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.

The story of LEGO

Recently an article was published on guardian.co.uk (one of the world’s leading online newspaper sites) condensing the history of LEGO in an objective but heartwarming fashion, highlighting its current success amidst the sweeping economic crisis. Click here to read it.

Never mind the recession – Lego is now so popular that there are 62 little coloured blocks for every person on the planet. Yet only five years ago this family business was on the brink of ruin. Jon Henley reports from the Danish town where it all began

This comprehensive yet condensed article touches on all the significant historical events in LEGO from Christiansen’ production of the wooden duck to the upcoming new LEGO board games. Also included are interesting facts about LEGO. Did you know that the company estimates about 250,000 adult LEGO fans around the globe and that the fastest time to build the 3104-piece UCS Star Destroyer by a team of five is only 1 hour 42 minutes 43 seconds?

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Walking Steampunk Mecha

Matt Hamann (Jaster) has built an adorable steampunk walker. It’s a six-legged tank, that would be a pretty decent creation, if it weren’t for one thing… it can walk!

He’s motorized it, and it sort of toddles along the table. Check out the video. I just love the way it clomps around, it’s like a six-legged toddler or something.

Pepa Quin’s LEGO Protoss Probe sneaks across your LEGO StarCraft II maps

Our love affair with StarCraft-inspired LEGO continues, as does my enjoyment of the LEGO StarCraft creations by Matt De Lanoy (Pepa Quin):

For more pics, check out Matt’s LEGO Protoss Probe photoset on Flickr. Thanks for the tip, Andy!

LEGO Twitter Fail Whale by tveskov

When Twitter goes down, the scale of sadness around the Web is epic enough to warrant a Fail Whale. Bjarne Tveskov (tveskov) gives the Twitter Fail Whale the LEGO treatment in what is sure to make the rounds on the ‘net faster than a tweeting cheetah on speed:

Naturally, you can also follow Bjarne Tveskov on Twitter.

10195 Republic Dropship with AT-OT Walker now available [News]

The much-anticipated LEGO Star Wars set 10195 Republic Dropship with AT-OT Walker is now available from the LEGO Shop online.

Yes, yes, I know — I’m a couple days behind on this…

Cole Blaq’s Soylent Scream isn’t like a grapefruit. No, not at all.

I’m not sure whether it’s the unique color scheme or the shape, but I find Cole Blaq‘s Soylent Scream menacingly beautiful.

More photos of Soylent Scream on Flickr.

8960 Thunder Driller + Power Functions = PowerDriller (with bonus Mini Driller)

Jarek (Jerrec) combines a LEGO Power Functions motor and remote control with 8960 Thunder Driller to rather amusing effect:

On the smaller end of things, Scratel (Wojciech Scrat) has built a microscale version of Thunder Driller, completing with working drill:

See more photos of the Mini Driller on Brickshelf.

LEGO Space Police 2009 arrives early for Kaitimar

I can’t wait for the new LEGO Space Police sets coming out later this year (August, maybe?). Gorazd Vahen (kaitimar) seems to share my impatience, as he demonstrates with a pair of excellent vehicles he designed himself.

The Spike is being pursued by a police cruiser. Gotta love that orange stripe.

thundercats Thundercats THUNDERCATS HO!!

Tim (Roguebantha) has built an entry for the FBTB Podracer contest that’s sure to strike fear into Mumra’s heart. It looks like it would fit in with the vehicles from the old TV show perfectly. I love the claws, and mouth detail, and basically everything else about it. The engine pods even retract and attach to the body!

Laboured lifting in LEGO

Lukas W. (gladius) appears to have channeled Soren Roberts to build this excellent maintenence bot for the Civilian Mecha Competition on flickr. The long doodad (technical term) next to the cockpit has some truly superb detailing and the whole model is compact and excellent.

2009 BrickForge accessories include stone tools and particle gun [Review]

As someone obsessed with archaeological LEGO, the new BrickForge accessories for 2009 make me happy.

The Tribal Spear works perfectly as a scalloped obsidian blade from the Neolithic — just the sort of weapon for cavemen to take down a mastodon or mammoth:

The Tribal Sword is designed to resemble the Aztec macahuitl, inspiring me to give my Aztec god minifigs some Aztec warriors:

Of course, not all of the new BrickForge accessories are stone implements.

The Plasma Blaster and Crowbar enable LEGO fans to build video game minifigs like Master Chief from Bungie’s Halo and Gordon Freeman from Valve’s Half-Life:

The Goblin Sword and Goblin Shield allowed me to update my Uruk Hai minifigs from Lord of the Rings. What horde of orc minifigs would be complete without a Saruman minifig? Saruman wields a Sorcerer Staff.

The new Nightstick (right) combines with the older Military Helmet and Round Shield to create a policeman in riot gear.

Finally, the Particle Gun and Particle Pack (below) work beautifully for Ghostbusters. With multiple connection points like the Megagun, both of these new BrickForge accessories can hook up hoses or whatever else you can think of:

I have quite the backlog of ideas for musical minifigs, so I couldn’t decide which one to highlight BrickForge’s microphone. I’ll get to that new accessory later…

With so many things to inspire interesting minifigs, this may be my favorite batch of BrickForge accessories so far. All of the new stuff is available in both black and gray (though I still prefer BrickForge’s black accessories over their gray).

See all of the new items (except the microphone) in my BrickForge photoset on Flickr, and check out the BrickForge website for the full line of custom accessories.

Kocke Klub announces second KockeFest, April 4 in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Slovenian LEGO club Kocke Klub has announced that they will be holding a second LEGO exhibition on April 4, 2009 in Ljubljana. (“Kocke” means “brick” and is pronounced COT-SKA.)

Here’s the full announcement in Slovenian:

Kocke klub v soboto, 4. aprila 2009, 10h-17h v OŠ Šmartno pod Šmarno goro pri Ljubljani organizira 02. KockeFest – pomlad 2009 – LEGO delavnico in razstavo LEGO kreacij.

KockeFest bo nudil tekmovanje v LEGO sumu, svetovno premiero novega pnevmatskega V8 motorja iz kock LEGO, predstavitev delujočih modelov LEGO gradbene mehanizacije in različnih Mindstorms robotov, makete gradbišča, vlaka, gusarjev ter LEGO Technic sete, dva igralna kotička z nagradami za najboljše kreacije in LEGO bazar ter še veliko drugih LEGO zanimivosti. Za več informacij prosimo poglejte na www.kocke.si/kockefest/.

And in English:

Kocke club will organize 2nd KockeFest – spring 2009 – LEGO workshop and LEGO creations exhibition. It will be held on Saturday, April 4th between 10am and 5 pm in primary school Šmartno at Ljubljana.

KockeFest will present the LEGO sumo championship, the world premiere of new V8 pneumatic engine made out of LEGO bricks, the working models of LEGO construction equipment and various Mindstorms robots, the mock-ups of building grounds, trains, pirates and LEGO Technic sets, two playing corners with awards for the best creations, Lego marketplace and more LEGO interesting features. For more information please visit www.silug.si/kockefest/eng_index.php.

Read more about KockeFest — and see pictures from the first KockeFest — on the Kocke Klub website.

EDIT: Kocke Klub has also released a 16-page magazine illustrating some of the best LEGO creations from members. Download your copy of KockeList and check it out! It’s in Slovenian, but LEGO is our common language, and there are lots of great pictures.