Castle has been on a wonderful resurgence of late, and Goran Maksimovic adds some great personality to the mix. A wonderful little tower is being scaled as one of the culprits falls. Each of the four faces seen on the minifigs tells a great story of the action scene. It can take some effort going through minifig face designs, but Goran shows us the effort pays off in the enjoyment of the scene.
Designed with collaboration in mind, the festive LEGO 41843 Family Christmas Tree invites families and friends to build together. With split instruction booklets, modular sub-builds, and clever engineering, the set allows for simultaneous progress, turning construction into a shared experience. In our house, that meant an all-hands-on-deck build session with both kids and grown-ups chipping in for a bricktacular afternoon of holiday fun. Packed with whimsical minifigures, hidden play features, and a finished design that’s perfect for display or imaginative play, this is a set that brings holiday magic to the table in more ways than one.
The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Come along as we unwrap LEGO’s biggest holiday set together
When I first glanced at this design, I thought it was a retake on the 2023 Concorde set (10318). But Kurt’s MOCs has done better than that with the North American XB-70 Valkyrie, a supersonic bomber from the Cold War era. Only two Valkyries were produced as it was only a prototype from the arms race for faster and higher flight. Kurt displays a strong skill with digital LEGO work on this minifig-scale design.
Kurt’s renders of military jets come highly researched and immaculately detailed and are always accompanied by in-depth facts and history that make his digital LEGO creations an excellent resource for aviation buffs.
It would be an understatement to say that LEGO Star Wars 75419 Death Star has been a Force Lightning rod for controversy since it was formally revealed last week. As you can tell from our review, the hands-on experience left us feeling as fried as Luke after his encounter with the Emperor. Surprisingly, the accompanying gift with purchase 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack, has generated almost as much attention, mostly negative. A lot of this stems from LEGO’s publicity photos showing the TIE Fighter with the set, despite it being a limited-time exclusive, garnering the label “DLC” after video games that seemingly lock off part of a complete game under a paywall. Even if that wasn’t the intent, it’s not a good look, especially when this “missing piece” is part of LEGO’s most expensive set yet. Questionable marketing aside, how does the bonus set hold up? And how does it compare with past Gifts with Purchase from past premium releases?
Our thoughts on the Tie Fighter GWP follow
Longtime readers of The Brothers Brick will definitely be familiar with the builds of Jordan Jivkov, better known as Dan Ko, one of the most prolific builders of recent years, who specializes in small models that are packed with personality and wit. He honed his skills as an Iron Builder and continues to show up in LEGO challenges like Brickscalibur and the Rogue Olympics. It’s no surprise he’s been featured here dozens of times since 2020. In addition to sharing his models, Dan has also been generous with sharing ad-hoc instructions for his most popular builds. This month Dan is starting a new venture: a website where Dan can release free digital instructions every week for delightful builds that can be made from a modest collection of parts. We thought this would be the perfect time to catch up with Dan on his site, his journey as a builder, and the state of LEGO fandom.
Click for our interview with Dan and some of our favorites of his tiny builds
Mediterranean architecture — like Mediterranean living — has a unique flavor to it, sun-kissed and rooted in tradition. Andrew Tate has captured a beautiful slice of it with his latest modular-style creation. While Andrew mentioned some of the really difficult connections (the SNOT shutters offset ever so slightly), so much of this building is very “normal” LEGO. Relax and take in those pleasing right angles! Even with new LEGO elements that come out every season, never underestimate the beautiful work that can be done with a standard LEGO brick. For an extra old-world touch, rather than use tiles for the sidewalk, Andrew uses the brick-embossed brick for the entire base…or as we call it in our house, the “brick-brick.”
Which is the best retro LEGO theme – Classic Space or Classic Castle? Richard Young (IamKritch on Flickr) dares to suggest, “why not both?” with the amazing Wolftron theme. Created for the Eurobricks Summer Faction Festival, Richard starts with a reimagining of the icond 6075 Wolfpack Tower, sticking with the retro colors to imagine a bold new future for the notorious scoundrels. (For those familiar with unreleased LEGO themes, you may see a resemblance to the “Greytron” designs.)
Of course, no LEGO space faction is complete without a roster of minfigs. The Wolftrons sport a mix of classic space accessories as well as some thematically-appropriate helmets. In addition to the brick-built robot, the faction includes an actual wolf. (What wouldn’t we have given for that wolf mold back when the Wolf Pack first debuted!)
Click to sink your fangs in more of the Wolftron faction
For minifig fans, there are few themes as enduring as the medieval knight. Classic castle themes brought the age of chivalry to LEGO back in 1978, and the factions introduced since then continue to grow to this day (you can even invent your own, like the chicken knights, with the Minifigure Factory). Today we’re taking another look at knights with a special focus on customized weapons and armor made from 100% LEGO parts.
Many minifig creators these days are inspired by the dark gothic settings of FromSoftware’s games. Natashia (motherofcatdragons) pays tribute to Elden Ring’s Night’s Cavalry, armed with a perfect flail.
Sandman_BrickStudio is a new face on the custom minifig scene but already creating some incredible characters. This helmet crest technique is brilliant, as is the truly epic two-handed sword design.
Red Impala repurposes a fencing helmet to equip this holy crusader. The ayers of cloth on the armor are so clean and effective. It would be a pity if this knight got blood on them.
Our celebration of medieval weapons and armor continues…
As a LEGO set designer for Elves, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Zelda, and Wicked, it’s fair to say that Wes Talbott knows a thing or two about bringing fantasy to life at minifig scale. Last year, the builder’s Fire Breathing Fortress reimagining with Chris Perron took our breath away. Now Wes is back with a trio of vignettes titled Dungeon Dangers. The first scene stars a hideous slime made from trans green macaroni tubes from the Dreamszzz sets. My favorite technique is the spiral columns decorated with thorny vines in metallic silver.
Wes was so pleased with the vignette design of a hexagonal base framed with three columns that he kept the pattern across the full serries. The crystalline spider sparkles, but again its the corners that capture my eye with an innovative technique for stalagnate columns. Apparently Wes came up with the concept a few years ago but never had a chance to use it until now. Spider eggs made from clusters of clamshells is another standout technique.
Wes’ final fantasy vignette follows, along with a bonus from the builder
LEGO has launched Rebuild the Galaxy, and builder lego_m.art has answered the call with a Blacktron version of the Star Wars snow speeder. Classic Space meets classic Star Wars using the new trans-yellow windscreen. The test pilot may look nervous, but the build is solid. I particularly love the classic space substitute for the rear harpoon.
If you’re a fan of LEGO and Transformers, then it’s almost inconceivable you wouldn’t know who Alex Jones is. His portfolio includes brick-built Autobots and Decepticons who turn into cars, trucks, planes, beasts, and some that even combine together! But for all he’s accomplished, Alex still had one building challenge he hadn’t faced – the Decepticon ninja warrior Sixshot, capable of transforming into six different modes!
Click here to have a closeup look a the dirty half-dozen.
Tired of waiting for official LEGO Pokémon sets? No problem, MitchBuilds has you covered. He recently debuted an extremely detailed build of everyone’s favorite fire-type Pokemon, Charizard. The final evolution of the Gen 1 starter is in full form here, with wide fabric wingspan (thanks to Lloyd’s Legendary Dragon) and a giant Duplo flame on his tail. The nice part usage to shape his face is expertly done, and you’ll notice unique build techniques throughout the entire model as you zoom further in. The debate over the best starter Pokémon will continue, but Mitch’s build makes a good argument for the correct choice: the Charmander line.
You can see the entire build assembled on YouTube here.