Announced today, the Women of NASA project by Maia Weinstock is the next set in the Ideas line. This project was selected from a group of 11 other ideas that had gathered 10,000 supporters between the months of May and September 2016. Pricing and availability for the Women of NASA set are not yet available.
Read more about the latest LEGO Ideas review
Did you see the LEGO LC-130 Hercules we sent to Antartica at the end of last year? Did you want your own rocket-powered ski-plane? Over the last couple of months, TBB’s own Ralph Savelsberg worked with Dan Siskind and his team at Brickmania to turn Ralph’s model of this iconic aircraft into a custom LEGO kit you can buy.
Ralph is awesome, Brickmania is awesome, science is awesome, airplanes are awesome — we couldn’t be happier that one of our team’s designs is being turned into a Brickmania kit!
Learn more about this unique LEGO kit
We recently had the chance to sit down with Johan Alexanderson (LegoJalex) to discuss his building style and approach to the hobby. A part-time web developer, as well as a free-lance illustrator and comic book artist, Johan is 35 years old and lives in Sweden. Come with us as we explore the mind of a builder!
TBB: So how did you get into LEGO building?
LegoJalex: I started building about 5 years ago, after a “dark age” of about 15 years. I had a stressful time then and I really needed something to relax with, so naturally I started to build again. Building with LEGO has so many great memories for me and I really like the creativity involved. I think there are similarities with my interest in drawing and illustrating, where in both you have to think in a creative and artistic way.
The Brothers Brick publishes so many stories that we’re giving you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our Weekly Brick Report for the last week of February.
TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: The week was light on news, but after such frantic last week, we don’t mind. We still have some reviews, an interview and a guest post for your reading pleasure.
OTHER NEWS: There was a little LEGO news from other places around the web this week. Here are a few items we noticed and thought you might enjoy.
That’s your Brick Report for the week. See you next month!
Just a reminder that the annual speeder bike contest, run by the good folks over at the LEGO Speeder Bikes Flickr group, is drawing to close at the end of the month. We’ve seen some great entries so far but there is still time to get your rear in gear and build some awesome bikes! There are great prizes up for grabs, donated by The Brothers Brick, as well as all sorts of other swag!
This week there are several deals on LEGO Star Wars, Ninjago, Technic, Chima and LEGO Elves. There are also still great deals on LEGO Dimensions Packs!
LEGO Ninjago Temple of Airjitzu is 20% off, currently listed at $159.99.
For the past 6 years, The Brothers Brick has joined with several LEGO clubs in the Pacific Northwest to put on a huge display of pop culture-themed creations at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, which will be taking place at the Washington State Convention Center next week, March 2-5.
Most ECCC tickets are sold out at this point, but if you’re among the tens of thousands of people who’ll be there over the course of the 4-day event, be sure to check out Brick Nation located the lower level across the street from the main WSCC entrance, featuring creations by many of your favorite TBB contributors. The Brick Nation display will be bigger than ever this year, with over 3,000 square feet of LEGO creations, other LEGO-themed activities, life-sized Star Wars sculptures and more.
We’re giving away 10 pairs of tickets to see The LEGO Batman Movie, and the contest ends tonight at midnight PST! Entry is simple: just click on the image below and leave a comment on that post telling us what you think Batman’s favorite LEGO set is. We’ll be randomly selecting 10 winners from the eligible entries (US readers only). Click below for entry and full rules.
Undoubtedly you’ve noticed from our weekend posts that Toy Fair New York began on Saturday, and we were there in person to bring you coverage of LEGO’s latest news. This year I had the pleasure of attending as the representative from The Brothers Brick, tasked with the oh-so-onerous duties of getting a hands-on look at new LEGO sets months in advance of their release and bringing our readers photographs of them.
In both 1966 and 2016, Ford won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, marking 50 years of victory for their GT supercars. 75881 2016 Ford GT & 1966 Ford GT40 brings together the iconic race cars on either end of that 50-year span.
75881 2016 Ford GT & 1966 Ford GT40 includes three minifigures, with 366 pieces to build two cars and a podium and trophy for the winning driver.
Read the full review after the jump
This week we were able to talk with Anu Pehrson about her beautiful architectural builds, as well as many other aspects of the hobby. Anu lives in Seattle with her husband David and volunteers a lot of time to help make many different behind-the-scenes aspects of BrickCon run smoothly. She is a very easy person to talk to. If you ever get the chance, spend some time with her. You will be well-rewarded. Until then, however, this interview will have to do! Let’s dive in and explore the mind of a builder.
TBB: Can you give our readers some background on yourself? What is it about LEGO that draws you to it?
Anu: I’m from India. Growing up, there wasn’t much Lego to play with. Someone had gifted my brother a Lego systems set that I commandeered. Every time I sat down with the set, I tried to build something different. That’s how the story of building my own creations started. Then came my dark ages and in 2001 I moved to Seattle where I found Lego in abundance and rekindled my love for building. I built by myself for a few years and then accidently found the local LUG, BrickCon and the online Lego community. I see Lego as more of a medium of Art, rather than a child’s toy. Something that can be used to express one’s feelings, maybe like paint for a painter… As I build more, I use its limitations of being a finite piece of plastic to push its own limits and try to give models an organic and natural feel. Some of the newer parts definitely help in this process.
LEGO had the box for the next series of Collectible Minifigures (CMF) covered up when we were at their preview event in New York yesterday, but after we, FBTB, and others had left, they uncovered the box for some reason, and media who were still hanging around got a peek. The box confirms a number of previous leaks and rumors, so let’s dig in on what we’ve learned so far.
Read our list of LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 16
