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.

Rarin’ to go

Despite the great variety of LEGO tensegrity builds lately, almost all of them seem to have a few traits in common. In particular, most builders have “explained” the chains and string that connect the base to the hovering elements in similar ways. Either the connection is designed to look like it’s pulling the top section straight down, or it’s minimized to try and enhance the sense of gravity-defiance. What I like about this build by lokiloki29 is that the design of the connections implies obvious motion away from the center of the build. The 10-SGTY Racer feels like it’s trying to escape, and is being barely held in place by the tie downs. The result is a very dynamic build.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that the racer stands alone as a quality spacecraft build. Technic panels and curved slopes in medium azure give a sleek bit of contrast to the bright-light-orange of the quarter-arch bricks. I also like the ring of 1×2 tiles that match that arch. There’s some clever building with lightsaber hilts going on there.

I think it’s also a nice touch that the pilot has a big grin on their face. After all, I imagine flying a racer like this would be quite the joy.

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A mother’s loving touch

When I was younger, my mom gave me a framed poster of a mother giraffe with her lips pressed against the head of her newborn calf. The title read, “The First Kiss” and while it always meant a lot to me, it means even more now that she has passed away. Needless to say, this lovely LEGO sculpture by Joe Perez has a special place in my heart. And as a model, it is very well done. I’m constantly saying organic shapes are not easy, and the body of a giraffe has to be one of the hardest. I love their positioning, the clips for the mother’s mane, and the brooms for both their tails.

If you’re interested in seeing more of Joe’s lovely builds, take a look at his majestic stag. Or perhaps you’ll find these beautiful birds of prey inspiring. And maybe if you want to get wacky, check out his prehistoric squirrel in this previous exhibition. (While not his, the sabre tooth cat is my favorite contribution.)

Build a classic van for your everyday LEGO City needs [Instructions]

Having enough space to head out for an adventure to the LEGO store (gasp!) has always been a dream of mine. I like to calculate precisely the number of UCS Millennium Falcons, I could fit into any given area, measuring the exact width, height and depth and doing the math and volunteer that in my conversation as much as possible even when it’s wasn’t asked for. I don’t know how many of them I could fit here, but thanks to Andrea Lattanzio aka Norton74, I could at least calculate the number of LEGO miniature Millennium Falcons versions that could fit back there. You can now go an build one if you like, while I do the arithmetic.

Click to see the build guide and parts list

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for May 9, 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 first week of May 2020.

26 projects have qualified for the latest round of LEGO Ideas. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.

TBB NEWS AND FEATURES: This week we take a look at the tensegrity craze, watch an interview with LEGO Designers Jamie Berard and Marcos Bessa, continue our feature series on LEGO storage methods and see the 26 projects that qualified for this round of LEGO Ideas!

LEGO Designers Q&A featuring Marcos Bessa and Jamie Berard [Feature] – LEGO Designers Marcos Bessa and Jamie Berard had a fun time on a Live Instagram session with fans. We share the conversation they had with each other and also questions posed by the viewers.
Storage and building in small spaces: a look at LEGO organization with guest contributor Kevin Moses [Feature] – Want to know how to make your LEGO hobby work with minimal room? Read about how Kevin Moses tastefully fits his collection into a 568sqft. condo.
The art and science of LEGO tensegrity builds – The LEGO tensegrity crazy has hit the scene, evolved into even more creativity and we pick a few of our favourites.
A whopping 26 projects qualify for the first 2020 LEGO Ideas review – Not 10, not 20, but 26 new projects are about to be reviewed by LEGO Ideas board of experts during the following months.

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:

Inside innovation at LEGO, NRF – How do you make shopping for LEGO as fun as building them?
Inside The Complicated World Of Lego Fanatics, The Quicky – Our own Chris Malloy makes a guest appearance on this interesting podcast about Adult Fans of Lego.
The LEGO Group announces changes to Board of Directors, LEGO – The LEGO Group today announced two changes to its Board of Directors
FAQ on BrickLink XP Beta Release, BrickLink – Some info on the upcoming Bricklink XP.
‘Lego Masters’: Fox Eyes Midseason Return For Will Arnett-Hosted Competition Format, Deadline – Fox is building a second season of Lego Masters.

Zip up your fly!

Models don’t get much betta than this. This fintastic creation is by Marcel V who nails the avid fisherman look. Prominently featuring a plaid shirt, with two custom fly lures dangling from the pocket. Sideways treads make a sofishticated zipper. Getting really down into the accurate details, our intrepid fisherman’s chest hair is exposed (horns) and he’s sporting a chain necklace. And what’s a fisherman without a rod? Perfect use of the chakram piece along the length.

It was a very small box of scraps

Way back in May of 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off with Iron Man. Now, a mere 12 years later, Josephine Monterosso pays tribute with an amazing microscale rendition of the Mark I armor. As you’d expect at this tiny size, there’s a lot of meaning packed into each and every piece. The legs, made of robot claws add some weight to the hips, and the connection grooves on the minifigure hands that make the arms manage to suggest elbow joints. The round helmet (looks like the base of a lever to me) conveys the right shaping. But the real star is the torso – made from a single roller skate. Not only does that part provide all the necessary attachment points, it also transforms the central LEGO stud into a perfect ARC reactor. It’s amazing how much information you can get from just six tiny LEGO elements.

As impressive as the armor is, it’s also important to call out the setting Josephine built for it. Without this jagged rock backdrop, you might have mistaken the figure for a robot or even a sci-fi spacesuit. It may be a “simple” build of slopes and plates, but it adds great depth and context to the scene. Makes me wonder what other Marvel Moments might be possible at this scale. It’d make for a great, space-efficient diorama!

People don’t come to see the tigers; they come to see me

I’ve seen a lot of LEGO models, but I must admit that I never thought I would see one of a gay, polyamorous, gun toting redneck who keeps large tigers, but here we are. We were barely a week into our quarantine when a virus of another sort started invading the world’s TVs. Netflix’s Tiger King became an instant sensation as people lost themselves in a story about the goings on in the little known world of Joe Exotic aka The Tiger King. Add equally engaging side characters, large cats and a big dose of crazy and you have a hit on your hands. Joe Exotic minifigs have been popping up right and left, but this excellent brick built LEGO figure by SuckMyBrick deserves special notice.

This is such a fun grouping of figures, full of character and humor. The Joe Exotic figure captures him perfectly with his blonde mullet and cane. The giant eyes are hilarious and somehow fitting here and the gold earring is a great little touch. There is some great parts usage in the tiger’s face including the white croissant mouth and the minifigure pith helmets creating eyelids that give him some serious side-eye. It has a wonderfully crafted pose and a very telling facial expression. You can almost hear what he’s thinking. Seems to me this would make great fodder for a caption contest. Anyone want to give it a go?

Storage and building in small spaces: a look at LEGO organization with guest contributor Kevin Moses [Feature]

Continuing our series on LEGO organization and storage, guest contributor Kevin Moses shows us that maintaining a collection in a small space doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Read the previous articles here:

Those of us who live in smaller urban spaces have limitations and considerations that are more pronounced than people with larger houses. While any space can be optimized and organized, we must do this more out of necessity than desire. Since many of us are stuck at home, it’s a great time to think about how you can make things better.

I’ve given a few presentations on this topic at conventions and started the Urban Brick Builder website to collect ideas that come up.

Going, going, gondola!

I love immersive builds, where everywhere you look there is LEGO, except the sky (I don’t like brick-built skies, due to the brick pattern). It’s like I’m one of the minifigures, standing in the scene, seeing the sights. It is my preferred building style, at least when buildings and rooms are involved, and one that I (Benjamin Stenlund) used in my latest creation. Set in the Guilds of Historica’s fifth guild, Varlyrio, in the Venice-like capital of Illaryian, it depicts a slice of daily life, with gondoliers poling, shopkeepers selling, families visiting, soldiers guarding, sailors lounging, and rogues prowling.

I tried to vary up the action of the figs to make it lively without being cluttered, and to vary the patterns of the houses to make it homogeneous without being monotonous. All of the buildings have the same roof style, with tiles pressed down on just one end, but three colors are used (you can barely see the lone dark grey roof on the right) to mix it up. Varying the patterns and heights of the buildings helps to make it visually interesting, but basic patterns get repeated. It’s like a block of modular buildings, if LEGO made modular buildings that were just rickety facades with no interiors. I don’t build interiors, unless it’s going to be visible in the shot, since it won’t be seen. That’s just wasted effort for my purposes. Another secret is that the water ends just around the corner under the bridge, where it stops being visible. It’s all about the camera shot, for me. And yet, it looks so nice, I’d like to visit the place myself. If only I were about 1.5 inches tall…

A queen can go wherever she likes

Although castles are some of the coolest things you can design with LEGO bricks, there’s one reason they will never be cooler than mechs and vehicles; they are immovable. Spencer Winson adds just a handful of ball hinges to one of his towers and — voila! — who needs royal carriages anymore? And it’s not only the concept of the mech-tower itself that makes the build outstanding, but also the iconic yellow/red/blue color range. The design of the tower was undoubtedly inspired by the legendary 375 Castle set, but have you noticed that the tower in the background is built of Duplo bricks? I must admit I have never seen this double arch Duplo piece before. It is more than 40 years old but still looks stunning in new creations.

Terlet on the fritz? That’ll cost ya!

Indoor plumbing is the best invention since…well, indoor plumbing. You can flush away all your troubles and it all goes away-somewhere. Out of sight, out of mind, right? But sometimes your troubles come back to haunt you. That’s when you got to call in the professionals. They’ll charge you an arm and a leg but…whaddaya gonna do? Martin van Wezel has built a dynamic LEGO vignette of a scene we can only hope will never happen to us. The good news is if you were looking for a dramatic water fountain in your bathroom like rich people have in their gardens, then this scenario has you covered. It looks like Martin simulated the water gush using energy effects; parts currently only available in five sets in this color.

Galidor II: Electric Boogaloo

Shameful LEGO admission time: I like Galidor. It was a goofy theme, but the figures and creatures were cool. And while the component parts may be large and clunky, builders have found ways to repurpose them in all sorts of interesting creations. Galidor rocks. And to prove that, just look at Mitch Henry‘s creation Mike. This doesn’t feel like an element or two has been hidden or transformed, so much as “renewed”. Mike looks like he’s ready to go on tour as part of a cool new reboot of the Galidor line. New brick-built arms and lower legs reach beyond the theme’s limitations, and the keyboard and EDM launchpad are quality additions.

There are a couple of non-LEGO elements present: Those are shoes from a Ken doll. But I have a feeling Mike has always been a bit of a rebel like that. Or maybe Mitch is the rebel. Either way, it seems to have worked out well.