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.

9 projects qualify for final 2015 LEGO IDEAS crowdsourcing round [News]

LEGO has announced the finalists for the third and last 2015 review round from their crowdsourcing platform, LEGO IDEAS. To qualify, each project had to garner 10,000 votes on the IDEAS website. Being a finalist means LEGO will take a serious look at turning the project into an official LEGO set. It does not, however, guarantee that the project will definitely be created into a set. Generally LEGO selects a single project to move forward to set design, though sometimes none of the finalists make the cut. The IDEAS platform has brought us a wide variety of sets, from The Big Bang Theory, to Birds, to the recently released Doctor Who set.

Jurassic Park Explorer
20.000 Leagues under the Sea NAUTILUS
Toyota Landcruiser 40 Series
Beatles Yellow Submarine
HMS Beagle
Apollo 11 Saturn-V
Concorde Display Set
National Park Service Centennial Vignettes
Victorian London Christmas

2015’s second review round is still pending, though an announcement is expected early this year.

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.

Nexo Knights 70331 Ultimate Macy and 70332 Ultimate Aaron [Review]

LEGO’s new Nexo Knights line has launched and is finally available. We’ve already reviewed two of the medium-sized sets from this line, but some of the little sets intrigued me. Each of the named characters has an Ultimate version, available as an individually boxed set for $10 USD. Part counts range between 65 and 101. Six characters are available now, and at least three more are in the pipeline.

I decided to start with 70331 Ultimate Macy and 70332 Ultimate Aaron.

Click here to read the full review!

The game has changed

What the 2010 movie sequel TRON: Legacy lacked in terms of story, character development, and avoiding the Uncanny Valley, it more than made up for visually – thanks to the design sense of architecturally-trained director Joseph Kosinski. And while we have seen plenty of LEGO interpretations of the iconic vehicles and characters from both TRON movies, Joe Perez has created the most curve-licious LEGO light cycle to date, at a scale I would never have imagined possible. Breathtaking…

LEGO Dimensions January 2016 Fun Packs 50% off from Amazon [News]

Amazon.com has just discounted the January 2016 assortment of LEGO Dimensions Fun Packs from $15 to $7.50, or 50% off. Pick them up now if you haven’t preordered them already (and the discount should also apply even if you have, thanks to their pre-order price guarantee). Fun Packs work on all platforms.

The Back to the Future Doc Brown Fun Pack includes Doc Brown and a Time Traveling Train from Back to the Future III.

Click through to see more LEGO Dimensions deals

Nick Wilde, that crafty fox from Zootopia

OK, so Disney’s Zootopia isn’t out yet, but the trailer is hilarious and makes this movie a must-see for me. Jordan Schwartz, a fan of all things Disney, gone ahead and made a fantastic sculpt of Nick Wilde, one of the film’s new protagonists, and it looks spot on. The sly look Nick is giving us is too perfect.

Alien space: industrial and chaotic yet organic and ordered

You never know where you’re going to find your inspiration. How about your favorite manufacturer of MIDI controlers? Yep, perig perig devoted his latest spacecraft model to Livid Instruments – a small company which produces computer music equipment. We can only guess how exactly the overall design was influenced by the author’s musical experince, but the result is gorgeous as usual. The color scheme is what impressed me the most; together blue and olive pieces work miracles.

Medieval done right with Luke Hutchison

The Castle theme has a long history within the LEGO community, and builders all over the world have produced magnificent creations in every size, shape, and color. Luke Hutchinson (Derfel Cadarn) is one of the originators of the now-common “ramshackle” style, characterized by the odd angles and an organic approach to the scene. His beautiful creations inspired me to start building with LEGO and posting my creations online many years ago.

So, naturally I was very excited to see a glimpse of his latest creation in a teaser pic a few months back. He continues to improve his own building style, pushing his creations further and further, influencing many other builders in this theme.

We had a chance to talk to Luke more about his creation and his approach.

The University of Chicago Lab Schools’ Gordon Parks Arts Hall in LEGO

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools is a private school affiliated with its namesake. Donors recently provided funding for a new arts wing designed by architects FGM and Valerio Dewalt Train. As a thank you gift to the donors (Mellody Hobson and her husband George Lucas), the school commissioned alumnus and faculty member Dave Kaleta to build a LEGO replica of the new facility.

Since the gift was planned to coincide with completion of the building, Dave was given access to blueprints and even the building site itself. Even though the gift was intended for the Lucas household, Dave tells me that he resisted requests to include a minifig Yoda somewhere in the display, since the donors themselves had insisted that the new building be named in honor of American photographer Gordon Parks (1912-2006).

See more photos in Dave’s album on Flickr, along with his build notes and description of key architectural details.

Filled up and ready for a raid

LEGO themes come and go, but some of them stay in our hearts forever. Korean builder bigcrown85 makes us shed some tears with a beautiful remake of some old Model Team sets.

Experienced readers might recognize these legendary vehicles. The jeep on the left is based on the awesome 5510 Off-Road 4×4 from 1986, and the truck on the right is a remake of the B-model from 5571 Giant Truck, which was released in 1996.

The builder has refurbished both cars, making them black and red, improving the chassis and upgrading the interiors with all new pieces (he even placed a coffee machine right behind the seats in the driver’s cab!). And the title “Black cat rally team” refers to the giant truck’s alternative set name. A crouching cat was used as a radiator cap, and you can find one on the hood of the jeep as well. What a lovely touch!

All in all, both cars offer a nice representation of how present-day Model Team sets could possibly look: massive, stunning and handsome.

Yes father, I will become a Bat... a Bat-Robot-Mech-Thing

Gregory St doesn’t post Flickr images often, but this Batman mech caught my eye. I think it does well at being chunky and slightly menacing, but still fun and comic-book like. I could see this leaping off the page of a classic-era Batman comic, rather than stalking the gloomy streets of the po-faced movie version of Gotham. This is what Batman should be about – a sense of menace and impending violence, accompanied by a faint whiff of camp ridiculousness…

Looking back through their Flickr stream, I’ve enjoyed seeing how the builder has posted different designs all based on the same mech frame. It’s interesting to see how color choices and changes in little details can create a totally different feel from the same base structure. In particular, I liked their interpretation of Lord Business from the LEGO Movie a while back…

I’d like to see more of these builds. Maybe some other comic book heroes?

LEGO Architecture 21027 Berlin & 21026 Venice [Review]

In addition to 21028 New York City (which I reviewed here a couple of weeks ago), LEGO has also just released 21027 Berlin and 21026 Venice as part of a trio of new city skyline sets.

In contrast to the $60 price tag for NYC, both Berlin and Venice retail for $29.99, and I’ll be reviewing these two smaller sets together today.

Read the full review after the jump!

I’ll show you the dark side

At least, he will try. Just imagine torokimasa‘s adorable LEGO Kylo Ren throwing a tantrum and vandalizing First Order equipment! While the technique the builder used for the lightsaber blades would have been lazy for any other lightsaber, I think it works great to emulate the unstable blade effect on Ren’s crossguard saber.