Thanks to sets like LEGO Art 31213 Mona Lisa we can experience a classic art as it be experienced by a LEGO minifig peering into our dimension. Bricko Nicko brings us one brick closer to a true LEGO reality by reinterpreting the Mona Lisa as the Renaissance minifig of Leonardo Da Vinci always intended – with a cylindrical yellow head, clamp hands, and an unambiguous smile just like everyone else’s. Truly this masterpiece belongs in the Louvre (21024).
Despite being named for a pretty basic letter of the alphabet, the A-wing is a notoriously tricky design to reproduce in LEGO bricks. The notch in the front, the smooth angles of the fuselage, and the tilted stabilizer fins don’t lend themselves easily to existing elements. But Inthert and Trevor.2004 set out to build an A-wing anyway. They managed the curves along the front with a flexible spike element, while the cockpit is made from Throwbot and Technic figure visors. The result is aesthetically pleasing enough that you’d think twice before, say, crashing it into the bridge of a Super Star Destroyer.
We’re back with the another round up of LEGO creations and builder news. This week aBrickDreamer considers YouTube as a place to discover new LEGO projects. How does YouTube figure in your enjoyment of the LEGO hobby? Tell us in the comments!
The odd scenario before you is a new LEGO creation featuring seraphim and cherubim by Haoming Qiu called “Social greeting between two angels”. I imagine the dark one says “Howdy do! I’m all dark and brooding and stuff”. Meanwhile the other angel is like, “Sup, brah? As hideous as I am, I’m actually a biblically accurate angel”. Then the dark one is like “cool, brah!” At least that’s my interpretation of the story. The builder didn’t offer any other clues. Let us know in the comments if you have a different dialogue for this admittedly fantastic pair.
Up here in the northern hemisphere, we’re properly in the depths of winter now, and this LEGO build from Jaka Kupina is here to remind us of the fact that it’s cold outside. Or is it? Certainly we’re in colder climes here: all that nicely clumped snow is a dead giveaway. But this is a house built for such weather, with a touch of Germanic or Scandinavian flair to last the winter. Its owner (that would be Harald) looks well-prepped, too – all that luscious black hair is sure to keep some heat in. Not that he might need it! He’s busy chopping firewood to warm up all those wintry nights. And that in itself will be enough to warm him up!
BetaNotus has been working hard to put together a lovely series of microscale LEGO train stations from along the Philadelphia main line. While the real life train moves through space, Notus’ builds bounce backwards and forwards through time to show off Philly’s architecture through the ages. Our first image spans almost 150 years of railroading history. Wynnewood and Bryn Mawr date back to the 1870s, while Merion and Haverford are dated to the 2000s (although Merion was actually built in 1918). Due to the micro-scale nature of these models, Notus has built with admirable delicacy. All the roofs of these stations are only a plate or two thick. The grand staircases up to Bryn and Wynnewood are built of half-plate-offsets
See some more micro-goodness here!
LEGO Creator 3-in-1 sets are great for builders with less experience as they provide instructions for multiple models using the same limited number of parts. They are also usually a good source for new or re-colored parts. The latest wave of sets coming out on January 1st is a good example, introducing several new parts in a few colors, and unlike some of the previous waves that were mostly the same color range, each of the sets in this wave features different colors. LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31169 Typewriter with Flowers includes 363 pieces and will be available on January 1st for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99
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.
Check out our full TBB review below!
With the holidays coming to a close, food consumed, and relatives gone home, you might think it’s time for a good solid nap—and the hero of Yuan He’s (aka BuildGoNuts) latest work would agree! The old gentleman has fallen asleep in his favorite rocking chair by the fire, midway through a book about boats and attended by his two cats. You’re probably not as comfortable as he is, but feel free to settle in as you peruse the fun little details surrounding him, from the pastries on the dining card to the model ship on the mantel. I also love the overlapping rounded bricks for the gramophone’s bell and the sideways grooved bricks used to get some fun texture on the rug. And that’s just scratching the surface of all the abstract little details on every surface that make the scene look so lived-in and cozy.
In the waning hours of 2024, Joss Ivanwood presented his final LEGO dragon for his Year of the Dragon project and it’s a doozy of a deer. Draconis Cervus takes inspiration from fallow and sika deer with their reddish nougat-colored fur and white underbellies. Joss tells us that the furry parts he has been using in this series are quickly becoming his favorite pieces but he takes particular pride with how the eyes turned out, which makes use of a Technic tow-ball inserted into a gray Mixel socket. What a lovely and satisfying end to an equally satisfying project! I look forward to whatever Joss will be doing in 2025. In the meantime, be sure to check out our Joss Ivanwood archives to discover highlights from the Year of the Dragon project and even older offerings from previous years.
We’ve hit the beginning of another month, and also the beginning of a new year. And of course that means new LEGO sets coming our way! We’ve got several new offerings from all across the themes, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Icons, to name a few. Here’s a selection of our favorites from the January 2025 wave below. But if you want to see everything in the new catalog, be sure to head on over to the LEGO website (US | CAN | UK). And of course, Happy New Year!
Check out our favorite sets in the January wave below!
Here at The Brothers Brick, we review many sets each year, and with over 500 official LEGO sets released in 2024 across every theme, there were certainly a lot of great sets that caught our eye, as well as a few that left us scratching our collective heads wondering what they were thinking. As we reach the end of another year of LEGO it’s time to look back over some of the best, and some of the worst (in our opinion) sets from LEGO to release in 2024. Be sure to let us know in the comments if you have any other nominations for best or worst LEGO sets from this last year.
Read on for our take on the year’s winners and losers
Last week, we introduced our shortlist of 10 creations that were in the running to earn a coveted title: that of our favourite LEGO creation of the year. Narrowing it down to that list was hard enough – there is so much talent in the LEGO community! Over the past week, we’ve had the unenviable task of picking out a winner. In our round-up of the TBB readers’ (hey! That’s you!) favourite LEGO moments of 2024, we were struck by how many people had listed conventions as their highlight of the year. After all, that is the best place for community – and to see jaw-dropping builds in person. Our winner this year is one such build, one that made a real impression on us both in the brick and online. It’s epic in size and scale, being made up of nearly 7,000 pieces. It’s wonderfully sculpted, with an entirely brick-built inner frame. And all that in an incredibly limited colour palette: gold!
And after all, it is the year of the dragon. Donny Chen‘s Golden Dragon is The Brothers Brick LEGO Creation of the Year 2024!
Read what else impressed us about Donny’s dragon!