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.

Hong Kong – Beneath the shell, it’s a pearl of a city.

Nearly ten years ago, working in China allowed me the opportunity to visit Hong Kong for the very first time. The primary focus of my trip was to visit LEGO fan event Bricks Adventure 2011 at City University, and I was floored by both the hospitality and building skills of the city’s LEGO enthusiasts. I was equally impressed by the beauty of the city itself, so much so that I made two more trips to Hong Kong in the coming months. Therefore, when I saw this artful LEGO depiction of the city built by Hong Kong native Eric Mok, it triggered a wave of happy memories. Eric captures a view of Hong Kong Island from Kowloon, set inside a gold-trimmed sea scallop — it’s a lovely nod to Hong Kong’s nickname as the “Pearl of the Orient.”

See this microscale version of Hong Kong in closer detail.

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LEGO 80105 Spring Festival Chinese New Year Temple Fair [Review]

Last year, LEGO released sets 80101 Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner and 80102 Dragon Dance to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival, also known as the Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year). At the time, the sets were only sold in the Asia Pacific region, causing an uproar among fans elsewhere in the world who felt slighted by their regional exclusivity. The extent of this reaction was influential in LEGO’s decision to make this year’s Chinese New Year sets available worldwide. Today, we take a look at this year’s LEGO 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair to give you insight into a brick-built celebration filled with fun and beautiful details. The set has been available in the Asia Pacific region since December 26, 2019 but is being released worldwide today. It consists of 1664 pieces and retails for US $119.99 | CAN $159.99 | UK £89.99

Read the full review to learn more about this Chinese New Year exclusive.

Using LEGO to unleash your inner beast

I’m a firm believer in the tried and true mantra, “good things come to those who wait.” While we didn’t know it, we had to wait a full year for this formidable looking fire gorgon built by Andrew Steele; that’s how long it took him to build the beast! It’s no wonder either, because at 1.4 m (4.6 ft) in length the fire gorgon is as big as some children! Building big allows for more detailing, and the sculpting of this creature’s body is phenomenal.

See more of the ferocious fire gorgon.

LEGO Chinese New Year Temple Fair and Lion Dance sets now available globally [News]

LEGO has made the two new Chinese New Year regional exclusives for 2020 available worldwide. 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair comes with 1,664 pieces, 14 minifigures and features a lively festival around a temple gate for US $119.99 | CAN $159.99 | UK £89.99.

80104 Lion Dance comes with 882 pieces, eight minifigures including a new rat costume, and five brick-built dancing lions for US $79.99 | CAN $109.99 | UK £64.99.

Click to get a closer look at each Chinese New Year LEGO set

I want to take you to a Space Bar!

Builder Pixel Fox show us that Star Wars isn’t the only place one can find a hive of scum and villainy. We see many scenes of gorgeous buildings and mechanically accurate spaceships, but often they are bereft of minifigs or perhaps just include a few. Personally, I love minifigures and enjoy seeing them put to good use and this action-packed scene hits all the right notes.

I love the thoughtful architecture in the scene that really serves to be a great background for the many stories happening. The two floors offer multiple levels of action and the large window keeps the scene from becoming too claustrophobic. The table design is simple but effective and transparent orange pieces provide a nice break from the surrounding grays.

Of course, the real stars of this show are the many minifigures. I love a model that tells a story and this one has so many to tell. No matter where you look, there is something going on. A few of my favorites are the robot bartender with his mustache and top hat, the central fight that is breaking out in the middle ground and the space pirate in conversation on the balcony. The pirate hat atop a space helmet is a hilarious touch. I also love that the builder has included all kinds of “aliens” across various franchises from Toy Story to Overwatch. How many can you find?

LEGO Ninjago’s new people pack: 71708 Gamer’s Market [Review]

When I looked over the new 2020 wave of LEGO Ninjago sets, one immediately stuck out among the dragons, mechs, and other usual Ninjago fare. 71708 Gamer’s Market is a small set crammed with nine minifigures, along with three small booths. Other themes have long had people packs and army builders, with City and Star Wars providing the most well-known recent examples, but apart from blister packs of figures, Ninjago has always balanced minifigures with the brick-built parts of the set. With 218 pieces and nine minifigures, 71708 Gamer’s Market retails for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £29.99 and is available now.

As any modern video gamer knows, microtransactions are where game publishers make the big bucks these days, and it’s no different for the new Tron-like digital world in which the latest season of Ninjago is set, so the Gamer’s Market is where you can outfit your character with all the latest gear, from katanas to hats.

Click to read the full hands-on review!

It will be hard to build a better, bigger bomber than this 6-foot LEGO B-36D

LEGO builder Jack Carleson is back with yet another model that shows why he goes by the screen name “Big Planes.” Following up on his incredible minifigure-scale Air Force One, Jack brings us a huge model of the Convair B-36D “Peacemaker” from the early cold war era.

Entering service in 1949 with a profile that fits right between the B-29 that preceded it and the B-52 that replaced it (which is still in service), the B-36 is nonetheless distinct with its six push-prop engines augmented with four jet engine nacelles. Jack’s model is massive with a wingspan of 6 feet. That’s all the more impressive when you look at how rigid the self-supporting wings are, which is an amazing feat of LEGO engineering. Continue reading →

A LEGO bonsai to admire

The art of bonsai, or tray planting, much like LEGO building can be a very meditative process. Hours and hours can go into the finished product, and meticulous study and practice can lead to a true masterpiece of patience and careful work.

In this wonderfully detailed tree by Know Your Pieces that combines both, there are some small details worth pointing out. I love the use of tiny cherries as small berries under some of the leaves. The twisted brown whip wrapped around the middle is also a nice choice. And the bowl and stand work very well together to provide the perfect display. Altogether, it’s just how a beautiful bonsai should be.

Imaginary islands, real LEGO bricks

When looking for unique builds to showcase here at The Brothers Brick, we see a lot of digital creations. There’s nothing wrong with that; virtual bricks can let a builder explore color combinations that LEGO has yet to produce, or to forgo the limitations that gravity would put on a delicate creation. But when you see something that you’re pretty sure is a render, only to discover it’s real? That’s something special. Oh, sure, Eli Willsea tried to throw me off by titling their creation The Imaginary Islands. But considering this was part of a real-world collaboration for BrickWorld, I think I spotted the clues that this is, indeed, a physical model. And what a model it is! A futuristic city floats above a lush landscape, which sits amid a calm sea.

I really like the use of carrot tops in the vegetation and the inverted Queen Watevra’s crown atop one of the buildings. What does puzzle me, though, is just how those waterfalls work. Is the city pumping up a ton of extra water from the sea? Is it the result of some sort of extra-dimensional gate gone wrong? Gasp! Is all that water around the base not a sea at all, but rather a giant lake of city-generated sewage? Is this actually a dystopian nightmare after all? I….I think I need to go lie down now.

Nothing is impassable with a blurrg mount – I have spoken

The premiere season of the Disney+ Star Wars television series, The Mandalorian, has ended, and as with any Star Wars product, it has inspired many, many LEGO fans to create custom models based on the shows vehicles and characters. While I would never admit being tired of seeing more models of the baby who is not Yoda or the Razoecrest, the unsung hero of the show, in my opinion, is the Ugnaught Quiil, and his herd of female blurrgs. It looks like Letranger Absurde agrees, as evidenced by this scene showing Quiil spouting wisdom from his lofty perch.

This sweet ride will soon be an official giveaway set!

There’s something about a 50s era car that gives me a deep sense of longing for a time and a place that I was never a part of. Well, it turns out so many others share in this notion. The term for that is not nostalgia but rather… anemoia. Versteinert likely knows what I mean as evidenced by this fabulously 50s convertible. The good news for anyone not a sexagenarian but still in love with that 50s style is this ride was the grand prize winner in the LEGO Ideas contest and will soon be an official Gift with Purchase set. Details as to exactly when and which sets you’d need to purchase haven’t been released yet, but our not-too-distant future is looking bright!

Contest rules state that any entry would need to be a generic design. I say “generic” meaning no particular model or brand, but I’m seeing a little bit of ’59 Impala, little bit of ’57 Chevy Bel Air, little bit of Ford, little bit of Cadillac and all things that make my heart go pitter-patter. The ice skate blade hood ornament is inspired, and the Dagmars (named after this actress) on the bumper are an excellent touch, but the pièce de résistance would have to be these surfboards. It would seem giving us all a sense of anemoia just might be this builder’s thing. Here’s a prior time we featured his vintage Chevy truck.

Notre Dame before the fire.

I was recently challenged to recreate Notre Dame Cathedral in microscale and it sounded like a fun challenge. From the start, I knew I wanted to incorporate an Arkenstone and 2×2 Tie Fighter windscreen dish, so that gave me a specific scale. Then I looked online to see what others had done. From there, I just started test building different portions of the cathedral. Half an hour later, I came up with this. The idea to use droid arms as flying buttresses came from someone else’s build and I was impressed at how well they tie the whole thing together. I’m quite pleased with how it all came together so quickly, and especially proud of how well the Tie Fighter pieces work as rose windows, as well as the pentagonal jumper plates as arches.