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.

The LEGO Group reports highest earnings ever in 2016, but US sales flat [News]

Every year, the LEGO Group releases its financial results, providing an insightful look into the operations of the company. For 2016, the company reported the highest revenue in the company’s 85-year history at 37.9 billion DKK (approximately 5.38 billion USD), representing a 5.5 percent increase over 2015. Notably in the US, however, consumer sales were flat despite a significant increase in marketing spending from LEGO in the second half of the year.

After all expenses, that leaves The LEGO Group with a net profit of 9.4 billion DKK (approximately 1.34 billion USD), slightly higher than the year before. The net profit is calculated after subtracting all operating expenses, including costly construction projects like the LEGO House in Billund and a new manufacturing facility in China, which ate up nearly a third of LEGO’s overall net profits. Continue reading →

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The big digger

Most of us remember Tonka trucks and diggers from when we were kids, but Beat Felber has done one better and created his very own heavy duty yellow construction toy out of LEGO. The Marathon LeTourneau L-1200 LeTro-Loader is built at a scale of 1:28.5 and has all the functions of the original, including all-wheel drive, articulated steering, pneumatic lift arm and bucket and more! The sheer size of this monster is amazing.

Beat has also created the Euclid R-170 Mining Truck at the same scale. The action shot of the siblings with lights on looks fantastic. They just may be the envy of every LEGO Tonka enthusiast.

Build your own LEGO Tallneck from Horizon Zero Dawn [Instructions]

Since you all loved the LEGO Thunderjaw that we featured the other day, we figured you might enjoy a LEGO version of another creature from Horizon: Zero Dawn. This time it’s a Tallneck by South African builder Wayne de Beer. However, Wayne has not only recreated this majestic beast in brick form, he has also created instructions so that you can build your own!

Portrait of an Astromech Droid

From a distance, this may look like any other simple portrait layout of R2-D2, but upon closer inspection, you’ll notice that it uses an incredible array of parts from Technic beams to droids and even minifigures! Although we’ve seen this technique in the past, Alby Darul has executed it excellently with just a few pieces to capture the Artoo’s iconic lines, giving the mosaic a great sense of depth.

Bricks, Bikes and a Book: a talk with German brick artist Aran Jistukawa-Hudson [Interview]

This week we talk with Aran Jitsukawa-Hudson (AKA Cole Blaq) about his art, philosophy and his life. Aran was born in Great Britain and grew up in Germany. He lives in Düsseldorf with his wife and three kids, is a cancer survivor, and attended university as an Art History student. We interviewed him 6 years ago here on The Brothers Brick, but there’s a lot to catch up on since then. He is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to publish an art book based on his Enter the Brick series. Let’s go explore the mind of a builder.

TBB: First of all, could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself? What got you into LEGO and what kept you there?

Aran: My real name is Aran Jitsukawa-Hudson, as some might know. My alter ego as an artist is Cole Blaq, which is a reference to a comic character and an adaption to Hip Hop language.

I am British by origin but mainly grew up in Germany. With my wonderful wife being Japanese, we’re a rich blend of cultures! Now I live in Dusseldorf, Germany, which is located at the river Rhine, north of Cologne.

Continue reading →

The Alien vs Predator you didn’t know you wanted

Grantmasters’ Alien and Predator LEGO figures are excellent on their own, but why not show them off in an epic battle? Well, this isn’t the battle I expected to see. Which classic film creature can out-shred the other and has the best lines to skate?

A gull flies in the face of the iron curtain

Back when the iron curtain was firmly in position, a car manufacturer called GAZ was producing luxury cars from within the Soviet Union. Anton Creator has built one of their car models in LEGO, the GAZ Chaika (Rus: Ча́йка), which means gull. The boxy car is a throwback to a time when big meant luxurious and mpg efficiency did not feature highly when prioritising car choice. While the car is a great little built, it is the background that really brings this whole build to life. The red flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics hangs in place with a gold hammer crossed with a gold sickle, symbols of communism and socialism.

I must ask Anton where the fallen star has gone?

Massive Thunderjaw from Horizon Zero Dawn in LEGO

Switching it up from the Titans of Titanfall, Marius Herrmann presents another massive gaming mech, the Thunderjaw from Horizon: Zero Dawn. His deceptively large model is quite accurate to his reference material – from the armor plating, to the back-mounted disc launchers, and even the arrays of eyes. Even the pose of his mechanical creature is as menacing as its in-game counterpart.

See more photos of the Thunderjaw on the builder’s Flickr stream.

Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to build a mosquito

Did you know Iceland is the only country in the world that has no mosquitoes? I bet our readers from the North have not a single idea how pesky and horrid these little monsters are. Luckily, this outstanding insect by Mister N perfectly depicts everything we ‘love’ so much about them. Long needle-shaped legs? Check. Tiny belly full of warm blood? Check. A pair of cold soul-less eyes? Oh, yes.

Someone will come along

Someone HAS come along. If you’re still on the fence about whether or not to see Logan, perhaps this stunning LEGO scene by Andrew Cookston will convince you to head to the theater.

“I hurt myself today... to see if I still feel...”

Nature made me a freak. Man made me a weapon. And God made it last too long.

I don’t want to spoil the film, but I’ll say that it has beautiful cinematography and an emotional storyline. Unlike the typical superhero film, however, it might be too gory for young viewers. (It is rated R after all).

Andrew’s LEGO scene (and his teaser image to the left) captures the somber tone of the film. I love the forced perspective created by the rocky terrain and the power lines. The muted color palette and the stoic minifigures are perfection.

Indomitable Gaulish fishmonger’s hut

Asterix was my favorite graphic novel growing up, even though most of the jokes went over my head. Builder alego alego has created the home of the local fishmonger Unhygienix (Ordralfabetix in the original French comic).

My favorite features are the Han Solo Hoth headgear for fish baskets, the rock walls, and of course the LEGO bananas used for the roof — a technique the builder previously used for a treehouse we featured last year. Continue reading →

Beautiful diminutive kingdom

We’ve covered castles of many sizes from the very large to the incredibly small and somewhere in-between. Look closely at this incredible (entirely digitally generated) microscale Kazum’dar Castle by Sunder_59…

I love how the castle walls rise and fall with the terrain. A bird’s eye view shows the full complexity of the build, allowing a glimpse inside the castle walls at the multi-story buildings, including a perfect wee church, barracks, an assortment of dwellings and a shop. This micro-scale castle is a perfect example of how simple can be elegant.