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.

How to identify Series 3 Collectible Minifigs by touch through the bag

Those of us in the Pacific Northwest have been lucky enough to have the Series 3 Collectible Minifigures shipped to our little corner of the United States significantly earlier than the rest of the world. Hillel and Jeff aren’t the only ones out scouring our local Fred Meyer stores first thing in the morning.

Since Series 3 packaging doesn’t have a barcode unique to each minifig and the “dot method” can be a little tough, it’s good to have other ways to get past LEGO’s ridiculous marketing ploy.

SEALUG member J Junker posted a great guide to figuring out which minifig is in the bag by feeling for specific elements. Here’s J’s method in its entirety:

Gorilla – it’s best to find the banana. Be careful though, the Pilot has goggles that can feel like a banana.

Pilot – feel for the backpack/parachute (and the goggles there’s an indentation in the middle that the banana doesn’t have).

Racecar Driver – feel for all 3 of these, head, helmet & hair. He’s the only guy with all 3. Finding the visor helps too.

Samurai – if you find the sword, that’s the best. He’s also got an ‘armor’ chest piece that’s unique. It collapses inward when you squeeze it from front to back.

Rapper – feel for the mic, and his hat brim is curved. Careful not to mistake for the Hula Girl… She has 2 maracas that feel like the mic.

Hula Girl – finding both maracas is the best. The hair also feels different, since it’s designed to be in the front and back. Easy to confuse with the Rapper by feel and dots.

Indian Chief – the headdress is pretty easy to feel. It’s very big.

Baseball Player – the bat is a dead giveaway. One of the easiest to feel.

The Mummy – the dots are very easy to spot on this one. Really the best way to feel this one is to find the scorpion.

Sumo Wrestler – another where the dots help quite a bit. I only felt the trophy one time, so I ended up feeling for the ball of hair on top of his head the most.

Alien – the head has the 2 distinct spheres. I almost always felt the beam from the gun as well. Dots are good for this one too.

Space Pirate (Cyborg) – easy to confuse with the race car driver. If you can find his robot hand, that’s the best. Remember that both the alien and this guy have a ray coming from their gun (the gun: which is also a good way to narrow it down to one of the 2).

Tennis Player – the racket is the tell tell here.

Elf (Legolas) – I felt the back if the shield on the first one, but found the bow & arrow easiest from then on out.

Snowboarder – the snow board is as easy as the surfboard and skateboard were to feel. Both ends curve up.

The Fisherman – the fish is easy to feel, plus the rope on the fishing pole is very different than anything else since it’s ‘soft’.

Thanks, J!

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The BP UD-S Un.001 underwater drill suit will plug your leaking oil well

We could certainly have used this little mecha by Chris (Ironsniper) a few months ago. I love the tiny little arms and the big Bionicle harpoon.

Thanks for the tip, Nancy!

P-72A “Skyhammer” gunship by JonHall18

I can’t get enough of Jon Hall‘s dieselpulp fighter aircraft, and his latest is my favorite so far. The stickers are all custom-designed by Jon, with a pinup girl that’ll get the blood pumping in even the iciest flyboy’s veins. And that is some serious firepower sprouting from the fighter’s nose.

New BrickArms direct-printed minifigs indistinguishable from official LEGO figs

Our friends over at BrickArms were kind enough to send along a couple of their new direct-printed custom minifigs a while back, and they’re quite possibly the single greatest leap forward in minifig customization technology since Brasso.

Will Chapman uses a solvent inkjet printer that bonds the inks with the minifig’s ABS plastic, resulting in printing that I can’t distinguish from minifigs printed in a LEGO factory. And unlike the waterslide decals intended for “gentle play” or “display,” these are likely to withstand much heavier abuse.

I honestly haven’t oohed and aahed over a new BrickArms product in a couple of years, and kind of thought their ability to surprise me was long past. But I have to admit — perhaps a bit grudgingly — that these new direct-printed minifigs may be the coolest thing ever.

First look at 8803 Series 3 Collectible Minifigs

After his speech at BrickCon, Hillel Cooperman was rewarded with the luck finding series 3 minifigs early at a Fred Meyer store. 11 cases later, here’s a first look at the contents of each box and the minifigs themselves.

LEGO 3D scanner used to generate 3D LDraw parts

Did you know you can make a 3D laser scanner out of LEGO bricks and a few custom parts? No? Nor did I until today. Did you know you can then use your LEGO model to scan LEGO parts and turn them into 3D CAD LDraw parts to make virtual LEGO models out of? Amazing hey?

Phillipe Hurbaine (philo) is well known for his clever software, hardware, LEGOware and general LEGO-mechanical skill but I have to say his latest work just takes the cake. And as if making a 3D scanner wasn’t enough he has actually used it to model some LDraw parts. I think this is probably the best working LEGO thing I have ever seen.

Two for the track

It’s obviously my lucky day as, in addition to Rodney’s new model, Carl Greatrix (bricktrix) has delivered not one but two excellent freight wagons. And before someone complains there is no glue on those crossbars, just cleverness.

A Nutherwun

It’s no secret that Rodney Bistline’s (Buster®) “swoosher”s are some of my favourite spaceships. So loving the Nutherwun Strike Craft was a natural fit.

Expand the Winter Village Contest

Eurobricks and Classic-Town.net present a contest to build more creations in the theme of LEGO’s two winter village sets. Christmas is the deadline and I’m very interested to see what people will come up with.

Custom DC Comics superheroes

Julian Fong (levork) has made a set of nine DC Comics superheroes for Creations for Charity. Each features custom-designed waterslide decals and an acrylic finish. They’re one-of-a-kind minifigs whose quality is among the best I’ve seen. You can check out more of Julian’s works on Flickr.

UPDATE: They’re all sold out!

Classic X-wing

Flickr user marshal banana presents one of the best minifig-scale X-wings I have seen. None of the details seem forced; even the complex windshield design looks well-integrated into the ship. Check out more great Star Wars creations on the builder’s photostream.

The Old One awakens

Mr. Xenomurphy pays homage to H. P. Lovecraft with the summoning of an Old One from a grim mansion. Click through the picture for a story and more shots of the build.