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.

LEGO Designers Q&A featuring Marcos Bessa and Jamie Berard [Feature]

On the 30th of April, LEGO hosted a live Instagram session where the LEGO community was able to interact and ask questions directly to two prominent LEGO Designers – Marcos Bessa, and Jamie Berard. With social distancing in place, this new feature is slated to be a weekly event and is a great way to learn more about LEGO and the insights into the mind of a designer. The session was insightful indeed, and we transcribed it here (as best we could) so that you can learn more interesting bits and facts about what LEGO designers do.

Click for the full Q and A session

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Interview with LEGO Star Wars 75275 A-wing Starfighter designer Hans Schlömer [Feature]

Earlier this month, LEGO revealed 75275 A-wing Starfighter as the latest Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series set in advance of the set’s release for the May the Fourth celebration, and normally we’d be bringing you an in-depth review of the set about now. However, like so many other areas of our lives these days, the coronavirus shutdowns have thrown a wrench into our plans, because LEGO hasn’t been able to get us an early review copy. So in the meantime, we caught up with the set’s designer, Hans Schlömer, to learn a bit more about the set.

75275 A-wing Starfighter will be available starting May 1, and will retail for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £179.99.

I want to note up front that I usually conduct interviews after I’ve built the set and had a hands-on experience with it, but due to current events I don’t yet have it. So my apologies if a few of these questions would be obvious after building the set. But let’s start with learning a little about you. How did you become a LEGO designer?

Hans Schlömer: 12 years ago I was hired to design 3D models for a LEGO online game. Creating LEGO models in 3D was a hobby of mine for years. Little did I know that this would also be the perfect education and training for becoming a LEGO designer!

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It takes all sorts of sorts: LEGO organization and me, Chris Doyle [Feature]

Continuing our series on LEGO organization and sorting, contributor Chris Doyle invites you on a tour of his workspace and processes.

So, let’s start by putting things into context. One of my most vivid childhood memories is lying on a thick shag carpet, watching Battlestar Galactica, and being super frustrated that the clone brand LEGO that my parents had bought for me didn’t have the fine detail I needed to build Colonial Vipers. I remember swearing to myself that if I made it to adulthood, I would buy enough LEGO to fill a room. So, eventually, I did.

But a collection like this comes at a cost. And I don’t mean just that official LEGO product is on the expensive side. It eats up space, and time, and quite a few additional purchases just to keep things organized. So, in a vain attempt to justify this non-trivial investment, let me show you around and share my sorting process. C’mon. It’ll be fun!

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Winning LEGO Masters: An interview with the first ever U.S. LEGO Masters [Feature]

LEGO Masters aired its finale last night where the top three teams were challenged to create anything they wanted. The Brick Masters then chose the first LEGO Masters champions in the U.S.

Beneath the jump, we have close-up photos of each build from the finale, an exclusive interview with the winning team, and a link to apply for LEGO Masters Season 2 if you so dare! (Spoilers ahead!)

Click to reveal who won LEGO Masters and read their interview

LEGO Masters: An interview with finalists Sam and Jessica [Feature]

LEGO Masters aired its ninth episode last week where contestants competed in the Star Wars challenge. We won’t reveal the outcome, but The Brothers Brick had the opportunity to sit down with all three teams to talk about their experiences on the whole show.

In our interview, we talk to “The Eccentrics” Sam and Jessica talk about how they went from the bottom to the top, what inspires them, and how having backgrounds as artists helped them in the competition.

Read our interview with LEGO Masters finalists Sam and Jessica

LEGO Masters: An interview with finalists Mark and Boone [Feature]

In our interview, we talk to “The Bearded Builders” Mark and Boone about how they build so fast, where good ideas come from, and how it feels to be put on the spot and sing!

Read our interview with LEGO Masters finalists Mark and Boone

How to organise and sort your LEGO collection, by the Mad Physicist [Feature]

With a lot of people holed up in their homes, as a result of stay-at-home orders to reduce the spread of COVID-19, The Brothers Brick has been getting questions on how to best organise one’s LEGO collection. There are obviously many different ways to do this. These range from not organising it at all, via sorting elements by colour or type, to giving every type of element in every different colour a separate container. The latter is seen by some people as the “ultimate” or “most advanced” sorting solution. A behind-the-scenes discussion among our contributors revealed that we all have somewhat different sorting systems. So, for those of you staring at a large pile of random unsorted LEGO, we’ll be sharing our ideas in a few feature articles. We’ll also go into the process of cleaning and sorting your LEGO.

In this installment, we kick off with our very own Builder in Residence, Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad physicist.

LEGO Masters: An interview with finalists Tyler and Amy [Feature]

In our interview, we talk to “The Newlyweds” Tyler and Amy about how they came to be a team and prepared for the show, what their favorite moments were, and if they have continued building together since.

Read our interview with LEGO Masters finalists Tyler and Amy

Behind-the-scenes of LEGO Masters with Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard [Feature]

LEGO Masters enters the semi-finals with a Star Wars challenge tonight, and ahead of the episode, we got to sit down with judges Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard to talk about the season so far. They reveal what have been both the best and hardest moments about being judges, if they always agreed on who should go home, and how they are currently handling working from home.

In the interview conducted jointly with Brickset, BZPower and True North Bricks, Amy and Jamie also talk about some of the challenges and what made them so difficult, if they will be back for season 2, and how they became LEGO designers.

Read our follow-up interview with LEGO Masters judges Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard

Leaving LEGO Masters: An interview with the seventh team to leave [Feature]

LEGO Masters aired its seventh episode last week where contestants teamed up to build a Good vs Evil lair and battle. The Brothers Brick had the opportunity to sit down with the eliminated team and talk about their experience, what happened when the cameras were off, and how to handle both good and bad twists.

In our interview, the team talks about how they met and became friends, what skills are needed to do well on the show and what it is like building for long periods of time under bright lights. If you haven’t yet watched the episode, be warned that there will be spoilers!

Read our interview with the eliminated LEGO Masters contestants

Hands-on with the new LEGO SPOTS for boys [April Fools]

Hot on the tails of their DOTS success, LEGO has revealed the SPOTS line of accessories for boys ages 6-12. In advance of the theme’s release on April 1st, The Brothers Brick obtained an advance copy to share our impressions of the boys’ extension of the creative tile theme.

Our reviewer got his grubby little hands all over these new sets. Will he deem them totally badass or do they just blow chunks? Maybe a little of both? Read on to find out.

Click to read our full review of LEGO SPOTS.

Behind the scenes of LEGO Ideas 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay with designers Milan Madge and Austin Carlson [Feature]

A few days ago LEGO took the wraps off the newest Ideas set, 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, a massive shipwreck island that contains the wreckage of the infamous Black Seas Barracuda. And not only that, but the set can also be transformed to create the full, seaworthy sailing ship too, and it will be available April 1, 2020, for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £179.99. We got our hands on an early copy to bring you a full review, but we also had a chance to sit down (virtually) with the two LEGO designers behind the set, set Designer Milan Madge and minifigure Designer Austin William Carlson, to ask them a few more things we wanted to know about the set. You’ll definitely want to read our full review first, though.

Read the TBB review of 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay here.

First of all, let me say that I just finished building the set, and I absolutely love it. For people like me who grew up with the original Pirates theme, this set is loaded with nostalgia and is so much fun, plus it’s a great build. Have either of you worked on any pirates sets previously? And if so, which ones?

Milan: Thanks for the kind words! I think I speak for the whole team when I say that we are so pleased you like it. We worked really hard to try and deliver something that would take you back to your childhood, just as the theme does for Pablo, the fan designer, so I’m so glad it did. I’ve never had the pleasure to work on LEGO Pirates before, so this is new ground for me, but I spent an awful lot of time making huge pirate and castle dioramas as a kid.

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