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.

Kickin’ It Old School with Paul B. Hartzog [Classic]

All right, time for another oldie but goodie. This time, it’s a ship that I’ve been trying to find for years. This was always one of my favourites from my time back on Classic Space Forums. However, over the years I had forgotten who had made it and therefore could not find it anywhere. All I really remembered was the vertically mounted x-pod lids on the sides of the ship, and the little communications array on the top using the minifig jackhammer. But wouldn’t you know it, I was browsing through Paul B. Hartzog’s back catalogue this morning and there it was in all its classic gloriousness.

So enough of my blabbing…I present the Salvage Seeker:

You simply must be sure to click through the entire photoset that I linked to above…this thing is a classic in all senses of the word and despite being 7 years old can easily hold it’s own against anything being produced today. Now that I have finally found it, I am certainly going to study the photoset and be making notes. I mean, just look at that striping! And the greebs!

They just don’t make ’em like this anymore!

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Whiskers...on a starfighter.

Whiskers in a sci-fi context always make me think of Seaquest DSV. Now granted this funky little starfighter by Jacob Unterreiner (4estFeller) doesn’t really look like a submarine, but then again maybe it does kind of look like some sort of alien catfish. Anyways, I digress…this ship is cool, and the integration of the antenna elements is pretty expertly done. It has plenty of fresh style that is just fun to look at.

…remember Darwin the dolphin? He was awesome!

70708 Hive Crawler – Power Functions Upgrade

I was lucky enough to receive the awesome Hive Crawler set for Christmas from my sons. The thing is simply too much fun to push around with the creepy leg action and hilariously fun catapult. Nannan had done a review of the set back when it first came out.

Well Moritz (nolnet) has kicked up the cool factor big time. He integrated full remote control capability with power functions. Seeing this thing drive around is pure brilliance. Then when I saw the functional catapult action…yep, I totally giggled like a school girl. Check out the video below.

Retro-future is retro-tastic!

Newcomer Dan McPharlin dives into the scene with a stable of mecha and spaceships from a future that never was. Combining the rounded bubbliness of MaK with the vivid colorschemes of ’70s scifi, Dan uses his artistic background to bring these builds to life.

One aspect I appreciate about these builds is the lack of armament on any of them. While I know firsthand how tempting it is to slap some colossal guns onto every applicable surface, it’s refreshing to see a vision for the future where giant mecha are used as explorers rather than wrecking balls.

Love However You See It

I think that no matter where you are in your life, we’ll all see something a little different when we look at this build by Brian Rinker (Âtin). Best enjoyed playing the youtube link included in the picture’s description.

Beyond the Brick interviews Keith Severson, head of the LEGO CEE team

Josh Hanlon from Beyond the Brick interviewed Keith Severson, who talks about his work with the LEGO Community Engagement and Events (CEE) team and how they are planning to better serve the LEGO community.

M-Tron M.U.L.E (personal portage bot)

Shannon Sproule (Shannon Ocean) says he was inspired by Petman and other mildly cute, yet creepy bipedal robots. Normally you would see this sort of build with a near-future military vibe, and that just makes me appreciate the M-Tron theme all the more.

…because even the most adventurous space explorer deserves to have his hands free to enjoy an official M-Tron icy pole.

Ridiculously Cute LEGO Star Wars Bobbleheads

Created by Jose Carlos Fernandez, these Star Wars caricatures of Paploo the Ewok and an ill-fated Scout Trooper are simply adorable. If these were a set, I’d buy them.

When the Mechs Get Going

We see a lot of mechs around here, so I’m always keen on ones that stand out visually. This beauty by piratesxlovexrum does just that with this action shot of it offloading a full barrage.

Full R/C Articulated LEGO Technic Dump Truck

This monster construction vehicle by Technic guru pipasseyoyo is a complex blend of Technic engineering and skillful brick sculpting. The articulated dump truck is fully controlled by remote and features a tipping bed, six-wheel drive, and powered articulated steering. Be sure to check out the video of it in action.

A Drop of Color Draws the Eye

This little diorama from A Plastic Infinity (A Plastic Infinity) really caught my attention. The majority is in monotone, which makes the few elements of color really draw the eye. The transparent blue flowing from the mining bot (which is a brilliant little sphere) catches the eye, while still seeming a bit muted. I, like the sentry bot, was immediately intrigued by the red dot growing nearby.

Make sure you check out his full gallery, as there are several other creations there that I’ve been tempted to post over the past few weeks.

I’m a recovering Sortophobe. [Editorial]

I have always been the first one to admit that I have an intense fear of sorting LEGO elements. Spiders? Confined spaces? Heights? HA! I laugh in their faces!! But you set a big ol’ pile of random ABS in front of me with some empty drawer units and I start to hyperventilate, my palms start sweating and I get all twitchy.

Well, ok maybe I am just a lazy procrastinator who would rather play with LEGO than organize it, but I am still going to play the sortophobia card.

But there is light at the end of this cluttered tunnel…yesterday I took my first steps on the road to my sorted recovery. But before I get into that, I will give you a bit of a background.

When my wife and I moved into our house, I attempted for the first time to sort my LEGO. But like the rookie that I was I made a crucial mistake and sorted my entire collection by colour. It was hard enough to find a yellow headlight brick in a giant bin of bricks, let alone trying to find one in the bottom of a drawer that only contained yellow elements. So basically my three or four weeks of sorting were wasted and I started re-sorting it all into part type to better fit my style of building. Well that was 8 years ago and I haven’t really stopped sorting since. I would say that about 2 years ago I was approximately 85-90% fully sorted and organized. And I have been on a steady decline since.

Fast forward to 2013 and things got really bad. I hit my rock bottom. Readers may remember my AFOL’s guide to having a newborn. In particular point #1. I have learned over the preceding 10 months, that #1 is #1 for a very good reason! I didn’t really slow down the level of production of my builds, but my efficiency with build time had certainly been affected. Then I just became really lazy and made zero effort to stay organized. My LEGO collection basically became an un-useable mess of cluttered drawers and overflowing shelves. It took ages to build a simple model and believe it or not, it even started to take the fun out of building.

Well 2014 is a new year, and I intend to get my butt organized! Not only to increase the ease of building, but also for my wife’s sanity. We now have three, going on 4, LEGO maniacs in our house and I can only see this getting worse if I don’t nip it in the bud now. So that is where my steps on the road to recovery come in. What were they you ask? Simple. I dumped everything into a big ass tub.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tromas/12041865164/

And I have to say, it felt really good to do that. For the first time in 8 years, I am actually looking forward to sorting. It’s a brand new year and my future is looking bright and organized!

26.5 kg (58.5 lbs.) of un-sorted LEGO never looked so good!