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.

Thomas the Walking Tank Engine

Thomas the Tank Engine has had enough of Sir Topham Hatt’s rule over the Island of Sodor, and builder Dvd showcases a well-beloved children’s hero that has literally gone off the rails.

This is absolutely terrifying, and would be the stuff of nightmares if it weren’t for the genius of how it’s put together. The builder utilized some of the smallest LEGO bricks stacked sideways to create the number “1” and the red border on Thomas’ sides. The finger joints on Thomas’ hands are also well built, allowing for this unhinged steam engine to rip up rails and potentially throw train cars.

The level of detail work on the legs and on the back of the body imply a specific mechanical look, as though for all these years the little blue engine we watched on TV had been hiding four limbs within his innocent body. If Dvd can make Thomas look this scary, I can’t imagine with what he would do with a bigger engine like Gordon or Henry.

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Sometimes the parts used are as beautiful as the whole

I’m a sucker for new or nice parts usage (NPU) and Simon NH knows the way to my heart. So allow me to fangirl out at for a moment at his latest Harry Potter creation, Winter in Hogsmeade.

Did you see the brick walls built out of Mjölnirs or the underside of jumpers? Or the window arch made out of cheese held in by pressure alone? I love the modified plates with teeth as shingles and the lance as a downspout. How about the welding torch as a sconce, or the (extremely in-theme) sorting hat as the top of the lamppost. I’m really only scratching the surface here, as there are all kinds of other creative parts usages throughout, and that’s not even mentioning the smart colour choices (like, hello yellowish-green and light aqua as frozen grass). The creation as a whole is fantastic, but the smart use of parts really does make a LEGO fan weak in the knees.

Send those undead warriors running back to their mummies!

I love winning. Nothing quite compares to the thrill of victory, whether that is beating your friends at a casual game of Scrabble or annihilating your four-year-old son in an epic basketball throwdown where you channel prime Wilt on a six-foot net. John Snyder loves winning, too, and also loves seeing the bad guys lose. In his latest massive diorama, John depicts the forces of the wicked Desert King, a resurrected mummy-wizard, being routed by the armies of good Queen Ylspeth. I haven’t seen this many mummies running away since Brendan Fraser was a major Hollywood star, and it looks great. Everywhere you look, there are highly detailed buildings, ornate arches, intricate domes, meticulously-laid streets, and more.

See more of Al Tajir here

Just two months to Bricks LA 2020 [News]

Southern California’s premier LEGO convention, Bricks LA, is just two months away. Running January 10-12, LEGO fans will gather at the Pasadena Convention Center to showcase more than 19,000 square feet of cool creations. Registration for adult fans to attend all three days is $70, which includes participation in games, prizes and more, and you have until Nov. 29 to get registered to secure customized brick badges and other special perks.

Public tickets on Saturday and Sunday are only $5, with kids under 5 free, and are available online.

The Brothers Brick is proud to be a sponsor of Bricks LA.

The Infernal Dictionary has no word for this

Builder [VB] and his friends have built an entire royal family of odd creatures such as this King Asmodeus. The kicker is the only description they left for us is written in some crazy, arcane, completely indecipherable moon language. They state; “Aucun avant n’a songe de réunir un pandémonium d’aberrations et de porteurs de malheur sous une seule entité surnommée le Dictionnaire Infernal”.

I just wish there was some sort of online translator to make heads or tails of this muck. It would be like Googling something except, instead of looking up photos or articles, you could plug the indecipherable gibberish into one section and it would spit up a translation in English, or whatever your native language happens to be. But we’re probably like fifty years from having such technology, which is a shame really. Oh, well. Here’s a prior time the same builder totally delighted us with Uranus.

You ever driven with the devil in the pale moonlight?

Jerry Builds Bricks Returns with a stunning rendition of the Batmobile from Tim Burton’s Batman (1989). This is Jerry’s 2nd iteration of the Caped Crusader’s ride; we featured his building instructions for the first version last year. While it features some design cues found in the first model, the latest rendition looks sleeker and meaner. This is especially noticeable in the curve of the fins and the front fenders, which consist of curved slopes on hinges instead of angular slopes.

Once you’ve finished drooling over Jerry’s bat-tastic Batmobile, be sure to check out our review of LEGO set 76139 1989 Batmobile!

The beginner’s guide to collecting LEGO wooden toys, the original LEGO Originals [Feature]

LEGO hasn’t always been a manufacturer of plastic building blocks. From 1932 until 1960, LEGO manufactured wooden toys and, this year, they are celebrating this heritage with the release of LEGO Originals Wooden Minifigure 853967. As a casual collector of wooden LEGO toys, I find the LEGO Originals line intriguing because LEGO is embracing its roots in such a way that allows the public to participate. As excited as I am for the future of LEGO Originals, I thought it might fun to take a look at what I like to call the original “LEGO Originals.”

1940s Quacking duck and circa late-1930s orange duck – image courtesy of Matthew Hocker
Continue reading to learn more about collecting vintage wooden LEGO toys

The F-16 Viper is still sleek after 40 years

Almost two weeks ago, the first example of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to be based in the Netherlands arrived at Leeuwarden Air Base. It marks the beginning of the end for the forty-year career of the F-16 with the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The F-16 is officially named the Fighting Falcon, but commonly known as the Viper. I’ve been thinking about building a larger scale version of the Viper for years. A reason why I didn’t was that the 1/18 scale model by Everblack basically was just too good.

However, the arrival of the Viper’s eventual replacement and the 40th anniversary finally made me decide to bite the proverbial bullet. I picked the same scale, 1/22, as most of my cars and my Top Gun Tomcat. The F-16 was a lighter and cheaper alternative to the F-15 Eagle and, as such, it’s a fairly small aircraft. The large scale does make the model quite a big beast, with a span of 56 studs and a length of more than 80 studs. However, it also allowed me to add more details and to more accurately represent the jet’s sleek shape. I couldn’t have done this on a smaller scale or without some of the new parts that LEGO has released in the last few years.
Continue reading →

Floats like a butterfly. Possibly also stings like a butterfly.

Ah, Novvember. The time of year when all the forked-front spaceships come out to play. It’s always a lot of fun to see what new takes on the Vic Viper builders will come up with. Sheo is among those who took a stab at it, and delivers a ship that really has that “wow” factor. Butterfly Racer is all about the curves.

White hot air balloon panels create an hourglass shape that is surrounded by undulating curves in red. There are dinosaur tails and inverted arches, along with a mixture of curved slopes. The curved shape is also emphasized by the repeated use of round tiles in white, red, and black. All in all, this is a lovely craft that pays tribute to the themes while still bringing a new and distinctive style to them.

Rebel against the blockade in the Rebel Blockade Runner

Are you a smuggler tired of being boarded by an Imperial cruiser? Or an Imperial politician with sympathies to the Rebellion? Or maybe you’re a starship captain looking for something that packs a punch? If you said yes to any of these questions, you need a Rebel Blockade Runner, particularly the one seen here designed by Ben Cossy.

Created to emulate the white and blue paint scheme of the CR90s from Star Wars: Rebels rather than the Tantive IV from A New Hope, everything seen here is as gorgeous as it looked on screen. This Rebel Blockade Runner incorporates the best of microscale design. I love the cockpit part of the ship by the way it fits exactly how an actual CR90 would look. The gun turrets on top, bottom and sides show that this isn’t a ship to mess with, and the use of the mechanical claw piece increases the playability of the guns.

I think the best part of this design is the smoothness of it all. Perfect angles and curves, as well as detailed hardpoints when screen accuracy is needed. I’m not sure how Ben created the angled port and starboard sections of the ship, but they look fantastic. Any Rebel commander looking to bust through an Imperial blockade would want something that looks this good.

Stunning stacked city keeps going, and going, and going

When I saw this amazing vertical city by Sebastian Bachórzewski, my first thought was, “What a neat microscale building,” followed almost immediately by “HOLY crap! That is minifig scale.” To say that there was a lot going on here would be an understatement. Between the many residential and commercial units piled high, to the floating vehicles coming and going at various levels, to the street scenes along all four sides of the base, this Favela is home to many faded, bitten, random, unwanted and surplus LEGO elements, cobbled together in some surprising ways.

Check out more of this stellar stacked city

Marching to war in the latest war machine fashion

Let’s face it, war is hell, especially on your feet. All that marching across rugged terrain can wreak havoc on even the most leathery of soles. Well, everyone who is anyone will be lining up to get their hands on the latest model in castle-busting siege engines by Tino Poutiainen, the Siege Giant (patent pending). Sporting the newest military miracle, the Trebuchoulder pads, this walking wall-wrecker will be no match for your enemies. Tino has put together a very expressive creation, from slumping shoulders to a tired and resigned expression on the giant’s face, made with only a few simple parts. I think my favorite part, besides that face, is the ram-headed club made from Tauntaun tusks.

And if you need more proof that the Siege Giant is the pinnacle of mobile combat, look no further than the smile on this soldier’s face. No blisters on these feet.