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.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for March 28, 2020

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the fourth week of March 2020.

Ahoy! The return of LEGO Pirates is off the port bow! Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.

TBB NEWS,FEATURES AND REVIEWS: This week we saw the triumphant return of LEGO Pirates, reviewed the new set of Collectable Minifigs and the Technic Mobile Crane, plus we took a quick look at the latest gift with purchase just in time for Easter.

LEGO Collectible Minifigures 71027 Series 20 celebrates the theme’s 10th anniversary [Review] – We’ve gotten our hands on LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series 20, and we’re taking a close look at each of the 16 new characters in this detailed review!
LEGO Technic 42108 Mobile Crane [Review] – We are building and testing the new LEGO Technic mobile crane. Is it really better than all the previous models?
Behind the scenes of LEGO Ideas 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay with designers Milan Madge and Austin Carlson [Feature] – We got to pick the brains of the two designers behind LEGO’s newest Ideas set, 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay.
Leaving LEGO Masters: An interview with the sixth team to leave [Feature] – We sat down with the team of LEGO Masters contestants eliminated last week during the Storybook Challenge who shared their thoughts on the show.
LEGO 40371 Easter Egg Limited Edition Gift With Purchase [Review] – We take a quick look at the LEGO Easter Egg Exclusive set for the holiday season.
LEGO Ideas launches 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay marking the return of classic pirates [News] – Classic LEGO pirates are back with this massive Barracuda Bay which can transform into a complete pirate ship, available April 1st.
LEGO Ideas 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay is a 2,500-piece love letter to classic Pirates [Review] – The Black Seas Barracuda is back! LEGO’s newest Ideas set is 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, and it’s a whopping 2,545 piece shipwreck island.

OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:

This Building Block Waffle Maker Is Like Eating Lego for Breakfast, Gizmodo – Beating Lego to the punch, a clever inventor wants to turn breakfast into not only the most important meal of the day, but the most entertaining one as well.
11 of the Coolest Builds By Bored People With a Lot of Lego Bricks, Gizmodo – Here are 11 of the best projects a person could tackle given enough Lego bricks.

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.

LEGO Technic 42108 Mobile Crane [Review]

Did you know that the very first LEGO Technic mobile crane was released more than 40 years ago? The lovely 855 Mobile Crane became the eighth product in the Technic lineup since its start in 1977. Despite its simple design, it had every essential function of a real machine. A handful of mobile (and stationary) cranes have been released since then. The year 2020 brings yet another one, 42108 Mobile Crane. During the previous decade, the variety of LEGO Technic pieces have evolved a lot, and multiple new mechanisms have been introduced, too. The question is, how many of those new concepts are implemented in the latest set and how different is it from the previous versions of mobile cranes? Let’s build and test this 1,292-piece set, which retails at US $99.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £89.99, and find out if it is worth a purchase.

Click here to continue reading…

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.

Continue reading →

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

LEGO Masters aired its sixth episode last week where contestants built a Storybook created by kids. The Brothers Brick had the opportunity to sit down with the eliminated team and talk about their experience, diversity and representation, and how they prepared to be on the show.

In our interview, the team talks about which challenge they wished they could have done better and how the cast has become more of a family. If you haven’t yet watched the episode, be warned that there will be spoilers!

Read our interview with these eliminated LEGO Masters contestants

LEGO Collectible Minifigures 71027 Series 20 celebrates the theme’s 10th anniversary [Review]

LEGO introduced the Minifigures theme back in 2010, and over the past decade the theme has wandered as far and wide as the Simpsons and a German football team. But it returns every once in a while to the lineup of strange characters and professions that started it all. The latest wave is the 20th classic numbered series, and 71027 Collectible Minifigures Series 20 will release April 19, 2020, with 16 unique figures drawing inspiration from fiction, history, and a wide variety of walks of life. They’ll retail for US $4.99 | CAN $4.99 | UK £3.49 each (US $299.40 | CAN $299.40 for a complete box), setting a new high-water mark for a non-licensed series. We got a brief in-person look at Series 20 at Toy Fair New York back in February along with official images earlier this month, but now we’ve got our hands on a full case to bring you a proper review.

Continue reading →

LEGO 40371 Easter Egg Limited Edition Gift With Purchase [Review]

With Easter celebrations just around the corner, LEGO has released an Easter Egg exclusive Gift With Purchase set. Available from the 23rd of March until 13th of April (or while stocks last) the 239-piece Easter Egg is available with purchases of $50 in the US and Canada and £55 in the UK. We have a quick review for you to decide if this is something you’d like to save up for and enjoy during the holidays.

Click to read the full review

LEGO Ideas launches 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay marking the return of classic pirates [News]

LEGO Ideas has revealed its latest fan-inspired set, 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay. The impressive 2,545-piece set features a shipwreck island teeming with eight minifigure pirates. As an added bonus, the set can be re-built into a fully working pirate ship. It will sell for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £179.99 starting April 1st.

We’ve already gotten a hands-on look in our review of Pirates of Barracuda Bay. Continue reading this article for all the official product images and press release.

Click to get a closer look at the official images of Pirates of Barracuda Bay

LEGO Ideas 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay is a 2,500-piece love letter to classic Pirates [Review]

What makes a LEGO set great for adults? Is it the subject matter, something that makes a cool display piece for your den or office? Is it the model’s complexity, a building experience that introduces you to new techniques and cool connections? Or is it simply the size, a build with thousands of parts that will take you a weekend to complete and leaves you with satisfaction when you’re done? All of these can play a role in how much we adults love a LEGO set, but there’s no surer way to capture the hearts and minds of older builders than to make them feel like a kid again. The latest model to come out of LEGO’s crowdsourcing Ideas platform is 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, which we’re revealing for the first time today. It’s an island refuge made of the remains of a shipwreck, and more than any other LEGO set I’ve built in recent years, building it took me back to being a kid and getting my first LEGO sets. Unlike the tiny Pirate sets I had back then, though, the set’s 2,545 pieces ring it in as the biggest Pirate set to date, besting the relatively recent runner-up Imperial Flagship by a wide margin. It will retail for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £179.99 and is slated to be available April 1. Here is an article with all the official product images, but we just couldn’t wait to bring you a detailed, hands-on look at the real set.

You may remember the last few Pirates themes from 2007 and 2015. They were largely solid sets; a modern take on what LEGO Pirates sets can be. But beyond some broad thematic strokes (guards vs pirates, etc) they had little tie-in to the classic theme that ran from 1989-1995, much the same as Space Police III had almost no connection with I and II. This set, however, is determined to get straight back to where it all started.

If you grew up in the 1990s, you’re probably already getting excited just from seeing the name of this set and the box with the yellow stripe. The name hearkens back to the classic Black Seas Barracuda, released in 1989, which was the very first LEGO Pirate ship and by far the most famous (and it sells for commensurately high prices, with sealed copies ranging well over $1,500). The set was so popular that it was among the first sets for LEGO to ever re-release, with a nearly unaltered version briefly gracing store shelves again in 2002. The Barracuda name here isn’t just an homage plastered on a new version of Pirates to cash in on that nostalgia. Pirates of Barracuda Bay is a continuation of the original theme. The ship that’s been wrecked is the Black Seas Barracuda (BSB), sporting a more detailed design that utilizes the last 30 years of development in LEGO elements. The pirate crew are modern takes on the original set’s crew, headed by the infamous Captain Redbeard, and weathered by 30 years of island living. But perhaps best yet, the set can build either the shipwrecked BSB or the fully rigged, ready-to-sail version.

So now that we know the set is packed with nostalgia, let’s see if the build holds up.

Click to read the full review

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for March 21, 2020

Three new Star Wars models geared towards adults have been revealed. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS: This week we saw the reveal of the upcoming Series 20 Collectible Minifigures and LEGO begins catering to adult fans with three new Star Wars models.

LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series 20 official images revealed – We got a closer look at Series 20 of the Collectible Minifigures. Tell us about your favourites.
LEGO unveils three buildable Star War helmets including a TIE Fighter Pilot, Stormtrooper and Boba Fett – These three new buildable Star Wars helmets from LEGO will challenge even the best of builders.

OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:

Twisting Steel with LEGO Motors, Technabob – Brick Experiment Channel loves to create LEGO machines that show off their strength.
Study finds discarded LEGOs may last for up to 1,300 years in the ocean, Slash Gear – The research involved LEGO bricks that had washed up on the South West England coastlines.
Some LEGO convention attendees at risk of coronavirus exposure, The News & Observer – Wake County is asking for help identifying who might have been exposed
LEGO House closed for a month, LEGO House – LEGO House will not open again until April 24

LEGO unveils three buildable Star War helmets including a TIE Fighter Pilot, Stormtrooper and Boba Fett [News]

LEGO has unveiled three new buildable Star Wars helmets inspired by “epic villains” from a galaxy not too far away. Two of the helmets featuring a Stormtrooper and Boba Fett were made public last week, and today LEGO is revealing a third in the set featuring a sleek black TIE Fighter Pilot’s helmet.

The sets are intended for adult collectors with a recommended age of 18+ with dark, upscale box art reminiscent of LEGO’s Ultimate Collector’s Series (UCS) line Star Wars products. The sets contain anywhere from 625 to 724 pieces, though each is priced the same at US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99. The collectible helmets are available for preorders online in the US today (tomorrow for everywhere else), with delivery and general availability beginning April 19 ahead of the “May the Fourth” holiday.

Take a look at close-up photos of the new LEGO Star Wars buildable helmets

LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series 20 official images revealed [News]

The Brothers Brick shared the actual in-person look at the upcoming Collectible Minifigures Series 20 celebrating the 10 Anniversary since the introduction in 2010 via the reveal at Toy Fair New York just weeks ago. Today we get to see the official product images released by The Minifigure Store (UK).

Click to see the full set of images

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for March 14, 2020

Everyone’s favorite plumber finally makes his debut in LEGO form. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS: This week we saw the inevitable partnership of LEGO and Nintendo come to fruition plus the announcement of two new STAR WARS LEGO sets aimed specifically at adult builders.

Everything you want to know about LEGO Super Mario [Feature] – LEGO and Nintendo have been working together for four years to make LEGO Super Mario a reality. Read all about the features, fun, and future plans of this dynamic partnership in our exclusive interview.
LEGO and Nintendo reveal new Super Mario product line – Create your own Super Mario levels with this new theme from LEGO and Nintendo.
New LEGO Star Wars busts revealed: 75276 Stormtrooper and 75277 Boba Fett – Here’s your first look at two new LEGO Star Wars sets targeted at adult collectors.

OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:

LEGO Movie Director Jokes His Projects Are Predicting The Future, Screenrant – The LEGO Movie director Chris Miller tweets an observation of an eerie pattern between his projects over the last few years and real-life events.
LEGO House is closed due to COVID-19, LEGO HOUSE – Based on the Danish authorities’ announcement of the closure of Denmark, LEGO House is unfortunately closed until and including Sunday 29 March 2020.
Using Lego therapy for autism, Engadget – How the humble plastic brick could help autistic children’s social development.