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.

Futuristic automobiles take off... and hover

In the future imagined by Polish builder Jerac, the younger generation cruise around in yellow hovercrafts while the ‘dad-taxi’ family car looks a little bit cooler than your average Toyota.

Firstly, we have the Aeris, the 4-person family car for collecting the groceries and taking the kids to the movies. Even Jerac has to admit that this is “slightly more luxurious” than the average family car (they must be from the nicer side of the City). Honestly, I’m not trying to sell you this car, but take a look at the rear – the building techniques used are fantastic!

Next, we have the Athame, a hovercraft aimed at the cool kids who yearn for a sportier, faster, more eye-catching ride. This hovercraft has the added adrenaline rush of a transparent floor – definitely not for the feint-hearted. I love the shaping of the front, very nice curves.

Sadly, the exuberance of youth means that the Athame is sometimes exposed to more ‘aggressive driving manoeuvres’ and the resulting vehicle breakdown requires a futuristic rescue truck. Here we have the Cobbergoot Hoverlift-3. The Hovlift-3 has a great extendable lift at the back, to cater for even the largest of future hovercrafts, and collapses neatly to allow a more streamlined look when not it use.

Despite being a (relative) ‘youth’, I think I will stick with the luxurious Aeris as my future car. That transparent floor on the Athame is just too much excitement for me…

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Official images from the 2016 LEGO Marvel Superheroes lineup [News]

A few of the 2016 LEGO Superhero sets have finally been unveiled.

76049 Avenjet Space Mission
The similarities between this set and 76028 Darkseid Invasion are striking: four minifigs, a bigfig and some kind of vehicle. Heck, Dark Seid and Thanos even share the honour of a little floating platform to ride about in. Marvel fans can start jumping for joy now at Hyperion, Captain Marvel, Mark 39 Iron Man (also called “Gemini” and “Starboost”) and a space-going version of Captain America getting the minifig treatment. The Mad Titan Thanos comes to us as a bigfig, and he actually looks impressively good.

76048 Iron Skull Sub Attack is a very similar concept… except under water. Mark 37 Iron Man (“Hammerhead”), scuba Captain America, Red Skull and a Hydra diver are the minfigs accompanying a rather bulky submersible towing a cage. The armour on the Iron Man seems to be a recolour of the piece used for the minifig-scale Hero factory figures.

I’m personally more than a little excited for some new Iron Man, what’s everyone else looking out for?

Registration open for BrickCan 2016 [News]

Registration is open for British Columbia’s first LEGO convention. BrickCan is April 21-24, 2016, at River Rock Casino in Richmand, BC, Canada — just a short drive beyond the border and outside of Vancouver, BC.

Registration
Adult (19+) registration is $75 CAD through January 20, 2016. After that, registration goes up to $85 CAD.

After January 20, space permitting, registration may open to teens (14+). Check BrickCan’s registration page for more information.

To register, click here and create an account. Once you’ve created an account, you’ll be routed to the registration page.

Hotel
The convention is taking place at River Rock Casino. Convention rates are $159 CAD per night ($189 for a 1 Bedroom Suite), and available up to 3 days before and after the event. Please note that if you are staying before or after the convention itself, you’ll need to call the Reservation line.

Because this is taking place in our neighbor to the north, please note that non-Canadian citizens will require a passport to cross the border.

Unexpected LEGO parody of Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”

“The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli is one of those paintings that you study in Art History, poring over the symbolism and innovative Renaissance techniques until the painting becomes one with the millions of reproductions you’ve seen all your life, losing any interest or meaning it may have had. (Clearly, I much prefer “Primavera”…) So, I’m always pleased to run across a refreshing new take on a classic work of art. Polish builder Bartłomiej Sekuła has built a three-dimensional version of the painting reminiscent of a tableau vivant, with minifigs representing each of the figures in the original work.

That’s actually pretty cool on its own, but Bartłomiej goes one step further with a parody version of this iconic scene.

Click for the big reveal!

January 2016 Star Wars LEGO sets revealed, including new The Force Awakens sets [News]

Over the past few days, a bevy of new LEGO Star Wars sets have been revealed. It’s no surprise that these include sets from December 18th’s The Force Awakens, but there are also a number of sets from the previous six movies as well. We’ll keep all of The Force Awakens sets below the jump, so that you can avoid spoilers if you wish.

75137 Carbon-Freezing Chamber is an altogether new set. The only time we’ve seen any of Episode V’s Cloud City interiors previously was in 2003’s extremely rare 10123 Cloud City, the set that precipitated LEGO’s shift to flesh-colored minifigs. This set includes the new highly detailed Boba Fett and carbon-frozen Han Solo, with the Boba nearly identical to the one available in the Ultimate Collector’s Series Slave I but without arm printing. It also features a brand-new Ugnaught, one of the few characters from the original trilogy to not yet have a LEGO minifigure.

75138 Hoth Attack is a refresh of 2009’s Echo Base, and takes advantage of some newer curved slopes and LEGO’s newer, more detailed minifigure printing.

75135 Obi-Wan’s Jedi Interceptor is the third version of the Episode III-style Jedi Starfighter, following versions in 2005 and 2007. It looks snappy in Obi-Wan’s dark red and grey livery, versus Obi-Wan’s previous blue and Anakin’s yellow.

75136 Droid Escape Pod is also the third iteration of this brief scene in Episode IV, following versions in 2001 and 2012, and adds more detail and a pair of roaming Jawas this time around.

2016 will bring us another wave of the popular Star Wars chibi-sized Microfighters ships, beginning with this adorable 75129 Wookie Gunship.

See the rest of the 2016 Star Wars LEGO sets below! [The Force Awakens Spoilers]

Continue reading →

In this world, only winter is certain

Whether you’re a fan of the television series or the books, everyone can agree that the next installment of Game of Thrones is simply too far away. Season 6 won’t be here until April 2016 and George R. R. Martin’s final two novels, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, may never be here. So while you’re jonesing for your next fix, check out these sweet Game of Thones-inspired LEGO builds.

Midas Touch‘s microscale Castle Black is perfect. The Wall, a colossal structure built from ice that protects the Seven Kingdoms from white walkers (or “the others” if you read the books), is instantly recognizable, as is the elevator which carries the Night’s Watch to its top.

Speaking of the top of the wall, nameless_member has built an equally impressive scene from Game of Thrones using forced perspective. This haunting scene of John Snow overlooking the lands beyond the wall uses very few parts, but packs a heavy punch.

LEGO releases Doctor Who, Creator, Frozen, and other 2016 sets [News]

The LEGO Shop has just released some of their January 2016 sets, including the new Doctor Who set, several City and Creator sets, and — just in time for Christmas — two Frozen sets. In addition, LEGO has extended their Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals.

Most exciting for many is the release of 21304 Doctor Who (and don’t miss my review of the LEGO Doctor set here on TBB).

I will state on the record that I have never seen Frozen (and have not seen Titanic either), but it appears to be very popular, and this set has a reindeer, so I recommend buying eight or nine of 41066 Anna & Kristoff’s Sleigh Adventure. We’ll have a review of this set soon.

I think this adorable 31045 Ocean Explorer would make a great stocking stuffer for that budding ocean scientist in your life.

Do not adjust your television screen

I assure you: you’re seeing the image correctly. Jimmy Fortel presents this glorious retro television for all of your family flashback needs. Complete with bright colors, knobs, and no remote, this excellent little build is packed full of nostalgia.

And by nostalgia I mean that hideous (and yet so wonderful!) wall-paper.

Maschinen Krieger + Vic Viper = Maschinen Viper? Vic Krieger?

LEGO mashups are always an interesting affair. They can go so wrong so fast, but occasionally you’ll find a mashup build so good it even puts its famous parents to shame. Take for instance this creation by Nooroyd, who blended together two of the most popular themed month building styles — the Maschinen Krieger style from Ma.Ktoberfest and a Vic Viper from Nnovvember — to form the ultimate VV Ma.K. vehicle.

Nooroyd’s theme-blending created a stunning vessel — one with eye-catching techniques, such as the use of multiple minifigure helmets, flex tubes, and even an entire Dewback!

Cyber Monday LEGO deals from Amazon [News]

Amazon.com is declaring the whole week “Cyber Monday Week,” which is probably the only good sort of week composed entirely of Mondays. In addition to the two batches of Black Friday LEGO deals we posted last week, Amazon has discounted a number of additional LEGO sets (though it’s a distinct possibility I just missed them while in a food coma).

UPDATE: LEGO has now updated the LEGO Shop with new 2016 LEGO sets, and extended the Cyber Monday sales & deals.

The LEGO Chima set 70145 Maula’s Ice Mammoth Stomper is 30% off, down $27 to $62.99.

The LEGO Ninjago set 70749 Enter the Serpent is 26% off, down to $44.20.

The Guardians of the Galaxy set 76020 Knowhere Escape Mission is 26% off, at $29.49.

I’m sure there are more discounts you can find on Amazon’s LEGO store, but I’ve been at this for a week and I’m exhausted.

As always, whether you’re buying diapers or a new flat screen TV, any purchase (not just LEGO) that you make on Amazon after clicking through from Brothers-Brick.com helps support everything we do — event sponsorship, contests like Pimp Rey’s Speeder, and the day-to-day business of running the site. So, as you gear up for holiday shopping over the next few weeks, keep us in mind!

And thank you — you make The Brothers Brick possible.

Double whammy dreadnought

Conveying raw strength with stance and proportion is something the recent Hulkbuster set did really well, but this “dreadnaughtwhammer” by chubbybots blows it right out of the water. It’s got so much going on, so I won’t zero in on all of it, but I have to point out the use of the brown barrel pieces on the arm as a great way to break up the shapes as well as proving some color variance.

Be sure to check out the builder’s photostream to see the progression of this model.

LEGO Cyber Monday 2015 sales & deals [News]

In addition to the heavily discounted LEGO on Black Friday, the LEGO Shop online is also discounting over a dozen more sets for Cyber Monday, starting at midnight Eastern Monday (9 PM Pacific Sunday). Highlights include a couple sets over $100 at 20% off and several at 40% off.

As always, you can help support The Brothers Brick by clicking through from here to take advantage of these deals (at no additional cost to you).

The LEGO Technic 42025 Cargo Plane is $28 off at $111.99.

My favorite LEGO Architecture set, 21017 Imperial Hotel (from my hometown of Tokyo) is 20% off at $103.99.

Click here to see more LEGO sales & deals