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.

Golly fluff – Archimedes the owl in LEGO form

Many will recognise this wise, well-educated character as Archimedes from the Disney film The Sword in the Stone. Tyler Clites has depicted his colouring perfectly from those yellow eyes to the tuft of white feathers beneath his beak. As a character known to be a little grumpy and sarcastic, Tyler has captured Archimedes’ cynical expression perfectly with those expressive eyebrows.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking he is a stuffed owl, I guarantee that those wings can flap. Fans of The Sword in the Stone will also enjoy a previous LEGO build we featured here on TBB, Kay’s Squire from the same movie.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Ideas: 21305 Maze [Review]

The latest product of LEGO Ideas has arrived, and unlike many of the previous Ideas sets, it’s not a pop-culture reference. LEGO Ideas is the company’s crowdsourcing initiative, and this set was originally designed by LEGO fan Jason Allemann. It is a classic two-axis ball maze familiar to kids and frustrated adults everywhere. We highlighted Jason’s original LEGO Ball Maze way back in 2012, and now almost four years later LEGO Ideas 21305 Maze will hit shelves April 1. The Maze contains 769 pieces for $69.99 USD. LEGO has provided us with an early copy to review, so let’s dig in.

Click here to read the full review

Fuelling the future

justin_m_winn brings us a vision of a clean-energy future with this scene of a Fuel Cell facility running a test. There’s a good mixture of spacey greebling and robots with more ordinary minifigs. This creates a strong sense of everyday activity in a sci-fi setting.

Justin has other images of maintenance and day-to-day work at the facility. They all display the same combination of good near-future design and excellent photography…

Awesome diorama of The Elder Scrolls Online’s city of Orsinium

The great Orc stronghold of Orsinium is a key location in the sprawling world of The Elder Scrolls Online, and there are few to do it more justice as a model than Thorsten Bonsch. Thorsten has previously brought us into Tamriel through his stunning depictions of a Dolmen and Stonefalls (and he’s also shown his diorama-building mastery by creating possibly the coolest Tardis model we’ve seen).

The technique Thorsten employs for cobblestone here — accomplished by using white tiles turned on edge, then filling all the gaps with grey tiles and slopes — has been around for awhile. But rarely is it so expertly done, with minimal gaps and perfect integration into the landscape. Be sure to take a close look at the stonework on the structures, too; it’s a great example of skillfully combining flat planes with textured details.

Still planning your vacation? Go visit the Riviera!

Inspired by the cover of a book about a South European town, Andrew Tate created this very pearl of Mediterranean architecture. A mixture of European and Oriental elements and colors, a beautifully designed wedding shop and a careful cast of minifigures deserve the highest mark. With some minor changes one could even imagine this diorama as part of LEGO’s modular building series, providing city center residents with a view of the bay and a small yet neat quay.

The not-so-hidden, hidden stairs to Erebor

I vividly remember sitting in the theater watching the second part of The Hobbit and seeing Peter Jackson’s cinematic version of the hidden stairs to Erebor for the first time. His stairs were so much cooler than what I had imagined reading the book and I instantly knew I wanted to build them out of LEGO. It took a couple of years, but I finally got around to it.

What finally motivated me you? The Middle Earth LEGO Olympics on MOCpages! For those of you who haven’t heard of this contest, it’s an annual challenge that puts builders in head-to-head, single-elimination rounds to find an ultimate champion. The first round (the qualifier) runs through April 3rd, so there’s still plenty of time for you to build a Hobbit-themed entry of your own!

Scramble the Rebel fighters from LEGO Echo Base

Markus19840420 continues to impress with his LEGO Star Wars dioramas. Following up his Sullust scene, he presents a slice of Echo Base from The Empire Strikes Back, impressive in both size and detail. The carved snow cave look, hanging lights, maintenance bridges, and runway lights make the whole scene feel authentic. I won’t overlook Mike Psiaki’s X-wing and Larry Lars’s Snowspeeder, both great models recreated by Markus from their respective building guides, with some modifications.

See more photos of Hoth Echo Base on the builder’s Flickr.

Interview with Carl Greatrix, creator of the Caterham 7 LEGO Ideas set

Carl Greatrix‘s Caterham 7 was recently revealed as the next LEGO Ideas set. The announcement was met with almost universal approval, mixed with some surprise that such an obviously adult-oriented and complex model had made it through the review.

The Brothers Brick got in touch with Carl to get some of his thoughts following the announcement…

TBB: So, you’ve got to be delighted about the news. How does it feel to have an official LEGO set coming out?
Carl: I’m obviously super-excited. It means that everyone who wanted one, will now be able to get one. The realization is slowly but surely sinking in — the fact there will be an official LEGO set, available in practically every LEGO shop around the world, it’s quite a humbling thought and feels like a huge achievement.

Click through to read the rest of the interview

Royal Griffin from Witcher 3 is back for revenge in LEGO form

There are many, many monsters in the extremely popular game Witcher 3 — but perhaps no monster sticks in your mind quite like your first monster, the majestic and dangerous Royal Griffin. Builder Charis Stella managed to pull himself free from Witcher’s grasp long enough to design this gorgeous griffin — one that utilizes swords, tails, teeth, and tiles to give this beast both character and a sense of motion. It wouldn’t be too bad a way to go if this beautiful flying Royal Griffin were the one to do you in.

Still though, pretty bad way to go.

LEGO Ninjago 70604 Tiger Widow Island [Review]

By now, everyone is familiar with Ninjago’s new Skybound theme. We’ve already reviewed Zeppelin Raid and Misfortune’s Keep and today, we’d like to share our review of 70604 Tiger Widow Island. The set includes 450 pieces, 5 minifigs, and retails for $49.99. The instructions were clear and easy to follow and, except for the tricky chain connection holding up the “teeth” of the cave, the build was relatively straightforward.

Click through to read the full review

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian architecture in LEGO: The Dorothy H. Turkel House

We have seen a few Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in microscale among the LEGO Architecture series, but this time we have a minifigure scale representation of a Usonian house. Michele must have worked very hard to create this magnificent diorama. The house itself perfectly matches the original building, and there’s even a party going on! We all love parties here at The Brothers Brick! Make sure you check out close-up photographs as there are endless details. It’s also worth paying attention to the vegetation — each part of the diorama features a different kind of plant.

Her Turkel House album on Flickr gives a good insight on building large models. She has shared the full building process starting from the foundation of the house through final decoration.

LEGO announces Adventure Time and Caterham Super 7 to become official IDEAS models [News]

The LEGO Ideas team has announced the winners of the second 2015 Review round. These projects will now proceed through a design phase, where LEGO designers will tweak the designs, and then they will be available to the public as official LEGO sets.

Adventure Time, by aBetterMonkey

Caterham Super Seven, by Carl Greatrix

There is no word yet on pricing or availability; we’ll be sure to let you know when we find out!

The announcement also noted LEGO has reviewed the Star Citizen F7A Hornet the last two review periods; this time, the decision was made not to consider the project further.

The next review round is underway, with an announcement anticipated later in the spring.

Congratulations to the selected projects!