Category Archives: LEGO

You’d probably expect a lot of the posts on a LEGO blog 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.

LEGO Creator Expert 10272 Old Trafford-Manchester United [Review]

Soccer fans (or football fans as they’re called everywhere else) will get a kick out of the newest Creator Expert set, 10272 Old Trafford-Manchester United, a massive 3,898-piece model based on the Old Trafford soccer stadium in Greater Manchester, England, which serves as the home of Manchester United F.C.and over 76,000 of their closest friends. The 1:600 replica model is rated for 16+, clearly targeting an adult market, and is available now directly from LEGO for US $299 | CAD $349 | UK £249.99 for V.I.P. members — just in time for the stadium’s 110th anniversary this February.

Let’s open the box and see what’s inside!

Top 10 most popular LEGO set reviews of 2019 on the Brothers Brick [News]

In 2019, The Brothers Brick team reviewed a total of 68 sets of all piece counts and sizes. The signature sets of the year included those from familiar themes like LEGO Star Wars and Creator Expert. We also looked at a few other non-retail sets such as the Bricklink fan designed sets and even a Brickmania custom kit – did they make the cut?

Using view counts as a frame of reference, we’ve pulled together our most popular set reviews of 2019 that you, the fans, voted for with your clicks. Is there one set that stood out for you that you can clearly remember? Or are you rooting for a particular favourite of yours? Without further delay, let’s dive right into the list.

Click to reveal the 10 most popular reviews from 2019

A painted city is worth a hundred thousand bricks

When talented stars collide, masterpieces arise. I hate to be so cliche, but it is what it is. This artwork is the result of a collaborative effort between Grant Davis, Eli Willsea, and Micah Biedeman. It was the product of hanging out in Grant’s home last year, 3 weeks worth of cumulative effort, and somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 LEGO bricks (who’s got time to count when you’re oozing with inspiration and art?). Both Grant and Eli should need no introduction, as neither are new to the world of making large scale builds and focusing on a single aspect of wonder. In 2018, they walked away with The Brothers Brick Creation of the Year award, and now they’re back with another stunning creation.

The Painted City
See more of this amazing build, including a video of how the builders accomplished this visual feast for the eyes

Remain calm! Chunky Transformers are here to help

If you like LEGO and chunky transforming robots, there is definitely more to these first-responders by Sam.C (S2 Toys Studios) than meets the eye. (See what I did there?) Both Autobots feature angled faces and anime-inspired helmet details that look like they transformed right out of a comic book, or 1980s-something Saturday morning cartoon.

TBD2

Aside from the amazing pose-ability and blocky limbs, my favorite hard-to-spot part is the light gray 1×1 round plate with ball joint (most commonly found in yellow as the hands of the brick-built LEGO System figures) used here for the perfect connection in many of the bots’ joints.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for January 18, 2020

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the third week of January 2020.

LEGO reveals a field of dreams with the new Old Trafford – Manchester United set. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.

TBB NEWS AND FEATURES: This week we received some behind-the-scenes interviews about the upcoming LEGO Masters TV show, took a look at the early history of LEGO Education and reviewed three sets including the Chinese New Year Lion Dance!

  • LEGO BrickHeadz 40337 Donald Duck 40378 Pluto & Goofy revealed – More BrickHeadz to add to your collection with Donald, Goofy and Pluto.
  • LEGO Creator Expert 10272 Old Trafford – Manchester United on sale for VIP Members – The LEGO Creator Expert 10272 Old Trafford is now on sale for VIP Members and comes with a Gift With Purchase while supplies last.
  • A History of LEGO Education, Part 1: Strong Foundations [Feature] – Want to school yourself on the history of LEGO Education? Read part one to learn about the origins of LEGO Education along with some key milestones.
  • LEGO Education celebrates 40 years by launching SPIKE Prime engineering kit worldwide – LEGO Education is celebrating its 40th birthday with the worldwide launch of its newest educational tool — SPIKE Prime.
  • LEGO reveals Creator Expert football stadium 10272 Old Trafford – Manchester United – We can almost hear 700M football fans across the globe screaming for joy with LEGO’s announcement of the 1:600 scale model of the renowned Old Trafford – the home of Manchester United Football Club.
  • London children’s hospital built in 60,000 LEGO bricks – Fairy Bricks charity volunteer Gary Davis puts together a massive model of a London Children’s Hospital

    • TBB LEGO MASTERS INTERVIEWS:

    TBB REVIEWS:

    OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:

    Hands-on with LEGO BrickHeadz 40377 Donald Duck & 40378 Pluto & Goofy [Review]

    Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy — famous and much-loved, and yet somehow always relegated to the second-division of Disney characters behind Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Sure, the Disney Empire is The-House-The-Mouse-Built, but personally I’ll take Donald’s edgier attitude over Mickey’s slightly bland wholesomeness any day of the week. As for Goofy, he’s a classic clown, good for causing chaos and taking a painful pratfall — he’s always been one of my favourite of the Disney gang. Along with Pluto, Mickey’s pet dog, these are the latest Disney-themed releases in the BrickHeadz line of blocky figures. This new pair of sets will allow Disney fans to put together a wider BrickHeadz family of their favourite characters alongside the previously released Mickey & Minnie.

    Goofy and Pluto will be available on 1st February and will be priced at US $14.99 | CAN $19.99 | UK £13.49 while the single build Donald Duck will be going for  US $9.99 | CAN $12.99 | UK £9.99

    What did we think of this latest addition to the BrickHeadz range? Check out our full review…

    Click to read the review and follow the building process

    Oh, truck yeah!

    Some LEGO builds look like they are made from tiny studded pieces of plastic. That’s appropriate, because that is what they are. However, some builds are done so sleekly that nary a stud is showing, save for representation of a specific detail. These builds cause the viewer to do a double take, and this author has been known to utter a muffled “holy bleep, that’s LEGO” from time to time when seeing them. This truck by Dennis Bosman is one such build. It’s a refrigerated Volvo F12 truck, branded for the Stie’s Termo Transport company from Norway. It is way too big for minifigs (it’s 1:13 scale, as opposed to roughly 1:25-1:42 for minifigs, depending on the relevant dimensions), and scaling it that way allowed Bosman to include mind-boggling details. The cab lifts open to reveal a fully equipped engine, the cab is plushly furnished, the trailers are studded both inside and out, and even the refrigeration units on the trailers have motors inside them.

    Volvo F12 "Sties"

    Click to see this truck in greater detail

    First LEGO set from Marvel’s Black Widow movie revealed with 76162 Black Widow’s Helicopter Chase [News]

    This morning Yahoo revealed the first LEGO set from Marvel’s upcoming Black Widow movie, 76162 Black Widow’s Helicopter Chase. The set features a Chinook-style helicopter, motorcycle and three minifigures of Black Widow, Yelena Belova, and Taskmaster. LEGO appears to be doing a staggered rollout of the 271-piece set, with Yahoo reporting it will be available at Target starting March 1 and Disney parks in April, ahead of the film’s May 1 release date. The set will retail for $29.99 USD.

     

    Make 2020 the Year of the Guinea Pig

    Chinese New Year is little more than a week away and, according to the Chinese zodiac, we are entering the Year of the Rat. When it comes to heavenly rodents, Ian Hoy has another cute critter in mind. Of course, I’m talking about the guinea pig! This little guy is beautifully sculpted with angled and curved slopes to capture the adorable chunkiness of domestic itty-bitty piggies. The facial expression is priceless. As for that bit of yellow in his hands, if you thought it might be a morsel of cheese, you would be sadly mistaken. It’s actually yuanbao, a gold ingot that was used as a form of currency in China from the Qin Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty. I wouldn’t mind dropping a few yuanbao myself if it meant this little fellow could join the colorful cast of zodiac animals.

    nEO_IMG_DOGOD_2020_Counting money brings joy to my life_00

    A new lease on learning with LEGO Education set 45678 SPIKE Prime [Review]

    Way back in April of last year, LEGO Education announced the launch of 45678 SPIKE Prime, a new Scratch-based tool in classroom programming. After some delay from the original August 2019 release, it’s now available for purchase and we’ve been fortunate enough to receive a copy to review. We’re excited to see what we learn about this fascinating new set! LEGO Education 45678 SPIKE Prime is available now from the LEGO Education shop for $329.95 USD.

    Additionally, with the 40th anniversary of LEGO Education this week, we’re also sharing loads of cool information about the history of the department and its contributions to STEAM learning (Covered over multiple articles). It’s not every day we get to dive deep into a set from a division of the company that has been mildly separated and not intended for general distribution. This division of LEGO is really getting into its stride lately, and the future holds exciting things!

    Click to take a closer look at this cool set!

    It’s...wait for it...a trap!

    Useful or not, some folks have a special talent, a gift, if you will, that is unique to them. Maybe they were even born with it and don’t know of their uncanny abilities until it happens. Some folks can wiggle their ears, some have really bendy thumbs. My talent; I write sensitive poetry about the man from Nantucket. I should recite some for you sometime. Okay Yaramanoglu built this stylized Admiral Akbar and his talent is to alert anyone within earshot that something is a trap. Whether it be a mousetrap, bear trap, or in this case, a deadly game of cat and mouse sprung by a ruling Empire against a Rebel Alliance, Admiral Ackbar is the gravelly voice of authority. Identifying traps probably earned him the admiral position. In every case so far, however, he’s been quite adept at identifying traps after they have sprung, not before. Some foreknowledge could prove helpful in many cases, Admiral.

    It's a Trap!

    Bulid your own Shaun the sheep! Meh! [Instructions]

    If you ever have problems sleeping, perhaps instead of counting sheep, maybe, build sheep? Well, if nothing else works, maybe you can give it a go? You can thank Tiago Catarino for providing the pieces needed and video instructions to go along and guide you into a mundane repetitive task. You may want to grab a few extra eye elements or pick some other fancy ones for variety and fun. Let us know what count you got to before dozing off. Meh! Meh!

    LEGO Shaun the Sheep

    Video with pieces required and step by step guide here: