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.
2015 may well be the year of Mouse Guard, as it celebrates it’s 10th anniversary and – as we previously mentioned here – Seattle’s own ArchLUG will be unveiling a big collaborative Mouse Guard display at Emerald City Comic Con in March. Of course you can expect some pretty amazing architecture in this display. But how are they going to recreate the Mouse Guard characters, you might ask? Simple, with Bricks of the Mouse Guard, that’s how! And you can get in on the action too.
Following on from his wildly successful Munchkin Bricks project, Guy Himber of Crazy Bricks has just launched a new project to bring you Mouse Guard themed LEGO accessories.
Backers have the opportunity to receive a set of mouse heads in various colors, and a set of matching accessories (including a flagon that looks like a must-have for almost any Castle enthusiast). And as you might imagine, there are all kinds of stretch goals that will unlock additional items in additional colors, and even a fully equipped custom Mouse Guard mini-fig with pad-printed torso. Other goodies include BrickArms crates, printed bricks and even original artwork by Mouse Guard’s creator for top-tier backers.
Rewards start at $19, and the project will be accepting pledges for the next 32 days, so back it today!
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.
There is a new Lego convention coming to Raleigh, NC called BrickUniverse organized by Lego fan Geryson Beights. This is a standard 4-day Lego convention held at the Raleigh Convention Center. Below is the announcement:
We are pleased to announce BrickUniverse 2015, a convention for LEGO fans of all ages coming to Raleigh, North Carolina. BrickUniverse 2015 will be held at the Raleigh Convention Center.
The event will be held on March 26, 27, 28, and 29 with public days being on the 28 and 29.
Show off your awesome creations
Try your luck and earn free LEGO in our drawings
Test your skills and win in our various games
Learn more about the bricks in our seminars
Hang out with fellow LEGO enthusiasts
And much much more!
Check out our builder website for more info on the four day convention and to register. The quicker you register, the cheaper!
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.
BIONICLE is back! At New York City Comic Con last week, LEGO unveiled detailed information and images for a new line of BIONICLE sets. The sets will be available globally from January 1, 2015 and revolve around an entirely new storyline. Prices will range from USD $9.99 – USD $19.99.
“We are thrilled to announce the relaunch of the LEGO BIONICLE franchise, which was one of our most popular LEGO franchises and our first ‘constraction’ or constructible action figure line.” said Michael McNally, Senior Director of Brand Relations. “We are eager to introduce and immerse a new generation of children in this rich character-driven world and can’t wait for fans of all ages to interact with the new story.”
The January line-up consists of six “Master” sets, and six “Protector” sets, each based around the elements of Fire, Earth, Water, Stone, Jungle and Ice. There is also a thirteenth set called the Lord of Skull Spiders. You can find photos and set details up on our Flickr stream, so go check ’em out now!
Can the Toa save Okoto from the latest threat?
The new storyline takes place on the mythical island of Okoto, where the forces of darkness are on the move, and the evil Makuta is once again materializing. Makuta is overcome by the desire for the three mythic masks that will cast the world into darkness: the Mask of Creation, the Mask of Control, and the Mask of Ultimate Power.
The desperate island inhabitants enlist six heroes called the Toa – each masters of a sacred element – to help save their beloved island. The Toa must embark on a quest for Okoto’s ancient power masks, that will allow them to unlock the full potential of their elemental powers. Only when the heroes are united, will they be able to battle the forces of evil, defeat Makuta, and save Okoto.
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.
Contributor Iain Heath was able to sit down with President Barack Obama during TBB’s monthly junket to Washington DC. The President himself requested the interview citing a desire to “come out of the sorting bin” in regards to his Adult Fan of LEGO status. He also wanted to make it clear that the First Lady, Michelle Obama, supported him in this decision. We look forward to covering the Commander-in-Chief’s involvement in the LEGO fan community and hope to highlight some of his creations here in the near future.
UPDATE: The original video has been partially censored to comply with some half-baked legal threats made by the organizers of an event that had been mentioned in it. Some people apparently have no sense of humor, and dealing with such people is too boring and tedious to be worth the trouble, so the video was edited to shut them up. As the old saying goes… THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE OIL.
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.
Earlier this evening here in Seattle at BrickCon, LEGO officially unveiled the new 75060 Slave I. Unlike every other incarnation of this set, the UCS version is truly minifig-scale, and includes Boba Fett, Han Solo (with carbonite), a Bespin guard, and Stormtooper. With nearly 2,000 pieces, the set will be released in January 2015 for $200 in the US (full pricing details in the press release later in the post).
We had a chance to take a close look at the new set at BrickCon. Play features include everything you’d expect — pop-out blasters, revolving cannon, rotating wings, etc. See nearly 20 official photos in the photoset on Flickr.
Slave I is quite swooshable, as I demonstrate with my Hadouken! pose.
Here’s the full press release from LEGO.
75060 Slave I™
Ages 14+. 1,996 pieces.
US $199.99 – CA $229.99 – DE 199.99€ – UK £169.99 – DK 1699.00 DKK
*Euro pricing varies by country. Please visit shop.LEGO.com for regional pricing.
Lift off for bounty-hunting adventures in the Slave I!
Search the galaxy for fugitives with Boba Fett and his Slave I with rotating cockpit and wings, dual shooters and a display stand.
Track down fugitives with legendary bounty hunter, Boba Fett aboard the powerful Slave I! This exclusive LEGO® Star Wars model features a rotating cockpit and wings for flight and landing mode, plus dual shooters and hidden blasters to repel attackers. Reenact the capture of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and take off from Bespin with the carbonite-imprisoned Rebel hero in the cargo hold. Attach the stand to display this iconic ship in characteristic upright flight. Includes 4 minifigures with weapons: Boba Fett, Bespin Guard, Stormtrooper and Han Solo.
Includes 4 minifigures with weapons: Boba Fett, Bespin Guard, Stormtrooper and Han Solo
Also includes Han Solo in carbonite!
Features a rotating cockpit and wings, opening side hatches with hidden guns and missiles, 2 rotating dual shooters, cargo hold and a display stand with data sheet
Weapons include special blaster pistol for Boba Fett, blaster pistol for Bespin Guard and a blaster rifle for the Stormtrooper
Boba Fett and Bespin Guard minifigures are unique to this set
Rotate the cockpit and wings for flight and landing mode
Place carbonite-imprisoned Han Solo in the cargo hold
Open the side hatches to unleash missiles from the hidden guns
Showcase the huge Slave I in upright flight on the display stand
Recreate classic scenes from Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
Measures over 7” (20cm) high, 17” (45cm) long and 14” (37cm) wide in landing mode
Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning January 2015
Finally, here’s the designer video. Be sure to watch it to catch a pretty hilarious play feature.
Nannan will also have a walk-around video, unless I was talking too much in the background…
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 6th annual Creations for Charity fundraiser is now accepting donations of custom Lego creations to sell and raise money to buy Lego for underprivileged children. The store opens from October 15th to November 30th where you can buy one-of-a-kind Lego models made by builders from around the world. Check out the awesome creations sold last year and the over $20,000 worth of Lego sets that were donated.
Visit creationsforcharity.org to learn about the fundraiser and see how you can take part in the Lego community’s annual tradition of giving back.
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.
In less than 72 hours, LEGO builders from all over the world will gather in Seattle to kick off BrickCon 2014. Eight of us from The Brothers Brick will be there, and we’ll of course be running our ChronoCon 10,000 BC collaborative display, handing out a bit of swag, and generally making BrickCon that much more awesome.
“A Sound of Thunder” by TBB’s own Simon
If you haven’t left yet and want to throw together a last-minute build for us, we’ve made things easy — just build a convention booth, celebrity signing desk, or fighting dinosaur.
And finally, if you won’t be making it to the full, four-day private convention starting on Thursday, be sure to swing by during the public hours on Saturday or Sunday. You can buy tickets on BrickCon.org.
BrickCon is going to be awesome, but it’ll be even more awesome with you there!
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.
My American brothers are understandably excited about BrickCon, which takes place less than a week from now. Among British AFOLs and for myself, however, excitement is mounting for another event, the Great Western Brick Show, colloquially known as Steam. It is held in the coming weekend at STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, in Swindon in the UK.
I myself will be there displaying my film and TV cars, but the show is practically a who’s who of British builders. For example:
Carl Greatrix will be displaying trains, his recent cars and his F-4 Phantoms,
Peter Reid, designer of the exo-suit, will be in attendance talking to fans and showing off his space models,
the guys from Bright Bricks are preparing something huge (it is still a surprise, but as far as I know it is bigger than Intrepid),
Warren Elsmore, the writer of Brick City and Brick Wonders will be displaying his new airport layout,
Brick to the past, which is the collective of builders who brought us Tigelfah castle last year, will be displaying a large layout of Victorian-era London.
If you’re in the UK and don’t come to this show, you are missing out on what promises to be a great show. However, you can check out TV coverage of the event via Swindonweb TV. They will be broadcasting on Saturday, and include footage live from the show and interviews with some of the builders. Of course, you can also expect me to write an event report after I get back.
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.
We’ve selected the winners of tickets to attend the LEGO event at NYCC, through the magic of Excel. The five commenters listed below should expect to hear from LEGO PR soon. Congratulations to the winners, I look forward to seeing some awesome photos.
amazingelectro
chris
GarrustheTurian1010
Jangarang15
t.newman
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.
There are currently three full-time positions open, in Ryan Wood’s department, at Merlin Studios Carlsbad, where they build Miniland. One is a permanent Model Builder position and the other two are temporary Model Designer positions that could lead to permanent slots. Don’t have a lot of experience with Miniland scale? Not to worry. They are willing to train the right people. If you are interested, click on the links above to begin the application process. Click on the LEGOLAND banner to go to Ryan’s photostream for more information.
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.
We recently received a copy of LEGO’s exclusive addition to their Superhero line, The Tumbler. Official piece count is listed as 1869 elements. The actual model measures nearly 16 inches long, over 9 inches wide, over 5 inches high and weighs in at just over 4 and half pounds. The thing is huge! It currently retails at 199.99 USD.
Pros:
– It is very accurate to the original vehicle. The details, inside and out, are very good. The cockpit area is full of minute detail and the stickers really make the control panels come alive. The used of wedge plates, tiles, hinges, bar connections and ball joints work really well together to create the unique shape which is crucial to the Tumbler.
– There are lots of good parts and a fair number of fairly unique pieces. The huge rear wheels are cool and the two front wheels are currently only available in this set, I believe.
– The build is challenging and the there are some unusual techniques that were used to achieve the proper angles.
– It is a very good-looking model…quite an eye-catcher actually.
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 kind folks at Lego have offered us five free tickets to the first day of NYCC to give to our readers (Thursday October 9). What’s more, the winners will be invited to a special event at 1pm, where a new theme will be announced! The winners will get access to NYCC that day, the afternoon panel, and a special evening event.
Comment on this post to enter!
You must be able to get yourself to NYCC for the event, at your own expense, as all this contest provides is the NYCC ticket mentioned above. Transportation, lodging, etc is not included. Contest will be closed at 11:59 pm EST on September 19th.
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.
