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.

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

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

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

Judging LEGO Masters: Exclusive interview with LEGO designers Jamie Berard and Amy Corbett [News]

LEGO Masters begins next month in the US, and LEGO fans will notice a few familiar faces judging the reality show. During our visit to the LEGO Masters set, we chatted with Jamie Berard and Amy Corbett about making the leap from LEGO designers to reality TV judges.

In the interview conducted jointly with Megan from Brickset, Jamie and Amy talk about how their pasts helped prepare them to be judges, what considerations were involved in selecting winners, and how they resisted the temptation to build along with the rest of the contestants!

Click to read our interview with LEGO Masters judges Jamie Berard and Amy Corbett

Hosting LEGO Masters: An interview with actor and entertainer Will Arnett [News]

LEGO Masters arrives in the US in less than a month, and anticipation for the brick-building reality TV show is growing steadily within the LEGO fan community. The Brothers Brick was invited to visit the LEGO Masters set last month ahead of the taping of the finale, and we interviewed several key players on the show including LEGO Batman himself, Will Arnett.

In the interview conducted by The Brothers Brick News Editor Dave Schefcik and Megan from Brickset, Will Arnett talks about hosting the show, how he interacted with the contestants, his own personal history with LEGO, and if he’d come back for a second season.

Click to read our interview with LEGO Masters host Will Arnett

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