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 Charrus is SHIP full of delightful parts

During SHIPtember, when LEGO Space builders race to complete a ship at least 100 studs long within a month, the biggest challenge is finding the time and parts to get it done. But almost as hard is finding a unique hook to make your SHIP stand out. Andre Odyssey‘s OSV Charrus is a slick cargo ship with very few studs that draws on an eclectic range of parts. The ship’s deck is made from road plates, alongside race car spoilers and City ship parts. For cargo, Andre uses Mario mushrooms, lavender barrels from the Friends line, a brilliantly employed Vidyo box full, and a brick-built sand green container. The new “jumbo macaroni” tubes make excellent manipulator arms at this scale. The result is a ship that is both an impressive resupply vessel and a fun celebration of the mix-and-match potential of LEGO themes.

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A big model of a small world

Can a build be big and small at the same time? Builder Paul Hetherington has the answer, creating an expansive representation of the Disney parks’ most earworm-generating ride. “It’s A Small World” takes us on a boat tour of memorable locales around the globe. One of the cleverest aspects of the build is the use of minidolls from the LEGO Friends line to serve as the ride’s iconic puppets, setting them apart physically from the standard minifigs taking the tour. Apart from that, the famous landmarks from each country are instantly identifiable: we see features from Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, and France and ending with Greece, India, Japan, China, and Easter Island. It’s a very detailed world, after all!

Fabulous LEGO Cloud Nine Car from an old smoothie

Stewart Lamb Cromar‘s Star Wars x Fabuland mashups have been viral sensations and appeared at LEGO shops and conventions, but his latest creation the Cloud Nine Car, was created for a much smaller audience. The adorable build, made from vintage parts and presented in custom packaging, was a wedding gift for friends. Stewart originally designed the pods using yellow Fabuland boat hulls to match the theme’s iconic red, yellow, and blue color scheme, but ultimately swapped them for red to better match the source material. Whether in smaller sets like the Fabulandspeeder, or on the massive scale of the Tie Bungalow Hanger, Stewart’s builds always deliver smiles.

Should you find yourself in Billund, Stewart’s work can currently be found at LEGO House where his Fabuland paddle steamer recently joined the World Explorers experience.

Sci-fi LEGO train sets a course for Creations for Charity

Some people imagine a future where everyone has their own flying car. I’d much rather live in a world where everyone has access to reliable and affordable flying public transportation! Like a train pulled by LEGO builder Daniel Barwegen‘s Space Train engine. I love how Daniel blends sci-fi repulsors with the look of a modern electric commuter train. The color blocking is sharp, using triangular tiles to create diagonal stripes. A piston rod amongst the thrusters is a fun nod to tradition.

While Daniel’s train deserves celebrating for craft alone, it’s also on its way to the Creations for Charity shop. From October 15 through November 30th, donated models can be purchased with all proceeds going towards providing LEGO bricks to hospitals, shelters, and schools in underserved areas. It’s a great way for fans and collectors to give back and inspire a new generation of builders and creators.

How’s this for etiquette and protocol?

It may be against C-3PO’s programming to impersonate a deity, but he doesn’t seem to have any qualms about hopping in a giant mech suit and dispensing some righteous justice. Greg Dalinkeiwicz, already an expert at creating LEGO mechs for other memorable Star Wars characters, brings everyone’s favorite whiny droid back for some vengeance. C-3PO’s battle mech is gloriously detailed, with plenty of wires and pistons running between gold pieces from the Chima and Ninjago product lines to form the threatening exterior. But this is still Endor, home of the Ewoks, so C-3PO’s new ride isn’t all metal. An owl roosts on the mech’s shoulder, a flower blooms on the head, and it wields a mighty wooden spear. If the Empire couldn’t fend off a bunch of teddy bears with sharp rocks the first time around, they’re pretty dead now.

Dr. Robotnik sends Sonic scrambling with his epic Eggscruciator mech

After multiple waves of LEGO Sonic playsets, poor Dr. Robotnik must be getting pretty sick of the blue hedgehog and his pals smashing his ingenious machines. With an epic assist from builder Zane Houston, Robotnik is back with a towering LEGO spider mech guaranteed to stop the blue blur in his tracks. Revealed at Brickworld Chicago, where it was awarded Best Mecha Creation, Zane’s Eggscruciator mech was assembled over 7 months and hundreds of hours from many thousands of bricks (including three Rock Raider drills!). It’s an incredible accomplishment, not just for the character design, but for the pixel-perfect 16 bit terrain.

Grab a gold ring and spin dash under the fold for more pics and designer insights!

Allow me to break the ice

Inspired to make a mech to pair with the recent Ice Planet collectible minifigure, Theo Bonner understood the assignment. Classic colors – blue, white, and black. Windscreen in trans neon orange. And of course, chainsaw, CHAINSAW, CHAINSAW! Theo expands the color range to allow for silver crampons on the mech’s feet. I like the projectile used as a heftier antenna to match the mech’s bulk. But the standout feature here is that chainsaw, perfect for tunnelating, making mech-scale igloos, or traveling back in time to save the Titanic from the iceberg. (This isn’t Theo’s first chainsaw mech rodeo.)

When he’s not making sick chainsaws, Theo is a designer at The LEGO Group where he recently collaborated on LEGO Icons Botanical Collection 10369 Plum Blossom and LEGO Icons Botanical Collection 10368 Chrysanthemum. Perhaps his mechs helped with the pruning?

Well, shoot! That’s a big gun

Anyone who grew up on first-person shooters like Doom or Quake should recognize a few things in Steve Marsh AKA Rubblemaker’s LEGO build: the industrialized aesthetic, the glimpse of some otherworldly monster just waiting to be riddled full of bullets, and of course the ~~giant~~ minigun.

Tell the monster to wait a second while you inspect the build a little more.

Adventures in Gingerbread City

I know we haven’t hit Halloween yet, but when someone decides to mix a Christmas classic with an existing LEGO theme, it tends to stand out regardless of the time of year. Displaying the Modular theme in cookie form, poMOCník & dirigent provides a lovely row of townhouses baked with plenty of spice and architectural forms. With so many great techniques on display, my favorite has got to be the columns of minifigure legs used to bend the front wall out under the balcony.

The Adhara adheres to a Saturn V color scheme

Every SHIPtember, so many LEGO builders make a Seriously Huge Investment in Parts to turn out some truly spectacular spaceship-ery. And the Adhara by Tim Zarki is such a sterling representation of what these builds can bring. Clad in a grayscale color scheme, this SHIP is designed for long-range flights running on dual antimatter reactors. And clocking in at 118 studs in length, it features a number of wonderful techniques. I’m particularly fond of Tim’s use of the open Technic pin hole, adding important texture to dark gray panels throughout the creation.

Ever wondered what happens to all your junk when you’re not looking?

We all have ‘The Drawer’. You know the one – the place where everything from keyrings and screwdrivers to LEGO bricks and old batteries go to be forgotten about. Well, Maxx Davidson hasn’t forgotten them… Or rather, he hasn’t been allowed to forget them. His odds and sods have assembled themselves into a robot! There’s quite the collection of brick-built bits here, including a bobbin of thread and an air freshener. A bit more out there – but still technically LEGO – is the Bionicle Barraki key ring. Let this be your reminder to clean out your junk drawer!

Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise as to win a prize

Despite the words of Obi-Wan, I doubt either of these LEGO Stormtroopers are going to be taking home a stuffed Wookiee doll in this Star Wars arcade game by Joel Short. Named TIE Ace, the goal is to no doubt blast as many Rebel Scum out of the sky in two minutes. But hopefully this pair doesn’t spend all their money seeking one of the prizes hanging from the top of the stall. I think they may have better luck at “Whack-a-Womp Rat” over by the Fett-is wheel.