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.

The day the LEGO brick was born – January 28, 1958 [Feature]

The 28th of January marks the birthday of LEGO — the day when various designs of the brick were submitted to the Patent and Trademark office, and celebrated today as International LEGO Day. The story of the LEGO brick has been told many a time, often glossed over and missing the exact point of discovery. It was only on July 8th, 2020 on Godtfred Kirk Christiansen’s birthday that we finally got some insight into how it all came together. An article was written by Mads Klougart Jakobsen, LEGO’s Manager, Internal Communications, which was only circulated internally for LEGO employees, but was eventually shared with the public LEGO fan community.

Click to dive into the history of the brick

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.

The envy of all band nerds

In 5th grade, my classmates and I had the option to pick up an instrument and join the school band. I desperately wanted to play the drums but my parents couldn’t stand the thought. My second choice was the saxophone, simply because it looked rad as heck. All those pearl and gold keys! Shiny, soulful, sultry: the royalty of reed instruments… This little sax, built by musician and LEGO artist PaulvilleMOCs , brings me back to those days. It truly is unique – especially this tribute, with its banana gooseneck and other neat elements such as binoculars and a roller skate for sections of the body/keys.

I’m envious of Paul and his saxophone, and I wonder if he plays as beautifully as he builds. Back then, my mom took me to the music store where I was already taking piano lessons, and upon hearing the “member discounted” price of a sax, almost had a heart attack. I ended up with a family friend’s clarinet – which felt like a small step up from the boring 4th-grade recorder. But as a dutiful band-nerd, I kept with it until I switched to its cooler cousin, the bass clarinet, in high school. One of a kind in a symphonic band of 60+. Total rockstar… And I could barely remember a lick of it now.

Sphinx Secret Surprise in micro scale

GunnBuilding made a creation inspired by one of the sets I regret not getting as a kid. It’s the 5978: Sphinx Secret Surprise and it is done in micro scale. The set is instantly recognizable. With the grey Sphinx statute, the black tent, an Anubis statue and the classic desert car. There are obelisks, a fire place, a palm tree and this micro model even comes with a raised base plate, just like the original set. The Sphinx supports a classic minifig smile which seems more than fitting since the statue in the set supported quite a simple face too.

A corner shop to rid all builder’s block

With the closure of shops and buildings, it’s been difficult for some builders to find their architectural inspiration. However, some have found ways to avoid that awful builder’s block. Drawing from both imagination and inspiration from Google Maps’ street view of Amsterdam, Thomas van Urk (aka Utanapishtim, aka Thomassio) has created yet another marvelous city modular. As always, this corner building looks incredibly clean and packed with architectural detail. Its dark tan facade is textured with masonry bricks, with a good balance of light gray bullions in its trim. The symmetry in the building overall is also incredibly satisfying to look at, not to mention the beautiful accented dark red windows at the front.

Like this builder’s style? Take a look at Thomas van Urk’s Fright Knights tribute, which I assure, you will find frighteningly amazing.

Yvan drops a powerful Deuce

It is moments like this that make me love this whole Brothers Brick gig. We find something cool while surfing the interwebs such as this custom LEGO Deuce Roadster by Yvan Bourdeau. We share this cool discovery with you. You, in turn, shower us with likes and comments and then maybe you are inspired to build something yourself. Shampoo, rinse, repeat. This custom roadster looks to be dropped, channeled and lowered, giving it a low and aggressive stance. Burnt orange and a light blue makes for a neat flashy color scheme and the exposed exhaust pipes are not without their charms. Throw in a cleanly built base and retro gas pump and you have yourself the makings of a day made just a little sweeter. If you’re like me, vehicles in general would make your heart go pitter-patter so enjoy clicking through the archives.

Ariandel inspired microscale church

I really enjoy it when a builder thinks outside the box. Nathan Hake shows us that he is very capable of doing so. For his micro-scale LEGO church, he used wheel cover with y shaped spikes for the main round window in the church tower. There are ice scates on the roof and the entrance is a plate with tooth which is brilliant in its simplicity. My guess is that this church is gothic inspired because it matches the 5 key architectural elements: large stained glass windows, pointed arches, ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, and ornate decoration. The ribbed vaults are a bit hard to spot from the outside, but we can all imagine them there, right?

Hold me closer, tiny dancer

Sometimes all it takes is a dynamic pose to elevate a simple build into a work of multi-sensory art. This build of a dancer by Swedish LEGO Masters contestant Rickard Stensby makes me feel many things across different senses. I instantly get the rush of awe and emotion one experiences when watching a live ballet performance from just looking at this build. The figure is in a perpetual pirouette with outstretched arms and legs, along with an upward-facing body. Rickard emulates the spinning motion with a functional rotating base, adding to the energy of this sculpture. In addition, the twirling dress contains intricate building techniques to capture the conical shape with creases.

If you like figures with natural shapes and energetic forms, then check out more sculptures here!

The LEGO Group collaborates with Universal Music to bring VIDIYO — a brand new line of music-inspired engagement with LEGO play [News]

Unveiled today, the new LEGO VIDIYO products are the result of a partnership between the LEGO Group and Universal Music Group, which was announced last April. The new sets promise an “innovative music video maker experience,” meaning LEGO is making new attempts to include smart devices into play. According to the press release, the new theme is aimed at kids aged 7-10 who are keen explorers of play and music. LEGO also guarantees a safe virtual environment for young content creators.

Click here to learn more about LEGO VIDIYO

Holy LEGO mosaic, Batman!

Brothers Brick contributor Chris Doyle is back with another heroic pop-culture mosaic in the LEGO art style. Completing his “Trinity” of retro DC superheroes is Batman as portrayed by Adam West. Because of course that’s the version he’d build.

The 1960’s Batman was a far cry from the grim and gritty versions on the screen these days. This was a Batman who was always looking for the best in people, who was always quick to lend a helping hand, and who’s level of violence was limited to “Biff!” and “Pow!” and the occasional “Splatt!” This is the Batman who I’d want to see in my dream Justice League, along with the Lynda Carter version Wonder Woman and Christopher Reeve’s Superman.

Continue reading →

Potions, potions, potions, everywhere you look

Gayle Spiller shows us she knows how to brew a potion or two with her latest LEGO creation. It depicts Dumbledore and Snape in what I guess is Snape’s classroom. And it looks nothing like the LEGO’s latest 76383 Hogwarts Moment: Potion Class set! Gayle used a mix of techniques to portray stained glass windows. For the window on the left she used the 4-way lug wrench. On the window in the middle she used a net. And for the right window she used a combination of whips, bars and window panes. I love the base with the ingots and the columns with the arches. Having the arches stop half way makes this creation feel like just a small detail of something way bigger. The room is filled with all sorts of bottles and flasks and the absolute best little build has to be the bunsen burner using horns for legs. Which famous potions can you spot?

A charcuterie board complete with cheese and a mouse?

Okay, so maybe this isn’t quite a charcuterie board, I am still unclear on the concept, but I do know such boards were trending in the blogosphere over the holidays. Ted Andes does give us a great minimal LEGO model of a cheese board of sorts with all the essentials – even the casual kitchen mouse.

The board is simply constructed out of one tile panel and several plates in alternating brown and dark tan. As for the arrangement of elements topping the board; we’ve got the mouse from series 18 of the collectible minifigures, for the Swiss cheese we have a minifigure torso in light yellow – arms removed, and of course to slice and dice the cheese there is a minifigure machete which looks great as a cheese knife and then the silver slotted slope piece as a shredder. This little assortment is certainly social media ready.

When trouble comes to town, what will you do?

A new guard is having to learn on the job as bandits attack in this portside scene by Jesse van den Oetelaar, which features some well-textured stone structures, along with a brick-built boat. The dock is nicely detailed, with merchants and a local catching fish. There’s also some great window construction, like the first floor of the middle building which uses the bases of black turntables to frame transparent plates.

$fractured kingdoms, bandit attack$