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 world stands with the City of Love

The world watched in horror Friday night as terrorists apparently loyal to Daesh attacked innocent people across Paris. It hardly seemed possible that something so evil could be happening so soon after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January. Over the following days, LEGO builders around the world have reacted with a variety of LEGO creations showing support for Paris and the people of France.

Are Heiseldal posted this understated image of the Eiffel Tower against the French tricolor. The dark lighting provides a subtle statement about the world’s grief.

Chris Maddison has built a LEGO version of French graphic designer Jean Jullien’s Eiffel Tower peace symbol — rapidly becoming the iconic symbol of the nation’s response to this act of war.

This heart-wrenching creation by French builder Jimmy Fortel reflects the pain caused by such senseless horror, and states emphatically that this attack on Paris is truly an attack on the whole world.

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.

Slicing through the stars

While cruising through the myriad of new LEGO uploads on Flickr, I spotted this beautiful but deadly looking starfighter from Adam Dodge.

The high-contrast color scheme quickly caught my attention. But then, I read the name Switchblade. It is aptly titled because this craft can open and close much like its namesake.

The builder describes how the poseable wings provided quite an engineering challenge to fasten on securely. It must have been an intriguing task. It looks great in the final product and the flexibility really makes this starfighter stand out.

This creation was build for the long running Starfighter Telephone Game. The point of the game is to build a spaceship off of the design of the previous person in the line. I think Adam did a great job incorporating some of the style and flair of John Matz’ earlier starfighter (on the left below).

A Jurassic sized collaboration

One of the most enjoyable aspects of LEGO is the fact that anyone can build with it – either alone or with a friend. Collaborations between builders often yield tremendous results, and this collaboration between Paul Trach and Markus Aspacher is the perfect example of successful team brick-building. Coordinating from 600km away, Markus in Austria and Paul in Germany divided the four films of the Jurassic Park franchise – including the recent blockbuster Jurassic World – into a massive and stunning dinosaur display.

Paul and Marcus recently displayed their collaboration at the Bricking Bavaria Munich convention, where it rightfully took home the coveted Best in Show award. Although on site it appeared to be one single piece (as it does above), the layout is actually four sections. Each builder constructed two portions representing two of the films. The first section, Jurassic Park, was built by Markus:

Continue reading →

NERDvember 2015: All your contest are belong to us

For LEGO builders with a competitive streak November is a busy month, with the Colossal Castle, Vic Viper and our own Pimp Rey’s Speeder contests now in full swing. But if castles and spacecraft are not your cup of tea, you do have another option: NERDvember, brought to you by our pal Tommy Williamson over at the BrickNerd!

Indonesian builder Kosmos Santosa tried to keep things classy with his interpretation of Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring. But then not surprisingly things got a bit Star Warsy, as you can see from this R2-N2 by Palixa And The Bricks and NERDcrawler by captainsmog:

On second thoughts make that very Star Warsy. Behold, Jabba the Nerd by Gregory Coquelz…

Continue reading →

Oh rats!

The tomb of Sir Richard, one of the Knights of the First Crusade, is buried deep under the streets of Venice, and the shield that marks his tomb can help you discover the location of the Holy Grail. Well, at least according to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Legophthalmos has cleverly recreated the iconic catacomb scene from the film, complete with Richard’s tomb, ossuaries, and of course, piles and piles of rats.

Just looking at this build makes me feel like I walked face-first through a cobweb. *Shudder*

The evolution of a mech

kenny_yan brings us a new mech in the form of the m.k.007-01. Somehow, this mech manages to look both agile and extremely bulky at the same time.

Wonder how it was made? How the angles were pulled off and how a model like this is even created? Thankfully you’re covered by a set of progression shots that show how the build came along. It’s really interesting to see what aspects were kept and what was junked as time went on.

Lacking the V, but still an awesome spaceship

Since it is NoVVember, and it has become tradition, people are making (and we are posting) a lot of Vic Vipers. To shake it up a bit and still get your required dose of interstellar machines, here’s a build called “Gravitator I3” by David Steeves. Proving that one of the best aspects of flying around in space is that you don’t need to worry about pesky air resistance, this starfighter has some outrageous curves and shapes, and we love it. This is definitely one of those models that could easily be mistaken for a regular model that isn’t made of LEGO.

Mickey Mouse is coming back to Duplo [News]

After recent leaks that 2016 would bring us a Disney-themed Collectible Minigifures line, we now have some confirmation that there is going to be more of everyone’s favourite mouse in the LEGO world. On LEGO’s official Instagram account, this short Mickey animation was posted:

Get ready for a visit from a very special #LEGODUPLO guest! We are so excited!

A video posted by LEGO (@lego) on Nov 13, 2015 at 6:37am PST

The brief looped video shows a rough outline of a Mickey Mouse Duplo minifigure. While Mickey Mouse and co. have had the LEGO treatment before, that was 15 years ago in 2000. The “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” also includes Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck, so expect to see those soon.

He’s Popeye the LEGO Man!

Very few characters lend themselves to being made out of solid, usually rectangular bricks without some amount of artistic interpretation. But Popeye, with his cartoonish proportions, actually lends himself to being made in brick. Eh, it must be the spinach.

Kosmas Santosa brings the character to life with a faithful build that manages to nail every aspect of the famous design of the sailor. Some custom stickers give the spinach cans their labels and that massive forearm an anchor tattoo, but the rest is straight LEGO and all Popeye.

Tiny tanks advance to victory!

I’ve been following the recent builds of Thomas of Tortuga with interest and expressing little yelps of delight whenever a new creation pops up. He’s embroiled in a Flickr-based LEGO wargame called Divide And Conquer which I’m not even going to pretend to understand. However, the creations he’s putting together to represent his fictional nation’s military are fantastic. I particularly liked these armored tractor tank things…

I must admit to a certain ambivalence about rendered LEGO creations – I generally like to see builders put bits of plastic together in the real world. And I’m a firm believer that restrictions on quantity and color drive creativity, pushing builders to develop new techniques. However, these vehicles are absolute class, and I figured I’d let the handful of “impossibly colored” parts slide this time. (Those are pieces which LEGO has never produced in that particular color. But digital parts, of course, can be any color.)

The rest of Thomas’ photostream is stuffed with similarly cool and slightly steampunk military creations – well worth checking out. I’m loving his series of naval vessels (especially this dreadnought), although again some of the “impossible part” use does make me twitchy.

I know some people say rendering isn’t “LEGO building” at all. I’m not sure I’d go that far, and builders like Thomas are making me pay more attention to rendered works. I reckon LEGO creativity shines through, regardless of medium. What do you think?

Drop in, restless traveler! (if you’re brave enough...)

Seems like dark blue color is in command on The Brothers Brick this week: not only is it the tinge of time-travelers, but also stands for sapphire. Jaapxaap made a great decision by choosing it as the prime color for his latest Haunted Inn, which was created for this year’s Colossal Castle Contest. I must admit these flat tiles with eye pattern make me feel as disturbed as I do from that “friendly” ghost in the doorway.

This customizer’s always right

It’s no secret that I’m not much of a customizer myself. But, like most LEGO fans on either side of that customizing fence, I can still enjoy a beautiful bit of customizing when I see it. And Terry Jeffries’ customs are nothing if not beautifully and exceedingly well executed. Clean paint lines and smooth transitions between original LEGO plastic and added-on bits are hallmarks of good customization, and it’s hard to find any mistakes with either in Jeffries’ work.

This golden neo-Samurai warrior is just plain gorgeous, bringing together sci-fi and feudalism with just a dash of steampunk. This and the left model below remind me vaguely of the titular character in Desert Punk.