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.

Diving to the unknown depths in style

It’s been ingrained in my mind that when I see a LEGO build with a yellow body and a blue transparent cockpit, it’s going to be an aquatic vehicle. This is all thanks to the classic colour pallette from LEGO ‘s Aquazone theme. This stylistic submersible is quite compact and sleek and allows travelling to the depths of the wide ocean in style. I see a similarity to the silhouette and curves of a dolphin jumping out of the water and it makes me wonder if that was builder Thomas W.’s inspiration.

Read on to see this little submarine in its natural habitat

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Behold, the Ancient Temple of Terrus

I love a good micro-build and General 尓àvarre brings on the details in this tiny temple. There is some great parts use here with the upside down picket fences being used for the temple walls. The color variation of the roof is nice and adds to the aged feeling of the building. The photos depth of field with the slightly blurry statue in the background helps give a sense of grand scale to a model that is really only 12 x 12 studs square. Like all of the models I tend to favor, this one has a story although it may not be obvious to the casual viewer. In this case, it’s a story best told by its creator.

In the heights there lies a massive temple complex, with a giant statue of the god Terrus in his four armed form above, and a large temple built as a shrine to him below. The priests continually keep the beacon on the heights burning to let Terrus know that they are still honoring him.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for July 18, 2020

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the third week of July 2020.

LEGO hits all the right nostalgia notes with this incredible NES and TV set model. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.

TBB NEWS, REVIEWS AND FEATURES: This week we reviewed the new Minions set, learned to build Miniland superheroes, saw the reveal of an incredible NES model and played a round of “What’s that Element?”.

LEGO 75551 Minions: Brick-built Minions and their Lair [Review] – Minions: The Rise of Gru has been delayed until July 2021, but there are LEGO sets we can enjoy now.
LEGO Brick Sketches featuring Star Wars and DC Comics portraits now available – LEGO Brick Sketches of BB-8, a First Order Stormtrooper, Batman and The Joker are now available.
LEGO 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System is a buildable NES console complete with Super Mario Bros. – Build your own nostalgia trip with this LEGO Nintendo NES console and TV with a scrolling Super Mario Bros. level, available August 1st.
Build your own LEGO Miniland Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman characters [Instructions] – Save the day with the Worlds Finest made with LEGO by Tiago Catarino and Pedro Sequeira
What’s that element? Plate with a triangular shaped bar [Feature] – Some of you may already be familiar with this, but for those who are not, let’s go on this journey of discovery of “What’s that element?”

MORE TBB NEWS: Join us as a contributor to The Brothers Brick or join us online for BrickCon 2020!

TBB’s next recruiting effort for Contributors & Social Media Manager focuses on diversity, inclusion & representation – Are you interested in not only helping The Brothers Brick grow, but making the LEGO hobby community a more diverse and welcoming place? If so, consider joining the team!
BrickCon 2020 is moving online in October with a full convention for adult fans of LEGO – BrickCon 2020 is moving from the Space Needle to cyberspace, hosting a full online convention for adult fans of LEGO in October.
Thieves steal Fairy Bricks delivery van and LEGO sets donated to kids in hospitals – Thieves broke into Fairy Bricks headquarters and stole their van and donated LEGO sets meant for kids in hospitals.

OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:

Computational LEGO Designer Outperforms Professional Model-Makers, Discover – Designing models with LEGO Technic parts is much harder than with traditional LEGO bricks. Now a computational designer can do the hard work for you.
Coronavirus: ‘LEGO helped me get out of bed’, BBC News – A woman who was furloughed from her job said LEGO helped her to get out of bed.
Animal Crossing, LEGO, Video Games… How the Art Market is Attracting Millennials, Prestige – While the arts and culture industry is estimated to have lost billions due to the coronavirus pandemic, cultural institutions are turning to video games and toys to appeal to a new generation of potential museum-goers.
10 Reasons Why LEGO Is The Most Reputable Company In The World, World Atlas – See how LEGO has lived up to its name for the fourth year in a row, topping the list of the 10 most reputable companies in the world.
First LEGO store opens in Saudi Arabia, Retail & Leisure – The first certified retail store in Saudi Arabia store is spread across 1,690 sq. ft and has been built as a creative hub for the LEGO community.

Take a trip to Dreamland in this sweet LEGO bedroom

Builder Heikki M. brings us memories of childhood with this simple but perfect little LEGO bedroom vignette. Sometimes models don’t need to be over complicated to make an impression. The color work and studless modeling are just perfect and give an air of reality at first glance. I love the small pink play kitchen with its little details and the pop of green in the striped rug. The bunk bed looks like it just stepped out of IKEA catalog and probably took longer to build than it seems, just like real thing. The pillowcases and the rumpled sheet are not LEGO but are made from a real life pillow case. Non-LEGO additions can sometimes look disjointed, but here, it blends right in and adds to the realism of the model as a whole. The toys scattered around the room are a terrific final detail, but my favorite is the pink bird, seemingly tossed casually under the bed, just waiting to be picked up and played with.

Let this spirit wolf take you on a journey

What can you build using eleven pounds of Technic beams and wedge plates? If you said a LEGO midi-scale Star Destroyer you might be correct. However, if you said White Spirit Wolf you are likely Michael Kanemoto. Wedge plates and Technic beams are not the first things that come to mind when replicating natural elements but Michael pulls off the look nicely. He tells us this labor of love took about one-hundred hours on and off from April 30th to July 14th.

I particularly love the eyes; there’s a depth and cunning knowing to them. I’ve only viewed wolves from a safe distance but this LEGO creation possesses the same mesmerizing gaze as a real wolf in the wild. How can you stare into this face and deny it whatever it is that spirit wolves want? I’m smitten!

An organ only the devil could love

Well, not really. We think this fiendish-looking organ is pretty cool. But it sure is scary! There are pipe organs found in churches and then there’s this. LEGO builder [VB] says that his inspiration came from the “Hellmouth” of the middle ages. The unfaithful would perish within its fiery maw. Organs, while beautiful, often have a creepy sound to them, and we can only imagine what this would sound like. Wondering if that face (faces?) is what people of the 1300s were having nightmares about? Yep, this matches the Google images. Sweet dreams.

While you’re here, check out [VB]’s other creepy creations.

Voodoo? You do! Do what? Remind me of the babe...

Sometimes LEGO creations raise more questions than they answer. This sculpture of Baron Samedi by Leonid An has me scratching my head a bit. Wikipedia says the Baron is is noted for disruption, obscenity, debauchery, and having a particular fondness for tobacco and rum. But what does that have to do with that Scala baby? Sure, I could just focus on the great building techniques like the tires-for-tophat, nested-cape ascot, bucket-handle belt buckle, or the gorgeous curves in the coat. Or maybe I could ponder the patience required to balance two horn elements atop 1×1 rounds plate to create the eye sockets on the skull. But my eyes keep going back to that swaddled infant. It’s a creepy part to begin with, and this setting ramps that waaaay up.

This isn’t the first time we’ve featured a work by Leonid that features a creepy use of that baby figure, either. I’m not sure if I’m hoping we’ll see another, or if maybe it’s better if this never comes up again.

That rumbling just might be Godzilla: King of Monsters

What’s that rumbling you hear? It could be that three-bean burrito repeating on you or it could be something even more monstrous. LEGO Saturn V co-designer Valerie Roche teams up with her Space-X co-designer Matthew Nolan to build Godzilla: King of Monsters. The end result is 2034 pieces of pagoda-toppling mass-destruction! Godzilla’s features include a posable head, with snapping jaws, articulated arms, elbows, hands, and fingers.
Also articulated legs, knee joints, ankles, and feet as well as a rotatable tail and his signature dorsal plates, which “ripple with internal energy”. I’m going to assume that means light bricks. That is some good Godzilla action right there! We’re pretty fascinated by this mutant monster. Check out our Godzilla archives.

All hail the Great He-Goat!

Francisco Goya’s disturbing Black Paintings — in particular “Witches’ Sabbath” or “The Great He-Goat” in the Prado Museum in Madrid today — have inspired Joss Woodyard‘s latest entry in the ongoing BioCup contest. The Satanic figure is surrounded by gloom, lit by a circle of candles, wearing a shaggy cloak made of black wings. The yellow lever base is terrifyingly perfect for the slit-eyed gaze of the Dark Lord, while minifig arms provide the split lip of the beast’s muzzle. In its left arm, the Devil carries what appears to be a swaddled child, perhaps a sacrificial victim.

In addition to naturally organic shapes from Bionicle and Hero Factory, Joss softens the shapes further with tires and strings. All of this makes the He-Goat’s exposed rib-cage all the more horrifying, built from insect or spider legs. I can nearly hear the chitinous rustling as he lurches toward you in the dark…

Robots now copying great masterpieces

Not content to copy the human form, self-aware robots are now co-opting the works of their original masters in a blatant attempt to show off. This latest piece of so-called art depicts the creation of some robot by another robot, documented by a human “assistant” called Red. While the subject may be a bit derivative (I think there is a famous chapel somewhere in Europe that has something similar on the ceiling), I can find no fault in the construction. Notice the twisting tubes on the creator, which remind the viewer of muscles coiled for action… And the reclining figure looks like it is well suited to its purpose if that purpose is laying around while the human servants do all the work.

Car broken down in the middle of nowhere? Call Lonely Joe for a tow.

Some LEGO builders find a niche in the community and spend most of their time building there, churning out beautiful creations that all fit a similar genre. For some that’s castle, for others that’s space, for others it’s Bionicle, and for others it’s some licensed theme or other. For TBB 2019 Builder of the Year Andrea Lattanzio, that niche would be shacks and automobiles. Few builders out there can equal the clean lines and perfect textures of his buildings; just look at the uneven tiles for the siding, and the perfection of sideways masonry bricks for the adjacent shed. The build is nearly studless, which helps those clean lines, and the photography is pristine, which helps too.

But don’t let that expert photography fool you; this is not a simple build. You don’t get a studless look by accident, not without plenty of SNOT (studs not on top) techniques. Plus there are myriad clever parts usages. For example, there’s a hockey stick and a harpoon holding lamps; there are pirate hooks on the truck’s bumper; and those sideview mirrors are mighty cleaver, I mean, clever. And speaking of the truck, Andrea’s vehicle designs are as clean and elegant as his shacks; no studs, crisp color blocking, and perfect shaping and scaling.

Ringing up some nostalgia on this Japanese pay phone

Bright green pay phones that supported the new prepaid phone cards began replacing the old pink rotary pay phones in Japan just as my family left for the States in the late 80’s. With public telephones a rare sight today in the US, I was shocked to see that the same phones were still everywhere when I finally went home to visit last summer. nobu_tary has captured the shapes and colors of the real thing perfectly in LEGO, with a detailed black face — complete with digital readout screen and card slot — and iconic lime green body. The black panel incorporates three ammunition pouches from the Rogue One Death Trooper buildable figure, which Tary did not use in his larger, more detailed LEGO Death Trooper figure a few years ago.

A bit of trivia on why pay phones are still everywhere in Japan: When a disaster such as an earthquake or typhoon strikes that affects cell phone coverage, all pay phones can be activated for free use so that people can call emergency services or even just to contact loved ones.

This lovely little green box doesn’t just take me back to my last few years in Japan, it also takes me back a year to what may be my last international trip in a long time…