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.

Calvin and Hobbes – a LEGO Retrospective

Today, as many LEGO builders look back at their builds and accomplishments for the year, I’d like to go back a few more decades to December 31st 1995. The last published Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published 20 years ago today, and I thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at Calvin and Hobbes through the eyes of the LEGO Community, and why we love them so much.

Calvin and Hobbes always held a very special place in my heart. It was the first English ‘book’ I ever actually wanted to read. But what surprises me is that – despite it being 20 years since the last printing – we still see LEGO builders from around the world regularly paying tribute to this wonderful comic strip. In fact, just over a month ago marked the 30th anniversary of the first Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, and I built a little scene to commemorate the occasion. I was quite shocked when I had someone message me to say “thank you” for reminding them of Calvin and Hobbes, and all the good memories.

Click through to see more LEGO Calvin & Hobbes creations!

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That’s the way I like it baby, I don’t wanna live forever

Today we present a pair of builds paying tribute to the late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister (1945-2015), a man who truly kept rocking so long as he was breathing. Eero Okkonen built a mini bust capturing the rock-n-roll legend’s likeness well.

A simple scene of Lemmy’s hat, bass, and whiskey, the only thing missing from Jonas Obermaier‘s scene is the ace of spades!

Rock in peace, Lemmy.

Minifig-scale Ewok Village

Have you ever thought about how tall the trees on Endor would be if they were scaled to minifigs? Check out KW Vauban‘s Ewok village with its gargantuan trees that rise over 3 feet; then head over to MOCpages for more photos on and see how many scenes from the movie you can spot.

The Wizards’ Guildhall

Only a fool builds his house upon sand. Well, fools and very powerful wizards. This Guildhall sits atop a mountain of sand where the desert meets the ocean. For hundreds of years, the giant sand dune that serves as the foundation to the hall has been buffeted by violent waves. Though erosion would have toppled a non-magical structure long ago, the Guildhall still stands firm. So long as there is a wizard standing guard in one of the tower rooms and warding the hall from nature, the Wizards’ Guildhall shall never crumble into the water.

This is my humble attempt to squeeze in a last-minute entry to the Colossal Castle Contest. The competition is fierce this year with tons of outstanding entries and more than one builder gunning for the coveted Master Builder title. Shake a leg if you’re still scrambling to finish those masterpieces in time for the deadline because it’s tomorrow (December 31st) at 11:59 pm U.S. Eastern Time!

SD Gundam Superior Dragon by Moko

For my stocking this Christmas, my wife included two adorable little SD Gundam figures she picked up at Uwajimaya here in Seattle. They were all the rage back in Japan in the 80’s, and I have fond memories of playing in the schoolyard dirt with adorably chibi versions of Guntank, Dom, Zaku, and of course the titular Gundam RX-78-2. There are about as many variations on Mobile Suits in the Gundam canon as there are stars in the galaxy, and Moko has built the “SUPERIOR DRAGON” character from the Gaiden storyline.

Notably, Moko has used nothing but stock chrome-gold parts for his build — mostly the rare 1×2 gold-chrome tiles that only came in three City sets back in 2003. Rather shockingly, I think I see several chrome-gold C-3PO arms for Gundam’s fingers! The dual lances can combine with part of the shield to form a bow, and the wings spread out like many of the stock toys and plastic model kits.

Moko says on his blog (where you can see more photos) that he’d been putting off building this because he thought getting the shape right with the very limited parts selection would be too hard. But he also says he wanted to end 2015 with flair, and I think he’s certainly done so!

Speeding in style

As LEGO car builders know, creating a small vehicle with lots of features is a difficult task. This slick racer by Wave Noiz hits all the right notes though, with butterfly doors, great driver visibility, and dual-exhaust all packaged into a tiny sports car body just big enough to fit a minifig. In my opinion, it all comes together like a fantastic new concept for a Batmobile.

A multitude of medieval manors

As the year winds down to a close, so does the long running Colossal Castle Contest. There have been a pile of amazing entries this year, and it seemed to me that the “Medieval Manor” category in particular had some serious build potential.

First, we have TBB favorite Isaac Snyder and his “Mitgardian Manor.”

The outside is impressive enough, but the builder has included a fully furnished interior as well, which is mind-blowing considering the plethora of facades these days.

Isaac has constructed this massive wintery edifice with his own distinct flair as well. I think it’s fascinating when talented builders develop their own LEGO building style. Both of these guys have made a bunch of creations recently so be sure to check them out!

Next, Henry F took to the contest’s challenge in his usual classic castle style with his Chevalier’s Manor.

If I wasn’t looking at it right now, I would not believe how good a bright yellow building with a bold red roof looks. This is like a perfect blend of the 80’s castle lines with a modern twist.

Most popular LEGO models featured on TBB in 2015 [News]

Time for another list; the top ten of fan-built models, based on how popular they were on TBB’s Facebook page and right here on Brothers-Brick.com. We may write about news and set-reviews, but the custom creations from builders around the world are the bread and butter of this blog. If you are sick to death of Star Wars, it’s best for you to ignore this list, as it is rather heavy on models based on the movie franchise. In fact, perhaps you are better off ignoring this blog altogether for the next few weeks, as I suspect there will be many more Star Wars models to come.

Fan spends a year building 7,500-piece Millennium Falcon from the Force Awakens

It happens to be the newest model in our Top Ten, but the Millenium Falcon from The Force Awakens built by flickr user marshal banana shot to the top of the list even faster than it could make the Kessel run. It ticks multiple boxes: it’s from Star Wars, large, immaculately detailed and has working lights to boot. It was also nicely photographed and came out just after the movie. Well played Mr. Banana, well played. Look for an interview with the builder in the new year.

For more of the list, click through

It’s all downhill for now

This downhill creation from Graham Gidman is one of his entries to this year’s medieval-themed contest Colossal Castle Contest XIII.

The builder describes the scene as ‘Graham leading his men down the mountainside start the fight‘ (I am paraphrasing somewhat). The unusual proportions caught my eye initially as the build is high but of narrow depth and depicts a sloped mountain descent that would be perfect for a spot of single-track mountain biking.

I have favourite and not-so favourite parts in this creation. I will start with my no-so favourite as I don’t want to sound overly negative about this great build. While I like the technique of light/dark blueish-grey slopes and tiles ‘jumbled’ to create the mountainside, it suffers slightly from being very flat and smooth on the facing side. Maybe a little more ‘cragginess‘ next time…

Moving swiftly on to my favourites, the red feathered bird in the nest is great; I think the nest may be Bilbo Baggins hair. I also like the skilfully created sloped tracks — a lot has been achieved without making the terrain look too contrived. Finally, the little collection of overgrown greenery in the middle left area is a nice touch.

This year’s Colossal Castle Contest has been brimming with great entries, you can see others blogged by TBB.

76046 Heroes of Justice: Sky High Battle [Review]

The divisive Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is nearly upon us, and it brings a new wave of LEGO Superhero sets. You can see the full collection in LEGO’s Spring Catalog. Today we’re reviewing 76046 Heroes of Justice: Sky High Battle. (Yes, that’s really its name.) It will retail for $59.99 USD and includes 517 pieces. Those pieces build a Batwing and Lex Luthor’s helicoptor, and you’ll get five minifigs: Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman.

Read the full review after the jump!

Pocket-sized BB-8 for your adventuring needs

I think we can all agree that BB-8 is pretty darn adorable and an excellent addition to the Star Wars universe. Don’t you just want to cuddle him? Marketing ploy or not, his fiery thumbs-up made me giggle. Everybody needs a little droid in their life, and Irwan Prabowo gives us the perfect pocket-sized LEGO version.

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