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.

LEGO Ninjago 71761 Zane’s Power Up Mech EVO – Now with a frosty icing of extra weapons [Review]

Historically, the LEGO Ninjago theme has been based on the animated series – with released sets providing real-world playtime for what you saw on the screen. In 2022, however, LEGO is taking a different approach. As LEGO designer Niek van Slagmaat shared on Twitter, this wave is meant to be “a line of Ninjago that [will] not only stand on its own without content but also be the epitome of Ninjago toys.” That means no series tie-ins and a celebration of the “core values” of Ninjago. There’s still a unifying theme to this new group of sets – EVO. The idea is that a base model is upgraded with additional weapons to become more formidable. Sounds interesting, right? But how does it work out in practice? We’ve taken a look at LEGO Ninjago 71761 Zane’s Power Up Mech to find out. This 95 piece set will be available on January 1st for US $9.99 | CAN $13.99 | UK £8.99, but you can read all about it right now!

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.

Click to read the full hands-on review

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A tropical twist on an explosive device.

The video game Halo Infinite offers a variety of ways to let players customize their armor. Things like visor colors, decals, and ammo belts are available for the more serious Spartans. But, for players who like to get a little silly, the game offers options like teddy bears, sunflowers, and grenades that look like pineapples. Nick Jensen is no stranger to building life-sized Halo weapon replicas, and as soon as he saw the pineapple grenades on screen, he knew he had to build one. Nick’s done a fantastic job of replicating the shape and texture of the fruit-themed-weapon. Centering the 1×1 round plates in a square made from 1/4 round tiles is a technique that would be useful for decorating a variety of builds.

The best technique, bar none

OK, so maybe this isn’t the best LEGO technique of all time, but it’s surely one of the most tedious. The effect Andreas Lenander created by stacking a few hundred transparent blue bar 4Ls (AKA lightsaber blades) to create the shimmering portal is magnificent. The shadowy figure completes the effect, while the mottled brickwork gives the whole portal an eery, otherworldly feel. Now who wants to create a Stargate using this method?

2021 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 10

Happy holidays to all of our fellow LEGO builders! As is tradition, we at The Brothers Brick will be opening our advent calendars as we count down to Christmas. We’ll also be sharing commentary on each one, which we hope will provide insight and hilarity to your holiday season!

This year we have new Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, City, and Friends advent calendars to open. We will be sharing images of the new calendars every day through Christmas, and hope that you’ll join us! Let’s see what there is to open on Day 10.

Continue reading →

LEGO Technic BMW M 1000 RR K66 – A massive motorcycle for ultimate collectors! [Review]

LEGO has been making buildable motorcycles for ages. The first one, in fact, came in 1978 with 603 Motorbike, a 26-piece, minifigure-scale System model. Suffice to say, the company has come a long way since then. Sets are becoming decisively more giant and complex with each passing year. And the 44-year-old Technic theme has worked its way into a significant portion of all current sets. Flagship models in this theme have been fancy for a while, but now the theme is giving the “adult” VIP treatment to a collectors-style motorcycle. The company has teamed up with BMW Motorrad to bring their new superbike into homes everywhere with LEGO Technic 42130 BMW M 1000 RR. The 1920-piece set will be available January 1st and will retail for US $229.99 | CAN $299.00 | UK £174.99. Come along as we run it through its paces!

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.

Click to see the full, hands on review!

Been spendin’ most their lives living’ in a Theives’ Paradise

Renowned LEGO builder Bart De Dobbelear tells us that “The golden city ruins of Kadena were renowned for their loot and riches.” Oooh! It’s ours for the taking, then. Look at all that beautiful gold! Book my flight, I’m calling in sick! But then he goes on to say; “Many thieves tried their luck, but only a handful escaped the clutches of the city’s guardians.” Wait, guardians? I knew there would be a catch! Cancel that flight. I am not sure if the crazy-haired crab-robots or the two thuggish-looking fellows are the thieves or guardians. Perhaps the guardians are unseen and they’re even bigger and hideous-er than what is pictured here. Either way, I want no part of it. My sense of adventure ends right at making cheap and awkward intros but it really goes no further than that. I’ll just be happy with the pay TBB gives us. Wait, they pay us, right? Don’t they? It’s hard to keep track when everything is direct deposit these days.

While I work that out with TBB’s Human Resources Department, you can check out why Bart De Dobbelear is in a league of his own when it comes to creating fabulous textures and far-out alien worlds. Wait, do we have a Human Resources Department?

An X-wing of a different scale

How many different ways can you build a LEGO X-wing? It’s one of the most iconic ships for Star Wars, and builders have been trying their hand at it over and over, and some of these LEGO X-wings are quite spectacular. But most of them are minifigure scale, so what if you tried a different scale? That’s what Pascal has done, with this slightly smaller and lightly chibi-ized version. He first built it back in 2016, but recently returned to update it a bit, and the result is just lovely. Rather than being the perfect scale model of an X-wing, it looks like a perfect recreation of a toy X-wing, the sort of thing I’d have spent hours swooshing about as a kid making “pew-pew” noises.

Things are going swimmingly for this golden fish

This LEGO creation looks like something straight out of a steampunk world. Mihai Marius Mihu has built this intricately detailed mechanical fish, using a wide variation of parts. Wing and blade pieces represent fins, while there are all sorts of parts used across the body; branches, armour modules, claws and snakes. Around the eye, a tyre encompasses the pupil, represented by a crystal globe. The blue wing sections provide an excellent contrast to the golden colour scheme. It’s a fantastic build as you’re guaranteed to spot new clever details every time you look at it.

2021 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 9

This year we have new Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, City and Friends advent calendars to open. We will be sharing images of the new calendars every day through Christmas, and hope that you’ll join us! Let’s see what there is to open on Day 9.
Continue reading →

LEGO Ninjago 71766 Lloyd’s Legendary Dragon – You want wings with that? [Review]

Most Ninjago sets are based heavily on the tie-in media, but the latest theme, EVO, takes a different direction. As LEGO designer Niek van Slagmaat shared on Twitter, this wave is meant to be “a line of Ninjago that [will] not only stand on its own without content but also be the epitome of Ninjago toys.” That’s a pretty challenging goal, but it does open up a lot of creative spaces for new adventures. We’ll be taking a close look at most of these sets, starting with LEGO Ninjago 71766 Lloyd’s Legendary Dragon. This 747 piece set will be available January 1st, 2022 from the LEGO Shop Online for US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £54.99. Dragons are pretty safe territory for Ninjago – but how does this latest beast stack up?

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.

Click to read the full hands-on review

Horsing around under the sea with this LEGO seahorse

I have nothing but respect for any LEGO builder who participates in any Iron Builder challenge, the fan-driven challenge where a single seed piece is used in inspiring ways. The latest example is this build by -LittleJohn, where the seed part is the wind-up key in dark orange. Not only does it work perfectly as the wobbly bits along the seahorse’s back, but it also makes up the long kelp strings, held together by Minifig hands.

No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.

This fun LEGO creation by Fedde Barendrecht reminds me why I love James Bond movies. There’s always a certain formula to it involving an eccentric baddie with a sweet lair and a massive ego. Instead of just covertly shooting Mr.Bond any maybe ending the series twenty-some-odd movies ago, they possess a flair for theatrics. Usually, they strap the suave not-so-secret agent to some buzzsaw-crotch contraption while methodically telling him in full detail how he’s going to die. This gives 007 plenty of time to not only escape the predicament but also have a martini and a romp in the sack with some pretty lass or another. Total classic Bond stuff! If you like this, then check out how Fedde Barendrecht tickles our funny bones as well as makes us a bit concerned for his well-being on occasion. Also James Bond stuff!