Category Archives: Feature

The Brothers Brick is not just about showcasing the best  fan builds and bringing you the latest LEGO News, we also love to investigate, interview and discuss!  These featured articles are all interesting articles that you can look back and enjoy reading.

A new lease on learning with LEGO Education set 45678 SPIKE Prime [Review]

Way back in April of last year, LEGO Education announced the launch of 45678 SPIKE Prime, a new Scratch-based tool in classroom programming. After some delay from the original August 2019 release, it’s now available for purchase and we’ve been fortunate enough to receive a copy to review! We’re excited to see what we learn about this fascinating new set!

Additionally, with the 40th anniversary of LEGO Education this week, we’re also sharing loads of cool information about the history of the department and its contributions to STEAM learning (Covered over multiple articles). It’s not every day we get to dive deep into a part of the company that has been mildly separated and not intended for general distribution. This division of LEGO is really getting into its stride lately, and the future holds exciting things!

Click to take a closer look at this cool set!

A History of LEGO Education, Part 1: Strong Foundations [Feature]

LEGO bricks have long been considered an educational toy, but it wasn’t until 1980 when The LEGO Group formally established an educational division. Known today as LEGO Education, the division is celebrating 40 years of collaborating with and developing educational tools for teachers around the world, with products ranging from Duplo to Mindstorms. Here at The Brothers Brick, we are taking a closer look at LEGO Education with a series of articles, and what better way to observe a 40th anniversary than with a history of the subject?

To get everyone pumped up, LEGO created a special video highlighting some of the key points behind the history of LEGO Education. Think of the video as a preview of the history we are about to cover here. Get ready, because it’s time to dive deep into LEGO Education 101!

Click to see the earliest history of LEGO Education

LEGO 80105 Spring Festival Chinese New Year Temple Fair [Review]

Last year, LEGO released sets 80101 Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner and 80102 Dragon Dance to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival, also known as the Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year). At the time, the sets were only sold in the Asia Pacific region, causing an uproar among fans elsewhere in the world who felt slighted by their regional exclusivity. The extent of this reaction was influential in LEGO’s decision to make this year’s Chinese New Year sets available worldwide. Today, we take a look at this year’s LEGO 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair to give you insight into a brick-built celebration filled with fun and beautiful details. The set has been available in the Asia Pacific region since December 26, 2019 but is being released worldwide today. It consists of 1664 pieces and retails for US $119.99 | CAN $159.99 | UK £89.99


Read the full review to learn more about this Chinese New Year exclusive.

The Brothers Brick Explore: LEGO Classic Space [Feature]

Classic Space – one of the perennial LEGO building genres, ever-popular amongst fans for its nostalgic nods to iconic official sets of the past, and the opportunities it presents to depict an optimistic expansionist vision of humanity’s intergalactic future.

This building genre takes its primary influences from the LEGO Space sets released between 1978 and 1987, and the follow-up themes released during the late-80s and beyond, when factions like Futuron, Blacktron, and the Space Police were introduced to the universe.

But the genre is about much more than just the official sets. Take a trip with The Brothers Brick as we blast off on our grand tour of LEGO Classic Space…

Click to read our in-depth overview of the Classic Space building genre

The Brothers Brick 2019 Report Card: LEGO Ideas [Feature]

The first release of a LEGO Ideas set (or its previous incarnation named Cuusoo) began back in 2008, rebranded in 2014, and 2019 marks its 11th year of a successful run for crowdsourcing from LEGO fans all around the world.

LEGO Ideas targets a wider audience beyond the typical LEGO buyer profile. 2019 was unique because it saw many new things for the Ideas initiative. This year we had five retail sets that were launched under the theme, the largest Ideas set ever, and a 6th fan-created as a gift-with-purchase set with the new variation of contests on the Ideas platform introduced back in 2018.

Click to see our LEGO IDEAS Review and Analysis for 2019

The Brothers Brick’s top 10 most popular LEGO Features of 2019 [Feature]

In 2019, we covered a few feature-depth articles that explore a different side of the typical topics to uncover and share original and interesting stories within the LEGO community. If there’s any feature that you missed, here’s your chance for a revisit. We take a quick look back at the ten most popular feature articles of the year.

Click to see who made the top 10 features for 2019

The story behind LEGO’s 1981 Classic Space Christmas card [Feature]

Last year, we shared an article on vintage LEGO holiday greeting cards. The LEGO Group has established a tradition of giving their employees exclusive Christmas themed sets like the X-Mas X-Wing for the holiday season. Even longer than that, since at least the 1970s, the LEGO Group has produced special Christmas cards for employees (and, occasionally, the UK LEGO Club). Each year brings a new card, with artwork ranging from carefully staged minifigures to elaborate brick-built designs. You can find blank examples that were used to send personalized messages, as well as cards with printed holiday greetings from LEGO’s leadership, such as owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.

Continue reading for the story behind LEGO’s spacey 1981 Christmas card.

LEGO Architecture 21051 Tokyo skyline takes us to Tokyo Tower, Shibuya, Mt. Fuji, and more [Review]

It’s not often that a LEGO set transports me back home. But regular readers of The Brothers Brick know that I was born in Tokyo and lived in Japan until I was a teenager, so I was incredibly excited when LEGO announced 21050 Tokyo. I’ve enjoyed each of the previous LEGO Architecture skyline sets I’ve built, but how does this one stack up for someone who calls Tokyo their hometown?

Tokyo was revealed as part of the LEGO Architecture skyline series for 2020, alongside 21052 Dubai. Tokyo is built from 547 pieces and will retail for $59.99 USD | $79.99 CAD | £59.99 GBP. Both sets will be available starting January 1st.

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Architecture 21051 Tokyo skyline

2019 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 24

Welcome to Day 24, the last day of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ve revealed the four mini-builds from the LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2019 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team.

If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. What will we score for the final Day 24?

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

LEGO Star Wars 75273 Poe Dameron’s X-wing Fighter from The Rise of Skywalker [Review]

Poe Dameron seems to go through X-wing starfighters more quickly than Carrie Bradshaw goes through Manolo Blahniks. His latest is a cute little number (75273) in orange and white with azure accents, which you can pick up for yourself for a mere $89.99 USD | $119.99 CAD | £89.99 GBP. Poe Dameron’s X-wing Fighter includes 761 pieces with three minifigs (plus Artoo) and will be available January 1st, 2020.

We’ll do our best to avoid any major SPOILERS, and we ask our commenters to do the same for another week or two, until more people reading this will have had the opportunity to see Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.

Notes on terminology: For simplicity throughout this article, we’ll often reference the Resistance X-wing’s model number and compare and contrast it with the original X-wing from the Classic Trilogy. The model number for the original X-wings flown by the Rebel Alliance was T-65. The updated New Republic / Resistance X-wing’s model number is T-70. Similarly, the wings that give the X-wing its name are technically called S-foils (as in “Lock S-foils in attack position!”). To avoid repetition, we’ll occasionally call them wings.

Read our full review of LEGO Star Wars 75273 Poe Dameron’s X-wing Fighter from The Rise of Skywalker

2019 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 23

Welcome to Day 23 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the four mini-builds from the LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2019 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team.

If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. What holiday glee will come from Day 23?

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

2019 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 22

Welcome to Day 22 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the four mini-builds from the LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2019 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team.

If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. Will we get something new for Day 22?

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!