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 follow-up interview with actor Will Arnett about hosting LEGO Masters [Interview]

The Brothers Brick was invited to visit the LEGO Masters set in December ahead of the taping of the finale and had the chance to interview actor Will Arnett about his new hosting job. Last week, we had another opportunity to chat with Will to see how things have changed since the show started airing, and we specifically asked him questions suggested by you, our readers!

In the follow-up interview conducted jointly by The Brothers Brick, Brickset, BZPower and True North Bricks, Will talks about how nervous he was to destroy LEGO with a baseball bat, what challenge he thinks he would do well on, and what show he has been on would make the best LEGO set.

Read our second interview with actor and LEGO Masters host Will Arnett

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Leaving LEGO Masters: An interview with the first contestants to leave [Feature]

LEGO Masters has aired its second episode, and the first team has been chosen to go home. The Brothers Brick had the opportunity to sit down with them and talk about their experience, what it was like to build under pressure, and what the reaction has been to appearing on the reality show.

In the interview conducted jointly with BZPower and True North Bricks, the team talks about how it felt to change directions halfway into a challenge, what they would have done differently, and what advice they have for contestants on LEGO Masters Season 2. If you haven’t yet watched the episode, be warned that there will be some spoilers!

Read our interview with these LEGO Masters contestants.

Everything you want to know about LEGO Masters judges Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard [Feature]

LEGO Masters premieres tonight, and LEGO fans in the US will finally get the chance to watch the hotly anticipated show. Earlier this week, we sat down with LEGO Masters judges Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard to talk about the premiere and what life has been like since filming the reality show.

In the interview conducted jointly with Brickset and BZPower, Amy and Jamie talk about the unexpected challenges involved in being judges, how the three million LEGO parts were chosen for the show, what it was like to spend time with the guest stars, and what they brought back with them from the set!

Read our in-depth interview with LEGO Masters judges Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard

A History of LEGO Education, Part 3: Mindstorms over matter [Feature]

LEGO Education is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and we are exploring the history of this unique division of the LEGO Group. Part 1 presented an early history of LEGO Education, while Part 2 outlined the development of the first LEGO robotics platforms. In our 3rd and final installment, we dive into the story behind the game-changing release of LEGO Mindstorms.

Click to learn more about the historic launch of LEGO Mindstorms

Keep your LEGO city clean with 60249 Street Sweeper [Review]

Year after year, the LEGO city keeps expanding with plenty of houses, modular buildings, vehicles and, of course, fire & police stations. All that development is bound to attract legions of minifigures — it’s only a matter of days before the plastic trash begins to pile up. To keep up with this issue, LEGO has released several garbage trucks over the years, but what happens when baseplate streets become filthy? You need a good street sweeper, but the last street sweeper to appear in LEGO City was carted around by a minifig 12 years ago. That’s a long time for discarded 1×1 plates to accumulate alongside the curb. The wait is over because LEGO is back to keep the brick-built highways clean with set 60249 Street Sweeper. The set consists of 89 pieces and is available now via the online LEGO shop for $9.99 USD | $13.99 CAD | £8.99 GBP

Does the LEGO Street Sweeper clean up well? Find out in our in-depth review!

A History of LEGO Education, Part 2: Path to Mindstorms [Feature]

LEGO Education is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary! As a birthday gift, we are commemorating the occasion with a three-part history feature on this special division of the LEGO Group. Part 1 provided an overview of the history of LEGO education from the 1980s through 1990s, but we left out an important component of the story. Part 2 picks up where we left off, covering the beginnings of LEGO’s programmable robots in the classroom and at home. These were the precursors of LEGO Mindstorms!

Learn more about the prestigious lineage of LEGO robotics platforms released before LEGO Mindstorms

Visiting LEGO Masters: Behind the scenes tour with Challenge Master Brent Benedetti [News]

LEGO Masters arrives in the US in less than two weeks, and anticipation for the brick-building reality TV show is reaching a peak in the LEGO fan community. The Brothers Brick was invited to visit the LEGO Masters set when they were filming last month, and we got a behind-the-scenes tour of the studio.

Our day visiting LEGO Masters started early in the morning. Megan from Brickset and I headed to a non-descript studio located in a light-industrial area near Burbank, CA (apparently next to the building used for the exterior shots for the US television series The Office, we were told). Arriving at the studio by car, we provided our names to the security guard and were allowed onto the lot. The production staff excitedly greeted us and ushered us inside. After passing through a reception area, we stepped onto the massive set.

Click to read about and see photos of the LEGO Masters set

Building LEGO Masters: Exclusive interview with Brick Artist Nathan Sawaya [News]

Continuing our series of behind-the-scenes articles about LEGO Masters, we chatted with Brick Artist Nathan Sawaya in his California studio about how he built all the props for the show, what kind of deadlines he faced, and working with LEGO as a creative medium.

The first half of our interview (conducted jointly with Brickset) focuses on his work with LEGO Masters and serving as their “brick artist in residence.” The second half discusses his personal views on LEGO as a whole, his traveling LEGO installation “Art of the Brick,” and how he went from an NYC lawyer to an LA artist.

Read our interview with LEGO Masters brick artist in residence Nathan Sawaya

LEGO Creator Expert 10272 Old Trafford-Manchester United [Review]

Soccer fans (or football fans as they’re called everywhere else) will get a kick out of the newest Creator Expert set, 10272 Old Trafford-Manchester United, a massive 3,898-piece model based on the Old Trafford soccer stadium in Greater Manchester, England, which serves as the home of Manchester United F.C.and over 76,000 of their closest friends. The 1:600 replica model is rated for 16+, clearly targeting an adult market, and is available now directly from LEGO for US $299 | CAD $349 | UK £249.99 for V.I.P. members — just in time for the stadium’s 110th anniversary this February.

Let’s open the box and see what’s inside!

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! LEGO Education 45678 SPIKE Prime is available now from the LEGO Education shop for $329.95 USD.

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 set from a division 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!

Making LEGO Masters: Exclusive interview with executive producer Anthony Dominici [News]

Continuing our series of behind-the-scenes articles about LEGO Masters, we chatted with showrunner and executive producer Anthony Dominici about what goes into making a feel-good reality TV show. Anthony has previously worked on Making It, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and The Amazing Race (which he won two Emmys for).

Anthony is no stranger to LEGO–his cousin Phil Lord co-directed The LEGO Movie (and coincidently is a guest on the upcoming season of LEGO Masters). We chatted about why the time is right for LEGO Masters, how the show is run, and his own personal history with LEGO.

Click to read our interview with LEGO Masters executive producer Anthony Dominici

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