Posts by Theo Spencer

From liminal LEGO spaces to fruity robot friends

In this house, we are big Pan Noda fans. And speaking of houses – normally, that’s precisely the kind of thing we’d be featuring from one of the best liminal LEGO space creators. But of late, Pan has been experimenting with other types of MOC, and we’re equally enthralled. We’ve got a couple of yellow mechs to feast our eyes on here, the first being the Banana-Automaton. There’s some clever parts use going on here: a yellow life-ring atop the head, chain-link treads to add some heft (and nice texture) to its limbs.

Those treads appear in its bigger sibling, too. This is the Pinea-Automaton, which looks designed to carry a pilot. Despite their differences, the common design language makes it clear that these are from the same family of automata. A scout and a heavy, perhaps? Presumably those blade weapons aren’t for preparing a fruit salad…

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Rainbow squadron, standing by!

It’s getting harder and harder to keep track of the squadron colours in Star Wars. First it was just Red and Gold, then Green came along in Return of the Jedi, Blue appeared – and disappeared – in Rogue One… And that’s before we even get to LEGO-specific ones like Teal Squadron. Let’s just get them all out of the way at once, shall we? Over on Instagram, Mark (lego_coffee) has brought together as many colours as he can to craft some miniature monochrome x-wings. And by LEGO’s official colours naming scheme, we have Mid-Stone Gray Squadron, Flame Yellowish Orange Squadron, Reddish Brown Squadron, Bright Purple Squadron… The only criticism I can make is that such names don’t exactly roll off the tongue!

Iced brickaccino for, uh, Jeff Vader?

Here’s a fun bit of AFOL lore for you, readers. One of my very first interactions with the online LEGO community – and indeed YouTube – was a brick-film of Suzy Eddie Izzard’s famous Death Star Canteen sketch. (It’s still online to this day, and having looked at the upload date I now feel terribly old.) I have to wonder if that might have formed the inspiration for Kelly Bartlett‘s fantastic Death Star cafeteria! It’s part of a collaborative display at this week’s Bricks Cascade event in Portland, OR: the Death Star Village. As the name suggests, it’s all the Death Star amenities we never got to see in the films. And Kelly has shown she has a knack for brand marketing… I mean come on, Death Starbucks?! It’s almost meant to be!

The barista droid has taken your order – why not take a look around while you wait?

1,941-piece LEGO City Tower brings together the best of LEGO City [News]

LEGO City covers a lot of bases. Fire service? Check. Police force? Absolutely. Construction? Naturally. Space? As of last year, big-time! But that’s a lot of different sets to buy if you want a taste of everything. Fortunately, LEGO has you covered with an enormous tower of City. And it’s called, well, 60473 The City Tower! 1,941 pieces make up a skate ramp, construction site, metro, and even a spaceship launch pad. If you’ve seen the LEGO City: No Limits TV show, you’ll likely recognise some of the seven minifigures included too. This one-stop City shop will hit shelves this June 1 with a retail price of US $209.99 | CAN $TBD | UK £179.99.

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Cello, is it me you’re looking for?

Yes, yes, I know this is probably a double bass rather than a cello. But I couldn’t come up with a bass-based pun for the title, so you’ll just have to bear with it. Besides, we should be focussing on this terrific LEGO musician as built by Mattia Carredu. The cello/double bass/contrabass/whatever it is is very well-sculpted – the wands for tuning pegs are a great touch. So, too, is its player, looking resplendent in blue. There are some great techniques at play here as well. Her dress includes an upturned cupcake tin, and the hat is a terrific arrangement of droid arms around a wheel. Individually, they’re great builds – but put together, they are the very picture of elegance!

TBB Asks: does LEGO feature in your travels? [Feature]

Life is full of questions. Why is the sky blue? Why did the dinosaurs die out? And why do green LEGO bricks taste the best*? OK, admittedly, that last one was a suggested question by our mascot, A. Lemur. Needless to say, it didn’t make the cut for our weekly icebreaker segment: TBB Asks! And this week, we’re asking: do you travel with LEGO? Perhaps you have a minifigure mascot that goes where you go, or you got a bit too tap-happy with your credit card while on holiday and now you need to buy a new suitcase. Let’s see what our team has to say – and be sure to tell us your long-haul LEGO lore in the comments!

*Disclaimer: please don’t eat your LEGO. It wrecks your teeth, doesn’t taste very good, and unless you have the digestive system of a lemur, you’ll get all blocked up. Don’t ask me how I know.

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A LEGO AT-ST from before it was called an AT-ST

Every LEGO builder has a signature style. Some are more subtle than others, but everyone’s got one. In Matt (Classic Brix)’s case, his LEGO Star Wars creations often feature some nostalgic minifigures from the early years of the theme. Don’t let that retro snowtrooper fool you, though: this Hoth AT-ST uses thoroughly modern parts and techniques. Most obviously, you have the 2×3 curved wedge slopes, which are a perfect match for this walker’s feet. But there’s a delicious touch of irony in that printed part between the ‘eyes’. It is contemporary with the snowtrooper, and from a set featuring an AT-ST… But it sided with a miniature snowspeeder instead!

Adding a touch of sci-fi tech to creatures of the Cretaceous

Here’s a hot take: the Jurassic Park scientists had it all wrong. No, not the whole could they/should they thing – that’s covered in the movies. No, they were just barking up the wrong prehistoric tree: why go through all that trouble reviving dinosaurs, when you can just create robotic ones instead? I mean, the tech is already there! And I propose that LEGO builder Mitsuru Nikaido should be the chief scientist on this project. After all, he’s got years of experience mechanising animals in the brick. Heck, he’d already made one dinosaur before this Ankylosaurus. And it would’ve made the Jurassic Park much safer. Dinos on the rampage? Just hit the power button!

LEGO Pixar lamp Luxo Jr. leaps in as the next Ideas set [News]

LEGO as not been shy about releasing significant iconography from major brands recently. We’ve had logos from Star Wars and Marvel within the last year, while the Disneyland castle has seen a few iterations at different scales. Now, thanks to the Ideas line of fan-designed models, Pixar’s de facto mascot Luxo Jr. gets in on the action! 21357 Pixar Luxo Jr. was designed by Pixar and LEGO fan Toby Bennett, passing the requisite 10,000 votes in August 2023 before being approved for full release last November. Its 613 pieces will be able to recreate Luxo’s signature bouncing and bending movements, alongside the ball that appeared in its 1986 short film debut. Full release happens this June 1st, but you can pre-order it now for US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £59.99.

Want to see more Pixar pics? Let’s bounce!

Cleave through the air with this clever LEGO speeder bike

Does anyone remember the LSB contests? For the uninitiated, LSB stands for LEGO Speeder Bikes. These days, it’s primarily a group over on Flickr full of wonderful speeder creations. But as Charlie Jones reminds us, there were a handful of contests run through said group, too. Charlie has been busy building a handful of speeders to remember them by – and we’re particularly taken by the Carmine Shard here!

Seeing it in such a dynamic pose is cool, but even members of the Guavian Death Gang need a rest now and then. And this shot gives us an insight into how this build started, too. It seems that a minifigure cleaver can slot through a minifigure’s legs and double as a speeder saddle! An ingenious connection, which is sure to be a boon for LSB builders everywhere. On which note – I’m going to see if I’ve got any cleavers myself…

TBB Asks: What was your first LEGO set? [Feature]

The LEGO community is full of stories, anecdotes, and tales both tall and heartwarming. Sometimes, all you need is a prompt to get them out! So we’re starting a weekly feature here on the Brothers Brick: TBB Asks. It does what it says on the tin: quite simply, we ask a different LEGO-related question every week, and invite contributors and readers alike to share their stories and answers! These may vary from what your favourite set is, to what minifigure tool would be best suited to a zombie apocalypse. (I think it’s a lightsaber, incidentally.) This week, we’re asking: What was your first LEGO set?

Make sure to leave your answer in the comments – and if you have an idea for a question, feel free to leave that there, too!

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Revenge of the Fifth: Star Wars day for prequel trilogy fans

For some people, there are two Star Wars days. Yeah, yeah, we all know about May the Fourth be with you – but don’t forget Revenge of the Fifth (of May)! This year, it’s even more pertinent than ever, as Revenge of the Sith has enjoyed a mighty-successful 20th anniversary re-release. It’s also getting a re-run in our LEGO feeds, too, thanks to builders like Nicholas Goodman. I haven’t seen the re-release of Episode III, but I hear that seeing Order 66 on the big screen really hits different. I’m more than happy to settle for brick-built dioramas such as this, though. The Jedi Archives look resplendent made up of various shades of trans-blue tiles!

Hey, we’ve got some archives of our own too! Why not look through them to see what else 20 years of Episode III LEGO builds has brought us?