Category Archives: LEGO

You’d probably expect a lot of the posts on a LEGO website like The Brothers Brick to be about LEGO, and you’d be right. If you’re browsing this page, you might want to consider narrowing what you’re looking for by checking out categories like “Space” and “Castle.” We’re sure there’s something here that’ll fascinate and amaze you.

Nexopirate castle welcomes cyber sailors in the sky

Jente Bijl brings whimsy and wonder to every build with a singular way of playing with color and form. Her latest work, NEXOPIRATES, which debuted at LEGO World Utrech, maintains that record with a monolithic station for flying skiffs in a cyberpunk setting. Take away the ribbons of fluorescent color and you’d have an impressive neo-brutalist building where walls lean at odd angles, finding beauty in chaos. Statues of a centaur and a gargoyle add to the dreamlike design. I wonder what sights those flying boats see over the horizon?

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A Monday Mosaic of Byzantine Bricks

According to scholars, mosaics in the LEGO medium flourished between the years 2020-2022, but believe it or not, people were making mosaic art long before this, especially during the Byzantine Empire. Joël Jurg, history student and AFOL, recreates the famous mosaic portrait of Emperor Justinian I as seen in the Basilica of San Vitale. Joël wrote his undergraduate thesis on Justinian’s construction project in Constantinople (Istanbul), including the Hagia Sophia, which also looks incredible in LEGO.

We’re wowed by this wonderful wizard

There are few builders that can create dynamic characters from LEGO like Trevor Pearson-Jones. The shapes and expressions he creates can feel almost magical. Case in point, this wizard conjuring up a giant, flaming 2×2 LEGO brick.

Coming in close on the wizard, I have to marvel at how few pieces actually make up the fleshy bits of the wizard’s face while still communicating a full character. Of course, those pieces get a boost from the large amount of sculpted facial hair and, surprisingly, some dental work.

And that magic brick uses various transparent plate colors to such awesome effect, I think I’d be afraid to touch it if I saw it in real life, lest I burn my finger.

Celebrating autumn with bell jars and bento boxes

LEGO’s Botanicals line introduced many to the world of brick-built decor, but for builders like umemaruko, LEGO has always been a medium for elegant home decorating. Alongside her wall hangings and table settings, umemaruko celebrates the seasons with a rotating mix of bell jar vignettes. Her latest is an enchanting encapsulation of fall featuring forest critters picnicking among mushrooms.

The builder augments her fall collection with a custom wreath and a seasonal bento box.

As falling leaves and mushrooms give way to snowy nights, I wonder what LEGO decorations umemaruko will craft next?

The Playable LEGO Game Boy: An Interview with the team behind BrickBoy [Interview]

From the moment that LEGO announced the official LEGO Game Boy set (72046), the online community was abuzz with questions around whether or not it could be converted into an actual functioning handheld gaming system. We had a chance to talk to the team behind BrickBoy, a electronic kit that aims to do just that, currently raising funding on Kickstarter. While other savvy makers have hacked a working emulator into the LEGO model, this team promises a 5-minute conversion that anyone can do at home. We’ll be back soon with a hands-on review of the kit, but first, we sit down with the team to learn more about how the BrickBoy project came together.

Read on to learn more about BrickBoy!

The 1:15 scale Octan Peterbilt 389 en route to Brick World, Netherlands

Few LEGO builders can master big rig trucks the way Dennis Glaasker can. No, seriously, I’ve tried to go down this road before and when you see one of Dennis’ gleaming creations in your rearview you just pull over and let the big man through, good buddy! Then salute the master as it passes by. He tells us it’s been about a year since he last posted anything but he clearly has not missed the mark, even after a break. Octan is a fictional super corporation first introduced by LEGO in 1992. As it turns out, it is one of the most ubiquitous fake brands in the world with an instantly recognizable color scheme and logo. Once again invited to the prestigious LEGO World event in the Netherlands, Dennis wanted to bring along something with LEGO recognizability. He modernized the typical Octan color scheme; white stayed white, green shifted to lime green and red became chrome. A custom Octan sticker adorns the tanker nicely.

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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Bonsai in bloom or a minifig vignette?

Ten years ago, a young Denil Oh won a Star Wars building competition at Legoland Malaysia that cemented a lifelong passion for building. Last month, Denil received a second honor when his bonsai creation was chosen to join the LEGO-hosted Botanicals exposition at Kuala Lumpur’s Pavilion mall. The builder fuses bonsai with a minifig vignette, adding a bridge, torii gate, and shrine to the ornate round pot. The grey and pink color combination makes for a pleasing tree. Look closely and you’ll see a clever technique for the flowers – they’re still on their sprues! Sprues also appear as vines around the trunk. Congratulations, Denil, on having your work celebrated again!

Bottoms up, we’re getting brickfaced!

I’m pretty sure I’ll be inviting TBB’s own Visual Assets Specialist, Kimberly Giffen to my next siorée. Not only can she edit photos like a dream but she has proven to be one creative mixologist that has shaken things up with a LEGO twist. A rainy weekend, which tracks here in the Pacific Northwest, has inspired her to build a colorful tropical drink. Is it a Blue Lagoon or a Blue Hawaiian? It doesn’t matter as both tastes like plastic and will likely chip your teeth. But it will still look great in your hand while you pontificate with party guests over whether Martin Denny or Les Baxter is the better Exotica Lounge musician. Bottoms up, sailor!

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

Cowboys and Dinosaurs make for a very wild west

Cowboys and Dinosaurs are the perfect B-Movie pairing (don’t believe me? Watch this clip of Valley of Gwanji from 1969). Builder Martin Dasnoy agrees as he wrangled up a trio of dino-riding Wild West factions. First up, “The Law” features an armored transport wagon pulled by a beefy ceratopsian. The dinosaur design is ingenious, with a fully brick-built head on a molded body that has been augmented for a more cohesive LEGO look. I like this approach more than the Jurassic-branded dinos that only use a few large molds.

Next up is the Red Raptor tribe where a pair of indigenous minifigs ride atop their prairie raptor. Again, the dino design is a lot of fun with its wide mouth and copious spines.

Last is my favorite of the trio, the Miner atop his trusty Hadrosaurid mount. The dino offers a lot more cargo capacity than a mule and can ford dangerous rivers with ease.

You’ve got chainmail!

LEGO Castle sets have offered plenty of armor options for your medieval knight minifigs, from pauldrons to full plate, but while mail has been available on printed toro, the company hasn’t figured out how to deliver the supple weave of a true chainmail experience. Hamilton Whitney solves the minifig chainmail problem by working with a really big head – one of the sorting bin variety! The effect is uncanny. This clever creation was built for the MOCtober challenge hosted by NOVA-LUG, an annual tradition asking builders to make a MOC a day based on a prompt. In this case – Armor! Hamilton excelled this year with some real lateral thinking around the prompts. Congratulations, Hamilton, on your 31 builds.