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 pump-action shotgun of the future

YouTube builder MyDifferentUserName brings the future of covert warfare to life with LEGO bricks. His latest in his blocky arsenal is the KRM-262, a futuristic pump action shotgun from the popular multiplayer shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops III. In the game, most of the weapons have unusual reload functions to further immerse players into its high-tech theme. With a bit of guidance from a sketch model I built, MyDifferentUserName managed to make the robotic reload purely mechanical, taking his already screen accurate build to the next level. Watch his KRM-262 replica in action with working reload function, loadable shotgun shells, moving trigger, and sliding pump action in this video. (Content warning: some actual gameplay shown – Black Ops III ESRB rating M)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpPv2OoOld4

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LEGO Speed Champions 75875 Ford F-150 Raptor & Ford Model A Hot Rod [Review]

The entire Speed Champions line needs to work really hard to get my approval because I’ve been in, around, and under cars all my life. So it fell to me to review 75875 Ford F-150 Raptor & Ford Model A Hot Rod. This set, retailing for £39.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 is the second most expensive 2nd wave Speed Champions product after 75876 Porsche 919 Hybrid and 917K Pit Lane. Let’s see how it stacks up…

Click here to read our review

A steam-age, animatronic wonder

Sometimes you just want to sit back, enjoy a delicious meal, and watch animatronic robots gyrate and pivot in place to cheesy music. Well, I guess some people like that kind of thing. Those of you who do are in luck because Charis Stella has built a stunningly detailed, steam-powered display! This build is chock-full of interesting details and best of all, it actually moves! Can’t you just hear the music?

Charis built her steampunk contraption and her Buhar spider walker for the Bricks & Boilers Exposition contest over on Flickr. The contest has some amazing prizes, including Ninjago sets, Crazy Bricks accessories, and signed copies of the Empire of Steam trilogy written by TBB’s own Rod Gillies! The contest runs through midnight on May 1st so there’s still a little time left to join the mayhem.

LEGO Ninjago 70602 Jay’s Elemental Dragon [Review]

This spring the sky is the battlefield between good and evil. Skybound, the theme of the new Ninjago sets, brings the action high above the ground. Our team has already reviewed Zeppelin Raid, Misfortune’s Keep and Tiger Widow Island, which introduced our readers to all the evil characters. Now it’s time to take a look at what good ninjas have to respond with. 70602 Jay’s Elemental Dragon is a medium-sized set of 350 pieces, which includes 2 minifigures and a monkey, and its retail price of $29.99 seems appropriate.

Pieces are distributed between 3 bags: the first one contains parts for the flyer and the body of the dragon, the second bag allows building of the dragon’s head, while the third one contains the largest parts which form a pair of wings and a tail. Surprisingly enough, the instructions are provided in two rather thin booklets, though one medium-sized book would be more convenient to use and to store. Last but not least is a sticker sheet with 14 stickers on it.

Continue reading →

Virtual reality on the verge

I always thought the digital world was sucking out our brains along with our souls. But I never imagined the process as vividly as Tremah has. This amazing creation foresees a dark future which may await us. You wouldn’t want your brain to be drained by these red cables, would you? So get a grip on reality and taste this plastic perfection!

Benny’s big blue house

Ever wonder what Benny the Spaceman’s house looks like? Well wonder no longer because Wayne Yeh has built the home of everyone’s favorite side-character from The Lego Movie. It’s blue and grey, of course, and filled with lots of classic space details including: a bacta-tank-like shower, a space toilet, a flat-screen, glass television, a greebled surround-sound system (or is that a space-lamp?), some kind of liquid food machine, and plenty of tiny habitats for growing food. What else could a Master Builder like Benny ask for?

Attending LEGO fan conventions, Part 4: So long! Farewell! [Editorial]

The convention is over. The last builds have been torn down, carefully packed (or tossed in a bin), and the staff have packed up and cleared the space. What’s next?

1. Sleep
I can’t state this enough: a convention is a draining experience regardless of your physical health, activity level, or personal preference for human interaction.

You’ve just spent the last four or five days on your feet, on a cement surface, surrounded by 500-1000 of your new best friends, along with a few hours of thousands of devoted fans ogling your LEGO builds. Your body needs to repair itself. If possible, I recommend taking the day after a convention off from work to rest and work in some self-care.

2. Take care of your physical self
Since you’ve been around hundreds of strangers for the last five days, it’s very common to catch the common cold. By taking time to care for your physical self after a convention, you reduce your risk (in addition to basics during the convention, like hand-washing, hand-sanitizer, and doing your best to get ample sleep and water).

Click here to read the full article

This spider is not afraid of a little steam

Steampunk is usually associated with Western civilization. But what about other regions, with countries that where once part of an ancient empire? The Buhar Walker by Indonesian builder Charis Stella may provide the answer:

This build mixes the impeccable attention to detail required for any steampunk creation, and an exotic design inspired by foreign lands, with a touch of luxury and royalty. Not only a great build, but maybe the start of a new steampunk sub-theme?

Adam Bomb explodes in LEGO

Garbage Pail Kids began their lives as trading cards way back in 1985, just as the Cabbage Patch dolls were peaking in popularity. The Garbage Pail kids were a parody of the ‘nicer’ cabbage patch dolls with catchy names such as ‘Joe Blow’, ‘Moist Joyce’ and ‘Barfin’ Barbara.’ Damoncorso has chosen the explosively named Adam Bomb to build and has captured the character animatedly in LEGO.

If anyone else is looking for inspiration from the Garbage Pail Kids, there are about 660 of them in total so there are plenty more gross images to chose from.

LEGO Collectible Minifigures Disney Series [Review]

LEGO’s new Disney series of Collectible Minifigures is probably the most hotly anticipated series yet, and LEGO’s sent us a case to review. They will retail for $3.99 USD like other recent series, but this time there are 18 unique figures to collect, instead of the typical 16. You can purchase them on The LEGO Shop now.

The Disney figs come in a case of 60, with each case containing three full sets plus some extras. Our case broke down like this:
Three each of Aladdin, Alice, Ariel, Buzz Lightyear, Captain Hook, Cheshire Cat, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Maleficent, Minnie Mouse, Peter Pan, and Ursula.
Four each of Genie, Mickey Mouse, Mr. Incredible, Stitch, Syndrome, and the Toy Story Alien.

Click to read the full review of each figure

The height of good microscale

This lovely towerblock by delayice is a great piece of microscale building. The blue and grey color scheme creates a sense of modernity and style, and there’s good details in the lower lobby building at the tower’s base. Check out the offset “headlight brick” providing wall texture and window detailing — nice work.

Reminder: Days left to win 75105 Millennium Falcon from TBB!

A couple weeks ago I watched The Force Awakens again after a gap of several months, and I loved it all over again. While it’s not a “perfect” movie, it’s certainly a true Star Wars movie in ways that I still say the Prequel Trilogy movies were not. And Rey has leapfrogged many classic Star Wars characters to become one of my favorite characters — right up there with Han. In case you missed it, we’re celebrating the release of the move on home video this month by giving away 75105 Millennium Falcon.

To enter, check out our Facebook page and click the Contests link in the left-hand navigation area.

And yes, we realize there are social media sites other than Facebook out there — check out our presence on all of them in the header above. What kinds of contests or giveaways would you like to see on our other sites?