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.

Her Majesty’s Theater is the place for your LEGO West End productions

There are LEGO creations, and then there is Janet VanD’s recreation of Her Majesty’s Theater in Westminster, England. The real-life theater is a cornerstone of West End theater, hosting some of the best and brightest musicals and theater productions. Janet’s recreation painstakingly replicates the exsqusite detail and the theater-going experience of its brick-and-mortar counterpart beautifully.

Her 57,992 piece build features gorgeous detail and took nearly 11 months to complete. The main entrance treats LEGO minifigure theater patrons to posters advertising the production currently on stage: Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom of the Opera, one of the longest-running productions in Broadway history.

Those lucky enough to hold seats are greeted to the stunning auditorium and plush seats, with the musical’s title moment on-stage, with The Phantom and Christine on the boat, making their way to the Phantom’s lair below the Opera Populare.

For those lucky enough to be in London December 11 – 13, 2015, Her Majesty’s Theater will be on display for you to see in all its detail at Brick2015. For tickets and more information, click here.

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The year is 2000

Some people might accuse me of posting too many selfishly nostalgic LEGO creations. Like that time last month, remember that? Ah man, those were some good times. Good times. Anyway, time to repeat the sin with this rather splendid mining scale recreation of a favorite toy from my childhood, the Raider Command from Matchbox’s 1978 line of futuristic Adventure 2000 vehicles.

Due to a limited selection of parts in olive green, French builder Eric Druon actually had to recreate this in tan (and then apply a little harmless Photoshop magic). I was lucky enough to own a few of these beauties back in the day. And I am embarrassed to say that – thanks to the power of eBay – I have been able to enjoy them all over again, albeit “mint in box”!

LEGO “Freewheelin” album cover is as heartwarming as the original

Right at the time when cold winter months are coming, umamen favours us with an incredibly touching and warming brick-built version of the artwork for Bob Dylan’s 2nd album “Freewheelin”. I have no idea how he managed to enliven this handful of pieces, but the way Suze Rotolo’s figure clinges to Bob’s makes my heart melt every single time. The background is something that takes a moment to notice, but contributes to the whole.

Move over Tumbler, Arkham Knight is here

When you have to get around town to beat up costumed criminals, it’s important to do so with style. And technique. And size. All of these can be found in the latest creation by Hansan Kabalak, who has painstakingly recreated in epic scale the unique vehicle from the latest Batman game, Batman: Arkham Knight.

Larger than Lego’s own USC Tumbler, this Batmobile features functionality and loads of complex angles. Hansan went all out: adding his own custom decals, colored parts, and even a few custom pieces to his creation to make it as faithful to the game as possible. Best of all, Hansan even took the time to design his Batmobile with its signature feature: attack mode.

Just a goblin next door

Watcha workin’ on there, neighbor? This friendly guy comes from the mind of Letranger Absurde and is chock full of what LEGO fans call “NPUs” or Nice Part Usages. In this case the clever parts are, among others, the Jabba the Hutt bodies for the upper facial features and the dewback for the nose. Even though this creation doesn’t use many parts, it’s imbued with a lot of personality — and that’s what makes a good brick-built creature really shine.

USG Ishimura from Dead Space

Fans of the Dead Space video game will no doubt recognize this iconic mining vessel and its horror-infested corridors. This microscale replica by Rat Dude captures the ship’s iconic ribbed hull and has the right amount of details reflected in its greebled areas.

Are you PC?

For some time now LEGO artist Chris McVeigh has been bringing us palm-sized chunks of hi-tech nostalgia heaven, such as his Atari 2600 and Apple Macintosh kits. But now Chris jumps into the unfashionable-yet-practical camp of “IBM compatibles” with this picture-perfect 80’s era DOS computer. This certainly brings memories of my first tech job flooding back – twin floppies, Hammer pants, and all.

The kit is currently available for pre-order from Chris’ store. Or if you prefer, as of today you can now download the instructions and build one from your own collection of bricks. But here’s all the narly stuff you’ll get if you order the full kit:

Relive the ’80s with this incredibly detailed 285-piece retro computer model custom design! Pop off the computer’s chassis to see its fully-equipped interior, which includes disk drives, expansion cards and power supply. Additional features include:
• Custom-printed processor tile for added detail
• Custom-printed display slopes featuring a choice of two prompts, A>_ and C:_
• An extra tile allows you to switch one of the diskette drives to a hard disk

I know what I’m putting at the top of my list of stocking stuffers this Christmas! Hmmm, but I guess the important question is: Have I been naughty or nice?

Pre-Black Friday LEGO sales & deals on Amazon [News]

As always, Amazon.com is kicking off their Black Friday deals early with their Black Friday Deals Week. I expect we’ll see some big deals later in the week, but there are some hidden gems right now as well.

75092 Naboo Starfighter is 22% off, at $38.92.

75082 TIE Advanced Prototype is 20% off, at $31.99.

75053 The Ghost is 26% off, at $66.31.

76021 The Milano Spaceship Rescue is 26% off, at $55.25.

There are a lot more sets on discount, but I’m running out of room here. Meanwhile, Benny’s Spaceship and Mos Eisley Cantina remain 20% off or more.

A room with real character

This pair of figures and room by Simon Pickard is a cracking piece of work. The scale was initially unclear on my first look, requiring a zoom in at the details for me to understand this model is actually pretty big…

The figures are good (although this “no-eyes” style always gives me the heebie-jeebies), and the floor is well executed, but as ever it’s the details which make a creation pop: the use of a minifig for a photograph, the fishbowl in the corner, and best of all, those plug sockets. All of these show creative parts-use and a good eye for what works at this scale. Nicely done Simon.

Speeder, speeder, SPEEDER!

Our Pimp Rey’s Speeder contest now has over 100 entries! Thank you to everyone who has entered so far, we’re getting a real kick out of seeing all your crazy designs. Movies and TV still seem to be popular themes for speeder pimping. But as you can see below, we’ve also seen a lot of entries based on famous LEGO set themes. Get your entries in soon – you only have a 2 more weeks!

Benny’s Speeder by John Kupitz

Galaxy Force Buggoid Speeder by tankm

Octan Speeder by Timmy’s Bricks

Cinderella’s Speeder by Paddy Bricksplitter

Cruising through the snow

The weather in the northern hemisphere is getting decidedly colder right about now, making this a fitting creation indeed. TBB favorite Markus Aspacher recently built this fantastic Ice Planet battle tank.

Ice Planet 2002 was one of the coolest lines of LEGO sets in its day. I think it’s great when a classic LEGO theme is honored and reinvigorated with a neat fan-built creation. Check out how the minifigures’ skis are cutting paths through the frozen precipitation!

The roof, the roof, the roof is afire...

Following on from Jennifer’s recent post on waterfalls, here are some more creations with brick-built “special effects”. This ramshackle Laketown house by David Hensel features a convincing fireball rolling up from the roof…

It’s difficult to depict fire with bricks without it looking like a pixellated explosion from the 8-bit era of gaming. I think David has pulled it off here, with the outer layer of transparent bricks and the darker colors at the edges simulating an expanding ball of flame.

I recently spotted another brick-built explosion which used very different techniques but created a similar sense of energy and motion. This fantastic tower explosion was part of Marc Gelaberto‘s pirate display at a show in Barcelona…

It’s like a still from an action movie – the fireball blossoming, shattering the tower’s masonry as soldiers are flung into the air. Check out the priceless expression on this unfortunate soldier’s face!

I’ve always shied away from building scenes like these, worried they wouldn’t live up to the image in my head. Seeing these great examples of fiery disaster, I feel some explosive action coming on in my building!