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.

Celestial love finds poetry in motion

What is love but an irresistible attraction between two heavenly bodies? Legonerdphotos brings the metaphor to life in LEGO with an anthropomorphized sun and moon locked in each other’s orbit. Like a high-concept PIXAR project, the builder manages to turn an abstract idea into deeply relatable characters. Who would have guessed that a cold grey meteor and a trans orange tridax pod could convey such emotion? The figure designs are a perfect mix of alien and intimate, especially the tendril arms that hold each other so lovingly. The photography is stellar, perfectly staged, using compositing to achieve the slight glow around each figure’s head.

Dancing of the Spheres is legonerdphotos’ interpretation of the theme “Gravitational Energy” for the BioCup. We’ve seen blessed with some truly out of this world creations in this year’s lineup. I can’t wait to see what legonerdphotos and the other advancing builders come up with in Round 2.

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LEGO Botanical Collection grows further with two new additions releasing in August [News]

LEGO’s Botanical collection of plant sets has proved enduringly popular. Today, two new additions to the flower garden have been announced: 10368 LEGO Chrysanthemum and 10369 LEGO Plum Blossom. Both displayed with similar vases and pedestals, these colourful plants will release this coming August 1st, but are available for pre-order today. 10368 Chrysanthemum is made up of 278 pieces and will retail for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99. For its part, 10369 Plum Blossom contains of 327 pieces at the same prices point, US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99.

Click the link for the press release and more plant pictures!

Battling Atlantic waves

During WWII, Britain could only continue fighting Nazi Germany thanks to constant foreign imports and weapons shipments from the US. To stem this flow, the German “Kriegsmarine” employed hundreds of submarines, that sank 3,500 Allied merchant ships and 175 Allied warships. Besides enemy action, ships, the submarines, and their crews they also had to deal with atrocious weather, particularly in wintertime.

My latest model, for a Battle of the Atlantic display at BrickFair Virginia this summer, represents a German submarine riding the waves. Originally I was going to build just the conning tower, but that left me with a problem: visible lines are running from the conning tower to the front and aft of the boat’s hull. By building more of the boat and the waves thrown up by its passage, I could attach them. As a result, I spent more time building the waves than the model of the boat itself. This was far from the easiest thing I have ever done, but I hope you agree it was well worth the trouble.

Darth Jar Jar wants to Rebuild the Galaxy with these new LEGO Star Wars sets now available for pre-order

Have you ever used LEGO to plumb the depths of “What if?” in the Star Wars universe? Soon, sets exploring exactly that concept from the new Disney+ series Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy will be hitting store shelves. Featuring such kooky concepts as a Darth Jar Jar with a dual-bladed lightsaber, TIE-Wing and X-Fighter mash-ups, and Jedi Vader, 75389 The Dark Falcon and 75393 TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up continue the celebration of LEGO’s 25th anniversary in the world created by George Lucas. Releasing on August 1st, both of these sets are available for pre-order right now on the LEGO website (US | CAN | UK). Check out pictures, prices, and links for these new Star Wars sets below!

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LEGO Swamp Hut is anything but bog-standard

Medieval architecture might be a thing of the past, but it’s a wellspring of innovation for adult fans of LEGO. I’m constantly amazed at how members of the community find clever new ways to recreate decidedly old-fashioned aesthetics with the latest in plastic bricks. Builder david zambito, a long-time innovator in medieval techniques, returns from a lengthy hiatus with a singular Swamp Hut scene that shows he’s been honing those skills since we last saw his work.

The unusual choice of colors first catches the eye, with the wonderfully-mottled green walls of the hut echoing the mire of the swamp. By keeping to a narrow and muted palette, the few accent colors in the flowers and berries really pop. The stonework is perhaps the most impressive aspect of the build, both with the flagstone path nestled between brown stems (someone had fun at the Pick-a-Brick bins!) and especially the hut’s stony ground floor built from a truly eclectic mix of round parts in dark grey, from slide shoes to helmets, and even a frog. Nice parts usage (NPU) are sprinkled throughout the build; the Islander hairpiece topping the lantern and the arachnid arches over the windows are standouts and add to the witchy vibes.

Can’t find a good LEGO connection? Just add more!

I get a real kick out of seeing parts from the old Star Wars Planets line used in LEGO creations. I’m not sure why that is – perhaps it’s the round features juxtaposed with the often angular lines of other bricks, or the challenge of having only two connection points. Well, I say only two… Nuhvok_mok has come up with an inventive way to add more! In this somewhat sinister droid, the Death Star is used for the top portion, with the photoreceptors attached to it using LEGO magnets. Ingenious! Appropriately enough, the whole things reminds me of the Death Star interrogation droids from Star Wars: A New Hope. I wonder if there’s a tiny interrogation droid floating around in there…

A stout building for bitter warriors to cure what ails them

Dwarves of the Warhammer universe take their beer very seriously. No warrior worth his salt would get drunk on pig swill. Only barrel-aged stouts will do. Dwalin Forkbeard, builder of all things dwarven and steampunk, treats us to a proper Dwarven Brewery in his latest LEGO creation. Dwalin recreates a dry stone building technique of stones stacked without mortar – a tricky technique to pull off this well with LEGO bricks. The stonework is paired with a riveted rooftop, copper detailing, and a pearl gold brewing apparatus peeks out from the back of the structure to heat the wort for a heady brew. On this day, the brewery has guests of ~~dis~~honor, as Dwarven slayer Gotrek and his chronicler Felix look thirsty for a pint of Korben’s Finest.

Majestic Mayan Temple of Kukulcán towers in LEGO

The Temple of Kukulcán, dubbed El Castillo by the Spanish, is the heart of the Mayan city Chichén Itzá, now a UNESCO Heritage site and Mexico’s most visited archaeological attraction. Jakob Escher, no stranger to large-scale LEGO building ambitions, took on the challenge of constructing the sacred site at minifig scale. Jakob painstakingly recreates the 365 steps spread across the four sides, flanked by the toothy maws of Kukulcán. The massive model impressed visitors at the recent Paredes de Coura Fan Weekend in Portugal, captured here along with many other impressive creations from international builders.

Need a hand with your LEGO creation?

J6Crash has created this entry for this year’s Bio-cup LEGO building competition that looks straight out of a sci-fi movie or video game. The variety of LEGO elements used is fantastic – the use of the Toa Phantoka ball-shooters at the base being of particular note. But it’s the questions that this build asks which elevate it beyond an ordinary Contraction contest entry. Clearly this is some sort of synthetic hand, but why does it need to be supercharged with electricity like this? Is it completely synthetic? Is it – or was it – a human hand? And, er, where’s the rest of it? Surely there’s an equally cool-looking arm and body lying just out of shot. But its purpose is anyone’s guess….

No one out-carcinizes the Hut!

They say that evolution has tended to converge upon a common crab-like shape, and it appears this is true in LEGO as well. All over the brick-built internet, LEGO artists are coming up with crustaceans aplenty during this #TimeForCrab, likely spurred by the Cancer season on the astrological calendar. It’s in this vein that TBB regular Maxx Davidson shows us the carcinization of pizza, a work appropriately titled “stuffed crust-acean.” And that pun isn’t the only thing I’m jealous of here: check out the expert use of the minifigure hoodie part as gooey, melty cheese on this supreme slice of the seafloor. The pizza box is brilliant as well, swarming with baby crabs with carapaces of ‘za.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for June 23, 2024 [News]

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders worldwide, The Brothers Brick brings you the best LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the third week of June 2024.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS Another light news weak as we head into the start of summer, with Star Wars, and Transformers reviews, and news announcements.

[REVIEW] LEGO Star Wars 75394 Imperial Star Destroyer – “Use the play features, Luke!” — Kyle reviewed this latest play scale Imperial Star Destroyer.
[REVIEW] LEGO Icons 10338 Transformers Bumblebee – Does this Beetle-bot beat all bots? — Another Autobot joins the team with this review by Kyle.
[NEWS] LEGO reveals new LEGO Icons 10338 Transformers Bumblebee set — LEGO revealed the latest Transformer from LEGO Icons

In other news, Pacific Northwest local LEGO fan Eric Law was featured on a news program talking about his Ukrainian LEGO landmark.

Local LEGO creator builds iconic Ukrainian landmark to raise funds – KING5.com — Tacoma’s Eric Law teamed up with #UKRAINEinLEGOBricks to create Ukraine’s Golden Gate.

LEGO with an ego the size of the sun!

This LEGO build by Panuvara drips confidence from every stud! Panuvara has used so many great ideas that make this build shine, that there really is too much neat parts usage in this build to talk about. So, I’m going to rapid fire a bunch at you! Starting with the golden neck-and-head-dress; those chameleons are floating – not connected by studs, and did you know that micro-statue heads fit inside bar holders? I didn’t. There’s also plenty of Bionicle influence: the top of the Emissary’s head is the infected Hau Nuva, while its teeth are borrowed from one of the Piraka. There’s also a head under the Emissary’s right knee. The mottled colors of the Hau match perfectly with the pattern of the macaw used for the Emissary’s nose. Let’s move on the the Emissary’s seat. The rounded rectangular patches with grills are rubber band holders, the bricks holding the projectile triggers are bumper holders, and there’s plenty of minifigure legs and hips for you to spot. Finally I’ll point out that the face carved into the centre of the stonework uses a dinosaur cub and a clone trooper visor as parts of its nose. There’s more to see here the longer you stare at it. But be careful: while you’re looking at it, the Emissary is watching you!