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.

Yngwie Malmsteen arpeggios your face off far beyond the sun

With LEGO coming out with the official Fender Stratocaster set it was only going to be a matter of time before someone becomes inspired to build guitar legends who play the Strat. It has happened and that builder is Steven Wayne Howard and the guitar legend he has built is none other than Yngwie Malmsteen. This guitarist is so legendary that throughout the 80’s I thought his middle name was Freakin’ or some variation thereof. One of the builder’s absolute favorite performances of his was from the live show in Leningrad in 1989. He has rendered Yngwie’s resemblance nicely; his heavy metal hairdo comprises mostly tree sprigs in brown, the ruffles of his shirt use the solar deltoid part. Even his pants appear to be leather thanks to some rendering trickery and lighting. Steven tells us this creation is 2,642 pieces and is 30 inches tall.

This shot offers a close-up view of his face and those aforementioned LEGO solar panel pieces nicely mimicking a ruffled effect.

You LEGO purists may want to cover your tender ears because it’s about to get cray-cray up in here. Steven tells us that this was created digitally using Bricklink Studio, Mecabricks, Cinema4D, Octane, Greyscalegorilla, and Photoshop on a Puget Systems computer. Now that’s freakin’ metal!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

A look at the next Harry Potter GWP set: 40252 Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms [Review]

Any fan of the Harry Potter movies can recall the iconic scene where he is introduced to his first chocolate frog. Unfortunately, it jumps out the train window before he can taste it, but the real focal point is the included trading card. All at once, Harry is introduced to wizarding candy, a hobby, moving portraits, and, of course, Professor Dumbledore. (Plus, as we recall later, the existence Dumbledore’s important friend, Nicolas Flamel.) These trading cards have now become a “collect them all” feature of recent sets – a smart move by LEGO. If you’re hunting for the cards (2×2 tiles), or completing a Hogwarts castle, you may want to consider planning your next LEGO shopping trip between October 25th and November 7th, where you can get 40452 Hogwarts Gryffindor Dorms as a free gift with any Harry Potter themed purchase over US $100 | CAN $100 | UK £100.

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 take a closer look!

There are rally cars, and then there is Lancia

As a little kid, I was so confused with how people could tell all the sports cars apart: they are all red, look sleek and drive super fast! How do you know which one is which without looking at the logo? As it turned out, all the iconic cars are actually so different, you need no more than 8 LEGO studs in width to capture a unique character. And this is exactly what Jerry Builds Bricks did with the lovely Lancia Stratos.

A 5-year-old me would not believe it if I told myself I could instantly recognize Lancia just in a straight row of curved slopes and the iconic headlights. And as an adult LEGO builder, I appreciate how the bulky Speed Champions canopy is fitted here. If only this small model had working suspension…

The droids you weren’t looking for

Expert builder Tim Goddard is no stranger to grey greebly things. Co-writer of LEGO Space: Building the Future, he excels in spaceships, space stations, space robots, and really anything to do with space. This collection of robots—sorry, droids—must have been child’s play for him, as they are as simple as they are accurate.

While the astromech, the treadwell, and mouse droids are something we’ve seen in Star Wars numerous times, the larger Binary Loadlifter isn’t as common. Essentially a walking forklift, a plethora of greebly parts make up this lanky mechanical beast. Cabinet doors make up the arms, which provide ample space to lift even the large Imperial crates we see. But my favourite parts usage has to be the use of black Bionicle Toa Metru leg armour as the base for one of the smaller droids. Is it a mouse droid? No, those are the tiny ones. Mouse droid XL? My droid knowledge escapes me…

Tim even built a diorama of a room storing some of the crates. This could either be on the Death Star or aboard a Star Destroyer, since the white vertical lines are a defining characteristic of the Empire’s space brutalism. Tim’s iconic greenling takes a minimal approach here, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It enhances the mechanical nature of this cold room somewhere in the coldness of space…

Check out more of Tim’s builds here!

If you need to start a fire, this robot may be able to give you a hand

This fiery machine was built by Alex_mocs and uses a variation of unusual parts. To begin with, the head is represented by part of a midak skyblaster from the Bionicle theme. The main weapon of this robot is the flamethrower on one of its arms which appears to use a spring from a shock absorber piece. Tyres cover up some of the exposed sections of the joints, making the build feel all the more complete. What about the odd cloth piece around the neck? It is actually a sail piece of the Silent Mary ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean set.

From the video, you can see the model has a fuel tank on its back which is portrayed by the storage section of the midak skyblaster.

If this build wasn’t strange enough for you, we have plenty of articles relating to weird robots, which can be viewed here.

LEGO bust of Nefertiti captures ageless beauty

Although Koen Zwanengburg may not be as prolific as some builders, he makes up for it in sheer quality and talent, winning TBB’s LEGO Creation of the Year award for 2020 with his 16,000 LEGO brick mask of King Tut, for example. Koen follows up that Egyptian-themed LEGO creation with a depiction of the woman most modern scholars believe was Tutankhamen’s mother, Queen Nefertiti, the wife of the “heretic king” Akhenaten.

Koen has recreated the famous bust of Nefertiti sculpted by Thutmose, discovered in the artist’s ancient workshop in Amarna by German archaeologists in 1912 (and controversially still housed in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin rather than in its home country of Egypt).

See more details of this amazing LEGO sculpture of Nefertiti

Rising from the ash and fog is this incredible collection of LEGO buildings

If you’re looking for a LEGO masterclass in weathered architecture, Ralf Langer is your guy. He’s created a plethora of beautifully detailed buildings, structures, and scenes. He also kindly shares tips on how to achieve the techniques on his social media. This exquisite group of conjoined buildings is his latest addition, and it doesn’t disappoint! With a gothic vibe, they transform from a crumbling base into a colorful block you might like to visit.

Right now, Ralf doesn’t have many pictures available for this build. But as you can see, he uses a variety of cool techniques and color combos to achieve the vibe he’s looking for. These structures include great shaping tools, like hinges, hoses, arches, and even some minifigure posing handles. Even the sides less visible are stunning! There are loads of random tidbits that are worth a zoom-in, but one of my favorite part usages is the unique design created with mini copper Exo-Force legs. Gorgeous!

While you’re here, stick around for more of Ralf’s work. And if this isn’t your style, try out some other great architectural builds we’ve featured!

In the belly of the bass

Okay, so maybe it’s not a bass – it’s a European perch. But I couldn’t help using the alliteration there. This LEGO recreation of the perch, built by Jannis Mavrostomos, has some nice body-shaping and a good use of parts. But it’s really what’s on the inside (or flipside) that makes this build unique!

Click to see what the other side looks like!

A dead bird’s eye view

Every time I see builds like this my mind goes wild with ideas for Dungeons and Dragons-themed sets. Though the LEGO Group may never make that dream come true for me, at least I can cherish the ideas of builders like Hugo Rouschop. This Orc Watchtower is perched precariously around a giant bird skull upon a nicely sculpted, spire-like rock structure. We all know scaffolding and bones are essential components to orc architecture, as well as chains and hanging cages with, of course, more bones. Add a net and some ladders and you have a place any orc would be proud to work in.

This angle makes the giant bird skull much more obvious. The bony beak rises above the roof while the eyes lay just below the platform. That roof technique is achieved with a net wedged between tiles and plates above and slide shoes below. Attachment points on the support beams keep the roof in place while the rest of the structure naturally curves.

Hugo certainly has a knack for orc builds. He has a good eye for fantasy and his builds are imaginative and playful. Now that I’ve got orcs on the brain, I’m going to go catch up on Critical Role for the rest of the night. Thanks for that, Hugo. Really.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for October 23, 2021 [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 October 2021.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS This week was all about big sets… not as big as the Titanic we reviewed a few weeks ago, but still pretty big.

[NEWS] 4,000-piece 21330 Home Alone House unveiled — The latest LEGO Ideas set is the biggest one yet, at it is packed with references to the holiday classic.
[REVIEWS] LEGO Ideas 21330 Home Alone House — If you get stuck home alone this holiday season, you can keep busy building this set, iron not included
[REVIEWS] LEGO Technic 42131 Cat D11 Bulldozer — We dig into the latest giant bulldozer set from the LEGO Technic theme… (see what I did there?)

OTHER NEWS Pre-order your favorite Bricklink Designer Program sets, check out the latest in integrated tech to add to your LEGO Technic creations, get excited about the newest Harry Potter gift with purchase, and get ready to wear LEGO clothes from Target, that won’t kill your feet when you step on them in the night.

Second round of crowdfunding for the BrickLink Designer Program opens November 9th featuring these nine LEGO® IDEAS 10k Club Projects! – [Bricklink.com] — These fan creations sell out fast, so check out this announcement from Bricklink and pre-order yours while supplies last.
Meet the Raspberry Pi Build HAT: create with Raspberry Pi and LEGO® Education – [RasberryPi.com] — Bring your LEGO creations to life with the lates Rasbery Pi kits.
Hogwarts™ Gryffindor™ Dorms – [Lego.com] — The Gryffindor common room is the perfect place to display your collectible wizard tiles, 10pts to Gryffindor!
Target to release limited-edition Lego collection with clothes, accessories, home goods and more – [USAtoday.com] — The new clothing line from Target and LEGO looks as bright as the plastic bricks.

Down the Rabbit Hole with Gayle

Out of all the Disney movies, I think Alice in Wonderland is the one that has inspired LEGO builders the most. The wonderful world created by Lewis Carroll lends itself perfectly to be reimagined with LEGO. Gayle Spiller created the scene where Alice follows the white rabbit down the rabbit hole. Even though the scene takes place in the real world we already get a sneak peek of some of the things Wonderland has to offer. There are a lot of little critters around the rabbit hole. The presence of mushrooms also is a bode for things yet to come. Using frogs for foliage is all the rage as of recently so why not try it in autumn colours. If LEGO can pass frogs for cherry blossom then why not use them for autumn leaves. I am really wishing Gayle turns this into a series of creations because she tackled the first chapter so magnificently that I want more!

These Halloween houses are perfect for spooky season.

When you get right down to it, Halloween is all about the mystery of what lies inside other people’s houses. Sometimes it’s investigating what is causing the strange events connected to that spooky house on the hill. Sometimes it’s just a question of finding out which house on the block is handing out the best candy. Thomas Gion and his partner have built an ode to both situations with these seasonal microscale vignettes.

It’s up to us to go investigate, click here!