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.

Massive LEGO Mos Eisley diorama is a most adorable hive of scum and villainy

The Star Wars saga is an epic tale set in an expansive universe. So when it comes to Star Wars LEGO builds, bigger is almost always better. Which is why we love this 6′ x 4′ Mos Eisley diorama by Australian builder Joshua Morris. The scene includes a variety of buildings that perfectly capture that Tattooine architectural style without ever feeling repetitive, and includes many small details that recreate the chaos of this obscure-but-not-so-obscure Outer Rim outpost. And the best part? This is just one third of the full diorama that Joshua and two other SydLUG builders have been working on! We’ll be sure to keep you posted as the rest of this amazing collaboration is revealed.

Click here to see close-up pictures of the entire diorama

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May the 4th be with you!

It’s that time of the year again, and we’ll be celebrating Star Wars day here on The Brothers Brick!

The first Star Wars film was released in 1977 but it wasn’t until 1979 that the pun “may the fourth be with you” was first used, and not until 2011 that this day became the unofficial fan celebration that we now know as Star Wars day. In order to commemorate this important day, builder David Hughes created a mosaic of the beloved Rey from Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.

The build required 1,400 LEGO bricks, covers an area of 63 x 77 cm (25 x 30 inches), and is based on an actual promotional photograph that you can also buy as life-size cardboard cutout. The limited choice of color palette does not have an adverse effect on such a large scale mosaic, although those eyes are maybe a little too crazed for me. Anyway, this is certainly the perfect day to unveil such a wonderful creation. May the fourth be with you all today!

LEGO Star Wars sales & deals for May the 4th 2016 [News]

The LEGO Shop online has just kicked off their annual “May the 4th” Star Wars celebration.

LEGO is offering the following deals and freebies:

Free shipping on all orders (not just over $75)
Double VIP points on all LEGO Star Wars purchases
Free First Order Stormtrooper minifig polybag
Free The Force Awakens poster (shown above) with all LEGO Star Wars purchases

LEGO sent me the stormtrooper and the poster last week, and both are lovely. The stormtrooper has a unique torso print (which you can see in the image below) with a bracket for the back, to which the printed 1×1 tile from the jetpack stormtrooper is attached (with an extra 1×1 tile in the polybag).

The new 75098 Assault on Hoth was released this week, and a bunch of LEGO Star Wars sets are also on sale, including the lovely 75094 Shuttle Tyderium and the 75140 Resistance Troop Transporter I reviewed before the movie came out.

As always, when you click through from Brothers-Brick.com, a portion of each sale goes to support The Brothers Brick (at no additional cost to you).

Fancy a stay at the Monochrome Motel?

This atmospheric building by Pete Strege is called the Monotone Motel and almost seems like a black and white image until you spot the coloured minifigures near the staircase. The neo-gothic inspired architecture has some great brickwork detail near the base using old dark grey tiles against the dark blueish grey bricks. I particularly love the use of Thor hammers across the central area to add texture and detail to the stonework. The mix of old greys and the newer blueish grey LEGO colours allow some contrast within the grey-scale colour scheme.

It’s worth taking a closer look at the clock to see the details and clever parts used, a foil, a short spear with Pin Hole and a sword blade with bar. The builder mentioned that he searched for weeks for just the right parts, I think it’s a great combination.

Flickr album.

Sugar and spice and all things nice and LEGO

Check out the power of the Powerpuff Girls in this cracking setup from Seattle area builder Michael Kuroda. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup have never looked so good. Bright bold colors, immediately recognisable characters, and a sense of motion and speed. It’s like a still snatched from the opening titles of the cartoon — excellent stuff.

Massive LEGO Avatar diorama imagines Pandora’s future

Jon & Catherine Stead have built an enormous Avatar-themed diorama depicting a future for Pandora where low-impact ore extraction has become a reality, with humans and Na’avi working together in harmony.

The layout is 3m x 1.5m — a huge undertaking, which the builders have managed to stuff full of detailed plant life and mining machinery. Jon says the model took 6 weeks to complete — you can see why!

Sadly there are no separate close-up images, but I’d heartily recommend clicking through to the image here and zooming in to see some of the details.

War pig ready to roll

When you are building a vehicle in minifigure scale, it’s usually hard to achieve all the details. It takes a lot of planning and rebuilding to properly scale the original. Andrew Somers worked four long years to improve his initial attempt on an M1A3 Abrams tank. The result is a magnificent craftsmanship. Thick shield of the tank requires smooth surfaces with low angles and Andrew perfectly recaptures all the subtle slopes. A correct amount of greeble is accompanied with related accessories and a nice photography shows off the model. See it from the back if you want to be amazed by more details!

LEGO Dr Who chess set has all the moves

Adam Dodge has built a fantastic miniland-scale Dr Who chess set. The figures and characters he’s created for it are fabulous – various Doctors and companions facing off against a collection of classic enemies and villains.

We have multiple Doctors and the obligatory TARDIS…

And then there are the enemies. I love how Adam has nailed the design for Missy’s hair — immediately recognisable in only a handful of pieces. Cracking work on Davros too…

Click through for more images of this great creation

Agile Hawk will take you on a breathtaking flight above the clouds

Creating a beautiful model is a lot like cookery – you need right ingredients, carefully prepared and elegantly served. I worked up my appetite while checking out this Agile Hawk 2.0 by Thomas W. Saying that stickers contribute a lot to the appearance of the aircraft won’t do much for the description of the model. The combination of white, lime and dark blue has always been great for tiny models, but completed with stickers it’s a double win solution.

But what I love the most about this aircraft is the fact that is not quite an original build. Actually it’s a makeover of an old model by rongYIREN that first appeared in 2012. An obligatory cloud next to the aircraft is simply the best way of creating an atmosphere around it with just one simple detail.

New Century Corner

Finnish AFOL Eero Okkonen created the most amazing street corner ever and we all love modular buildings at The Brothers Brick, especially when they have a distinct taste in architecture! So a mix of art-nouveau buildings inspired by the dream-like city of Prague definetely catches our eyes. Luckily, Eero went to further lengths to name each of the five houses, wrote brief explanations on building techniques and also provided some photographs of inspiring places. Read them all on his personal blog.

Nine projects qualify for the first 2016 LEGO Ideas review [News]

The official LEGO Ideas blog has just confirmed that nine LEGO Ideas projects have hit the 10,000 votes required to go on to the first review of 2016.

The nine projects include two Star Wars based ideas – a rolling BB-8 and the Jedi high council chamber. There are four minifigure scale buildings: an old fishing store, modular railway station, Jurassic Park visitor centre and a gingerbread house. The movie based project this time is Johnny Five, a model of the eponymous robot. Finally, in the science themed section we have a fossil museum display of dinosaur skeletons and a functional model of a particle accelerator.

Readers: Which projects have captured your attention, and which do you think will go on to pass the strict LEGO review criteria and become an actual LEGO set?

See a short description of each project by the creator after the jump

Who’s watching this watchtower?

Great landscaping and medieval style building skills are on display this latest model from Isaac S. There’s also a nice contrast between the stone texturing of the tower itself and the wooden hall, and the detailed organic looking base makes a pleasant change from the “square base framing” which has become something of a cliché in LEGO castle and fantasy building.

In his Flickr post, Isaac is happy to point out where he’s taken inspiration from other builders in this model. I enjoy when builders do this — it’s a little hat tip show of respect, and it doesn’t retract from this being a solid creation in its own right.