Category Archives: LEGO

You’d probably expect a lot of the posts on a LEGO website like The Brothers Brick to be about LEGO, and you’d be right. If you’re browsing this page, you might want to consider narrowing what you’re looking for by checking out categories like “Space” and “Castle.” We’re sure there’s something here that’ll fascinate and amaze you.

It’s game over for Player 1 in this game of Duck Hunt

Duck Hunt brought new game dynamics to the Nintendo Entertainment System with light guns that players could aim at the television screen to shoot ducks as they popped up from the bushes. While brick-built LEGO consoles like this LEGO NES (including a light gun) are popular subjects, faithful recreations of early console games are more rare. Eero Okkonen does Duck Hunt justice with this “Game Over” screen featuring the laughing hound, score, the number of ducks hit, and more.

As the final entry in his month-long Iron Builder challenge using the Duplo grass part in every build, “Game Over” seems an appropriate conclusion.

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TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for April 9, 2017 [News]

The Brothers Brick gives you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our Weekly Brick Report for the second week of April 2017.

TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: What a week for news! We learned about four new sets and reviewed three other sets for your LEGO enjoyment.

Review of LEGO 71018 Collectible Minifigures Series 17 – A rocket ship, corn on the cob and a mystery fig, oh my! Your first look at Series 17 is here.
Star Wars Celebration exclusive set revealed: Detention Block Rescue – LEGO has revealed an exclusive set, Detention Block Rescue, which will be available for purchase by some lucky attendees at the annual Star Wars Celebration next week in Orlando, Florida.
LEGO Rebrick reveals upcoming sets from The LEGO Ninjago Movie – Take a peek at a nifty red mecha and an awesome green dragon set, courtesy of LEGO Rebrick.
Review of LEGO Architecture 21035 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum – Frank Lloyd Wright’s museum gets a second go at the LEGO Architecture line, but is it better than the first?
Review of LEGO Technic 40th Anniversary Car Chassis – To celebrate 40 years of Technic sets, LEGO created up-to-date instructions for the legendary 8860 Car Chassis set from 1980.
Review of LEGO Star Wars 75172 Y-wing Starfighter from Rogue One – This is the fifth minifig-scale Y-wing that LEGO has released since 1999 and the largest at 691 pieces.
Amazon Sales include deals on Batman, Spider-Man, Frozen, and City sets – This week Amazon has discounts on many sets, but the highlights include a Frozen set at a great price, five Super Hero sets, and two LEGO City fire sets!

TBB INTERVIEWS & INSTRUCTIONS: Buildable droids and a Star Wars interview! What a time to be alive.

Instructions to build a GONK droid from Star Wars – French builder Eric Druon recreates a classic Star Wars GONK power droid and shows us how he did it.
An interview with builder Amado Canlas Pinlac – Arms outstretched as always, we chat with the builder of all things Star Wars.

Build your own city of tomorrow

Who hasn’t taken LEGO to school in their lunchbox before? Simon Liu received a cool Build your city of Tomorrow lunchbox as part of LEGO Canada’s celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday. Simon was then inspired to build his futuristic version of Toronto inside the lunchbox! I love that future microscale Toronto features plenty of greenery throughout the city, including on the roofs of skyscrapers, but the highlight for me is the little tube transportation system. However, I don’t know how much luck Simon’s going to have transporting his miniature city in the lunchbox without losing the top of the CN Tower.

It’s time to flamenco with a flamingo

The word flamingo actually comes from the Spanish word flamenco, which came from the earlier Latin word flamma, meaning flame or fire. The name seems all the more apt for this LEGO Flamingo created by BrickBro given that it’s actually built from red bricks rather than pink. The posing of this bird is perfect, with one foot characteristically tucked up whilst the other wades through the shallow water. I love the dual purpose of the clear dish, which firstly holds the bird in a standing position, but also depicts a ripple in the water. Those stick legs look just as fragile as an actual flamingo’s legs.

This shapely bird has some clever, albeit illegal, techniques in the neck area, where the builder has used a short length of tubing to attach the tiles bottom-to-bottom. The model is built only from LEGO parts however, and stands surprisingly steady on that one little stick leg.

When the zombies come, a damp cellar is like a palace

While not luxurious, it is definetely the desire of any apocalypse survivor to find somewhere like this cellar to hunker down. This particular “palace” by Gareth Gidman was built for the Brrraaaaaaaiiiiinnnssss!!! contest on Eurobricks. The cellar section looks very lived-in, with weapons and sustenance positioned so it looks filled, but not cluttered. I should point out the use of broken tiles; while not purist, it is good that the builder found a way to still use his ruined pieces. On the ground level we see some well-built decay with a broken window, overgrowth, and cracks in the walls. Some nice minifig action makes for a well-rounded scene.

(As a side note, I have seen brown pieces break much more often than other colours, and seeing Gareth’s broken brown tiles, I am more convinced that this is statistically relevant.)

Pod 3 on station for all your outer space maintenance needs

A lot of the LEGO spaceships we feature here are large capital ships or nimble starfighters. David Roberts brings us an interesting change of pace with a heavy-duty maintenance pod — the sort of workhorse utility vehicle which keeps the solar system running. The striping and the brick-built ID number are excellent, but what caught my eye were the manipulator arms, the thruster design, and the cockpit design. A shout out for the landing skids too — a nice little practical touch in a building genre often obsessed with style over realism.

Vibrant hulking Mobile Defense Tank

Jme Wheeler has created the MDTDX Fiona Far, which is meant as a re-imagining of the official LEGO set 7706 Mobile Defense Tank. The builder notes that they thought the set “had a lot of cool things going for it, but the actual build was flimsy and lacking a bit in substance”. Starting with that basic idea, Jme rebuilt the set from the ground up, including adding more flexibility in the form of four sets of movable caterpillar tracks to replace the original’s rubber treads.

See more of this re-imagined LEGO tank

A streetcar named LEGO

You may know them as trams, streetcars, or trolleys. But these seemingly old forms of public transport are increasingly being found in our cities and towns once more. San Francisco is famous for them, but Edinburgh, Sofia, Helsinki, Rome and many more cities have trams running through their streets. David FNJ has built a lovely dark red tram pulling into a small stop, decorated with a bench and some pretty flowers. The tram is beautifully shaped with lots of curves, and the builder has utilised a great combination of highlight colours in the form of Bright Light Orange and Medium Dark Flesh.

I’m not massively sold on the conical trees, but the little stop is a nice addition to set the scene while we wait for the next tram to arrive.

The gift you should not have opened

I understand it is rude not to open a birthday present, but there have to be exceptions, right? Especially when you get literal hell in a box as a gift! Jme Wheeler tells us an idea popped up in his mind and he just had to build it. He also notes that it is his first attempt at building a skull, and I must say it is indeed a great start. The lighting and subtle editing makes for a powerful image that may or may not carry a deeper meaning.

GONK, the power droid that just keeps going and going [Instructions]

Given his passion for recreating vintage Star Wars play sets in LEGO, it’s not a huge surprise to see French builder Eric Druon try his hand at recreating some classic Star Wars action figures too. And what better place to start than the beloved GONK power droid (especially given LEGO’s rather disappointing attempts to date). Over the years GONKs of various shapes, sizes and colors have been spotted shambling through the background in almost every corner of the Star Wars franchise, from the original movie trilogy to more recent animated shows and video games. But for his interpretation Eric has – not surprisingly – drawn inspiration from a 1st series 1977 Kenner action figure, which was modelled after the very first GONK ever to appear on screen, a rather snazzy blue number spotted at the Lars homestead.

As an added treat, Eric has also produced a short instructional video showing you how to build your very own little GONK! I for one plan to build an army of these. Especially since my original childhood GONK figure is now long gone (or possibly lost in a box somewhere in my garage).

Building by candlelight

At first glance this melting LEGO candle by Jonas Kramm looks like the real thing. The goopy drips of wax cling together perfectly, and the candlestick has the just the right amount of detailing. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder if this candle would look better in white – but what else can an Iron Builder do when forced to work with bright green Duplo squiggle bricks?

Amazon Sales include deals on Batman, Spider-Man, Frozen, and City Sets [News]

This week Amazon has discounts on many sets, but the highlights include a Frozen set at a great price, five Super Hero sets, and two City Fire sets!

LEGO Disney Princess Anna’s Snow Adventure is 35% off, currently listed at $12.95.

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