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.

Mars needs tanks — we’re on a mission!

Nostalgia is big this year, with the 90th anniversary of LEGO inspiring lots of fans to build their own tributes to popular themes of yesteryear, and I am loving it. Shannon Sproule built an awesome homage to the Mars Mission theme that debuted in 2007. The signature color scheme of orange and white makes this tank instantly recognizable, and what a tank it is. With dual machine-gun toting manipulator arms, a missile launcher, and a high-powered laser, this bad boy is loaded for Martian bear, which probably has four arms and huge claws.

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The hell-ridin’ Hemogoblin within all of us

If my Instagram stream is any indicator, anyone with a plunging neckline or pimples to pop can be an internet influencer. But it takes a special kind of genius to be as influential as LEGO builder Eero Okkonen. With his amazing characters, he has most certainly influenced dozens of other builders, all without resorting to even a hint of cleavage. Here we see Hemogoblin, who hauls oxygen along the Aorta Highway on his badass dirtbike. Oh, and it turns out he lives inside each of us and is actually helpful. So, yeah. To see this genius at work, check out our Eero Okkonen archives; the guy is super-prolific and you won’t be disappointed. As for me, I haven’t built anything in a while and have to resort to cheap, lurid gimmicks to hold any shred of influence I may still have. Time for me to put on a skimpy top, pop some zits and watch the profits roll in!

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for July 23, 2022 [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 third week of July 2022.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS Did you catch last week’s Brick Report? If you thought that was a bounty of news, wait’ll you review this week’s offerings! This week TBB showed its support for Ukraine, reviewed numerous Star Wars sets, went nostalgic for an amazing Atari console set reveal, and started making plans to attend BrickCon!

[NEWS] LEGO Icons reveals 10306 Atari 2600 to celebrate Atari’s 50th anniversary with a brick-built console — LEGO once again goes video game retro with the Atari 2600 set
[FEATURE] How a handful of LEGO minifigs can support the medics and other Ukrainian heroes on the frontlines of Russia’s invasion — TBB Editor-in-Chief Andrew shows his support (Slava Ukraini!) for the men and women of the Ukrainian armed forces with custom minifigures
[NEWS] Four new LEGO Avatar sets revealed at San Diego Comic Con — First announced at LEGO Con, the first wave of Avatar sets debuts at SDCC 2022
[REVIEW] 75337 LEGO Star Wars AT-TE Walker — Daniel did the legwork to bring you the best review of the latest AT-TE LEGO set
[REVIEW] LEGO Star Wars 75338 Ambush on Ferrix – you might be blindsided by how much fun it is — Norm’s take on the first set released for upcoming Star Wars series Andor.
[REVIEW] LEGO Star Wars 75335 BD-1 — An adorable droid of your very own — Norm familiarizes himself with the droid companion from Jedi: Fallen Order
[REVIEW] LEGO VIP 5007093 – 1950’s Logo Spinning Keychain – Better than a tin sign — Chris D helps you decide how to spend your hard-earned VIP points!
[NEWS] BrickCon 2022 registration now open with Pixar director Angus MacLane as keynote — The longest-running LEGO convention turns 21….time for fun!

One mech, two mech, tan mech, blue mech

It’s not everyday that you can trace the evolution of a LEGO design by a builder through their photos. But Bartosz Sasiński has the development of his four M-Series mechs well-documented. Their first addition, the M-1, was posted over a year ago. And it features chunky armor and stable click-joints. As a result, the build looks sturdy, with some interesting textures running up the torso and around the cockpit’s exterior. But more than anything, that striking color scheme of greens, white, and dark gray make this chunky boi pop.

See the evolution through version 4 below

Awww, what a cute little tower you have there Saruman

There are few towering structures more recognizable than the two towers featured in the Lord of the Rings novel of the same name. The obsidian-colored sharp-cornered Orthanc has more in common with its dark counterpart in the book, Barad-dur than it does with any of the man or Dwarf made structures of Middle-Earth, namely a lot of sharp pointy bits. Even in this microscale model by Jesse van den Oetelaar the tower at the center of Isengard looks quite ominous. One of my favorite details is the angled bars made by wedging the lever part in between grille plates. The round base was constructed with black clamps attached to flexible tubing, and it is a simple yet effective technique.

Some gleaming treasure and its fintastic warrior guardian

Builder JastaBrick gives us this amazing scene from the depths for the Summer Joust contest, in Going Big category. This is the sort of build that show off the nearly limitless capabilities of LEGO. I have a special appreciation for builds that render organic movement and shapes. This build does so wonderfully with the tail of the merman warrior. The segmented approach allows for some excellent bend and movement of the warrior as he comes up to defend the treasure. Even the armor has some organic elements to it with the curvature of the plating. There’s even a more literal organic representative in the form of a little grey frog! The sea plant life is sparse, but each is unique unto itself, lending greater diversity to the colors and shapes of the build. Even the treasure chest is fun to look at, especially the nice detail of minifig handcuffs for the handle. The base itself is well shaped and really grounds the whole scene. It shore is a fun build!

Now that’s what I call sci-fi

Although I didn’t grow up during their heyday, I’m a bit of a sucker for that retro, 70s sci-fi aesthetic. You know, original-series Star Trek, Silent Running, Alien, that sort of thing. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Keith Goldman has perfectly encapsulated that (as he so often does) in his latest creation. The build itself is impressive, but the composition is particularly stellar. Keith says the off-kilter angle was deliberately chosen to evoke the unsettling intrigue of a comic book cover. In fact, all it needs is a title in a dramatic font, some catchy quotes, and a little ’50c’ sticker to make it look exactly like that.

The sense of scale and position is quite deceptive: initially, I thought we were looking up at some massive space cathedral, but the little white trophy ‘nanofigures’ give us our reference. This means that that skeleton in the glowing green cell, tank, pod, or whatever it’s in must be enormous. That’s what I love about this piece. No backstory, but by poring over the details you start asking questions which quickly set the imagination running. What facility is this, and where do all those tunnels go? What’s in the yellow pods? What (or who) was that skeleton? Who are the figures gathered around it? Most importantly, why is it there? Somehow, I don’t get the impression this is a zoo…

Dutch kitchen design from a not yet forgotten time

As a Dutch guy I just had to feature this Dutch LEGO kitchen creation by Victor van den Berg. It reminds me of paintings by Jan Steen, but then tidied up. In the Netherlands, we even have a saying about it. It’s called ‘A household like Jan Steen’s’, which means a really messy household. This however does not apply to Victor’s creation. It looks very sleek and well designed. We can spot a lot of Dutch interior trends from a distant past. Delfts blue tiling, elaborately carved wooden furniture and the tableware on display on wooden shelves throughout the entire house. It makes me reminisce about my sweet grandmother’s home and the smell of freshly baked pies.

With shock and awe, behold the lead Decepticon scientist

Shockwave’s cold intellect and looming presence stand out in this LEGO figure by Shaddowtoa. Coming out of the Transformers toy line, Shockwave is the Decepticon’s leading scientific mind. This articulated figure captures his often repeated iconic look as established by the 1984 The Transformers animated series. This figure bears the classic purple and grey color scheme befitting Shockwave, with that dark pink chest. His singular yellow eye shines out from his angular head, analyzing everything in his gaze. The recessed black around the eye is cleverly achieved by way of SNOT (Studs Not On Top) techniques paired with brackets and slopes for the purple surrounding it. The articulation of the figure is well worth the sacrifice of the transforming elements. The figure has bend at the shoulders, elbows, ankles, knees, hips, head, and waist–not to mention the articulation in his wrist and fingers.

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An inspired basilisk

This little LEGO creation by KitKat1414 may sit on a tiny base but it packs a huge amount of skill. KitKat says this fantasy build is based on the ruins of St Andrew’s Cathedral, and the mottled stonework is excellently sculpted to portray the decaying Gothic architecture using a wide variety of grey elements. The green basilisk is wonderfully articulated circling the spire, and the face is a masterwork of brick techniques, of which the best might be the two baby dragons that combine to form the nose.

How a handful of LEGO minifigs can support the medics and other Ukrainian heroes on the frontlines of Russia’s invasion [Feature]

As dawn broke across Ukraine on February 24th this year, the Russian Federation launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine. In my day job, I’ve been working with software development teams in Ukraine for nearly 15 years, mainly in Kharkiv, barely 30 miles (less than 50 km) from the Russian border. In the first hours of the invasion, I messaged an old group-chat from my previous job saying, “Stay safe, my friends.” My former colleagues began waking up to air raid sirens, rocket attacks, and fighter jets roaring over their heads, and I watched their online status turn from yellow to green as they began sending brief replies saying they were safe so far.

Brickmania “Ghost of Kyiv” custom Mig-29 fighter jet kit

Through colleagues like these in Kharkiv, Odesa, and the capital Kyiv, as well as ex-pats here in the US, I’ve grown to love the Ukrainian people and their independent spirit. Ukrainians have been fighting for freedom and democracy ever since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. That fight became much more visceral in 2014, when a democratic “Revolution of Dignity” overthrew a corrupt, oligarchic and pro-Russian government. Russia’s Vladimir Putin immediately responded by annexing Ukraine’s Crimea region and began a proxy war to take over the industrial Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. This led not just to atrocities like the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 that year, but an ongoing Russia-backed insurgency against the democratic government in Kiev — for many in Ukraine, the Russian invasion began in 2014, not on February 24, 2022. But since February, through the Russian army’s mass killings of civilians in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, and elsewhere; ethnic cleansing of over 2 million Ukrainians to Russia; and ongoing indiscriminate rocket attacks and air raids against civilian targets like schools and shopping centers throughout Ukraine today, the full-scale invasion this year has proven that Russia intends to commit terrorism and ultimately genocide against the nation of Ukraine and its people. In the 5 months since the Russian invasion, most of my old team relocated to western Ukraine, though nobody in the country is safe from Russian rocket attacks and bombing. Some staff from my old company chose to stay behind in Kharkiv, and at least one has even laid down his life defending his city and his nation.

Something wicked this way comes...

1:1 scale builds fascinate me and how the builder has used LEGO at this scale to display the subject of the build and furnish with detail. This LEGO build from BrickheXe has certainly cast a spell on me! This builder has constructed a Witches Grimoire, ink, and quill for capturing those last-minute spells and curses.The construction of the book is nicely done, clasped, and bound by making excellent use of a Dots bracelet whilst the front cover is effectively decorated through the use of various Gold pieces to serve as embossed detail on the witches tome and embellished with a mysterious purple stone and complimented with the burning candle for those middle of the night spell castings!

There’s some great parts usage in constructing the candle, the hockey stick in clear view works incredibly well for oozing wax and I appreciate the creative ways builders employ unusual parts into their builds! Without using any feather pieces, the construction of the quill perfectly captures the fluffy, feather qualities of this scribes tool complete with accompanying Ink well using all the right parts to finish this collection of ethereal trinkets. Collected together, I can imagine this sat on a Witch or Wizards shelf alongside the Hogwarts Icons!