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 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!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

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

“I’m a simple man making his way through the galaxy. Like my father before me.”

When LEGO came out with the Constraction buildable figures some builders loved them, and some didn’t. They’re certainly cool for what they are but some builders had difficulty using them with their other LEGO sets or finding multiple uses for say, Rey’s head. Pierthviv, on the other hand, is clearly not one of those builders. They’ve had no trouble using the Constraction Boba Fett head for…um…exactly what you’d expect. But still, the similarity ends there because the brick-built body is nothing short (or tall) of amazing. The chest armor, shoulder plates, utility belt, and even his feet are pieced together with unparalleled detail. While I may be one of those dunces scratching my head over how to integrate my Darth Vader chest plate for something other than a Darth Vader chest plate, check out our Constraction archives to see how it’s all done by other more imaginative builders.

This LEGO Moldy Crow from Dark Forces tosses Star Wars canon into the trash compactor

Folks, every story has a beginning. And the beginning of my love for the Star Wars universe began playing the Dark Forces video game on my Playstation as a kid. Decades before Rogue One became the new canon, I spent hours playing as Kyle Katarn as he tracked down the Death Star plans in his ship, the Moldy Crow. And thanks to builder Luca, that HWK-290 light freighter now exists in glorious LEGO form! From my numerous failed attempts, I know the sharp angles of the spaceship to be particularly difficult to capture in brick form. Add that to a lack of space-y parts in brown and dark tan tones, and the true talent in this build comes into focus. Its sharp angles are impossibly clean, and the colors perfectly match those in the game’s cinematics. Even the background build, showing the Crow docked while Katarn uncovers more of the Dark Trooper project, feels like a Dark Forces screenshot. Take that, Jyn Erso!

NINJAGO City Markets joins the series of exclusive sets as the fourth expansions [News]

Unveiled today, 71799 NINJAGO City Markets becomes the latest exclusive (or direct to consumer) LEGO NINJAGO set. A record-breaking 6,163-piece diorama is the largest set of the theme and will go on sale on June 3 for US $369.99 | CAN $479.99 | UK £319.99.

Click here to continue reading…