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.

One small step for a monkey, one giant leap for apekind

According to this spectacular LEGO creation by Andrés Herrera, maybe Planet of the Apes could be somewhere other than Earth. I love this spacewalking simian, with its clean lines and perfect posing. The instrument panel breaks up its clean look quite nicely without being too complex. And the rocky lunar turf beneath its feet provides the right atmosphere, or lack thereof. But my favorite part has got to be that monkey head inside the space helmet. Working within such a confined space can lead to challenges when trying to craft something as complex as a face. But Andres handles it like an absolute pro using plenty of studs in all kinds of directions.

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Can I offer you a nice egg in this trying time?

It can be quite challenging to take a real-world object and craft it out of LEGO. But that challenge becomes ever greater when said object is more natural than some clean, manufactured lines. For instance, check out the egg whites in this delicious construction by Bricktacular Builds. It employs quite the clever concoction of drippy clear bits to make this cracked pre-bird look perfect mid-fry-up. Contrast that goopy, eggy ooze with the sleek look of the hot plate underneath it, and this build is quite the super-realistic feast for the eyes! Don’t miss the subtle touches like the red hot plate logo and power cord in the background.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for May 13, 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 second week of May 2023.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS Have you missed us since the last Brick Report? This week we shared news on the latest massive Ninjago City set, reviewed Return of the Jedi’s 40th anniversary BrickHeadz, and revealed the latest fan-selected Creation of the Week!

[NEWS] NINJAGO City Markets joins the series of exclusive sets as the fourth expansion — The 6,163-piece record-breaking 4th entry in the Ninjago City series is announced for release on June 3, 2023
[REVIEW] LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz 40623: Battle of Endor Heroes — Daniel travels to the Sanctuary Moon to help decide the fate of the galaxy!
[NEWS] LEGO Creation of the Week (#17): Armenelos The Golden by W. Navarre — Our readers vote for their favorite creation of the week on Telegram.

What shall we build today?

Pippi Longstocking holds a special place in my childhood memories, and when I stumbled across Sarah Beyer‘s latest LEGO build in tribute to Pippi, I had to share! Sarah’s builds are always worth taking the time to enjoy and appreciate her techniques, but when she tackles something different to her usual style it’s great to see. There’s some great build details in this build — from the shoelaces and the use of the minifig stand to add dynamism to Mr. Nilsson the monkey’s tail — are just a couple of the call outs here.

This caricature of Pippi ticks all the boxes for me — the gravity-defying hair, the never-matching stockings, the colours used and of course Mr Nilsson! The pair are ready for their next big adventure to take them from Villa Villekula!

A silky-smooth build of a speedy Jaguar

Of all the things the 1980s gave us, undoubtedly the coolest were some of the race cars of the era. As well as its F1 cars, you had Group A touring cars, the legendary Group B rally cars, and the futuristic Group C prototypes. LEGO car builder extraordinaire KMP MOCs has taken a stab at one of my favourite Group C racers: the Jaguar XJR-12, in resplendent Silk Cut livery. I’m impressed with how low to the ground this is. KMP builds most of their MOCs in a scale similar to Speed Champions, and the ground clearance in these sets isn’t particularly accurate (though understandably so). But here it’s practically cutting daisies! I don’t think you could fit much more than a piece of paper under there.

This LEGO diorama from the Thrawn trilogy brings great honour to the Mitth family

There’s a lot of hype in Star Wars circles about a guy called Thrawn at the moment. Apparently he had some books about him or something? Weird that they wrote nine books about a guy who was only mentioned in passing in that one episode of the Mandalorian. All jokes aside, Thrawn (or Mitth’raw’nuruodo, to give him his full title) has a special place in many a Star Wars fan’s heart, including Andrew Cazenave-Tipie (AKA CRCT Productions). I must admit that I’ve only read the latest crop of ‘canon’ books, so I don’t recognise the scene that this build is based on. What I do know is that it looks fantastic! The way the light bounces off the walls at the back gives this real depth. It also highlights some great texturing on said walls. And a mention for that floor pattern, too, made up of the 2×3 shield piece. This wouldn’t look out of place in a castle build, but looks equally at home in the Star Wars universe!

A LEGO E.T. that’s out of this world!

I don’t know if you’ve seen E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial or not, but it’s a delightful film that has been long overdue for some LEGO love. I’m happy to say this build from Alex Jones comes right from the heart (and for ours!). What’s not to love about this brick-built figure? E.T. has some of the strangest proportions for an alien lifeform, but that LEGO has some strange pieces. Alex brings them both together in wonderful harmony in E.T.’s shaping and details. Alex even got the iconic glowing heart and finger of the alien being incorporated into the build, courtesy of lightbricks. If you don’t phone home about this one, then lend your phone to E.T. so he can make a call! Just a warning, though — it’ll be a long distance call. A long, long distance.

This hardsuit packs a punch in both offense and defense

I’m not sure if I’ll ever get bored of seeing LEGO mecha. There’s so much variation that can be achieved with a simple bipedal frame. Marco de Bon‘s hardsuit, with a touch of Warhammer 40K about it, is the latest to catch my eye. I’m partly drawn in the by the unusual colour scheme: dark green with red highlights looks very smart indeed. That shield is worthy of note too. The slope parts at opposing angles make for a very nice paneling effect, and what’s the best form of defense? Offense! As well as looking cool, putting some spikes on your shield is sure to yield results in this regard.

SNOT to the rescue!

I’ve built a lot of LEGO creations over the years, but I rarely build recreations of contemporary, real-world vehicles. However, I have tremendous respect for those who do, because it’s a daunting task, especially if you want to get all the little details right, like this amazing minifigure-scale New York City Fire Department firetruck by Oshi. There are no stickers used to create the stripes and numbers on the truck’s livery, just clever engineering via SNOT. Check out that half-plate white stripe, or the way the number 2 is made with a pair of white brackets!

A miniature meeting of the Middle-Earth minds

There’s so much Nice Parts Use (NPU) in Dan Ko‘s adorable LEGO Lord of the Rings wizards that I don’t know where to start. Look at Gandalf the Bley here. His beard consists of upturned eggshell pieces, and the top of his staff uses a skeleton leg. His nose is also a rounded 1×2 plate, which may not necessarily qualify as NPU, but it’s a great choice nonetheless. As for Radagast the Reddish-Brown, his beard uses an arch piece to give some shape to his face. In the hat, you’ve got an ingot flanked by the frankly genius choice of a pair of minifigure chairs. They give him so much character! Dan has even repurposed some wood stickers to add detailing to his cloak. That is NPU par excellence! Do we need a new acronym for this? NSU – Nice Sticker Use?

Tales of the Space Age 2: Electric Boogaloo

Some say that sequels rarely live up to the originals. Personally, I disagree, and there are plenty of examples: Terminator 2, the Godfather, the Empire Strikes Back… and Jan Woznica! Hot on the heels of his beautiful Ideas set 21340 Tales of the Space Age hitting shelves, Jan has graced us with another trio of space vistas. Aren’t they gorgeous? The use of printed tiles as increasingly distant planets in the left-hand one is especially neat. My favourite is undoubtedly the centre one though, depicting what looks like the Cassini probe orbiting Saturn. The way the flex tubes converge to give the illusion of rings disappearing into the distance is epic.

LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz 40623: Battle of Endor Heroes [Review]

It is hard to believe it’s been 40 years since the premiere of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. This year LEGO has announced several sets in the Star Wars theme from dioramas to BrickHeadz, to super-star destroyers, all to celebrate the end of the original trilogy. With Battle of Endor Heroes, we get 5 heroes of the rebellion in their Endor attire…well, four plus R2, who doesn’t wear anything besides his cheerful disposition. This mixture of standard and buddy-sized characters includes Jedi Luke with his green lightsaber, R2, Cape-wearing Lando, spunky Wicket, and jungle-camo Leia. LEGO Star Wars 40623: Battle of Endor Heroes comes with 549 pieces and is available now for US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £39.99

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