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.

Fear not! The LEGO Exo Suit is not a limited run [News]

It’s been about a week since LEGO released the new Exo Suit, and there’s been quite a lot of rumor and conjecture circulating about how many will be available, and whether backorders placed after last Thursday night will be fulfilled. I had a conference call with LEGO staff in Enfield and Billund yesterday, and they all reassured me that the “limited run” rumors (especially the rumored number of “10,000”) are completely false.

If LEGO’s own word isn’t enough, here’s Oliver Twist the Pug to inspire confidence.

Oliver   Exo Suit   mini Mini Cooper = Win!

We’ll be closing down the LEGO Exo Suit raffle next Friday morning so that we can ship out the set in a timely manner, so head on over to that post and leave a comment if you want to win one.

But the important update here is that our raffle isn’t the only way for you to get an Exo Suit — go ahead and order your Exo Suits (and click through from The Brothers Brick if you’d like to support what we do), and LEGO will fulfill those orders once their supply chain catches up with this initial burst of demand. The LEGO Shop online currently lists the set as either “Temporarily Out of Stock” or “Sold Out”, but this is more of a website status issue than a predictor of future availability. Once they become available on each site, LEGO reassures me that you can go ahead and order them with confidence:

And since I’ve included a photo of my pug Ollie with my own Exo Suit that arrived last Thursday, let’s totally make pugs + Exo Suits a meme. Here’s a completely different pug who is also named Oliver (!!!) with an Exo Suit from Ilia. Post those pug + Exo Suit photos and share them here in the comments, on Facebook, and on Twitter! Bonus points if your pug is also named Oliver.

Oliver & Exo Suit by Combee on Flickr

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.

Announcing ChronoCon 10,000 BC for BrickCon 2014 in Seattle [News]

BrickCon 2014 is less than two months away — October 2nd through 5th in Seattle. Each year, starting with Zombie Apocafest 2008 and continuing through Big in Japan and Numereji 2421, The Brothers Brick sponsors a collaborative display for our readers. After five continuous years, we took a break last year, but we’re back this year with “ChronoCon 10,000 BC.”

Benjamin Franklin on a Triceratops

The basic idea of ChronoCon is that it’s a convention for time travelers and time travel enthusiasts. We were inspired last year by the release of the official Back to the Future DeLorean and the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, but the great thing about a convention for time travelers is that it can be held any time! So, you know, we’re not a year behind schedule after all…

Chaos and anarchy are built into the underlying theme, so please don’t expect a lot of guidelines from us — the whole point is to get creative. We do expect intersecting timelines, anachronisms, and paradoxes, so the parking lot outside the ChronoCon venue will likely have multiple DeLoreans and a variety of TARDISes (bonus points for not arriving in a DeLorean or TARDIS).

That said, we have three very broad guidelines that will help pull the overall display together:

  1. The overall scale is minifig-scale.
  2. The underlying baseplate color is Green. ChronoCon takes place in a primordial jungle.
  3. If you introduce a major paradox or anachronism (like a Roman army marching in to fight some velociraptors), create an appropriate time portal, vortex, or wormhole that explains it.

Here are the prize categories (subject to change, addition, and our whim):

  • Best Time Machine: After all, how did all the time travel enthusiasts arrive in 10,000 BC?
  • Most Amusing Anachronism: Mash up those timelines and get building!
  • Fiercest Fighting Dinosaur: Yes, there will be a dinosaur battle arena!
  • Best Convention Booth or Event: What’s a convention without T-shirts, celebrity signings, panels, and knick-knacks?

There’s a ChronoCon 10,000 BC group on Flickr, where you can see photos we’ve collected so far of LEGO models consistent with the general idea, as well as discussion threads.

If you haven’t registered yet for BrickCon, do it now. And then get building!

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.

HispaBrick Magazine 020 now available [News]

The latest issue of HispaBrick Magazine is available for free download. This issue includes features on Bionicle builders, reviews including the Exo-Suit and The Art of LEGO Design book, the Lego fan scene in Japan, and much more.

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.

Announcing the BRICKNADO building contest winners!

The Brothers Brick BRICKNADO building contest is now over. The contest was in celebration of the cinematic masterpiece Sharknado 2: The Second One, which for our US readers premieres on the SyFy channel tonight at 9pm (8pm Central).

Thank you to all the builders that were brave enough to take part – in the end we had 24 shark-tastic entries. With the chainsaws now put away, the sidewalks hosed down, and a tally of the fallen taken, The Brothers Brick are pleased to announce the winners:

1st PLACE
“I love New Yaaaargh!” by nolnet

2nd PLACE
“NYC Subway Sharknado!” by El Barto

3rd PLACE
“Sharknado!” by SuckMyBrick

We also have a couple of “honorable mentions” for some other entries that we loved too… So big shout-outs go to M<0><0>DSWIM for “Fin Rides the Sharknado!” and Uno Brick for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fisherman”.

  

While our three winners are now faced with the solemn task of making their prize choices, we’ll leave the rest of you to settle in behind the couch and brace yourselves for the coming storm…

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.

Angus MacLane’s Wall-E achieves 10K supporters on LEGO Ideas [News]

Earlier today, Angus MacLane‘s LEGO Wall-E model achieved 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas.

LEGO WALL•E 3.0

I’ve commented before about how way too many projects on LEGO CUUSOO/Ideas aren’t based on ideas associated in any way with the person who initiated the project. This one’s different. As long-time readers will recall from our interview with Angus MacLane back in 2008, Angus works at Pixar and was the Lead Animator for Wall-E. Given Angus’s close association with Pixar and the source material, I’m very hopeful that this wonderful model will end up as a future LEGO set.

Good luck during the review process, Angus!

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 Collectible Minifigures Series 12 revealed [News]

An official image of the series 12 collectible minifigs surfaced today, revealing the full lineup for the October 2014 release. The retail price will be $3.99.

LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 12

EDIT (AB): As always, here’s our best guess at what these figs could be called (pending the official names from LEGO closer to the release):

  • Gamer
  • Miner
  • Rock Star
  • Swashbuckler
  • Jester
  • Princess and Frog Prince
  • Japanese Horror-Movie Ghost
  • Pizza Delivery Guy
  • Barbarian
  • Genie
  • Lifeguard
  • Wizard
  • Hunter
  • Space Dude
  • Athena
  • Pig Suit Guy

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: The Hobbit–The Lonely Mountain revealed at San Diego Comic-Con [News]

San Diego Comic-Con is underway, and with it comes new set announcements. First up is for The Hobbit line, with The Lonely Mountain. Details are still forthcoming, but we do know that this 866-piece set will run $129.99, and is due this fall.

In addition to five minifigs, the throne, and the mine, this set also features Smaug.

The Hobbit: The Lonely Mountain

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 BRICKNADO building contest ends soon!

Builders! You now have just under a week to submit your entries for The Brothers Brick “BRICKNADO” building contest celebrating next week’s opening of Sharknado 2, SyFy’s hilarious sequel to the original Sharnado. Check the contest page for details. Oh, and if the sheer glory of winning isn’t enough incentive for you, there’s swag to be won too…

      

Never heard of Sharknado? No shark pieces? Just hate sharks, because they ate your grandfather? WE DON’T CARE! Just build something funny involving sharks. The sequel is set in New York, so extra props for working that into your build: Sharks driving yellow cabs, starring in musicals, imitating landmarks …surprise us!

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.

Shipwrecked LEGO from 1997 Still Washing up in Cornwall UK [News]

In 1997, a container ship off the coast of Cornwall, UK, was hit by a freak wave and 62 shipping containers washed overboard, the BBC reports. One of these containers held 4.8 million LEGO pieces. Evidently the container ruptured, because even 17 years later beach-goers still routinely find dozens of LEGO pieces strewn about the beach. Many are battered beyond use, but some are still found in quite good condition.

LEGO treasure hunters will take keen interest that, according to the BBC report, the following items were lost:

Toy kits – Divers, Aquazone, Aquanauts, Police, FrightKnights, WildWest, RoboForce TimeCruisers, Outback, Pirates
Spear guns (red and yellow) – 13,000 items
Black octopus – 4,200
Yellow life preserver – 26,600
Diver flippers (in pairs: black, blue, red) – 418,000
Dragons (black and green) – 33,941
Brown ship rigging net – 26,400
Daisy flowers (in fours – white, red, yellow) – 353,264
Scuba and breathing apparatus (grey) – 97,500
Total of 4,756,940 Lego pieces lost overboard in a single container
Estimated 3,178,807 may be light enough to have floated

One can’t help but note the irony that so many of the lost pieces are nautical themed. Any minifig Robinson Crusoes in the Cornwall vicinity will be well equipped after searching the local beaches.

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.

SDCC Exclusive LEGO Batman/Justice League Comic [News]

Every year LEGO does free giveaways of various exclusive items at the San Diego Comic-Con (July 24-27), and one of the items they’re giving away this year is a fantastic 24 page Batman/Justice League retro-design comic drawn by Brothers Brick alumnus Paul Lee, an excellent builder by night and highly talented comic artist by day. This edition compiles the comics that have been appearing in the LEGO Club Magazine all year. Paul and Rachel Lareau, the comic’s writer, will be at the LEGO booth Saturday from 5-6pm to sign copies.

SDCC Exclusive Comic Pinup

SDCC Exclusive Comic Cover

SDCC Exclusive Comic Inside

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 Unveils UCS Dark Knight Tumbler at Comic-Con [News]

LEGO has unveiled a massive UCS-scale version of the Tumbler from The Dark Knight. The vehicle will measure over 15 inches long and 9 inches wide, has a full interior cockpit, and includes a nameplate, and Batman and Joker minifigs. Although LEGO has produced several versions of the Joker previously, this will be the first appearance of Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight. UCS Tumbler (76023) will be available in September for $199 USD, and includes 1,869 pieces. You can see more images of the set here, or listen to the one of LEGO’s designers talking about the set here.

LEGO Batman UCS Tumbler (76023)
LEGO Batman UCS Tumbler (76023)
LEGO Batman UCS Tumbler (76023)

LEGO Batman UCS Tumbler (76023)

LEGO Batman UCS Tumbler (76023)

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.

Turtle Insanity

The LEGO Group and Eurobricks have teamed up to help celebrate the release of Pete Reid’s Exo Suit with a  Turtle building contest.

I decided to take my own stab at building some turtles, creating an adorable little turtle facing off with turtle inspired Exo-Suit.

Turtle Insanity Contest!

Hopefully we will see a whole lot more  fun Turtle creations this month.

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.