LEGO Ideas have just announced that 7 projects have achieved the required 10K votes to qualify for the third 2017 LEGO Ideas Review. In no particular order, here are the 7 that go into the next phase to be considered for selection as an official LEGO Ideas set.
Click to see the qualifying submissions
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 first week of January 2018.
TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: A new year brings a new wave of LEGO sets, as well as the first LEGO events of the year.
TBB INSTRUCTIONS: Creative builders around the world share how they’ve designed their custom LEGO models, and LEGO provides a way to build sets even without buying them.
OTHER NEWS: There’s always plenty of other news about LEGO from around the web, even if we’re not able to cover every story here on The Brothers Brick.
Note: Like many of you, we’ve also seen the leaked images of LEGO sets from the upcoming Han Solo movie and rumored set lists from a resurrected Harry Potter line. We’ll be sure to bring our readers all the details about those sets once we have better-quality information from more-reliable sources. As always, TBB is committed to bringing our readers trustworthy news rather than just rumors and speculation.
KHOU.com
Each January, LEGO releases a new Creator Expert modular building. Last year’s 10255 Assembly Square looked to the past and celebrated the 10th anniversary of the line, beginning with 10182 Café Corner. With 10 years full of European-style architecture, replete with curlicues and fluted columns, the line heads in a new direction this year with 10260 Downtown Diner, taking obvious inspiration from the American West of the 1930’s through 1950’s rather than pre-crash Paris or London (or even New York or Boston). 10260 Downtown Diner includes 2,480 pieces with six minifigs and retails for $169.99 in the US (with the usual regional price differences elsewhere).
What does this change in direction bode for the theme, and what do we think of the new design aesthetic?
Read our hands-on review of 10260 Downtown Diner
Each year LEGO reveals new ideas for holiday ornaments, and this time it’s an adorable 853663 LEGO Iconic Holiday Magnet consisting just of 45 pieces. The set is offered for $9.99/€6,99, and the reason for it to be a little bit pricey is a pair of modified bricks with magnets — somewhat peculiar pieces in uncommon color. At the same time, colours are what make this build a very pretty thing to decorate one’s dwelling with.
Click here to continue reading…
Southern California’s premier LEGO convention, Bricks LA, will be open to the public this weekend, January 6-7. Beginning Saturday, builders from around the country will gather at the Pasadena Convention Center to showcase more than 13,000 square feet of amazing creations to eager LEGO fans of all ages, and vendors will be selling vintage LEGO sets, LEGO-themed jewelry, custom gifts, and more. Tickets are only $5, with kids under 5 free, and are available online.
The show hours are 9-5 on Saturday, and 9-4 on Sunday.
The Brothers Brick is proud to be a sponsor of Bricks LA.
One of the nicer looking Promotional sets (40290) that we saw announced last year now has the instructions online released by LEGO. Besides the printed tile, there does not seem to be any unique pieces, which is good news for folks who want to enjoy the building experience early.
2018 has officially arrived worldwide, and this lovely monument by Pasq67 is here to help us celebrate. While we’ve seen the great technique of using 1×1 quarter circle tiles for lettering before, we hadn’t seen this super cool font made of macaroni pieces. And no matter what your favorite theme is, you’re covered here as a multitude of characters stroll through the park.
Not quite ready for 2017 to be done yet? Take a look at the best of 2017:
Plus also check out our favorite LEGO Star Wars creations of the year with:
With the new year, comes a new wave of LEGO sets, now available in LEGO stores and online. We’ve highlighted few from each theme we think you will love, from Downtown Diner to Shanghai. We’ve already reviewed a few of these sets, with more on their way in the coming days and weeks.
CREATOR EXPERT
The next modular has arrived and is ready to transport you to the 50s with its teal highlights.
10260 Downtown Diner | $169.99 USD
Also available from eBay
Click to see all the new 2018 sets on sale now
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 last week of December 2017.
TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: Another year here and gone, but the news still keeps on coming. We have a few reviews for your review as you revel in the revelry.
TBB 2017 YEAR IN REVIEW: Let’s look back at the year that has past, and see some of the amazing things that have been built out of LEGO.
As 2017 comes to an end, we can’t help but look back and reflect on what a tumultuous news year it has been for the LEGO fandom. From controversial re-releases to the top 11 largest LEGO sets all available for purchase from LEGO simultaneously, The Brothers Brick has brought you all the credible LEGO news that we can. So let’s look back at the year and see what made the biggest splash, as we dissect our top 10 LEGO news articles of 2017.
Click to reveal the Top 10 Most Read News stories of 2017
Every day the team here at The Brothers Brick brings you the best LEGO models from the global community of LEGO builders. Their creations amuse, inspire, and excite us on a daily basis. However, each year there are a handful of builders who take things to new heights, able to turn their hands to a wide variety of building styles, and wow us with their mastery of building techniques and parts.
Brothers Brick is delighted to name Jonas Kramm as our LEGO Builder of the Year 2017.
Jonas has had an astonishing year of building — multiple models, many of them featured here, across a range of building styles, not to mention an excellent performance in Iron Builder (the highest-profile and most stressful LEGO community building competition out there). We’ve loved seeing everything he’s put together during 2017, and we hope you’ll enjoy this retrospective look at his last twelve months…
Click to see some of Jonas’ models from 2017
Developing a shortlist of the best LEGO creations of 2017 was a tricky task, but narrowing it down to a single “best creation” proved even worse! However, after much discussion, some arguing, and a few tears, the Brothers Brick is delighted to highlight Jeff Friesen‘s Cityscapes as our LEGO Creation of the Year for 2017.
Jeff’s microscale cityscapes are simply beautiful. They don’t rely on access to a vast collection of LEGO parts, nor on a handful of particularly esoteric or rare pieces. They are great examples of how incredible things can be built from LEGO with “regular” bricks and plates, in common colours.
Although Jeff’s models are fantastical, and undoubtedly evoke a sci-fi feel, they also display an appreciation and understanding of key elements of differing architectural styles. The Miami-Art-Deco-Meets-The-Jetsons styling of the city in the main image above is a mash-up of 30s and 50s futurism, with a dash of what feels like Disney’s Tomorrowland. Whereas the cityscape below offers a different flavour of retro-futuristic architecture — New-York-Meets-Gotham-City with more than a whiff of Steampunk about it. It also showcases Jeff’s attention to detail and sense of fun — don’t miss the little trains in their subway beneath the streets…
We felt these models represented something genuinely exciting and new on the LEGO scene, executed brilliantly, and with a scale and selection of parts that we felt would inspire LEGO builders of all levels. That’s why Jeff Friesen‘s Cityscapes are our LEGO Creation of the Year for 2017.
