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.

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!

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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

Bricks vs Pixels: the ultimate showdown

OK, so we all know the movie Pixels didn’t turn out how we’d wished a real life- and video game-mashup would, but it’s still a mighty cool concept. South Korean professional builders Olive Seon have run with that concept with an awesome diorama loosely inspired by the movie Pixels. Featuring the iconic scene of Pac-Man munching down a street, the builders have added some characters from Minecraft and several other games also. See how many game characters you can find!

Hidden in the mangroves

Mangrove trees have a chaotic, almost alien feel to them. In salty, waterlogged conditions, where other trees flounder, they thrive. Tirrell Brown has perfectly captured the majesty of these strange trees in his most recent build. His swampy scene, which was built for Eurobrick’s Guilds of Historica, depicts a hidden croc warrior desperately fleeing a pair of dangerous dark elves. For now, the croc is escaping their notice. Can you spot him?

Reaching higher with Beat Felber

Since mid-October I have had a pretty crazy time at work, very much at the expense of my blogging and pretty much everything else. I have built a few things, but I told my fellow contributors that I would only write something if it knocked my socks off. Well, consider me barefoot. The culprit is Swiss builder Beat Felber and his AR-1200M Mobile Crane. Tadano is a Japanese manufacturer of cranes and the model carries a Japanese livery, of the Showa Co., Ltd. of Kobe. This already makes it a bit more interesting than your average Liebherr. Furthermore, as you would expect from a builder who goes by the name Engineering with ABS, his model is full of working features.

It uses Power functions for the drive, for steering on all five axles and to extend the stabilisers on both sides, with pneumatics used to raise and lower the struts. The crane boom can be raised, slewed and extended using Power Functions and, of course, the winches are remote-controlled. It also has working lights. The boom reaches a height of 2.15 m (more than 7 ft.) and can be extended even further by adding a separate jib. This is not the tallest crane we’ve ever blogged, but size is not everything. It is gorgeous.

Death-dealing strider in lush scenery

I guess we’ve all missed seeing some impressive Black Fantasy creatures for quite a while. All of a sudden Leonid An, a talented young builder from Moscow, Russia, bridges this gap. His strider is not only remarkable for a wide range of classic build techniques, but also completed with a stunningly landscaped base. Who could knew that typically girlish pieces from Clikits sets could complete such an ominous creature so perfectly.

22% off at BrickWarriors Small Business Saturday through Cyber Monday [News]

Custom accessory makers BrickWarriors are having a Small Business Saturday sale starting today, with 22% off through Cyber Monday. Head on over and help support another great LEGO-themed small business.

And don’t miss the other LEGO-focused small businesses we’ve highlighted so far this week:

Needle Town...sew perfectly balanced

The Colossal Castle Contest continues and Polish builder crises_crs brings us this perfectly balanced creation entitled Needle Town.

Needle Town is an entry to the Microscale Medieval Life Microscale Castle MOC category, in which entries must be built on a 16×16-stud or smaller plate.

Crises_crs has balanced this entire castle town on a tower of 1×1 light blue grey plates that rise up from an island. I love this unique take on building within a 16×16 plate, certainly an eye-catching entry. In addition, the angled wall that encircles the town has a fantastical feel, like one of Saturn’s rings around the ‘planet’ where Needle Town rests. The coloured houses and touch of greenery gives plenty of detail although my eye is constantly drawn back to that foundation tower of 1×1 bricks!

Creations for Charity 2015 final sale

The 2015 Creations for Charity fundraiser is ending on November 30th and has already raised over $13,000. This is a great time to get a custom creation donated by Lego fans while helping raise money to buy Lego sets for underprivileged children. Check out some of the cool MOCs that’s on sale.

M.C. Escher’s “Hand with Reflecting Sphere” rendered in LEGO

While I share a certain ambivalence about LEGO renders with the Grumpy Old Man contingent of TBB contributors, I have to admit that I’m increasingly impressed with the high quality we’ve begun seeing from “virtual” builders. One of my recent favorites is this LEGO-ized version of M.C. Escher’s print “Hand with Reflecting Sphere” by Gabriele Zannotti. Gabriele used Mecabricks to build the scene, and Blender for the final 3D rendering. Spend some time looking at all the details reflected in that sphere…