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 January 7, 2017 [News]

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 first week of 2017 (and the new year is off to a great start).

TBB NEWS: Holy moly, Batman, there was an avalanche of news this week. From the unveiling of Boost at CES to sending a plane to the South Pole, we have all you need to know right here, including the winners of TBB’s Builder and Creation of the year!

LEGO Boost unveiled and Hands on with LEGO Boost at CES in Las Vegas – TBB brings you exclusive information about LEGO’s newly unveiled Boost robotics system from CES.
LEGO Hercules travels to the South Pole – Read all about how TBB sent a model of a LC-130 Hercules to the South Pole and the LEGO fans that live there.
Brothers Brick awards Builder of the Year to Grant Masters and Creation of the Year to Paul Hetherington‘s Batman vs. Joker Theater Showdown – See the work of these builders that wowed us so much that we awarded them TBB’s highest honors.
Top 10 LEGO news posts of 2016 and Top 10 most popular LEGO creations of 2016 – What was the most popular content on TBB this past year? We have the results!
LEGO IDEAS 2016 roundup and 2017 preview – 2016 was quite the busy year for IDEAS, and the next deadline for projects reaching 10,000 votes is coming soon.
January 2017 LEGO sets available now including Assembly Square, Adventure Time – The new year means new sets! What are the hottest items that just hit shelves?

REVIEWS & INSTRUCTIONS: TBB had its hands full creating mascot instructions and reviewing a new set from Star Wars: Rogue One.
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The LEGO Batman Movie Batman in the Phantom Zone & The Joker Training Battle [Review]

As we approach The LEGO Batman Movie‘s February release, LEGO is launching scores of sets to accompany its first feature film of the year and we’ve been covering them as quickly as we can. Today we’re bringing you two more mini sets, 30522 Batman in the Phantom Zone, and 30523 The Joker Training Battle. Both are minifigure scale, unlike the microscale sets we covered recently of The Mini Batmobile and Batwing. Both are expected to retail for $4.99 USD.

30522 Batman in the Phantom Zone, 59 pieces

Click to read the full review of both sets

EXCLUSIVE: Hands on with LEGO Boost robotics prototype at CES in Las Vegas [News and Video]

Earlier this week we brought you the news about the newly unveiled LEGO Boost robotics system, an entry-level System-based building and coding toolkit designed to make it easier for kids to get into programming and robotics. We also think LEGO Boost has the potential to bring the more complex creations of adult LEGO builders to life, so we’ve been curious to learn more. I’m in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), so I was able to swing by the LEGO booth to talk tech with LEGO Boost engineers and designers.

That’s me on the left, with Lasse Lauesen, the lead computer engineer on the Boost project. LEGO Boost is being designed and developed by the same team behind LEGO Mindstorms, with collaboration from Playthemes designers like lead designer Simon Kent and well-known fan builder turned LEGO designer Carl Merriam.

First impressions

What struck me first about all the LEGO Boost models on the tables at CES was the color scheme. The primary color scheme of dark azure (the same color as the gorgeous 10252 Volkswagen Beetle) contrasts beautifully with the orange and white, with plenty of bricks also in black and greys. Designer Simon Kent told me that the team chose these colors very consciously as a gender-neutral palette. And I agree — it’s a fairly strong departure from the aggressive black, red, and white of Mindstorms EV3, without swinging the pendulum all the way toward “baby” colors.

Read our full hands-on coverage from CES

LEGO IDEAS 2016 roundup, and what to look forward to in 2017 [News]

Each year, we are stunned by the creativity that stems from builders like you, constantly pushing LEGO to explore new techniques, themes and concepts through LEGO IDEAS. 2016 was quite the busy year for IDEAS, and the year ahead should be equally as exciting with the next deadline coming soon for LEGO to review projects that reach the 10,000 vote goal.

NEW LEGO IDEAS SETS: Looking back, 2016 was an exciting milestone year with four IDEAS sets that launched, introducing a two yellow iconic vehicles, a labyrinth and brick-built cartoon characters:

21308 Ideas Adventure Time | $49.99 USD | The LEGO Shop | Amazon
21307 Caterham Seven 620R | $79.99 USD | The LEGO Shop | Amazon (currently 15% off)
21306 Yellow Submarine | $59.99 USD | The LEGO Shop | Amazon
21305 Maze | $69.99 USD | The LEGO Shop (retiring soon) | Amazon

RETIRED LEGO IDEAS SETS: We also sadly saw four iconic IDEAS sets get retired from production by LEGO. We hope you were able to grab these while they were available since they are incredible sets, though you can still find them on Amazon:

But there’s more to look forward to, with some amazing projects approved for 2017, which you can check out below. Continue reading →

LEGO Boost unveiled: all you need to know to bring your creations to life [News]

This week at the CES technology convention in Las Vegas, LEGO unveiled Boost, an entry-level building and coding toolkit to help bring your creations to life. More simple than Mindstorms, LEGO Boost (17101) is like its little brother but cooler and easier to get to know. The Brothers Brick is at CES and we’ll bring you hands-on coverage soon, but in the meantime, here are the basics.

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Issue 43 of BrickJournal is now shipping [News]

BrickJournal 43, highlighting many gaming-related articles and builds, is now available from TwoMorrows Publishing. The issue begins with a profile of Imagine Rigney, written by his mother, which tells their story as a family of LEGO fans and includes instructions for Rigney’s BioShock Songbird. (We covered another of Imagine’s incredible Bioshock LEGO creations just a few weeks ago). Ben Caulkins and TBB’s own Nick Jensen talk about their builds of iconic gaming weaponry and armor, followed by articles about models of Overwatch’s Winston and the Normandy from Mass Effect. Readers of TBB will also be happy to see an article by one of our editors, Chris Malloy, writing about how he built the first Minecraft layout.

A nice collection of instructions show how you can build a Minecraft Creeper, Zelda’s Master Sword by Tommy Williamson, a Dagobah Swamp mini diorama by Christopher Deck and how to create a custom Battle Rancor with help from Jared Burks and Michael Marzilli.

The issue also includes a report from RoboCupJunior Australia (a robotics tournament including LEGO MINDSTORMS robots), a review of No Starch Press’ new book, Tiny LEGO Wonders, a spotlight of brickfilmer Marc André Caron, and a look at Ben Pitchford’s impressive samurai layout. As is the case with most BrickJournal issues, this one finishes up with Greg Hyland’s charming comic, AFOLs.

LEGO Star Wars 75154 TIE Striker from Rogue One [Spoiler Review]

One of the new vehicles in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and released as a LEGO Star Wars set is 75154 TIE Striker, which includes 543 pieces with 4 minifigs for $69.99.

With Rogue One in theaters for more than two weeks now, our review will reference spoilers. If you haven’t seen it yet, do so — the movie is excellent — and then come back and read our full review of the LEGO set.

See the full review. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

BrickUniverse happening this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky January 7-8, 2017

The BrickUniverse LEGO Fan Convention is coming to the Kentucky Exposition Center this weekend, January 7 & 8. Check out the press release below.

BrickUniverse is building on the amazing popularity and ingenuity of LEGO with awesome attractions all centered around everybody’s favorite plastic building blocks.

Read the full BrickUniverse press release

Brickworld Chicago 2017 registration now open

Registration for Brickworld Chicago 2017 is now open. Brickworld Chicago will be held June 14-18, 2017, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL.

Learn more about BrickWorld 2017

January 2017 LEGO sets available now, including Assembly Square, Adventure Time [News]

Happy New Year! To start your 2017 off right, pick up some new LEGO for yourself. The January 2017 LEGO sets are now available in stores and online starting today, and we’ve picked a few that we think our readers will be interested in, from LEGO Batman to the new Assembly Square. We’ve already reviewed many of these sets, and we’ll be reviewing more in the coming days and weeks.

10255 Assembly Square (Review)| $279.99 USD | The LEGO Shop

21308 Ideas Adventure Time (Review)| $49.99 USD | The LEGO Shop | Amazon

See more January 2017 LEGO sets available now

LEGO Hercules travels to the South Pole [Interview]

It is not an everyday occurrence for me to get an email from the South Pole. Several months ago, however, I was contacted by Ethan Rudnitsky, who was spending the winter at the US Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, and who asked me for instructions to build a model of an LC-130 Hercules. This is the aircraft used to fly people to and from the station and Ethan wanted to put the model on display in the station. TBB used the opportunity to find out more about LEGO fans at the South Pole in an interview and agreed to supply the instructions, stickers, and the parts to build the Hercules.

Ethan and I had yet to work out how to get the model there. Enter Martin Rongen, a physicist and LEGO fan, like myself, who contacted me from Germany having seen my LC-130 prototype. He was due to travel to the Pole around Christmas (summer in Antarctica) and wondered whether I was willing to share instructions so that he could take the LEGO model with him. How about that? Problem solved! We could ship the whole lot to Germany.

Click here to read the full interview

Top 10 most popular LEGO creations on TBB in 2016 [News]

The TBB editorial team recently announced our shortlist for LEGO Creation of the Year, but what do you our readers think? Over the course of the year, you let your mouse clicks do the talking, and it’s clear that you felt the same way about many of the best LEGO creations we highlighted. Based on clicks, likes, shares, and other stats, here are the top 10 most popular LEGO creations featured on The Brothers Brick in 2016, as voted by you!

10. LEGO Technic Porsche 919, the 2015 Le Mans winner

Manuel Nascimento honored the winner of the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans race with this gorgeous Porsche 919 built from LEGO Technic pieces. Manuel’s Porsche sports custom stickers, and has numerous working features.

See the rest of the best after the jump!