LEGO bricks are known to be extremely durable and it takes a rough magnitude of 4,240 newtons (950 pounds) to crush a single 2×2 brick based on tests by The Open University’s engineering department. The Hydraulic Press Channel, is known for crushing all sorts of things with a hydraulic press, and more recently, turning them into donuts. Their latest attempt is to experiment with LEGO bricks.
Click to see the video of LEGO being crushed into a donut
Last fall, LEGO held a vote to let fans pick the topic of its next adult-focused book. The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks, written by Daniel Konstanski, emerged victorious and has been available for pre-order via the crowdsourced publishing platform Unbound ever since. The book will not be available via normal distribution after the Unbound campaign, so with just one week remaining for pre-orders, we caught up with Daniel to find out what he’s been up to for the last nine months working on this book. Of course, we haven’t read the book yet, so we wanted to know a bit of what to expect from the finished book. Daniel says he’s been allowed full access to The LEGO Company’s archives—an unprecedented level of access—and has been delving through more than 600 pages of transcripts from interviews he conducted with LEGO employees.
He was able to share with us some exclusive sneak peeks, such as the dinosaur tribe that almost made it into the Legends of Chima theme. The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks will be published in 2022, though only available to those who backed the project on Unbound by May 31, 2021.
Click to read the full interview
With 11,695 pieces, the newest LEGO Art set 31203 World Map breaks the record once more with the highest piece count in a set in the company’s history, nudging out last year’s 10276 Colosseum by several thousand pieces. Like the Art sets released before, World Map consists mainly of 1×1 round tiles which create the continents and the oceans. The set is built on 40 interconnecting baseplates which can be arranged in 3 different ways to display different portions of the world in the center. However you arrange it, the set is 25.5 in. (65 cm) high and 40.5 in. (104 cm) wide. The World Map will be available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores globally from June 1, 2021, priced at US $249.99 | CAN $349.99 | UK £229.99, and from other retailers globally starting August 1, 2021.
Be sure to also read our full, hands-on review of the LEGO Art 31203 World Map mosaic, and check out the full press release and images below.
There are large LEGO sets, and there are really large LEGO sets. And then there are the ones that take things to an entirely different level. Say hello to the biggest LEGO set ever — LEGO Art 31203 World Map. At 11,695 pieces, this new LEGO Art mosaic is the largest set ever released, beating out the 10276 Colosseum by 2659 elements and the Star Wars 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon by more than 4000. But quantity doesn’t always match up with quality. Come along as we explore the highs and lows of this new set, which will be available June 1st from the LEGO Shop Online for US $249.99 | CAN $349.99 | UK £229.99 and will become available from other retailers globally from August 1st.
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
Sometimes when you are scrolling online, you happen to stumble upon an image that screams: Enough internet for today! Mischief Mecha’s latest LEGO creation had that effect on me. And I feel like I need to emphasize that this is a LEGO creation. I personally had to look twice. What gave it away to me was the hands and feet which are made of parts I recognized. The rest of this builds pieces remain a mystery to me. I do know some of the main focus parts come from the LEGO Galidor theme like this fur collar which is used twice and makes up most of the body. Whether you consider Galidor pieces or not to be actual LEGO is up to you, but you can’t deny that this is very clever, creative, and oddly mesmerizing to watch.
Builder Eero Okkonen has a history of building some impressive figures. A master of brick-built poseable models, his creations are full of character and story. The eye-catching designs always pull my attention to his intriguing use of pieces and array of techniques. This model, Archchancellor Ridcully’s Catch, has a magic about it that makes it clear Eero was harkening back to the classic fantasy series, Discworld. This Archchancellor is the wizard, Ridcully, out flyfishing on a relaxing morning and he’s certainly made a great catch here.
In this fully posable figure inspired by Sir Terry Prachett’s Discworld series, Eero’s use of rounded hinges and plates really help with the mobility of the legs. Meanwhile, 1×1 clips and the newer “stud with bar” help to achieve awesome angles with the arms. The hands are a bit simple, sure, but they still seem to provide great grip and dexterity! Also, thanks to the scale of the model, the fishing rod minifig piece fits perfectly in this flyfishing motif.
There are lots of things to appreciate about this model, so take some time to check it out! From the cape to the brick-built fish complete with a splash of water and framed by cattails, Eero Okkonen once again shows his skill with LEGO. I mean, just look at that beard and literal handlebar mustache! Find more through the links or by checking out his Flickr and Instagram @eerookkonen.
It’s that time of year again for some, particularly those who are already wishing it was autumn due to hot and humid weather. Well if you’re one of those people, you are sure to love Ayrlego’s model guard tower standing nice and tall in an autumn forest.
For the guard tower build itself, a number of brown and grey elements are utilized to render the stone and wood structure. Tiling is especially key to this build with the salmon-colored and tan tiles used at different elevations to render wood roof shingles. A couple of the old wavy flags in green and yellow are hung at the front of the building, denoting the city colors. This LEGO tower rests on an elevated brick-built terrain consisting of tan and olive green tiles, plates, and bricks instead of a baseplate. Of course, where there is a built structure, there should be some creatures around, and here we’ve got a couple of minifigures and the coveted LEGO goat hanging around the area. Lastly we have the brick-built trees displaying some crisp bright light orange tree branch elements. I can almost smell the autumn air through this build.
LEGO 40516 Everyone is Awesome set was announced just a few days ago. Designed by Matthew Ashton, Vice President of Design at LEGO, it is the first set that directly addresses the LGBTQ+ community.
Steampunk builds are always fun and in this LEGO model by Simon Liu we get a whole little town in micro-scale.
In this fun-looking town, life actually appears to be all work and no play; the buildings seem to be giant machines churning out the necessary widgets, you know, putting the steam in steampunk. Said steam is rendered by the 1×1 ice cream scoops element, liberally applied in multiples. A number of pearl gold LEGO pieces are also implemented in this build – necessary components to the overarching aesthetic. Perhaps my favorite portion of this build is the zeppelin transporting a dark red micro-figure around probably to his house, which might or might not be a clock.
Perhaps one of the most iconic scenes in Disney animated film history is depicted here in bricks, superbly constructed by LEGO builder Konoyaro.
In this model we have the ending scene from Beauty and The Beast all built up and spectacularly accurate to the film, from the windows with the dark blue 1×2 trans-clear bricks to the floors utilizing great tiling build techniques. The shapes, sizes, and poses of the brick-built characters are completely on point. Belle’s signature dress utilizes slope pieces in various forms and even bright light yellow claw elements with 1×1 cone pieces to accurately render the ruffles of the dress. The beast is also largely composed of slopes as well as bricks and both characters are constructed in a way in which a minimal amount of studs are exposed. With this build, Konoyaro truly translates the magic of Disney fairy tale films into a LEGO masterpiece.
Builders love to show off their anime-inspired robots, mech-suits, and vehicles. Who can blame them? They’re just so cool! The classic Cyberpunk anime Ghost in the Shell sports tons of futuristic designs for inspiration. Last year, Marius Hermann showed off his model of the anime’s popular spider-bot, the Tachikoma. This year, he decided to bring us the wasp-inspired Jigabachi.
As always, Marius was quite selective with his parts to remain faithful to the original design. A white Bionicle mask is used to model a specific version of the Jigabachi’s cockpit. Minifigure hands in yellow and black provide detail on the tail as well as on the rotor mast. The color choices really pop! I mean, sand green is always a personal favorite but seeing the surfboard smoothing out the main body of the model is a treat! Printed 1×1 tiles add extra detail to the wing sections while bars and rubber bands come together as the Jigabachi’s turret gun.
Many LEGO fans love to build miniature LEGO cities at home, and it seems that some minifigures share this passion. Tom, as depicted by Ben Tritschler, has build a small seaside scene that any human builder would be proud of. I see so much of myself in this little builder, albeit with a better hat and hair, and altogether cooler setup. Just look at his furniture: rather than simple vertical posts, he’s crafted some much more detailed table legs from modified round tiles and bar holders. Even the legs of his smaller work tables are repurposed bucket handles.
My favourite part of Tom’s little workshop though are his simple little buildings, using 1×1 printed plates to represent small buildings with doors. Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the techinic pin perfectly representing a little watchtower.