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.

So, head or no head?

Guys only want one thing and it’s disgusting. However, in the world of praying mantises, that doesn’t always work out. It’s the lady who gets the head — literally. Expert builder Djokson sets the table for a romantic candlelit dinner, with fancy tablecloth and a glass of wine. Lady mantis appears to have been stood up by her suitor, until her meal is served on a big platter.

Date Night

While this is a fun scene, we have to talk about NPU when we write about Djokson’s many ingenious creations. For example, Lady mantis wears pieces of cloth that can only be from either Scala or Belville — two old LEGO themes full of large dolls. It’s just hard for me to pinpoint which cloth piece is from which. However, the eye sockets of each mantis are the shoes of said dolls, with the good old minifigure arms wedged inside them. Other pieces include the rubbery Krana and Kraata from Bionicle, which Djokson uses in the head and stomach respectively. I also enjoy the use of the fantastical key element from LEGO Elves, which gives the elbows a spindly look.

I guess you could say Djokson’s builds make me… lose my head.

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Elvish minstrel serenades woodland creatures

This fun LEGO build from Markus Rollbühler was created as a reward for the fan challenge Summer Joust 2021. The color choices work well together, and there are some creative parts used, like minifigure hands and feathers for the birds, and the cat tail piece used for the squirrel’s tail. I especially love the orange/white balance between the tree and the minstrel.

Summer Joust 2021 Prize: Creating an Atmosphere | Woodland Minstrel

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LEGO microscale Razor Crest from Star Wars: The Mandalorian [Instructions]

The hit Star Wars series The Mandalorian premiered on Disney+ in 2019 introducing us to an instantly iconic ship, the pre-clone wars era starship known as the Razor Crest. And before you make your jokes about a microscale model of the Razor Crest really just being a pile of loose parts, I like to remember her in her prime.

Wait, what am I saying? From the very first episode, she’s been grabbed by a space walrus, scrapped by Jawas, shot at, jumped on by space spiders, dunked in the sea, shot at again, and more. But if you want to remember her as she once was, soaring through the sky over Navarro blasting TIE fighters to bits, you can follow along with these instructions for a desktop model, designed by me. It even includes a poseable stand! Click here to download the LEGO Razor Crest Instructions by Daniel Fortine

 

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Away from the hustle and bustle

Riff raff! Street rat! I don’t buy that! But I would definitely purchase this little scene if it was an actual LEGO set. There’s nothing like a quiet Middle Eastern street to bring peace to my day. Builder Jesse van den Oetelaar easily captures the tranquility of this moment with his skill in using a variety of building methods. I love how the street was formed in a way to allow for cracks, with plants on occasion growing through. The brickwork of the buildings speaks to the age of this setting: long ago, yet the houses and walls have already existed for centuries. The wooden container in the corner is made of two buckets and two black rubber bands, cleverly making it look like a real barrel. There’s so much I want to explore in this little alleyway!

The city streets

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Cop these crispy, deadstock kicks

It seems that Sneakerheads have found a new way to collect their favorite classic designs without devastating their bank accounts. Ever since the introduction of the LEGO 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar set, I’ve personally been looking forward to seeing how sneaker fanatics would adapt their own bricks into iconic shoes from the past and present. Builder John Huang is one such inspired fan. He’s made a few different sneakers so far but this Adidas Stan Smith model is the first to feature a brick-built display. The shoe itself is well built, capturing the sleek, simple design of its namesake and its patch of vivid green on the heel. The display stand for the shoe is based on the lid of an Adidas shoebox and John did a great job at capturing the angles of the iconic Adidas stripes, as well as the logo on the sides of the lid.

LEGO x Adidas Stan Smith

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This pipe is occupied by a pernicious piranha plant

You’ll need perfect timing to get past the snapping jaws of the lovely and deadly piranha plant unless you’ve got a power-up or an extra life up your sleeves. This pixel-perfect model of the most deadly of deciduous plants from the world of Mario, by ZiO Chao is packed with great details. From the gently curving leaves to the rounded Mario-munching mouth to that shiny pink tongue.

Piranha flower

Check out the poseable stem on this beauty!

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Leaving LEGO Masters S2: We sit down with the fourth team to leave [Feature]

The fifth episode of LEGO Masters Season 2 has aired. A new episode means another winning build and unfortunately, another team elimination. After each episode, we’ll be meeting these teams as they continue on their LEGO journey with the show behind them.

We sat down for a talk with the fourth team to leave this season along with our friends from Brickset, BZPower and True North Bricks. We chatted about engineering, building relationships, building on memories and the art of playing well.

Read on, but beware… Spoilers lie ahead!

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LEGO DOTS 41932 Extra DOTS – Series 5: A glowing new assortment [Review]

It feels like it was just yesterday (Okay, it was March) when we took a look at the Extra DOTS series 4 packs. (It was so recent, in fact, that I copied this intro paragraph from that review.) But LEGO has gone rapid-release on us, and now there’s already a whole new set of unique printed tiles to collect and colored elements to stock up on. Packs of 41932 Extra DOTS – Series 5  are available now from the LEGO Shop Online for US $3.99 | CAN $4.99 | UK £3.99.  We bought a few to see what this latest not-quite-blind-pack has to offer.

Click to read the full hands-on review

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Vampire gets his crypt redecorated

In 2002, LEGO released the studios sets in which the heroes battled the classic monsters. Vampire’s Crypt was one of the 2002 sets featuring Dracula. Dracula has been doing more than fighting heroes and biting necks for the past few years. In 2012 the exterior of his castle got a serious upgrade with the Monster Fighter theme. The interior however stayed quite simple. In this creation by GunnBuilding it looks like Dracula hired the Fab Five to redecorate the inside of his castle. If you take a close look at the 2002 sets you’ll notice that it came with two cardboard backdrops. The brick built backdrops GunnBuilding created for the build match the original backdrop’s aesthetic perfectly. Elongating the candelabras with some gold parts is a very nice idea. The best thing about this little build however, has to be the torches mounted on the wall using 1×1 round plates with a hole in the stud and a minifigure screwdriver . The cross shaped pedestal for the coffin is a very nice touch.

Vampire's Crypt

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The houses of blues

This is a street that makes me feel the opposite of the blues! Kristel Whitaker built a collection of identical townhouses inspired by the colours of the world’s oceans – and also LEGO’s many blue colours. Titled “Ocean Drive”, this build is not only the modular houses but an immersive scene of its residents. The children – currently on summer holiday – are playing outside with the cats while their grandma sits on the front steps. The others come and go, both for work and leisure, and the resident flamingo watches the neighbourhood amongst the flowers. Life is good in the big city.

Ocean Drive

I love how this is reminiscent of London’s famous Portobello Road, which features similar Victorian-terrace houses. Each of LEGO’s common blue colour looks good – especially teal! This scene radiates a certain warmth, both because of the inclusion of light aqua and medium azure, and also the flowers in each garden. I also like the architectural detail of white flowers in the crest that separates the first and second floors. It’s definitely a street that I would love to live in!

Check out more of Kristel’s lovely builds here!

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.

Soaring Swordfish is one sharp looking fighter

With the live-action version of Cowboy Bebop scheduled for release later this year, it’s great to see a build which harkens back to the original anime. The Swordfish II is one of the main ships from the show, often pushed to its limits as it chases bounty targets. Christopher Hoffmann has created this incredible rendition in Lego form and demonstrates his inventive usage of parts. The ship almost looks like a dagger, ready to pierce through the sky. To achieve this aesthetic, Christopher has used wing pieces to create the ship’s blade-like nose cone. Wheel cover parts emphasise the round proportions of the cockpit, encircling the domed viewport.

Swordfish II 2019 Remix

At first, it’s easy to mistake the main gun to be made up of black candlestick pieces but it’s actually created by connector parts with a bar piece running through the barrel. The stand is also a great addition making this build feel as though it is an official model. The edges of the stand are created by angled bumper pieces which nicely compliments the proportions of the ship. And with that, the Swordfish II is ready to blast off into space. See you, Space Cowboy.

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.

Draw your sword from Fiona’s Forge

This is one of the best fantasy LEGO builds I have seen all summer. Check out ForlornEmpire‘s recent creation, “Fiona’s Forge.”

Fiona's Forge

Wow. Just, wow. Everything about this is a world unto its own. How did ForlornEmpire cram in so much detail so subtly into such a small space?

Let’s start at the bottom: the molten metal flowing under the steps into the casting racks is just unbelievable. I would have never thought to use window bricks to showcase the flowing metal beneath it.

The chain on the bucket looks like it was painstakingly made, using bucket handles, and… wait a minute, are those headlamps from the 2009 Clone Walker Battle Pack? Who would have thought to use such obscure LEGO pieces as a chain? While we’re talking about obscure bricks, I have to mention the Unikitty tail pieces used as supports for the shelf near the roof in this build. Such creativity! Such inspiration!

My only regret is that there aren’t any other images of this build. You’ve done it again, ForlornEmpire.

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.