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.

GayFOLs Virtual Pride Parade 2020!

Happy Pride Day! This week I shared with you my experience as an LGBTQ+ LEGO fan and later in the week we heard from members of the LGBTQ+ Facebook group, GayFOLs as they shared their experiences. This year, GayFOLs hosted its 2nd Annual Virtual Pride Parade where group members from all over the world can build Pride-themed MOCs and share and they are compiled into a slideshow.

The first one was last year and premiered at BrickWorld Chicago. In the time of COVID, virtual meetups are de rigueur, so in a way GayFOLs was ahead of its time in more ways than one! Enjoy the parade and once again, Happy Pride 2020!

Contributors: Aaron N., Alan V., Angela B., Ben A., Brad B., Cameron W., Carol N., Christopher M., Danni F., Glen C., Jimi C., Joe W., Justin B-J., Lukas E., Mitch M., Oscar S., Phillip B-J. Pixy B., Ryan M., SJ M., Stacy L., Teddy L., Timothy A.

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New LEGO City Police summer sets revealed includes a runaway speedboat, a driller, and lighthouse arrest [News]

We get a look at 3 new City police sets that are slated to be available in August as revealed by retailer Brickshop.nl. All three sets have pieces that range from 160-189 pieces. All three sets feature chase scenes, including a helicopter, a police car, and a boat. Each set comes with two minifigures, each featuring a single police officer and three cleverly named criminals. The prices are only listed in Eurodollars at the moment, and we’ll update them as soon as we get more information.

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Ninjago Legacy 71704: Kai Fighter [Review]

The Ninjago Legacy theme revisits classic Ninjago sets with updated builds and designs. Turning back the clock to Season 3, the 71704 Ninjago Legacy: Kai Fighter reprises 2014’s 70721 Kai Fighter, more than doubling that set’s 196 pieces to a much heftier 513 part count. This new version retails for US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £34.99 and is available now. Is it a worthy upgrade to the classic set? Come along as we run through the highs and lows of this new set!

Click to play along with us

Praise Tlāloc! Lord of clouds, god of waters, bringer of fertility to the parched land...

The annual BioCup competition is producing a wonderful range of LEGO Bionicle creations in many themes, but my favorite so far is Latin American mythology, with fantastical gods like the Aztec god of death Mictlantecuhtli by Tino Poutiainen. But my favorite so far is the Aztec rain god Tlāloc by Vlad Lisin. Tlāloc has characteristic round eyes and fangs, and wears a verdant crown with clouds encircling his waist. I love how Vlad uses click-joints for Tlāloc’s necklace, and the Bionicle mask at the top of the water flowing from the barrel is a brilliant use of parts.

Way back in 2006, I built the Aztec pantheon as minifigures — strange enough to go mildly viral through the “blogosphere” in the era before social media — but these latest figures show the power of large-scale builds using organic pieces from Bionicle and Hero Factory.

Dancing with the dark

We’ve featured a number of VB‘s disquieting creations in the past. Their latest, The Anito takes it’s inspiration from the ancestor spirits of Philippine religions. Perched among overgrown idols, this mysterious figure gazes at us with piercing white eyes almost lost in a sea of organic curves capped with bony appendages. Is that a white flute the figure is playing? Is this music we really want to hear?

I like the work put into the setting. Those bony elements return in dark tan to form some dead plants, but that’s balanced by a good mix of bright green vegetation. The dark green bits in the foreground include the head of the Norse Midgard Serpent. Mixing mythologies a bit, maybe, but totally worth it for the effect.

As an aside, that idol on the right is uses some big toothed wheels to form the mouth. That’s soooo close to fitting my “Technic Gears for teeth” trope of late. It’s a thing I tell you. A THING. Either that, or all these creepy images are just really starting to get to me.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for June 27, 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 last week of June 2020.

LEGO Ideas announced that Seinfeld, Home Alone and a typewriter will become new sets, and we got a hands-on look at the newest Disney, Ninjago, Jurassic World and Technic sets. Read on to see everything you may have missed from the week.

TBB REVIEWS: We got an early look at upcoming Disney, Ninjago, Technic and Jurassic Worl sets, and the baby dinos stole the show!

Review of LEGO 43179 Mickey & Minnie Mouse Buildable Characters – Who’s the leader of the fun for all the family? And what does this iconic duo look like ion the inside?
Review of LEGO 71705 Ninjago Legacy: Destiny’s Bounty – The Destiny’s Bounty is back! This Legacy Edition of the Ninja’s HQ ship is a redux of the original set from 2012, and we’re taking a look at how LEGO has upgraded it from 680 pieces to almost 1,800.
Review of LEGO 42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R motorcycle – Is the Technic Ducati Panigale V4 R superbike really super? Read on to find out.
Review of LEGO Jurassic World 75939 Dr. Wu’s Lab: Baby Dinosaurs Breakout – Baby dinosaurs have never been this cute! Check out our review of probably the best LEGO Jurassic World set of this summer.

TBB FEATURES: The Brothers Brick is celebrating Pride Month with a series of articles exploring LGBT+ LEGO topics, plus some instructions for the cutest Razorcrest ever.

Pride, visibility and LEGO Masters: My experience as an LGBTQ+ LEGO fan – In celebration of Pride, TBB’s own Flynn De Marco kicks shares his experience as a gay LEGO fan, including appearing on national TV with his husband on LEGO Masters.
Pride & LEGO: LGBTQ+ LEGO fans in their own words – It’s Pride Week, and we are celebrating diversity in the LEGO hobby by sharing stories of a variety of LGBT+ builders.
Instructions to build The Razorcrest – chibi style – hachiroku24 shows us how to build our very own model of The Mandalorian’s ship.

TBB LEGO SET NEWS: The new LEGO set announcements keep on coming with new Technic, National Geographic City and Friends, and LEGO Ideas sets on the horizon.

LEGO reveals Seinfeld, Home Alone and a working typewriter will become next fan-inspired Ideas sets – LEGO is doubling down on nostalgia with the next three Ideas sets.
LEGO and National Geographic partner to inspire kids about the environment and conservation – LEGO and National Geographic are bringing kids a menagerie of new animals to inspire them to be more environmentally conscious.
LEGO Technic Summer 2020 sets fully revealed – Upcoming vehicles feature a Concrete Mixer Truck, a Boeing Osprey and a Volvo Truck.
LEGO 40411 Creative Fun 12-in-1 promotional set for July revealed – LEGO’s gift-with-purchase for July is a summertime 12-in-1 rebuild kit with purchases of at least US $85.

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:

How LEGO Turned the Monkey King into the Monkie Kid, IGN – Simon Lucas, Senior Creative Director at LEGO, talks about how they brought LEGO Monkie Kid to life.
LEGO Masters Producer Anthony Dominici reveals lessons learned from season one, Deadline – “It’s surprisingly difficult logistically because there were literally 3.3 million LEGO bricks on set—and crazy enough, that wasn’t enough.”
How Bionicle saved LEGO, Popular Mechanics – [Subscription required] How a brain tumor inspired Bionicle, one of the most popular toys of a generation.
Stop-Motion LEGO Pizza Offers Smart Way to ‘Bake’ the Bricks, Nerdist – Korean YouTuber Bebop Stop Motion has cooks up a pizza LEGO-style.
New LEGO flagship store opens in Hangzhou, China, LEGO – Located at Hubin, the 527-square-meter store is the fourth LEGO flagship store opened in China.
LEGO Stem-themed pop-up store launched in Hong Kong, Inside Retail – Located at Hubin, the 527-square-meter store is the fourth LEGO flagship store opened in China.
NINJAGO: Master of the Mountain – Official Trailer, YouTube – The ninja are invited to the beautiful Shintaro Kingdom but soon uncover a dark, forgotten underworld.

Simurgh yourself in the lore of this mythical beast

As LEGO builders ourselves we are inherently already fond of the creations we write about here on The Brothers Brick. What makes me take special notice however is something like this Simurgh built by Joss Woodyard. According to Joss, the Simurgh is a unity between land and sky incarnate. According to Iranian legend, the mythical creature is so old that it has seen the world end three times over. Plus it will also rid your surrounding area of snakes, so there’s that. I’m seeing also a unity between System brick and Bionicle. This seems to be Joss’calling card as he has taken us through a menagerie of mythical beasts before.

A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips

This LEGO Fatboy Mech by Marco Marozzi is decidedly rather rotund in the hip and leg area. I believe the medical term the kids used to throw around the schoolyard for this is “fatty-fatty-boombalatty”. But is this mech’s propensity toward tipping the scales a product of overeating or a glandular disorder? The stickers on this chubby chap clue us in that it may have an affinity for Red Bull and, while it is not overly fattening in itself, its high caffeine content could lead to high blood pressure and diabetes. Nasty stuff, that Red Bull but I would say such a thing as I am well north of forty. The crazy kids are into it though and by the time they get old enough to mix it with vodka you have already lost hope for them ever listening to good music. Kids these days! Am I right? Get off my lawn! Anyway, this is a rather cool mech, I admit. Cool mechs seem to be Marco’s thing.

Mictlantecuhtli? No thanks, I just ate.

In Aztec-culture Mictlantecuhtli was the god of death. In Tino Poutiainen‘s LEGO version, he’s…well, still a god of death, I suppose. Perched atop a grey stepped pyramid, this deity has got to be giving that little golden LEGO microfig the major heebie-jeebies. I really like the figure’s bright colors and innovative posing. There’s clever part usage to appreciate, too, like the blue minifigure hoop-blade weapons for bracelets, dark tan Technic rod skirt, and the silver Technic ball ends for earrings. I also dig that brick-built skull.

And yes, I think I’ve identified a new trend. This is the third creation I’ve written about recently with that “Technic gears for teeth” thing. I’m going to have to give it a try myself.

Pride & LEGO: LGBTQ+ LEGO fans in their own words [Feature]

Happy Pride Week! Today we continue our celebration of diversity within our LEGO community by shining a light on some previously unheard voices. In my last article, I spoke of what it’s like being an LGBTQ+ LEGO fan from my perspective. As I mentioned then, I am not the representative of the LGBTQ+ LEGO Community nor do I want to be. What makes us great is that we all bring different experiences to the table. One of the biggest online groups for LGBTQ+ LEGO fans and their allies is undoubtedly GayFOLs. A thriving online community on Facebook, GayFOLs is currently home to over 850 members form all over the world. I asked its founder, Bruce H., to tell us a bit about his experience and how and why GayFOLs came to be. I also reached out to members to hear what their experiences have been like in the hobby. Below are their stories, lightly edited for flow.

A LEGO Pride Parade from LEGOLAND in Westchester, NY

Read on to hear the stories of LGBTQ+ LEGO fans in their own words

There is a castle on a cloud

What is it about the persistent fantasy of castles among the clouds, whether it is on a floating rock or built on the cumulonimbus itself? It’s certainly pervasive, even being featured in everyone’s favorite space fantasy, ruled by Prince Calrissian. I’m not complaining, mind you; I have a deep love for the idea myself and have been tempted to build something along those lines one of these days. But LEGO builder Caleb Saw beat me to the punch, creating this stunning castle afloat on the aether.

Now, I love domes, and this castle has excellent domes, including, quite fittingly, half of Bespin. There is wonderful variation among the buildings, and yet they look a cohesive whole, too. The tan and dark tan colors look great together here, and the foliage is top-notch; indeed, the vines and trees look incredibly organic. And then there are the clouds. So many round bits that work so well together to create something light and fluffy out of shiny ABS plastic!

Do you love floating islands and floating rocks, too? Then check them out in the TBB archives!

A not-quite standard “Standard”

The Gibson Les Paul was one of the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitars. There are a lot of versions and editions, but this is the first time I’ve seen one made out of LEGO, at least at a 1:1 scale. Builder morimorilego has paid close attention to realism in this reproduction of the “Les Paul Standard”. The body is decked out in layers of red, orange, and yellow tile and brick, with the pickguard standing out in vibrant white. Golden dishes and transparent yellow 2×2 round brick are used for the control knobs, and the output jack is courtesy of a system wheel rim. Those details complement the work done in the neck and headstock, which help make this build feel like it’s ready to play.

Click for a closer look