting the bullseye with a poison dart frog

One thing you should know about the LEGO community is that certain animals have something of a cult following in brick form. The crab craze has been well-documented in our TBB archives, for instance. But another favourite is the humble frog. This one comes in all shapes and sizes, from the little green frog piece to more life-sized models like Áron Gerencsér‘s latest amphibian. Áron is a bit of a don when it comes to Bionicle and other ‘constraction’ figure pieces, so it’s little surprise to see them used to such good effect here. The blending of organic shapes is practically seamless. This li’l guy looks about ready to jump off the screen!

Poison Dart Frog

And yes – the frogs, too, have their own Brothers Brick archive. Hop on over to have a look!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.