World-renowned LEGO builder Ivan Martynov has a new digital creation with a rather serious and timely message. Here we see a person clearly in a position of power. He has a device that launches nuclear weapons; “The Football” as it is sometimes affectionately called around here. Yielding this power can bring fear and respect but also devastation to himself and his people. Former President John F. Kennedy once said “Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness.” That is certainly a heavy burden to think about. With great power comes great responsibility. That’s something my dad said. Or did I hear that from Spider-Man? I don’t know. Either way, I’d rather think back on my carefree old days of going to The Rocky Horror Picture Show and, if you’ve ever been, you’ll know where I pilfered the title of this article.
Category Archives: LEGO
This massive LEGO castle is full of little details to keep you coming back
LEGO Builder Mark Erickson (Mark of Falworth) is no stranger to The Brothers Brick and shows no signs of stopping. His latest castle creation is titled “Storst Castle”, and there’s a lot to unpack. It’s one thing to craft a large-scale LEGO castle, but it’s an entirely different thing to incorporate it into a lush setting including an idyllic pasture, water, and an active underground hill. I love builds like this that have a grand scale, yet also have little stories playing out. It will pay to take your time to really dig into all the little details on this huge diorama.
LEGO reveals 40516 Everyone Is Awesome with 11 monochrome minifigures as a Pride flag [News]
LEGO is celebrating diversity by revealing a new product that features 11 monochrome minifigures arranged as a Pride flag. 40516 Everyone Is Awesome was designed by LEGO’s Vice President of Design Matthew Ashton and draws its name from the catchy tune in The LEGO Movie. Ashton says, “I wanted to create a model that symbolises inclusivity and celebrates everyone, no matter how they identify or who they love.” The company plans to for the set to be available in time for Pride Month in June. With 346 pieces and 11 minifigures, the set will be available June 1 for US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £30.
Celebrate Pride with LEGO 40516 Everyone Is Awesome [Review]
Over the past several years, the LEGO Group has significantly enhanced its messages of diversity and inclusion across its corporate policies, advertising, social media, and even in related media like The LEGO Movie franchise. The LEGO hobbyist community includes amazing, wonderful people from all over the world, of every sexual orientation and gender identity. Seeing someone like ourselves represented through our favorite building toy truly matters, but until the announcement of 40516 Everyone is Awesome today, LEGO hasn’t released a LEGO set that fully embraces and celebrates the company’s myriad LGBTQ+ fans and employees, including people of color. Featuring 11 colorful minifigures with a rainbow backdrop built from 346 pieces, the set will be available on the first day of Pride Month 2021, June 1, for US $34.99 | CAN $44.49 | UK £30.
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.
Read our hands-on review of LEGO 40516 Everyone Is Awesome
Bricklink Designer Program is being extended with new structure [News]
The Bricklink Designer Program, also known as the AFOL Designer Program (ADP), is being extended due to the global COVID-19 situation along with the feedback from the community. The crowdfunding was to begin in June 2021, with September 2021 being the date for realizing projects. In the new structure, there will be 3 rounds for crowdfunding, starting July 2021 and continuing in September and November 2021. 8 projects will be nominated for the first round in July, and 8-10 projects will be nominated for the other two rounds. The production-ready projects can be supported by pre-ordering on Bricklink starting from July 1st.
A black and blue Tytharer swoops in
Let’s start with the obvious; this monster Tytharer by Aiden Rexroad is incredible. The combination of traditionally mechanical parts like black Hero Factory armor and hoses actually feels organic here, thanks in large part to the medium azure Technic axle connectors flowing along the back. But it’s the subtle curve in the water below the beast that makes this LEGO creation feel alive to me. There’s an impression that the same wind keeping the creature aloft is churning the sea below it. And even though the base of this creation is only a fraction of the length of the centerpiece beast, it’s impossible for me not to imagine an entire ocean stretched out below him.
Somber castle tower in a placid swamp
This LEGO castle tower creation by Roger Cageot is a fun exercise in creating round walls and combining muted and vibrant colors. I love the green color of the lake and the way the yellows are combined. The simple wooden drawbridge is a fun feature, and the morose tree adds a somber feeling to the creation. This could easily live in the world of the LEGO Ideas 21325 Medieval Blacksmith with its dilapidation, colors, and energy.
LEGO Creator Expert 10292 Friends: The Apartments [Review]
Following up on the LEGO Ideas set 21319 Friends: Central Perk released in 2019, LEGO recently announced LEGO Creator Expert 10292 Friends: The Apartments. Full of details designed to recreate memorable moments from the TV series, the set includes 2,048 pieces with 7 minifigs, and will retail for US $149.99 | CAN $199.99 | UK £134.99. The set will go on sale June 1st, with early availability on May 19 for LEGO VIP members.
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.
Read our hands-on review of LEGO Creator Expert 10292 Friends: The Apartments
It takes Ingenuity to fly a craft on Mars
What does NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer Stephen Pakbaz do for fun when he’s not working on real-life Mars vehicles? Well, it turns out he builds Mars vehicles in LEGO. Here is a 1:1 scale, motorized model of the Ingenuity Helicopter that spans about four feet (1.2 meters) across. In case you’ve been living under a meteorite this past month this craft has made headlines with a number of historic flights.You can keep up with the latest real-life shenanigans of the helicopter on Mars on Nasa’s official website. As for LEGO-life shenanigans, you may notice that Stephen has also built the Ingenuity a leeetle friend in 1:3 scale. That one he has launched on LEGO Ideas in hopes of gaining the votes needed to maybe make it an official set at some point. This isn’t Stephen’s first orbit with LEGO Ideas. He was successful in turning the Curiosity Rover into an official set back in the early days when LEGO Ideas was called Cuusoo. Check out our interview from 2013.
This temple of the rising sun is shining bright
There’s something mysterious about ruined temples weathered by years, and the forces of nature, like this sun temple by Mountain Hobbit, while the steps and the path have fallen apart and the broken pillars no longer hold up whatever it was they help up, the symbol of the sun is completely undamaged. The patchwork arrangement of plates and bricks at 90-degree angles gives a very man-made touch to the wall, and while the sun may be the focal point of the model, I think the real star of the show are those rocks, constructed with multiple separate assemblies with studs pointed in all directions, intertwined with brown vines.
A tambour drawer conceals hidden treasure [Video]
The simple yet mesmerizing features of a roll-top desk have always been interesting to me. I’m not sure why we’ve found creating round shapes out of smaller straight ones so amusing, but nevertheless we can’t help ourselves. More intriguing still is the tambour desk or drawer. Named such for the typical design of wooden slats glued to stretched canvas, opening one drawer reveals two! And it’s even cooler in LEGO form. This version by Jason Allemann couldn’t be better executed – at first glance it doesn’t seem all that exciting…
But how do you open the top? Don’t let the treasure-chest look fool you – it doesn’t lift it like a lid. Just pull the front drawer and you have access to both top and bottom compartments! See? Mesmerizing.
Thankfully, the tag-team duo of JK Brickworks loves to show how they build things, and often post instructions too! While you’re here, check out more of their LEGO creations!
Updates on the LEGO VIP program; next VIP Collectible Coin available May 20 [News]
This morning, we had the chance to participate in a discussion with Jason Whiting, LEGO’s Global Director of the VIP Program, and were able to learn some interesting insights into the program and future plans for it as well as discussing some of the issues that fans have experienced. This comes as LEGO announces that the fifth and final VIP Collectible Coin will be available on May 20, as well as announcing that previous coins will be available again in the future. While LEGO has not yet confirmed when the rest of the coins will be back in stock or what the quantities on them will be, we did learn that LEGO intends to re-stock the previous coins (including the wildly popular Classic Space Coin) using the same listing, so VIP members who redeemed them already will not be able to redeem them again. This should give fans who missed any of them the first time a better chance at getting them this time around. LEGO did not rule out the possibility that if demand falls short on the second run, they may remove the 1-per-account limit. There is no word yet if LEGO also plans to re-stock the coin holder, which was a separate reward from the coins.
The LEGO Coin Collectible series is an ongoing VIP Reward and is released featuring a coin each month since January 2021. The 5th and final LEGO collectable coin will be available in the LEGO VIP Rewards centre (US | CAN | UK) on May 20, 2021.