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.

What’s cookin’ in the kitchen?

I’m always so impressed by the level of awesome parts usage in some of these LEGO vignettes people are producing lately. Just when you think all the good ideas and designs are taken, someone else does it all over again. This particular build by Marcin Otreba is one of my all-time favorites. It’s just so quaint and cozy. The color palette is lovely as well. While common great parts usage abounds, like the axles, wands, and small horns used as furniture legs, and skates for drawer pulls, there’s also plenty of unique stuff too. I love what this builder did with the clam shell behind the sink. I’m also a fan of the stove burners, the bread pan on the table, and even the simple, tan, “window glass” cutting board tucked under the window sill.

While you’re here, check out some other builds by Marcin, as well as more awesome vignettes.

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This one-color cottage is a real “passion project”

In an effort to improve my LEGO building game while I continue my endless sort, I’ve been doing some deep dives recently into color. And right on the heels of finishing The Secret Lives of Color (by Kassia St. Clair and a very good read), I spy this beautiful cottage scene by the one and only Ralf Langar. The build speaks to the importance of the color red, and how we interpret it in our lives. While it can be the color of leaves, as in his darling ruby tree here, it also can symbolize such energizing things as life, heat, and love. Of course, as Ralf knows, you can sometimes have too much of a good thing: what once was love can quickly turn into passion, danger, war, and even blood. And a cottage with red-splattered windows doesn’t bode well for its occupants….

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for May 27, 2023

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 fourth week of May 2023.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS Did you catch our last Brick Report? Check it out and then join us as we review the past two weeks of news, which included multiple set reveals, blockbuster reviews, two Creations of the Week, and other news from the wider world of LEGO.

[REVIEW] LEGO 43227 Disney Villain Icons celebrates the characters we love to hate — Chuck reviews this nostalgia-packed display piece and helps you decide whether to take this trip down memory lane.
[REVIEW] LEGO Harry Potter 76423 Hogwarts Express Hogsmeade Station — Chuck explores the newest rendition of the famed Hogwarts Express and determines whether to board or be bored.
[REVIEW] LEGO Monkie Kid 80049 Dragon of the East Palace — Daniel dives deep to decide if this set is worth your dollars.
[NEWS] LEGO Icons reveals 10323 Pac-Man Arcade — The 80’s strike back with this lovingly recreated arcade cabinet with functionality!
[NEWS] LEGO brings the black bat brick base back as Batcave Shadowbox — A new take on the Batcave emerges from the shadows.
[NEWS] LEGO 40634 Icons of Play revealed featuring female soccer superstars — The announced set features famed footballers Megan Rapinoe, Yuki Nagasato, Asisat Oshoala, and Sam Kerr!
[NEWS] LEGO Technic 42158 NASA Mars Rover Perseverance officially revealed as latest real-life space set — Perserverance and Ingenuity get the Technic treatment!
[FEATURE] LEGO Creation of the Week (#18): Wild West by W. Navarre — Our eighteenth entry celebrating the best model of the week, voted on by our readers!!
[FEATURE] LEGO Creation of the Week (#19): What did the egg do when it saw the frying pan? It scrambled by Bricktacular Builds — Our nineteenth entry celebrating the best model of the week!

The very merriest of un-birthdays to you!

Hats off to LEGO builder Julius von Brunk for showcasing some mad skills with this Alice in Wonderland creation. The expression here conveys the perfect level of “manic,” thanks in large part to a liberal use of curved slopes and round tiles. But of course the best feature of any madcap milliner has got to be his hat, and Julius comes through with an exquisite chartreuse chapeau! The seamless integration of the 4×6 curved double-wedge is enviable, and the trademark “10/6” on its price sticker includes the ingenious use of some minifigure accessories to replicate the black numbers.

A Bionicle builder at the beak of his powers

Djokson is at it again. After a short break from posting LEGO creations, he’s coming in hot. As hot as fire! And Firebludd is this creature’s name. It’s typical of Djokson’s high standard, using Bionicle, Hero Factory, and other constraction elements in ways you’d never think possible. But in this one, it’s the system pieces that draw my eye. The belt, for instance, uses a load of mechanical claw elements that’s probably quite fiddly but looks superb. And the mouth uses two minifigure mask elements to create something almost beak-like. It makes me think this is what World of Warcraft creatures would look like if HR Giger had designed them.

Clean-up in apartment 2A, please

Housework is a real bore. It’s so easy to procrastinate over it. It’s why I’m here writing articles about LEGO on the internet. What I really need is a robot that can do my cleaning. Not a Roomba – I’m picturing something more like Duncan Lindbo‘s clean-up bot here. Sure, it’s more designed for toxic spills than doing the dishes, but look! It’s got a vacuum cleaner in one arm, and a net for… Hmm. What is the net for? Laundry? Actually, if the videos I see on the internet are anything to go by, some animals get really spooked by robot vacuum cleaners, so is it to catch unruly pets? That doesn’t sound very safe. And I might need to widen the doorway a tad to get it into my apartment. You know what, perhaps I don’t need a house-cleaning tachikoma. Not yet. Probably.

Blackbeard was the devil incarnate

As wild and fanciful as they were, there is some truth to all those Pirates of the Caribbean movies. On Stranger Tides featured Blackbeard the Pirate as the main antagonist and, as famed LEGO builder Oliver Becker already knows, that menacing portrayal played by Ian McShane was based on a real person. Edward Teach was an English pirate known for carrying seven muskets and would light fuses in his hair before battle, surrounding him in smoke and thus giving him an otherworldly, ghostly appearance. Oliver had portrayed that nicely with this bust. With his bug eyes and jagged teeth he also looks like a particularly ravenous deep-sea angler. He’s a fiendish fellow indeed! His flagship was called “Queen Anne’s Revenge”, also showcased nicely here in miniature form.

LEGO 40634 Icons of Play revealed featuring female soccer superstars [News]

Thanks to retailer Rakuten.jp, a new LEGO set featuring female soccer superstars has been revealed. 40634 Icons of Play includes 15 minifigures and a variety of soccer stadium elements and features famed footballers Megan Rapinoe, Yuki Nagasato, Asisat Oshoala, and Sam Kerr. According to the retailer, the set has 899 pieces and will be available June 6. The pricing has yet to be confirmed but it is expected to retail for US $99.99 | CAN $TBD | UK £89.99.

Click to see more images

LEGO 43227 Disney Villain Icons celebrates the characters we love to hate [Review]

LEGO and Disney have a supercharged set lineup this year for Disney’s 100th anniversary, and LEGO 43227 Villain Icons is the second 18+ set targeted at adults after the Royal Clamshell. The “Adults Welcome” range is much more about who the set is aimed at and marketed to than about LEGO’s traditional age ranges. We concluded that 76391 Hogwarts Icons set was a great introduction to the LEGO hobby for new adult builders. This set is obviously similar, and Disney is one of the few fandoms that significantly outnumbers Harry Potter, so it’s reasonable to guess this will be a big hit. Does it rise to that potential? LEGO 43227 Villain Icons, with 1,540 pieces and 4 villainous minifigures, will be available starting June 1st for US $129.99 | CAN $169.99 | UK £124.99.

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 Ideas 21337 Table Football

Cubone: the tragic backstory Pokémon

For a franchise that’s squarely aimed at kids, Pokémon can get really quite dark sometimes. Consider Cubone, ably built here by Joey Klusnick. Adorable, right? Well, according to various Pokédex entries, the skull it wears as a helmet is from a deceased parent. Moreover, the ‘dex entries also mention crying a lot. How tragic — this is a kids’ game, remember! Thankfully Joey’s creation is so well-built I think we can focus on how cute this little guy is otherwise. That Bram sphere tummy in particular makes it look very huggable. After reading all the lore on Cubone I (and it, probably) could do with a hug…

LEGO Monkie Kid 80049 Dragon of the East Palace [Review]

With summer comes another new wave of sets from the popular Monkie Kid theme, based on the Chinese folktale Journey to the West. Like many previous waves, it includes vehicles, a mech, and a large building, this time in the form of the underwater palace home to the human form of the Dragon of the East. The subsea structure is based on the location from the third season where the team takes refuge, and ends up leaving with a souped-up new team truck (featured in a previous round of sets). This is where the Monkey King originally got his versatile staff, and the scene features a large brick-built version that hides a surprise. LEGO Monkie Kid 80049 Dragon of the East Palace comes with 2,364 pieces and will be available on June 1st for US $189.99 | CAN $249.99 | 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 on for our full review

The mighty Giraffatitan takes a stand

What kid, or grown-up for that matter, doesn’t love the Giraffatian? When I was a kid we just called them a Brontosaurus, or Brachiosaurus if you were slightly smarter, but they have since been moved to their own genus by folks who are even smarter still. No matter what you call it, you have to admit this LEGO dinosaur built by Ken Ito is a magnificent sight to behold. It stands regal on its pedestal giving it the appearance of a trophy likely won for the feat of total awesomeness.

Just when I thought I’d experience total awesomeness overload, I learn this mighty Giraffatitan has a friend! It’s the Apatosaurus we featured last December now mounted on his own trophy stand. Please check out our Ken Ito archives to see what else we’re totally impressed by.