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.

LEGO Friends sets with cute animals and National Geographic partnership now available in the Americas [News]

The LEGO Friends Summer 2020 sets featuring the National Geographic partnership are now available in the U.S. and Canada. The LEGO Friends sub-theme focuses on jungle conservation with sets that feature rescuing baby elephants, pandas, sloths, llamas, and tigers. The sets also feature behind-the-scenes interviews with real-life people who rescue animals and are meant to inspire kids to be more environmentally conscious.

The sets have been available in the UK for a month and were announced they would go on sale elsewhere on August 1st, but it appears LEGO has made them available earlier than intended. The sets feature the National Geographic Explorers logo, and LEGO announced it is also donating to the National Geographic Society to fund grants in species conservation.

Take a look at each LEGO Friends set now available after the jump.

See which baby animals come with each new LEGO Friends set.

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New LEGO Marvel sets now available in the U.S. and Canada including 76165 Iron Man Helmet [News]

The LEGO is now selling several new Marvel sets in the U.S. and Canada. Standouts include the golden Iron Man Helmet, a larger Avengers Tower, and a play-scale Helicarrier. Several of these sets were already available in the UK, though it appears the Iron Man Helmet is currently only available in the Americas.

We’ve sorted through all the new Marvel sets that are now available (including a few older polybags that are newly available for purchase online), and we’ve included the sets names, piece counts, prices and box pictures below.

Take a look at every new Marvel set now available from LEGO.

LEGO 10277 Crocodile Locomotive now available for purchase [News]

The newest LEGO train set 10277 Crocodile Locomotive is now available online for US $99.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £89.99. The train comes with 1,271 pieces used to create the locomotive, display base, and two conductor minifigures. To motorize the Crocodile, you will need to purchase two additional Powered Up Components, 88009 Powered Up Hub and 88013 Technic Large Motor.

Make sure to check out our interview with Jamie Berard, LEGO Senior Design Manager for Creator Expert and Architecture, who gave us a first look at the set and answered some of our questions about the new locomotive. In addition, we’ve included the official product photos beneath the jump.

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LEGO Disney 43179 Mickey and Minnie Mouse available for pre-order [News]

LEGO’s newest Disney set 43179 Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse Buildable Characters is now available for pre-order from LEGO for US $179.99 | CAN $229.99 | UK £169.99. The set comes with 1,739 pieces to build both Mickey and Minnie Mouse as well as autographed bases and several accessories.

These characters are bigger than they seem in photos, so check out our hands-on review of Mickey and Minnie or the video beneath the jump to see the scale and construction of each, including several new elements.

LEGO is also offering a gift-with-purchase of 40411 Creative Fun 12-in-1 with orders of at least $85 through July 26th or while supplies last.

See video of LEGO’s new Mickey and Minnie buildable characters and a gallery of product photos.

I’ve got two big blades and may or may not know how to use them

Meet Dalga, a new LEGO creation by Ron Folkers. He’s a highly armored specialist with dual blades and a pulse cannon. I’m pretty convinced he’s a great white killing machine and a schlub like we wouldn’t stand a chance. However, Ron tells us he’s a newly assembled inexperienced fighter who has not yet known the perils of combat. Still, I’m going to err on the side of assuming his whole head is a deadly weapon and I’ll just take my cookies elsewhere. If you’d like to risk it and stick around, you should check out some of Dalga’s friends.

Have fun storming this castle

If tiny LEGO castles are your jam, then Patrick B. has a treat for you. This 12 x 12 stud microscale masterpiece is full of so many cool parts that you’ll wonder why anyone bothers using standard bricks. The tops of Scala milk cartons make tiny blue tents, a minifigure microphone and tank linkage combine in the cannon, and dark green minifigure epaulets and tooth plates provide some vegetation. The castle itself is also a tiny work of art. If you look close you can spot bucket handles, minifigure hands, neck brackets, and even a basket as the interior of the front gate. And check out the construction on those towers! Quarter circle tiles are wedged into a 2×2 round plate to for the turrets. It’s a connection some might call “illegal” but I call “sweet.”

If you’d like to see how Patrick achieved all this, check out the Instagram post highlighting the build. And if that still isn’t enough great part usage to satisfy you, I should mention this isn’t the first creation of Patrick’s that we’ve featured.

Rattus LEGOlus is a most uncommon rat

In my opinion, rats have earned an unfair reputation… maybe it started with the whole bubonic plague thing, or maybe it’s the fact that they have a tail that looks like a snake. Whatever the reason, I think that we can all agree that this rat by Felix Jaensch is anything but common. The subtle angle on the side of the face is a nice touch, and the underside of a round plate for ears, along with simple sloped parts for the hands and feet are simple but effective.

Deep Woods Off

Heading into the forest? You’d best watch yourself. There are…things in there. Critters. Faeries who don’t take kindly to intrusion. Don’t believe me? I’ve seen ’em! And so has Ted Andes! Captured their likeness in LEGO, even! Those top wings are from 2015’s 76039 Ant-Man Final Battle, and the lower ones are from the 2004 Alpha Team Mission Deep Freeze sets. There’s Knights Kingdom II shoulder armor, and Bionicle Rahkshi Back Cover armor as their legs. Curved Hero Factory blades serve double duty as swords and long hair. This combination of themes seems almost as mythical as these faeries themselves!

A welcome shelter from the cold

If you are traveling across the land in winter, a place to shelter for the night and get out of the cold can be a true treasure. In this scene by Andreas Lenander, a humble stone tower provides a place for weary travelers to escape the harsh temper of winter. The use of stacked mason bricks at the corners provides subtle texture, along with the simple choice of a few green plates. I also love the river breaking out of the base, with some transparent plates to give the brook a babbling appearance.

Drilling beneath the waves, where LEGO comes from

It’s no secret that most LEGO is made from dinosaurs and carboniferous forests. But you have to drill hundreds or even thousands of meters beneath the surface of the earth to pump out that crude pre-LEGO material, often from platforms way out at sea. General Tensai takes bricks back to their source with this incredibly detailed, colorful oil rig that uses countless LEGO pieces in surprising ways. The overall effect is one of large-scale industrial activity full of pipes and conduits, a helipad with brick-built lettering, numerous towers, cranes, and gantries — and even a multi-colored oil slick on the ocean’s surface. But clicking through to the builder’s full-size photo rewards careful examination, from the Technic pump behind the red and white crane to the single minifig leg and yellow parrot projecting below the helipad.

The LEGO Technic 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 rolls in: the good, the bad, and the ugly [Review]

Back in 2016, LEGO Technic did a new thing: it drastically raised the bar for LEGO sets targeted at adults by creating the 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS with not just a complex and detailed design, but also premium packaging befitting a luxury product. Two years later, the Technic team followed it up with a stunning recreation of one of the world’s most expensive vehicles, 42083 Bugatti Chiron, and we hailed both vehicles as among the best sets LEGO has ever produced. Announced last month, now LEGO Technic is back for a third time with another supercar, the 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37. Revealed by the Italian brand late last year, the Sián marks the company’s first hybrid vehicle in its 57-year history. The LEGO model is available now with a retail price of US $379.99 | CAN $489.99 | UK £349.99 and includes 3,696 pieces. Has LEGO struck gold three times in a row with Technic supercars? Yes, but not without some unfortunate missteps. Let’s take a closer look and unpack the good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly, in this lime green speed demon.

Click to read the full hands-on review

New York’s Best and Bravest are life savers

My hair may be turning grey, and I have a job, a professional reputation and responsibilities, but hidden just under the surface is the same six-year-old boy who marveled at his first LEGO fire truck, back in the eighties. With the pandemic, for many of us, the last few months probably haven’t been easy. For me, personally, things could be a lot worse. I am healthy and so are my loved ones, I have job security and can work from the comfort of my home. Nonetheless, I am stressed by the uncertainty and by a never-ending amount of work, in combination with not being able to do many of the things I usually do to relax, such as traveling, meeting friends and attending LEGO events.

One thing that does help is being able to channel that six-year-old. I pop up to my loft and put some LEGO bricks together almost every day. And what does my inner six-year-old lifesavers? Well, fire trucks, of course. With a few decades of building experience under my belt and an adult’s disposable income, they’re obviously going to be elaborate. This pair of vehicles represents a Seagrave ladder truck and an ambulance, as operated by the New York Fire Department (FDNY). They are life savers in a real-world sense, but building them also kept me from going nuts.
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