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.

An even taller Tallneck

Fans of Horizon: Forbidden West and/or fans of mechanical giraffes with disks for heads were thrilled to learn that LEGO has launched an official LEGO Horizon Tallneck set. Clearly, Nicola Stocchi falls into one or both categories, as he has built a UCS Tallneck. (I fall into only one category but more on that later.) What does this whole UCS business mean, exactly? Well, UCS stands for Ultimate Collectors Series. When someone slaps that moniker onto anything they have built this means you’re bound to get something bigger and much more detailed than your usual fare. This model lives up to its name as it was rendered using a whopping 7391 pieces! It stands 94 centimeters or nearly three feet high.

As I have never heard of the Horizon: Forbidden West game until we featured the article on the Tallneck set, I have learned that I fall into the category of people who love mechanical giraffes with disks for heads. This thing is amazing, even if you’re clueless about the source material. A quick Google search proves these are peaceful machines that serve as great communication towers. The 5G must be amazing around these things! My personal 5G coverage is great because I am vaccinated. While you’re mulling over that logic, tune your 5G to our archives and check out some other wild and weird creatures from the Horizon Zero Dawn francise.

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TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for March 5, 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 first full week of March 2022.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS After last week’s smorgasbord of LEGO news you’d think we’d take a week off here at TBB. Nope! The hits keep coming with a bevy of LEGO set reviews! We’ve got a Gift With Purchase review, two Harry Potter reviews plus Speed Champions, LEGO City Space, and Technic for your enjoyment as well!

[NEWS] LEGO Brick Sketches 40535 Iron Man and 40536 Miles Morales revealed — The Chris McVeigh-led Brick Sketches lineup continues with some Marvel superhero representation!
[REVIEW] LEGO Harry Potter 76396 and 76397 Hogwarts Moments: Divination and Defense Classes — Chris B cracks open the book(s) on two new entries in the Hogwarts Moments series
[REVIEW] LEGO Harry Potter 76399 Hogwarts Magical Trunk — What’s in the briefcase?? Chris B finds out.
[REVIEW] LEGO Technic 42139 All Terrain Vehicle – A vehicle that really does have it all — Bre takes on a Technic ATV
[REVIEW] LEGO City Space 60348 Lunar Roving Vehicle and 60350 Lunar Research Base — Space fan Chris M explores the new City Space lineup
[REVIEW] LEGO Speed Champions 76906 1970 Ferrari 512M, 76907 Lotus Evija, and 76908 Lamborghini Countach — Daniel hits the streets with a trio of new Speed Champions supercars.
[REVIEW] LEGO Gift with Purchase 40530 Jane Goodall Tribute — Chris M tells you whether its worth your USD$120 LEGO.com purchase to get this GWP available March 3-15, 2022.

Click through to read more LEGO news from around the world

VO-Eighty gets an overhaul after 13 years

After an almost five-year hiatus on his Flickr, builder Rob Dasnewten is back with another ship that almost blows the rest out of the sky. He must’ve been traveling the cosmos during that time, because the level of detail he’s returned with seems almost hands-on. Rob, are you actually from the future, or are you just a sentient being from a space-faring species? Yet again resurrecting the green cockpit design from several of his previous builds, he developed a ship that seems like a perfect upgrade to the VO-Eighty we covered back in 2009. Thirteen years is a long time in the LEGO world when you consider the number of new pieces and colors that have entered and forever changed the System. Even though it’s been five years since his last post, it’s clear that Rob hasn’t forgotten a thing and maybe even learned some more. Let’s see what this legend has to teach us.

Continue reading →

Get a load of this rover-loader

How many rovers would a rover-loader load if a rover-loader could load rovers? That’s the question that Tommy Frost asks us to consider with this delightful space forklift and the series of boxed lunar rovers that it’s got to pack onto (or off of?) a heavy-duty transport. There’s lots of whimsy packed into this scene of hard labor, from the jaunty tilt of the forklift’s roll bar to the hard-hatted foreman with a video monitor for a head. I wonder if the lower gravity makes the work go quicker. That would explain the huge smile on the forklift driver’s face.

Big Viking charm in a pint-sized package

Boy, do I like a good bit of clever figure-building, and in my opinion, if you want an interesting Viking facial hair, you just can’t go wrong when you go with Minifig hair, and a fancy rumpled collar. But Dan Ko didn’t stop there. A DOTS bracelet adorns his mighty shoulders, while his helmet is topped with a pair of Minifig arms.

Check out the rest of this tiny trio

Light is Green, Trap is clean

LEGO builder Marco De Bon has created a movie-perfect 1:1 scale recreation of the Ghostbusters trap that looks like it truly could contain a focused non-terminal repeating-phantasm aka a class V full roaming vapor. Marco said he modeled his trap on a mélange of several films in the franchise (there is no single canonical version). The tiny details are what make this build work. For instance, look at the handle made of tires to add a nice ergonomic grip before sliding it across the ballroom floor of The Sedgewick Hotel. The interior of the trap also detaches so you can slide it into your custom made storage facility. Do look directly at this trap.

Big blue Ant

Community space vehicle building challenge FebRovery 2022 has come and gone but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to celebrate rovers. Inspired by the Classic Space color scheme and utilizing the seemingly popular Vidiyo cubes, LEGO builder Jan Woznica added a flair of futuristic character to this cargo carrier. Each wheel has working independent suspension, something Jan was rather proud of since he doesn’t really consider himself a “Technic guy.” Each of the cargo pods is also detachable so keep an eye out for any variants he might come up with in the future.

The rover is called the Ant because of the rigging around the drivers’ pod, which resembles the eyes and mouth of the little worker insect. Loaded as it is, there’s still room behind the Ant’s head to hold all the driver might need while out amongst the alien dunes and deserts. I could just see them strumming the guitar atop the blue cargo pod, night stars overhead while the greenhouse pod casts a dull glow on the sand and rock below.

Last year we awarded Jan Woznica with LEGO Creation of the Year for his Tales of the Space Age model series. Here he reminds us that he can build more than just eye-catching microscale displays. I can’t wait to see what else this year holds for him.

Meching the right moves

LEGO builder Marco Marozzi brings us this ironclad mech which is nearly all made of greys with just a touch of highlight colors, including the Ukrainian flag in support of their fight. The mech is a fine piece of work, capturing the rounded aesthetic that’s often seen in the Maschinen Krieger (Ma.K.) style. I particularly like the way the joint on the knee uses Technic liftarms to hold the ball rather than a standard ball joint receiver.

LEGO Gift with Purchase 40530 Jane Goodall Tribute [Review]

The latest set in LEGO’s ongoing influential personalities, 40540 Jane Goodall Tribute, celebrates Dr. Jane Goodall, the famed scientist whose groundbreaking work has expanded our understanding of primates. Like previous influential personalities sets such as 40450 Amelia Earhart Tribute and 40410 Charles Dickens Tribute, it features a small vignette on a display stand and is available only as a gift with purchase. This time around you’ll need to spend US $120 | CAN $TBD | UK £120 with LEGO between March 3 and March 15 in order to qualify. The set contains 275 pieces.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with a copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Read the full, hands-on review

We stand with Ukraine

In this time of strife pressing on the chest of the world, making it hard for all of us to breathe, there are people fighting for their lives and their land. Digital LEGO builder Chris Yu has joined countless others in showing support for the people of Ukraine as they fight off Putin’s mindless assault. The Brothers Brick staff stand with Chris in this testament of support. Simple color-blocking within the parts building this blue and yellow fist of power illustrates the strength of the Ukrainian people.

Major events like this make waves, and those waves wend their way through creative communities where expression of opinion and emotion reign. People inspired by the events of the world, like Chris Yu and others, make wonderful art worth sharing, not only for its message but also for the artistry in its execution. Our hearts go out to the Ukrainian and Russian families affected by this unfolding tragedy. We see your strength. May peace come swiftly to the hearts and minds of you all so that you may begin to move on with your lives as you wish.

Time to turn back the clocks with this monster from Yu-Gi-Oh!

LEGO builder Bodhimitri has constructed this fantastic model of Time Wizard from the classic card game anime, Yu-Gi-Oh!. The charming rounded shape of the creature has been perfectly captured in this model, even with the cogs around the face and the staff in hand. The pointed shoes are partially created by the use of sloped curved pieces and the wizard appears to be standing on a card version of himself. In the show, when this card activates its effects you have a 50-50 chance to destroy your opponent’s monsters or your own. It all depends on the result of where the spinner lands, located on Time Wizard’s staff. Let’s hope this is one lucky spellcaster!

Theodore Q. Spacepants cares about the environment and stuff

This past month we featured a lot of LEGO space rovers because of Febrovery or something. Well, it’s now March but we’re still having plenty of fun with it. Take this awesome rover by Tommy Frost for example. With a couple of VIDIYO Boomboxes, four knobby tires, and some weird plant life, we’re whisked away to another planet, one that Theodore Q. Spacepants is happy to be a part of. You see, Theodore cares deeply about environmental issues and volunteers for the B. Good Foundation’s Spaceplant Conservation Project. he says it wasn’t really a job because he didn’t get paid but, like most things we volunteer for, it was a whole pant-load of fun. That’s pretty much how I describe my time spent here volunteering for The Brothers Brick, a pant-load of fun. Check out why we think Mr. Frost is also a pant-load of fun.