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.

Point of no return

Nick Runia’s Bridge of Lost Souls is exactly what you get when you can’t decide on the final design of your brick-built medieval tower; you just build both of them! This diorama, on the one hand, is a massive tower with sturdy walls buried in verdure. On the other hand, it’s a gloomy evil tower surrounded by inanimate rocks.

But what really deserves attention is the bridge itself. It might not be that noticiable considering huge towers on the both sides, but it is the point of smooth transition between good and evil. And the way warm sandy colors flow into cold ones is truly great. Finally, let me point to astounding roofing of knight’s tower and leave you tete-a-tete with the author’s photostream.

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Talent is an accident of genes, and a responsibility

…not the catchphrase of Dr. Lazarus, Hans Gruber, the Sheriff of Nottingham or Severus Snape, but words spoken by the singular actor with the nasal tone and sardonic expression who portrayed all of them over the course of his stellar 25 year movie career. Beloved British actor Alan Rickman passed away today at the age of 69 (strangely mirroring the very recent passing of British music icon David Bowie). Hong Kong builder Alanboar Cheung whipped together this quick tribute to one of the more recent – and arguably most popular – of Rickman’s characters, the complicated Professor of Potions from the Harry Potter film series.

75137 Carbon Freezing Chamber from Empire Strikes Back [Review]

We’ve been so focused on LEGO Star Wars sets from The Force Awakens that you’d think we’d forgotten there was an Original Trilogy thirty-odd years ago (I deny the existence of any Prequel Trilogy). For their January 2016 assortment, LEGO hasn’t neglected Episodes IV, V, and VI though. Although still a challenge to find here in North America, LEGO sent us a copy of 75137 Carbon Freezing Chamber from The Empire Strikes Back and I’m pleased to bring you this review.

The set includes 231 pieces and three minifigs. Once available, we expect this set to retail for around $30 in the US (it’s £19.99/29.99€ in Europe).

As we noted when the first official pictures of January 2016 LEGO Star Wars sets appeared back in December, the interior of Cloud City on Bespin hasn’t been depicted in a LEGO set since the rare 10123 Cloud City was released in 2003.

Click through for the full review

Lean green army machine

I recently picked up Wolfenstein: The New Order in the Steam Winter Sale — partly because it was very cheap, and mostly because it promised cool alternate history robots. While the game didn’t win me over, the promise of robots was fulfilled and now I’m seeking more vaguely German machines. Djordje delivers with this “Höllenhund”. My favourite part use here must be the single armour part angled in such a way to create a dome helmet, and the red eyes peeking out below.

A gallery of the model is available on Brickshelf.

The nightly visitor you didn’t want: Crimson Peak’s Lady Sharp

Guillermo del Toro’s latest film, Crimson Peak, is hauntingly beautiful and more than a bit freaky. The movie is awash in bold contrasting tones of black, white, and red, and none moreso than the palpably creepy specter of Lady Sharp. Tyler Halliwell’s terrific bust stays true to the apparition’s viscerally gruesome crimson visage.

LEGO Star Wars 75133 Rebel Alliance Battle Pack [Review]

Although there still seems to be a supply chain issue here in North America, where new 2016 LEGO sets are rather hard to come by, our friends in Billund have sent us another batch of sets that we’ll be reviewing here on The Brothers Brick over the next week or two. LEGO continues to expand its range of minifig-centric Battle Pack sets with 75133 Rebel Alliance Battle Pack, alongside the 75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack I reviewed over the weekend. The set has 101 pieces, including 4 minifigs, with a price of $12.99.

Click through to read the full review

For John

Art in all its forms is a means of expression, be that joy, sadness, humour, grief, love. In the LEGO community it is not surprising that we turn to our bricks as a method of processing and dealing with emotions. This touching build by Chris Maddison is his tribute to a friend who sadly passed away too young. Sometimes it is best to just let a build speak for itself.

For those of us who choose to build with small plastic bricks, the actual act of carefully placing bricks together becomes therapeutic.

The final creation often expresses far more than words could ever say.

CHIPS – Central Headquarters Imperial Pursuit Squad

In a rather unexpected conceptual mashup, SPARKART! has titled his pair of Imperial Scout Troopers on Endor “CHIPS,” or the “Central Headquarters Imperial Pursuit Squad.” Actual minifigs are wildly out of proportion, so their massive heads are put to good use in these large-scale figures astride nicely detailed scout speeders.

SPARKART!’s Star Wars twist on the American TV show that aired from 1977-1983 (the same years during which the Original Trilogy was released) is Imperial propaganda, of course, with a rather amusing backstory:

CHIPS followed reel-life troopers Larwil Jonbak (TB-1337) and Eriest Frapon (TB-1983) through several tours of duty throughout the Empire and Outer Rim territories. The series ended with a cliff-hanger; On the forest moon of Endor, the troopers were captured by the Rebellion. As vile terrorist human Rebels looked on and laughed, our heroes were readied to be cooked alive by the Ewoks…

This four-armed mech is too good

kenny_yan‘s mechs are both superbly built and instantly recognizable, and this newest one looks to be the best yet. With four arms and an aggressive stance, this build pulls off a lot of complex angles as well as having great articulation thanks to the small Mixel joints. There’s not much more to say here other than to check the builder’s photostream to drink in all the detail; this one’s really worth the time.

Click to see more angles

Slayn & Korpil A/SF-02 B-wing assault starfighter

Our friends over at FBTB are hosting a “Star Wars Evolved” contest inspired by the upgraded T-70 X-wings in The Force Awakens. The premise of the contest asks the question, “What would other Star Wars vehicles look like 30 years later?” xiei22 answers the question for the B-wing with this chunky blue and white beauty.

I’m a sucker for schematics, so here’s a nice graphic explaining the enhancements. The original B-wing packed the punch of a capital ship, so the extra guns and rotating turrets are a particularly lethal upgrade.

(The builder doesn’t specify the model number for his B-wing, but I’ve taken the liberty of incrementing it, just like the Incom T-65 X-wing became the T-70.)

When I was your age ‘streaming media’ was called books...

Meet Ol’ Barney, an opinionated, grumpy old man created by Centuri. His fingers are gnarled, his bones ache when it rains, those teeth have done a lifetime of chomping and you’re going to need to speak up boy!

Ol’ Barney has some fun parts use by Centuri. Some of the ones I spotted are the white croissants for his eyebrows, tan hair for his ears, a gold ingot belt buckle and what could better be better than ‘knobbly knees’ made of Technic connectors.

Now go and do something useful…when I was your age we didn’t just sit around playing with kiddie toys…

Guide to feeling blind packs for LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 15 [Review]

Series 15 of LEGO’s incredibly popular Collectible Minifigures line is starting to hit stores. And if you’re going to find a full set, you’ll need to either buy a full case (which can get very pricey), or stand in the store feeling the blind packs to determine what’s inside. If you opt for the latter route, we’re here to help you get started with this feeling guide. We’ve already done a full in-depth Series 15 minifigure review, so here we’ll just cover the important things you’ll want to know when standing in the store with your fingers on a blind pack.

Click to read the full guide!