The relationship between Batman and The Joker has been the source of countless LEGO creations, not to mention the main theme of the recent LEGO Batman Movie. However, we don’t often see large-scale interpretations of where it all began, the confrontation between Batman and the leader of the Red Hood Gang at Gotham’s Ace Chemical Plant — as depicted in the classic graphic novel The Killing Joke. Once again Tim Lydy proves he’s a master of LEGO Batman creations, following up on his wonderful large-scale figures with this brilliant diorama.
I love what Tim’s done with the chemical tanks — their contents look suitably toxic. And the level of detail and greebling creates a fantastic impression of a working plant, full of pipes and valves and gauges. As soon as I saw the Red Hood figure in the Batman Collectible Minifig range, I knew someone would have a go at this scene. I’m just glad it was Tim — he’s certainly done it justice.
Category Archives: LEGO
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales 71042 Silent Mary [Exclusive Review]
Last month, we went to New York Toy fair to bring you the first images of 71042 Silent Mary when LEGO unveiled their latest Pirates of the Caribbean tie-in set, 71042 Silent Mary, and now we’re pleased to bring you this exclusive early review of the set. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and is due for release on 26 May, 2017. Although the official trailer for the movie features the Silent Mary, Armando Salazar’s ghost ship, there may be some very minor spoilers below.
LEGO 71042 Silent Mary has 2,294 parts and is due for release to LEGO VIP members on 17 March, 2017 priced at $199.99/£179.99/199,99 € and is listed for ages 14+. The Silent Mary isn’t quite the largest ship LEGO has made, though she does impressively measure over 18” (48cm) high with the main mast in vertical position, and 26” (68cm) long and 8” (22cm) wide. She’s just over 14” (36cm) wide with the main mast collapsed. To give you a comparison, a largest LEGO ship is 10210 Imperial Flagship, which measures 29.5” (75 cm) long and 23.6” (60 cm) tall. 4184 The Black Pearl is a bit smaller, coming in at 21” (53cm) long, 20” (50cm) tall and 5” (12cm) wide.
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BrickHeadz from a galaxy far far away...
We all knew this was going to happen sooner or later: the invasion of BrickHeadz has crossed over to a galaxy far far away. Jared Chan brings us four Star Wars characters; the twins Luke and Leia along with Han and C-3PO. I’m impressed with the builder’s use of a limited palette of gold bricks to pull off the shiny protocol droid.
LEGO announces new McLaren 720S Speed Champions set [News]
This morning LEGO revealed another supercar entry to the popular Speed Champions line. The McLaren 720S (set 75880) will be joining the likes of the Ford GT, Bugatti Chiron, and more when it’s available this June. The bright orange car also includes a car designer minifigure and a design desk for sketching out the cars of the future. We don’t have word yet on the price or part count, but it’s a safe bet it will be priced at $14.99 USD like the other standalone Speed Champions.
See more of the new McLaren 720S below. Continue reading
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
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.
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.