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.

Let it LEGO, let it LEGO, can’t hold it back anymore

Princesses Elsa and Anna from the 2013 animated movie Frozen have now been immortalised in LEGO by YOS Lego, with a host of ingenious parts used in bringing them to life. The builder has managed to capture those impossibly perfect hourglass figures in their flowing dresses and narrow-waisted bodices using a combination of slopes, wedges and (of course) curves. The red-headed Anna figure is fitted out in a beautifully detailed green dress, an amazing likeness to the animated Anna’s green coronation dress.

Elsa’s signature windswept, voluminous yellow hair is very cleverly made with bananas and Hero factory masks. The cheeky little bit of leg showing at the bottom of Elsa’s dress, and the more innocent posing of her younger sister, are very fitting. The characters are fantastic, but my only slight concern is that these two princess have either been drinking too much stimulant energy drinks or perhaps Olaf has given them a fright …those eyes are certainly wide and piercing!

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The capital of the Woodland Realm

It has been a while since the last part of the Hobbit film trilogy hit the cinemas, so the trend of LEGO Hobbit and Lord of the Rings creations is slowly declining. But that does not mean we do not get amazing builds like this one every now and again. This diorama of Halls of Thranduil by German builder Jonas Kramm was made for the 2016 Comic Con in Stuttgart in June. and I really envy everyone who had the privilege to see it in person. On the pictures, it seems like a digital render at first, and even a close look at the main picture did not really convince me. I had to look at some detail shots to be sure this was real.

The details are superb and Jonas has really captured the balance and combination of natural landscaping and Elven architecture perfectly. A carefully set amount of clean surfaces contrasting rough terrain makes for a very interesting build to explore. The use of bars and tubing for architectural detail is inspiring. And while the foresty exterior with simple yet effective large trees is a stand-out build in its own right, it pales in comparison with the complex architecture of the cavern and the giant root path and throne. The cave floor is also nice to look at with the clear streams, nice subtle colours and a natural subtle slope.

Autobots, transform and roll out!

As a fan of the Transformers: Generation 1, these Chibi versions of Grimlock, Optimus Prime and Jazz stand out for not only their detail, but for their ability actually transform into their alternate forms. It took builder Sam Cheng about a week each to construct each one of these amazing builds.

Being on the LEGO scene for only 3 years, Sam visualises each creation in his head and tests it out with various forms and shapes, continuously adapting. Using Technic and Mixel joints gives him a lot of flexibility, as he finds them small enough to hide within the builds.

He admits the hardest part of his builds is actually the transformation feature. For instance, Grimlock’s head is pretty heavy so Sam had to compensate by redesigning the legs (which eventually transform into the tailpiece) to provide support in robot mode. It’s a blend of getting the right looks and engineering.

My favourite parts are the golden rings and silver ingots used as finishing touches to the torso and cheeks respectively – the shiny bits give it that extra feel of being a mechanical robot. Hop over to his Grimlock album on Flickr, you will not be disappointed.

A Lamborghini by any other name would still look as good

The simplicity in the curves of a Lamborghini is never understated. And this pair of City-scale LEGO vehicles stand out for that reason. Beautifully captured in all its glory by Mark Gotidoc and showcasing the essentials, this is what LEGO building is all about; being able to take the simplest of shapes and overcome the limitations of the brick to transform them into their real world equivalents.

It’s the tiny features that count – the icing on the cake are those scissor doors and exhaust pipes, that leave no mistake as to what this little beast can do in less than 2.9 seconds. And if you really have to ask… 0 to 60 mph is what it does in that span of time.

This Fernsehturm can make any LEGO micropolis look like tiny Berlin

“Aha, that tower again” my friends mumble rolling their eyes each time I tell them about one of the most famous and unusual towers in the world. Fernsehturm Berlin – which we’ve already seen in the [amazon_link asins=’B017B198E4′ template=’TitleOnlyLink’ store=’tbbwpplugin-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’e4759542-e190-11e6-8d87-99954932bf15′]- has a very distinctive shape and Υubnub perfectly captures it at 1:650 scale.

Technically speaking, the tower itself has a pretty plain exterior of concrete and a sphere of steel in the middle. So what makes this build especially good is a couple of buildings on the ground, including a remarkably well executed Pavilion at the base of the tower. Garnished with a several very original varieties of micro trees, this small diorama is ready to shape a perfect skyline of any LEGO micropolis.

Foamy beery LEGO-y goodness – on tap

When it comes to refreshment, nothing beats an ice cold beer (subject, of course, to you being of legal drinking age in your country of residence). What could be better than combining beer and our favourite plastic bricks? Jimmy Fortel must agree — he’s built a fantastic LEGO sculpture of a draught beer fount and a glass in the process of being filled.

Now, I work for a big brewery in the real world, so whilst I admire Jimmy’s building skills, I have to take issue with the quality of serve on display here. There’s a lot of fobbing going on. I’d strongly suggest the bar owners check the dispense gas pressure on the beer line, and have a look at the cellar temperature whilst they’re at it. A quick line-cleaning might be in order too, just in case there’s a yeast build up. Jimmy’s really got to get the overabundance of beer foam sorted out, or the guys who run that bar are going to be decidedly unimpressed with the yields they get on draught — no matter how pretty the fount looks!

First official images of LEGO’s new Marvel & DC Superheroes BrickHeadz [News]

LEGO first unveiled the BrickHeadz theme of blocky, cute brick-built figures at San Diego ComicCon in 2016, but the 8 figures revealed then were a limited release only for that convention. Now we’re getting our first look at the sets that will be widely available, and the first wave includes 8 figures sold individually, split between DC characters from next month’s The LEGO Batman Movie and classic Marvel characters. Each figure will retail for $9.99, available Feb. 15 to LEGO VIP members, and March 1 to everyone else.

41590 Iron Man, 96 pieces

41585 Batman, 91 pieces

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Slowly cross your eyes and build this LEGO Peppermint Butler, fools! [Instructions]

The 8th season of the enduring cult hit Adventure Time airs tonight. To mark the occasion, here’s a guide for a LEGO version of the Peppermint Butler (aka The Dark One) that you can build yourself. This is one of the additional characters that I designed to complement the ones from the new LEGO Ideas Adventure Time set that we reviewed recently.

Si-Bored Industries announces its first new drone of 2017

The news that Si-BORED industries has just released an exciting new edition to their drone lineup has been announced by Canadian builder Simon Liu. The Grunzen drone comes with the tagline, “This all-purpose military unit has been built ground-up to exceed all your combat requirements”. These seem to be fantastically poseable LEGO drones, with more joints than a West coast state after cannabis legalisation. I love the joints that Simon has designed, firstly for the knees using a 1×1 plate with clip as the pivot point, and then the shoulder/elbow joints which ingeniously use a droid torso.

For Star Wars fans, the tan helmets would quickly be recognised as belonging to the Star Wars resistance trooper minifigures from Episode 7. These are great helmets and work perfectly with the colouring and style of Simon’s drones.

The Retro-future is bright: a chat with French builder extraordinaire, Vincent Gachod [Interview]

This week we were able to sit down with Vincent Gachod from Toulouse, in the south of France. While balancing his job as the head of video production at a french university and raising two kids, he finds time to create some incredible LEGO builds. Let’s pick his brain and see what we can learn from this master of the brick.

TBB: How did you get into the LEGO hobby and what inspires you to build?

Vince: I started with LEGO in the mid 70’s with bricks from my brother’s collection. My first set was the 374 Fire Station of 1978. After my “dark age” in the 90’s, I came back to LEGO with my son and his first sets. I’m inspired by lot of influences (movies, animation, videos games, books, magazines, cars, architecture…) but I’m more inspired by the details : a car’s wheel, a plane’s engine or a vintage vacuum cleaner! I often start a MOC from a single detail like a car’s grille or an exhaust pipe. I spend a long time working on details.

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If only vacuuming itself was this good-looking

I vividly remember having to vacuum with one of these things. I hated it. And as much as I despised this particular weekly chore, Andreas Lenander has done a brilliant job bringing this monstrosity to life.

The main portion of the vacuum is smooth, well done, and has a short cord to fully irritate you when you try and go from room to room. I particularly like the wall-plug detail, and the ribbed hose works perfect!

What we least expect is what nightmares are made of...

There’s something strangely familiar and yet haunting in this simple creation by Chris Maddison. Maybe it’s the loneliness of being in space or on a far-away planet that evokes the terror of the unknown. What horror lies ahead that seems partially organic and yet at the same time part machine that preys on an unknowing space explorer? Chris pulls off a frightful yet calming scene inspired by an artist who dreams up of things that preys on what we fear the most.