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.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for February 5, 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 February.

TBB SET NEWS & REVIEWS: What an insanely busy week with so many new sets revealed from BrickHeadz and Batman to Dimensions and beyond. But hey, we aren’t complaining!

New LEGO Dimensions expansions include The Goonies and Harry Potter – The new packs will include The Goonies, Hermione Granger and LEGO’s own Chase McCain.
Beauty and the Beast LEGO BrickHeadz revealed – LEGO unveils two additional BrickHeadz characters, based on the beloved Disney characters Belle and the Beast.
LEGO Batman Movie 70909 Batcave Break-in Review – TBB gives you a tour of the Batcave complete with Batman’s new wardrobe options!
Summer 2017 wave of LEGO Batman Movie sets revealed – Here is our first look at the summer lineup of film sets due out in June, including the Batwing and more incredible villains.
First look at the new 2017 LEGO sets from Nuremberg Toy Fair – Germany’s Nuremberg Toy Fair gives us a glimpse of what is to come from LEGO during the rest of 2017.
LEGO sales and deals from Amazon for 1st week of February 2017 – From Ideas to Star Wars, TBB has the best deals of the week on your favorite LEGO sets.

TBB LEGO NEWS: LEGO has been busy too, celebrating a birthday, making waves in the business world, and launching a new social network for kids.

LEGO named world’s most powerful brand – LEGO unseats Disney as the world’s most powerful brand according to Brand Finance’s yearly Global 500 rankings.
Happy International LEGO Day from The Brothers Brick! – Fifty-nine years ago Godtfred Christiansen submitted a patent application for a plastic brick that changed our lives.
LEGO Brand Group’s Knudstorp joins Starbucks’ board of directors – Coffee giant Starbucks is adding the executive chairman of the LEGO Brand Group to its board of directors.
LEGO Life social network launched – LEGO launched a new social network app for kids called LEGO Life to provide a safe environment for kids to share their creations.

TBB INSTRUCTIONS & INTERVIWS: Cute ducks, impressive mechs and an interview with a builder of the strange and unique.

How to build a classic yellow rubber duck model – Rubber Duckie you’re the one. You make bath time lots of fun. Rubber Duckie, I’m awfully fond of you!
Build your own LEGO Titanfall 2 Ronin – TBB’s own Nick Jensen has instructions to build his LEGO Ronin Titan from Titalfall 2, and what a fun build it is.
An interview with the builder of the bizarre, Fedde Barendrecht – Read our interview with an Australian builder who uploads LEGO creations almost daily.

OTHER NEWS: There was a massive amount of LEGO news from other places around the web this week. Here are a few items we noticed and thought you might enjoy.

Continue reading →

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Old school and new gen gaming controllers in LEGO

A couple builders share their love for LEGO and video games with scaled-up models of controllers from past and present. First, from Cecilie Fritzvold, is the sleek PlayStation 4 controller. Cecilie shows great attention to detail, creating the D-pad with fairly new 2×3 shield pieces in black spaced out slightly, and the centered speaker with the right number and arrangement of holes.

Chris Maddison takes us back 30 years before the PlayStation 4 with his classic Nintendo Entertainment System controller. Chris nails the colors and line work of the classic game pad, making it difficult to tell at first the model is made with LEGO bricks.

I’m Groot?! (Translation: Why didn’t LEGO make one of me?!)

What happens when you don’t see what you like from LEGO’s official set releases? You build your own! Here’s Adeel Zubair‘s custom creation of Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that would fit nicely in the upcoming LEGO BrickHeadz. You just gotta love those black beady eyes! Now, is anyone else up to the challenge of a dancing groot? I’m Groot! (Translation: Shut up and take my money!)

Paving the future of personal computers, 128 kilobytes at a time

This retro computer work station by Ryan is a real blast from the past considering how far technology has come since those early and wild days of personal computers. This particular model is the Macintosh 128k – originally released as the Apple Macintosh – the company’s original personal computer. With some 4,500 bricks in its construction, this LEGO recreation must be as hefty as the real thing. But don’t let the computer steal the show, however. The 80s vibe is enhanced by the addition of a rolodex and clunky calculator which, alongside the 128k, won’t be found on any work station in the 21st Century – today’s bargain-level smartphone can do all this and so much more.

For younger readers who don’t remember such things, the slot on the front of the computer accepts 3.5-inch floppy disks (which, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, are still used to coordinate the operational functions of the nation’s nuclear forces. Doesn’t that make you feel comfortable?). The Apple logo and the friendly icon on the warming-up screen are great touches as well. Overall, a very accurate and rather nostalgic take on the 80s workdesk. The only thing missing is a can of Tab and the sweet, soothing sounds of Duran Duran.

There’s nothing half so much worth doing as messing about in boats

LEGO model-building is rarely straightforward — often the simplest of ideas can become a nightmare to put together in the brick. Whilst the title of this brilliant boat model — Plain Sailing — would suggest city son suffered little difficulty putting it together, personally I’m not so sure. This creation has all the hallmarks of obsessive tweaking, rebuilding over and over to get it just right. I’m glad the builder persevered, as the result is fantastic — a sweet little brick-built boat, an impressive sail, and waves that could have come straight off a Hokusai woodblock print. Beautiful.

Tiny LEGO scene is right up our street

The modular buildings have established themselves as one of LEGO’s most popular product lines (check out our recent review of 10255 Assembly Square, the latest and largest modular set). However, not everyone has the ready cash to hand for these lbigger sets, so de-marco has come up with a lovely microscale town — all the modular buildings you could want, for a fraction of the money!

The wonderful replica of the Ghostbusters firehouse occupies a prominent corner site in de-marco’s version of LEGO Main Street, but it’s the frontages on the bakery on the left, and the Amsterdam-style townhouse on the right which caught my eye. This is excellent microscale that makes me want to go and build tiny towns for myself!

Leave some skid marks with this LEGO 1970 Dodge Challenger

There’s something about racing strips, cowl scoops and 440 cubic inches of pure, unadulterated horsepower that just screams my name. If that sounds like your kind of thing, then you’ll be equally in love with this 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T by Havoc:

One of the most iconic American muscle cars (and not to be confused with the largely plastic and uninspiring version reintroduced in 2008), the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T was the choice for those wanting sheer performance – and the envy of pretty much everyone else. The Challenger R/T is no less impressive nor eye-catching replicated here in LEGO form. This model is just plain gorgeous. Check out the clever techniques and parts usage to capture the angles of this majestic muscle car. The opening hood exposes the beautifully detailed engine compartment.

This model brings out the inner kid in me and, as an adult, makes me want to check my savings account. This is the stuff of a male adolescent’s dreams. Perhaps it’s just nostalgia, but one thing’s for sure – no kid ever grew up with a poster of a Passat on his bedroom wall.

Scrolling it old school with Raptor: Call of the Shadows

I spent many hours as a kid playing 1994’s amazing vertical scrolling flight shooter Raptor: Call of the Shadows on MS-DOS, so I instantly recognized this scene by Havoc. It’s a brilliant game for its age, with an upgradeable ship and damage that has to be repaired between missions. I love that Havoc has built the entire interface into the model, including the health bar on the right side, and that explosion which looks perfectly retro.

I hadn’t thought about this game in 20 years, but I decided to look it up again after seeing this fantastic creation and was elated—and more than a bit surprised—to discover it’s not only available on Steam but can be played for free in a browser. Guess what I just spent the last half hour doing?

Finally, builder Havoc has even recreated the pixel art from the cover.

An emerald Wyvern from the cold reaches of space

Everyone has a different process for building. Some people start with a piece of reference art they find inspiring, or a drawing they’ve made. Some people start with a technique, or a combination of parts and just keeping adding pieces until something takes shape, which is the route I took in designing this small starfighter, which I call the Wyvern.

I knew I wanted to build something dark green, so I sat down with the dark green bin and looked for interesting elements. What I found were a surprising number of minifigure chairs, so I began stacking them. Continue reading →

So cute yet so deadly: Eastern grey kangaroo

Isn’t it adorable? Australian builder aldo k has done a phenomenal job sculpting this fuzzy grey nuisance. While the real thing might break your fence or punch you in the face, this adorable rendition makes great use of parts to create the perfect curves for a kangaroo. I particularly love the face: it has so much character! The ears bring it to life.

Expanding The Expanse with this UNN freighter

One of the most interesting aspects of LEGO is the opportunity builders have to recreate and expand the universes of their favorite books, movies and TV shows. It’s awesome watching builders bring these stories to life and creating whole new elements through the use of bricks. Shannon Sproule does just that with a series of spaceships inspired by the book/TV series, The Expanse, such as this United Nations Navy fast transport vessel:

The builder has chosen to design an entirely new ship to the UNN fleet, which, though numerous, is less technologically advanced than its counterparts. That is evident in the utilitarian design of the ship and its appropriately blocky shape. The cargo containers help round out the imagined role of this UNN workhorse. The builder is working on a series of The Expanse-inspired ships, so make sure to take a look at his Flickr for more.

Star Wars: Uncertain Ways – an original LEGO Star Wars vignette series

We have featured Ordo‘s work before with his recording studio and RWBY diorama, but until now we hadn’t featured any of the builder’s brilliant original Star Wars vignettes. In the scene below — the fourteenth in Ordo’s series — a beautifully constructed background creates the perfect staging for a great action-packed scene on the back of the seriously listing speeder. With its bonnet stripes made from minifig seats, wind shields made from sunroof visors sitting in hinge pieces and lovely natural looking effect of the flaming engine, it is truly the star of this vignette. But the masterstroke is the unseen fate of the smoking abandoned speeder bike plowing into a wall at 400 mph somewhere left purely to the imagination.

Click the photo to see the builder’s backstory for the scene, and check out some of Ordo’s other episodes below.

The scenes are beautiful, the story is compelling, and I really want to know what happens next! Read all fourteen episodes yourself in Ordo’s photostream.