Posts by Theo Spencer

LEGO Star Wars 75402 ARC-170 Starfighter: the comeback story arc [Review]

Before the X-wing, there was the ARC-170. Well OK, technically there was nothing before the X-wing as the original Star Wars came out before the prequel films – but let’s not get into semantics just yet! While the former has seen plenty of LEGO iterations down the years, there have been just two sets of the Republic’s main starfighter, and none since 2011. None until now, that is! LEGO Star Wars 75402 ARC-170 Starfighter forms part of the new line of LEGO Star Wars sets coming out on January 1, 2025. With 497 pieces, it can be pre-ordered now for US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £59.99, and will likely be available on eBay and Amazon too. Does this hotly-anticipated comeback live up to its billing? Read on to find out!

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Take flight in our review to see how this fighter stacks up!

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LEGO 40701 Ballerina & Nutcracker Scene Gift with Purchase [Review]

The internet can argue for ages about what the best Christmas song is. And while there are some correct answers (it’s the Pogues, obviously), one which should not be overlooked is Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. This was Christmas music before Christmas music was a thing, and has been set to many a festive ballet performance since. You might find yourself humming it if you build LEGO’s next Gift with Purchase (GWP) offering: 40701 Ballerina & Nutcracker Scene, which will be available from December 6 to December 31 with purchases of US $TBD | CAN $TBD | UK £TBD. (You might also find it at third-party retail sites like eBay or Amazon.) I think it’s preferable to having Mariah Carey stuck in your head, anyway – so let’s take a closer look at this holiday-themed set!

Click here to read our full review!

LEGO 40702 Christmas Picture Frame Gift with Purchase [Review]

The holiday season is all about gifts, right? Well no, it’s probably got more to do with family, friends and a great big roast dinner. But gifts have become an inescapable part of Christmas. And if you’re doing some LEGO gift shopping from December 13 until December 31, you might get a little gift of your own! There are two Gifts with Purchase (GWPs) being offered in that timeframe, the smallest of which is 40702 Christmas Picture Frame. This set will be available with purchases exceeding… Well, we don’t have that information yet, so the prices are US $TBD | CAN $TBD | UK £TBD! We’ll update that when it’s available, of course – you might also find it from third-party sellers like eBay or Amazon. In the meantime let’s take a closer look at this festive frame.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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LEGO Jurassic World 76967 Little Eatie: T. Rex – Little Eatie? More like Little Cutie! [Review]

With a name derived from the Latin for ‘king of the tyrant lizards’, you’d be forgiven for thinking there was no way a Tyrannosaurus Rex could ever be described as cute. Well, the latest LEGO Jurassic World set – 76967 Little Eatie: T. Rex – is here to challenge that view! With 317 pieces, this little gal depicts the dinosaur of the same name from the Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous animated series. This successor to this year’s 76962 Baby Bumpy: Ankylosaur – from the same show – will hit shelves from January 1, and you can pre-order it now for US $24.99 | CAN $29.99 | UK £19.99. You might also be able to find it on sites like eBay or Amazon after the full release date.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Continue reading →

LEGO Jurassic World 76969 Dinosaur Fossils: Triceratops Skull – Tricera-top notch? [Review]

Around this time last year, I reviewed a slightly unusual LEGO Jurassic World set: a fossilised T-Rex skull. I concluded a glowing review by hoping that the fossils line would continue; ideally, in my mind, with my favourite dinosaur – the Triceratops – to come next. Clearly someone at LEGO was reading, as LEGO Jurassic World 76969 Dinosaur Fossils: Triceratops will grant both wishes at once when it releases next January 1! You can pre-order it now for US $44.99 | CAN $59.99 | UK £39.99 (you might also find it on eBay or Amazon once it does release), and although it has fewer pieces (468) than its predecessor, it does include a whole extra minifigure. Does that make it a good prospect? Grab your fossil-hunting tools, and let’s find out!

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Click here to dig in to our review

LEGO Star Wars 2025 sets revealed, including buildable Grogu and Clone Wars starfighters [News]

Thanks to German retailer JB Spielwaren, we’ve been given a look at some new LEGO Star Wars sets slated to come out in the new year. The headline set is 75403 Grogu with Hover Pram, with just over 1,000 pieces making up the Child, his pushchair and a blue frog. For fans of the Clone Wars, there is a new ARC-170 starfighter alongside Ahsoka’s Jedi Interceptor, plus a midi-scale Acclamator Assault Class ship. The Original Trilogy’s Home One starcruiser also gets the midi-scale treatment. A version of Mando’s N1 Starfighter for young builders rounds out the wave. All sets are will be released on January 1, 2025. Be sure to let us know if the comments if you think the Force is strong with the January lineup!

Check out more pictures of all six sets after the jump!

LEGO Black Friday deals now live, 10335 The Endurance available [News]

Black Friday has become one of the biggest LEGO events of the year with new sets and special offers available from November 29 through Cyber Monday on December 2. The biggest news is that LEGO Icons 10335 the Endurance is now available for US $269.99 | CAN $349.99 | UK £229.99. Should you choose to buy it over the weekend, you can also land its exclusive Gift with Purchase (GWP), 40729 Shackleton’s Lifeboat. That’s not the only GWP on offer though: 40700 Holiday Winter Train and 40699 Retro Record Player are included with any purchases over US $170 | CAN $220 | UK £155 and US $250 | CAN $325 | UK £225 respectively, with two more polybags available on Cyber Monday with purchases exceeding US $50 | CAN $65 | UK £45.

The deals from the LEGO Insider Weekend – which started last week – will stay live until December 2, including exclusives available through the Rewards Centre (US | CAN | UK) and discounts on selected sets. There will be some price reductions available for non-Insiders too, but at the time of writing, there’s no information on what those discounts would be. Be sure to check the LEGO website (US | CAN | UK) throughout the weekend to see what deals you can pick up!

Check out all of the Black Friday deals below!

This life-like LEGO Les Paul will rock your socks off!

If you’re a guitar person, you will generally fall into one of two camps. Either you’ll be on the side of the surf-rock Fender Stratocaster, or you’ll favour the heavier, crunchier sound of a Gibson Les Paul. LEGO have already made a set out of one of those – but it’s nowhere near as big as the one Hungarian builder LEGO Revival has just made! This is a life-size replica of not just any guitar, but their very own instrument, which you can see in the background of this shot. And although I learned to play on a variant of the Stratocaster, I always coveted a Les Paul Standard like this. So excuse me while I geek out on guitars for a little bit!

Come and nerd out with me, and see the incredible detail in this guitar

LEGO pays tribute to Leonardo da Vinci with newly-announced 10363 Leonardo da Vinci’s Flying Machine [News]

After paying homage to Galileo Galilei in a Gift with Purchase set last year, LEGO has turned to another great Renaissance mind for their latest set in the Icons line. 10363 Leonardo da Vinci’s Flying Machine was shown off at the Recognised LEGO Fan Media (RLFM) days back in September, and today has been unveiled to the wider world. With its 493 pieces, this kit recreates one of the Italian polymath’s more outlandish creations, some 300 years before the first crewed flight even took place. The flying machine never actually flew, of course – but regardless, you can still recreate it for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £54.99 when it becomes available starting January 1, 2025.

More pictures available after the jump!

Getting down and dirty in the meat-packing district

I’m no vegetarian, but even I couldn’t help feeling a little unsettled by the meat-packing district featured in the Book of Boba Fett series. I’d wager that it had a similar impact on Darth Bjorn, as he’s created a LEGO Star Wars diorama that is undoubtedly inspired by the same scene. It was pretty grisly, and this build has the same vibe. In part, that’s down to some nice texturing from Bjorn, as well as just the right amount of Star Wars-y greebles. But it’s also down to some of the off-white on the walls. That’s not a LEGO colour – not an official one, anyway. If you leave your older white parts out in the sun for too long, they’ll start to go yellow. For nice, polished display creations, that can be a problem – but it’s perfect for applications such as this!

Placid plastic (brick) duck simulator

One of the weirder gaming experiences I had this year was playing Placid Plastic Duck Simulator. If you haven’t played it – and I use the word ‘played’ loosely – it’s an idle game where you watch a bunch of rubber ducks floating around. Why am I telling you this? Because Eli Willsea has created an equally tranquil rubber duck simulator, but this one made of LEGO bricks. In truth, the ducks are probably the most conventional part of this build. There’s some clever parts use, including artists’ boards for lilypads and green katanas for reeds. And the most eye-catching is the use of clear 1x2x5 bricks with some lighting behind them to create the water. Is it realistic? Well, no, probably not. But is it pretty? You bet!

We love Eli’s builds at TBB. I’m going to watch more rubber duckies float around on my screen, but you should go and see what else we’ve featured from Eli over the years.

Can’t see the forest for the trees – but we can see the Empire instead

The forest moon of Endor is the scene of the Star Wars equivalent of the Teddy Bear’s Picnic, where a coalition of Ewoks and Rebels (oh, and some Jedi) defeated the might of the Empire once and for all. It’s a scene that has been rendered in LEGO many times, to great effect. Abe Fortier (AKA Hypolite Bricks) has joined the fray with a superb effort! Often, these dioramas are dense with vegetation and trees; it did take place on the forest moon of Endor (not Endor itself!), after all. Abe’s isn’t quite as densely populated with plants, but that might be for the better here. It gives some space to focus on the scene’s protagonists and antagonists – and the superb landscaping. It looks like it gave the good guys a better line of sight to take down that AT-ST, too!

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