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.

Raising the stakes when it comes to steaks

Hawaii Toad comes at us with a high-steaks LEGO build. No, that’s not a typo – someone’s brought a really high steak to this barbeque party! The minifigure accessory piece is already as big as a LEGO person’s head, but this really takes the mickey. It raises a lot of questions left unanswered by the build though. Firstly, what animal lends itself to such a big piece of meat? A T-rex?! I’d like to see the size of the butcher who sells that. For that matter, how big does your grill need to be for this? That’s surely going to take an age to cook if you want it done anything more than the rarest of rare!

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BrickCon 2023 is next weekend in Bellevue, WA – free ticket giveaway! [News]

This year’s BrickCon, the longest-continuously running LEGO exhibition in the world, is happening next weekend in Bellevue, WA — a month earlier than previous years and across the water from Seattle in Bellevue. The Brothers Brick is a proud sponsor of BrickCon every year, and we’re pleased to continue that sponsorship in BrickCon’s new, larger and more accessible location. To celebrate the big move across Lake Washington, we’re giving away four pairs of tickets for free entry to the public exhibition hours on Saturday and Sunday.

The public exhibition happens at Meydenbauer Center from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Saturday, September 9 and Sunday, September 10. To win, just tell us in a comment on this article why you’re looking forward to BrickCon 2023. Make sure to use a valid email address when commenting (we won’t use or share this email any other way), and we’ll draw winners on Wednesday and contact each winner to provide electronic tickets.

Fine print: The Brothers Brick is an annual sponsor of BrickCon, and tickets were provided by BrickCon as part of our sponsorship. These tickets are for the public exhibition, not the private convention. Travel and accommodation are not provided. Winners must respond within 24 hours to confirm eligibility, or tickets will be released to other entrants.

A dark LEGO knight of a different feather

This armed and armored knight by Dan Ko may look simple at first glance, but there is lots to crow about — starting with the beak made with swords paired with a large claw part. The wide wings made with angled bow pieces give the perfect impression of feathers. But the hero of this build would have to be that great sword that is giving me major Final Fantasy vibes.

This dinky destroyer takes to the skies in a big way

When I first set eyes on this dieselpunk-esque destroyer from Sunder_59, I assumed it was a 100-stud long LEGO brick-built behemoth. (‘Tis the season, after all.) In the end that’s wrong on two counts: this clocks in a fair bit short of 100 studs, and it’s built using virtual LEGO bricks, not real ones. But it’s no less a terrific design for it! The fact I thought it was bigger than it actually was tells me that Sunder has done a great job conveying the heft of a giant spaceship in microscale. That’s a result of both careful parts use, and a really clean design. I like the unconventional colour scheme as well. Always a bonus of working in the digital realm, without its pesky limitation of having to use bricks that actually exist!

In truth, I think the reason I fell for it is because I’m a sucker for dieselpunk. This won’t be the last time we feature some, and it’s certainly not the first. Have a look at the LEGO dieselpunk builds we’ve featured before.

Warships used to look so much flashier

You know what the problem with military vehicles is these days? It’s all so grey. Or stealth black, sometimes. Or a drab green. Or some – anyway! Point is, they’re not very interesting colours. Back in the day, warships on the high seas sometimes had a fair bit of bling on them. Joe (jnj_bricks) harkens back to these flashier days by throwing some golden LEGO handcuffs at this Man-of-War. Coupled with that dark blue, it looks rather smart. Sure, it’s not very practical – you could see this coming a mile off. But isn’t that for the better, so that we can appreciate this masterful little build?

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for September 2nd, 2023 [News]

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the last week of August, 2023.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS This week we covered new sets from Marvel, Star Wars, and LEGO Ideas. We saw LEGO announce a slow down in growth, and featured our 28th Creation of the week! And if you haven’t had your fill of news and reviews, be sure to check out last week’s Brick Report for more.

[REVIEW] LEGO Art 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man breaks the mold — Fans of the friendly neighborhood Spider-man will be crawling the walls in anticipation of this hero-sized art set.
[NEWS] The LEGO Group announces slowdown in growth for the first half of 2023 — LEGO sales drooped in 2023. Could it be that LEGO builders have started spending more time outside post-pandemic?
[NEWS] LEGO Ideas 21343 Viking Village revealed — A really fun set based on two different LEGO Ideas submissions from a LEGO fan with historical knowledge that comes through in many of the set details. (watch for our full review coming soon).
[REVIEW] LEGO Star Wars 75371: Chewbacca — A build-able Chewbacca that stands head and shoulders above any previous LEGO Star Wars figure.
[FEATURE] LEGO Creation of the Week (#28): “Nouvelle Chicane, 1988 Monaco Grand Prix” by alex_bricks — THe latest in our instalment of MOCs voted on by our followers on Telegram.
[REVIEW] LEGO Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection – Botanicals meets animals — These larger-than-life insects are as colorful and as potentially creepy as their real-world inspirations

The 1864 Battle of Dybbol won Best Battle Scene at Brickfair, Virginia

Sometimes a LEGO creation can be small and still impressive. But sometimes it can be on such a grand scale, that it takes a team of friends to make it happen. That is the case with this stunning Battle of Dybbol scene built by Hunter Erickson and friends. In the builder’s words; Prussia under Wilhelm I and his foreign minister Otto Von Bismarck sought to unify the German states under one banner through careful diplomacy and war. One example of this was the 8-month-long Second Schleswig War between Prussia and Austria against Denmark. The German Confederation thought it was unacceptable that Denmark sought to further integrate the majority German Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish state in 1863. This was seen as a violation of the London Protocol that ended the First Schleswig War in 1852. War was inevitable and in 1864, Prussia and Austria invaded Denmark. That is the scene depicted here.

Continue reading →

LEGO Art 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man breaks the mold [Review]

LEGO Art started out three years ago with four portraits, where the most variation in physical depth was the height of a stud. LEGO 31206 The Rolling Stones broke out of the rectangular frame and added a bit of depth and 31208 The Great Wave took the depth a bit further, but with LEGO 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man, LEGO have boldly gone right out of the frame! The set also combines larger plates and slopes with varied size tiles to replicate the style and shading of a comic book. Let’s take a closer peek together at the set, which checks in at 2,099 pieces and is available now for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £169.99.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Art 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man

Kraków, Poland in microscale LEGO

When tackling a subject as large as a city in LEGO, it’s best to bring things down to microscale. While you’re not able to capture every inhabitant, many of the metropolitan details can be preserved with clever part choices. That’s exactly what builder Toltomeja has done with the city of Kraków. Let’s take a tour of their tiny city, and explore all the sights within.

Take a tour tour of a big Polish city below!

The LEGO Group announces slowdown in growth for the first half of 2023

According to their most recent press release, the LEGO Group’s revenue for the first half of 2023 is up only 1% over the same period in 2022. Similarly, consumer sales grew by 3% compared to that same period last year. And while a positive number is definitely better than a negative one, this rate of expansion pales in comparison to the stats thrown up over the last three years by TLG (revenue was up 17% for the first half of 2022, for example). However, amid a shrinking toy market, these numbers are outstanding when compared to their peers. And in that hostile environment, TLG managed to further grow its market share over this period.

CEO Niels B Christiansen remains undeterred by the slowdown: “Our strong financial position allows us to invest for the long term, particularly in areas such as digital, sustainability and manufacturing. Overall, our performance is in line with expectations, after three consecutive years of extraordinary growth and we are grateful for our great colleagues who work each day to inspire children through play.” In that vein, work continues on new factory construction in the US and Vietnam, as well as expanding facilities in Mexico, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and China.

If you’d like to read the press release in full, it’s available via the LEGO Newsroom page.

LEGO Ideas 21343 Viking Village revealed [News]

French retailer Fnac have given us an early glimpse of the next LEGO Ideas set: 21343 Viking Village. The original Ideas submission by user Brickhammer did reach the magic 10,000 supporters number, but didn’t make it past the reveiw stage. However, last year it was part of a vote conducted between LEGO and US retailer Target to bring back one of these sets. The submission will finally see the light of day over 3 years after its original submission. With 2,103 pieces and four minifigures, the set is expected to hit Fnac’s shelves on October 1st, for an estimated US $139.99 | CAN $TBD | UK £TBD.

More pictures and details after the jump!

A panda playing a violin on a dock

For most of us, The Sound of Autumn can be leaves rustling in the wind and then blowing down the street as they fall from the trees. Where LEGO builder Vincent Kiew is from The Sound of Autumn apparently involves a panda playing the violin on a dock. I’d like to hear what that sounds like, actually. To me, it’s far more exotic than the usual rustling of autumn leaves, and even the most audacious Pumpkin Spice Latte order at Starbucks. Check out our archives to see why we think Vincent Kiew is music to our ears.