Category Archives: News

Stay current on the latest news and information about LEGO, from sales & deals to new set announcements. We also cover LEGO events and conventions all over the world.

LEGO reveals first wave of Pokémon sets, eyeing adult collectors who’ve gotta build ’em all

Ever since LEGO first announced its multi-year partnership with The Pokémon Company, fans have been wondering how the beloved pocket monsters would stack up as official sets. Today we get a look at the first three sets debuting on February 27th.

While Pokémon is very much a kid-friendly brand, it’s also 30-years old with a massive adult fanbase, so this initial wave of sets is all branded for 18+ and priced accordingly. The smallest set, Eevee, contains 587 pieces and focuses on just the fan favorite Pokémon for $69.99. The 2050-piece Pikachu comes with a lightning bolt stand and Poké Ball for a dynamic display at $199.99. Clocking in at 6838 pieces, Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise celebrate the evolved form of the Kanto starters dramatically posed on a round base for a hefty $649.99.

During the first week of release, while supplies last, a 312-piece Kanto Region Badge Collection is included with purchase of the Kanto starters, letting fans show off their trainer mastery in brick form. While this free set looks wonderful, we’re a bit disappointed to see it locked behind such a hefty price threshold.

LEGO promises many more Pokémon sets to follow for a range of ages. As excited as we are to see this partnership come to life, the high prices of these first sets have tempered our enthusiasm. Much of Pokémon’s appeal is around collecting a broad range of monsters, and with over 1,000 to choose from in the franchise, one hopes that LEGO will make collecting accessible to kids and adults alike. What are your thoughts on the first wave of Pokémon sets? Will you be catching them all next month?

See the new sets below

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.

The Brothers Brick LEGO Builder of the Year 2025 [News]

So 2025 has been and gone, the dust has settled from the New Year’s celebrations, and the last of the champagne has just about left our systems. But we have one final bit of business to attend to from last year: the coronation of the Brothers Brick’s LEGO Builder of the Year! As a reminder, our shortlist is over here. And man, what a stacked list! How do we pick out a winner from that? Well, our builders of the year tend to cover a lot of bases, and often their achievements extend beyond merely making great LEGO models. Ultimately, it’s about consistency across the whole year.

And the key to determining this year’s Builder of the Year actually came while curating our Creations of the Year shortlist, as our victor had several builds that could’ve made the cut for the shortlist alone. The Brothers Brick are delighted to crown Seigo Aoki, who builds under the handle DeRa, as our Builder of the Year 2025!

Click here for a retrospective on DeRa’s terrific 2025!

LEGO unveils Smart Play system – LEGO bricks and minifigs that play back [News]

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) isn’t the usual venue for LEGO to break big news – techies love displaying LEGO, but the bricks themselves aren’t your typical cutting-edge gadgets. That’s about to change with the announcement of the Smart Play system. Smart Bricks communicate with Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags that integrate sensors and spatial awareness into your builds, thanks to microchips smaller than a single stud. You can read about LEGO’s design process for the Smart Brick here.

As rumored, the new system debuts with the Star Wars theme with three all-in-one sets coming this March. Each of these will include a Smart Brick, charger, and at least one Smart Minifigure and Yag. The all-in-one sets include: 75421 Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (69,99 EUR / 69,99 USD / 59,99 GBP), 75423 Luke’s Red Five X-wing (89,99 EUR / 99,99 USD / 79,99 GBP), and 75427 Throne Room Duel & A-wing (159,99 EUR / 159,99 USD / 139,99 GBP). Presumably other sets will expand the Minifigure and Tag range but wouldn’t include a charging station.

LEGO has, of course, experimented with ways for bricks and circuits to talk to each other before. Mindstorms empowered curious builders to experiment with robotics and programming as early as 1998. The Dimensions toys-to-life video game platform let gamers scan physical toys to activate the models in-game. Vidyo and Hidden World sets played with augmented reality apps. Most recently, the Super Mario line uses a smart figure and sensors to let players assemble courses, collect coins, and playback sounds and expressions.

As the sensors in Smart Play are smaller and more powerful, they seem primed to make it easier for kids to integrate sound effects, music, lights, and game behaviors into physical sets that are much closer to your typical LEGO models. Just how robust those behaviors are, we’ll have to see. Right now it looks like the primary focus here is on imaginative, physical play rather than the more STEM focused initiatives like Mindstorms and Spike. I’m very curious to see how adult LEGO fans integrate these new functions into creations.

LEGO’s press release follows

The Brothers Brick LEGO Creation of the Year 2025 [News]

Woah, wait a minute! We’re already nearly a week into 2026? How did that happen? While we figure that out where those days went, it’s about time we announced the winner of our annual Creation of the Year prize. This year’s shortlist was one of the toughest to judge in the ten years we’ve been doing so. A baker’s dozen of incredible builds, from creators new and known to us alike, across a wide range of media and subject matter. And indeed, it’s a new builder who’s taking the crown this year! Despite only starting to share their builds in 2025, they quickly established themselves as something of a castle specialist. Which makes sense – they are known as cathedralofbricks, after all!

And the cream of the crop for us was this superbly furnished Moroccan palace. So congratulations to Luke (cathedralofbricks) and his Delights of Marrakech build, which we are declaring the Brothers Brick’s LEGO Creation of the Year 2025!

Click here for a reminder of what made this Moroccan marvel so magnificent!

Shortlist announced for TBB’s Builder of the Year 2025 [News]

By now, you will have seen our shortlist for our annual Creation of the Year award. What?! You haven’t? Well head on over here to see it! It’s one thing to create one, year-defining build. It’s another thing entirely to consistently hit such heady heights in multiple builds over the course of a year. That’s what our Builder of the Year award celebrates!

This might be someone whose builds were just too good not to feature over and over again (think last year’s winner, Maxx Davidson). They might have achieved success in other spheres, such as winning contests (Jonas Kramm won his Iron Builder round in 2017) or gaining LEGO Ideas sets (Sandro Quattrini, 2021). Or perhaps they showed growth, taking their builds to new heights like Dicken Liu did in 2023. What will set our 2025 winner apart? Take a look at our shortlist and cast your vote in the comments!

Continue reading →

Star Wars January Playsets – Simple pleasures [Review]

Brickbot Studio here with a look at the smaller Star Wars playsets coming to stores on January 1st. 2025 had Star Wars fans debating whether LEGO could still deliver good value with its galactic offerings. In addition to a pair of midi-scale vehicles and a new brick-built BB-8, LEGO is releasing a quartet of sets priced between $10-$23 based on The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars. Will this budget wave of sets win us over? Let’s have a look!

Our reviews of the January Star Wars playsets follows

Shortlist announced for TBB’s Creation of the Year 2025 [News]

We love writing about the amazing LEGO models that people create. In fact, we’ve done it nearly 750 times over the course of the past year! Remember any of them? Well, you can always look through our MOC repository if not. But to help you out, we’re going to take a look at some of the absolute finest creations to have appeared in 2025. Of this shortlist, one will be crowned TBB’s Creation of the Year. What are the rules? Apart from the fact it should be made of LEGO – anything goes! Big or small, Nice Parts Use or emotional impact… All that matters is that it’s made an impression, both on us staff at TBB Towers and on you, our wonderful readers!

Take a look at our nominees below. Pick out your favourite, or let us know what we’ve missed!

Continue reading →

LEGO Star Wars 75441 Venator-Class Attack Cruiser [Review]

Now I’m not going to claim any particular powers of manifesting. But when I reviewed 75404 Acclamator-Class Assault Ship, I mentioned that a Venator would make a great match for the existing Invisible Hand set. Fast-forward two years, and what comes across my reviewing desk? Why, 75441 Venator-Class Attack Cruiser, coming next January 1! You’re welcome, Venator fans. And there are many of you – so this set should be quite the hit. With 643 pieces and pre-orderable (is that a word? It is now) for US $79.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £69.99, it’s certainly a bit of a hit to the wallet. (Prices may be slightly friendlier on third-party sites such as Amazon or eBay after general release). But price-per-piece isn’t everything, so let’s see how the venerable Venator stacks up!

LEGO Star Wars 75441 Venator-Class Attack Cruiser | 643 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026; Pre-orders open now | US $79.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £69.99

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Continue reading →

We go full ninja with LEGO’s 2026 January wave of Ninjago playsets [Review]

2026 marks 15 years of LEGO Ninjago, arguably the most successful home-grown theme in the company’s history. In Ninjago, LEGO has a theme that can contain martial arts adventure, dragons, mecha, tranquil gardens, and cyberpunk cities. Ninjago has led to some of the all-time great sets for AFOLs and kids alike. And in the year to come, the Brothers Brick will spend more time unwinding with the Masters of Spinjitzu and rising with dragons to look at both official sets and the inspiring fan creations that wouldn’t be possible without the evocative parts that Ninjago brings to the mix. We’ve already shared our thoughts on LEGO’s two big Legacy sets for January, the excellent Four Weapons Blacksmith and impressively massive Old Town. Today, we’re joined by guest reviewer Capt. DarkShark for a look at the remaining sets from the Dragons Rising arc.

Our review of the January wave of Ninjago playsets follows

LEGO Star Wars 75440 AT-AT: Super little stomper [Review]

When is a starship not a starship? Why, when it’s part of the LEGO Star Wars Starship Collection, of course. This line of statues has given us plenty of microscale versions of larger ships from the galaxy far, far away. So far, they have all been true to the sub-theme’s name; but coming out next January 1 is 75440 AT-AT – decidedly not a starship! No matter, though. It should still make for a nice little model. Pre-orders are open now with an asking price US $64.99 | CAN $84.99 | UK £54.99; third-party sellers like Amazon or eBay might also have it available after general release. At 525 pieces, it’s one of the smallest versions of this walker LEGO has ever released as a stand-alone set. But size, as Yoda tells us, matters not…

LEGO Star Wars 75440 AT-AT | 525 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026; Pre-orders open now |US $64.99 | CAN $84.99 | UK £54.99

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Judge it by its size, do we? Click here to find out if that’s the case!

LEGO Star Wars 75452 BB-8: aren’t you a little small for a droid? [Review]

It’s a question that’s been on my mind ever since I saw Star Wars: the Force Awakens. Not who Rey’s parents were, or why the Death Star is the size of a planet now. I still wonder: when BB-8 flicks his little flame in response to Finn’s thumbs-up, is he giving a thumbs-up back? Or is he giving a slightly ruder gesture? We may never know. What we can figure out is which response a LEGO version of the droid will elicit. 75452 BB-8 Astromech Droid marks the second LEGO iteration of this roundest of droids, and is considerably smaller than the 2017 model with a part count of 569. Pre-orders can be made now for US $89.99 | CAN $119.99 | UK £79.99, with a general release date of January 1. Other sellers across the galaxy may have it too, such as Amazon or eBay. Let’s get the ball rolling on this review!

LEGO Star Wars 75452 BB-8 Astromech Droid | 569 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026; pre-orders open now | US $89.99 | CAN $119.99 | UK £79.99

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Continue reading →

LEGO Ninjago 71861 The Old Town 15th Anniversary: black frogs, stickers, and ninja nostalgia galore [Review]

Hey gang, Brickbot Studio here with an oversized review of LEGO Ninjago 71861 The Old Town 15th Anniversary, a massive addition to the Ninjago Legacy line. This sprawling 4,851-piece set is packed with easter eggs, fun play features, cool details, and a whopping twenty-three minifigures that take you right back to where Ninjago began 15 years ago. Old Town is one of the most iconic locations in Ninjago lore, a place rich with history, quiet corners, rambunctious villains, and the sort of architectural charm that feels like the foundation of everything that came later. It is a living museum of LEGO’s long-running series, packed with nostalgia, but not without its faults. So let’s dive right in with our review.

LEGO Ninjago 71861 The Old Town 15th Anniversary | 4,851Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $299.99 | CAN $399.99 | UK £269.99

Our full review of The Old Town follows