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 grass is the sun and the stone is the blue sky

Certain core LEGO themes like castle and space seem to have very specific directions of experimentation and technical progress. We generally associate castle builds with unique textures, but having a colour palette usually limited to various earth tones. Colour experimentation is not unheard of in the theme though, but remains the rare exception that reminds us of specific builders like Luke Watkins or jaapxaap, among others. This time, Anthony Wilson goes to the extreme with what almost looks like a negative image of what would otherwise be a cute but quite ordinary castle scene.

Western Woods

There are so many tones of blue, yellow and orange in this build that even if I try to count them all, I would probably still miss one or two. The transitions between the different colours in the grass are especially smooth and really add up to a realistic effect (as realistic as yellow grass can be). The 1×2 tile-based wall is not a new technique, but the two rows look great overgrown by all sorts of dark brown plants. The yellow ninja minifig and its animal companion add that vitally important bit of life that complete the scene.

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Meet Anna. She’s not your average dinosaur.

Meet Anna the Ankyloceratops, she is not your average dinosaur. A builder who goes by the name of Victor got it into his reptile brain to construct a hybrid between a triceratops and an ankylosaurus. The end result makes her a fierce defender of all the grass and stream she has here. Her armor is comprised of plenty of radar dishes and these pointy bits. Her shaping, coloring, even the well-crafted landscape conveys Mesozoic goodness. Anna just might be the best thing I’ve seen all day and I’ve seen a video featuring a basket full of wiener dog puppies.

Anna the ankyloceratops

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An impish little tree stump

Sometimes a build comes around that is not large, or highly sophisticated, or deeply symbolic, but instead is just plain whimsically charming. This little tree stump built by Marcel V. and inhabited by several imps is one such build. The lovely arrangement of earth tones strikes the right chord, and nothing is out of place or superfluous. The grass stalks and flowers set a scale for the build that is life-sized, with little four-brick high imps scurrying about causing mischief from their little home. And don’t miss the wood grain of that severed stump!

the imp's tree stump

There are a few nice piece usages to be seen here, like the cupcake cup for a flower and the corn-suit from a collectible minifigure growing beside the little house. I love the little ladders and the window on the roof. It is all captured in a clean visual aesthetic, with impeccably placed pebbles, too. These impish fellows look like they could come straight from the microverse of the Planticore we featured a short while ago.

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LEGO reveals two new Star Wars sets from Tatooine at San Diego Comic-Con [News]

Today LEGO has taken the wraps off two new Star Wars sets at San Diego Comic-Con, where they’re being displayed to the public for the first time. LEGO has gone back to the classics with these, as both models are from the opening portions of Star Wars: A New Hope set on Tatooine. 75270 Obi-Wan’s Hut has 200 pieces, while 75271 Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder has 236 pieces. They will retail for $29.99 USD each and will be available January 1, 2020. While both sets are fairly similar to previous releases in the Star Wars theme, there are some new aspects, such as a holographic Princess Leia microfigure in Obi-Wan’s hut.

Click to see more of the new sets

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This incredible LEGO model shows how to keep the ocean colorful and save the reefs

Across the world’s oceans, tiny changes in the water temperature have massive effects on the organisms living there, especially the tiniest. Coral reefs, in particular, show in spectacularly tragic fashion the impact of rising ocean temperatures. When the water gets too warm, the algae that live symbiotically within the cells of coral polyps get expelled violently from the little animals. Though the coral polyps are still alive, they are no longer colorful and bright; they are left a cold, dull white, deprived of the photosynthesis-derived energy from the algae and fully dependent on catching little bits of passing debris in their tentacles. Slowly but surely, the vibrant and rich ecosystem that once thrived around the rocky haven of the coral reef dies away, leaving nothing but coral skeletons. Builder Emil Lidé brings this oceanic phenomenon to life in LEGO form beautifully yet tragically.

Coral Bleaching (5 of 5)

Emil presents to us the reef on the one hand in full splendor, with diverse forms of coral and plant life along with little fish hiding in the crevices, wandering crustaceans, and starfish; and on the other hand, the reef bleached white, with skeleton arms appropriately front and center, with no animals or plants still living there. This build will be spending the next year at the LEGO House in Billund, if you can make the trip.

See more of this beautiful creation

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LEGO Ideas 21315 Pop-up Book and other popular LEGO sets discounted on Amazon US [News]

With a lot of brilliant LEGO sets released this year, there are a lot of items any LEGO fan would love to add to their collection. Now, a bunch of excellent LEGO sets is at a decent discounted price on Amazon. Whether you’re a LEGO Ideas fan or collecting Star Wars and Harry Potter sets, these offers totally worth checking out.

LEGO Ideas 21315 Pop-up Book | 859 Pcs | $42.99 USD (39% Discount)

Click to see more sets on discount

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TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for July 01, 2019 [News]

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.

TBB News and reviews:


In other LEGO news:

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Countryside idyll built of carrots and sticks

Do you remember that guy from your Math textbook who happened to own a dozen pineapples or 30 bananas? Well, Peter Ilmrud seems to be that guy. Keeping several hundred carrots in your house might not be a good idea unless they’re LEGO carrot pieces. It’s been 20 years since the piece first appeared in LEGO sets, but it looks like Peter is one of the first to use it as roof tiling. The result looks fantastic, and bright orange carrots go nicely with white and brown walls of the house. A simple garden fence made of sticks is another nice touch in the diorama, which I would love to try to recreate in my next medieval creation.

Miller's Garden

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A heavy assault mech for all your heavy assault shenanigans

Have you ever wondered what those S.W.A.T. team hand signals mean as they gather outside your house? I believe a fist hoisted straight up and down in the air means “hurry up” while a hand covering the mouth means “gas”. The rest was sort of lost in a fiery frantic blur but no matter the hand signals, a S.W.A.T. team outside means you’re pretty much screwed. While going out in a blaze of glory does have its appeal, you might instead want to employ the help of of this Heavy Assault Mech built by Mishima to tilt the odds in your favor. Trust me, a light assault mech or even a moderate assault mech will not help in this situation. You will need some seriously huge guns–so huge you wonder how it’s still standing upright.

Heavy Assault Mech

A shoulder-mounted Gatling gun and a missile launcher rounds out the arsenal, the latter making excellent use of the “nexagon” part. While doing time in the Big House you might want to check out this builder’s other nifty mechs and bots or follow his Youtube channel for an instructional video on how to build this one. In the meantime, all this mechanized firepower ought to hold you over right up until they send in the attack dogs. Good luck!

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LEGO Harry Potter attends the Yule Ball with 75948 Hogwarts Clock Tower [Review]

When LEGO revived the Harry Potter theme last year after a seven-year hiatus, one set was notably missing: a minifigure-scale Hogwarts Castle. Of course, we did get the stupendous microscale 71043 Hogwarts Castle, but we’d come to expect a regular set labeled “Hogwarts Castle” as LEGO had done at least four times previously. However, this time LEGO had something much more grand up its sleeves. Afterall, there’s no way to have a proper Hogwarts Castle at minifigure scale without it breaking both your bank and your back. Beginning with the excellent 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall and continuing with 75953 Hogwarts Whomping Willow, LEGO is releasing a sweeping minifigure-scale Hogwarts bit by bit, with each segment modularly fitting to the next. 75948 Hogwarts Clock Tower is the third in the series. With 922 pieces, it retails for US $89.99 | CAN $119.99 | UK £84.99. It is available starting July 1 in North America, though it has already been available in Europe.


The revived Harry Potter theme has been playing a mad-dash game of catch-up to whip through the movies–because yes, the sets are based on the movies, not the books–in order to get a new generation of LEGO Harry Potter fans up to speed with all their favorite moments. Last year’s Great Hall was based on The Philosopher’s Stone, the first movie, while the Whomping Willow followed with a scene from The Chamber of Secrets. In building the modular Hogwarts LEGO has skipped right past the third movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban. Hogwarts Clock Tower is set during the Yule Ball in The Goblet of Fire, when two rival wizarding schools are visiting Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament. Continue reading

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TBB cover photo for July 2019: Lumos Maxima!

For this month’s July cover photo for The Brothers Brick’s social media channels, we’re celebrating the newest wave of LEGO Harry Potter sets, which are available starting today in North America. We were amazed with this incredible version of Hogwarts castle by Hyungmin Park. Lit with hundreds of LEDs, the model is photographed so beautifully we could almost believe it was from the movies. Speaking of which, since we got a LEGO Batman Movie, a LEGO Harry Potter Movie would be incredible. (Psst, Warner Bros, are you listening?)

Harry Potter - Hogwarts

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month or more? Then read the submission guidelines and send us your photo today. Photos that do not meet the submission guidelines will not be considered, and will be removed from the group.

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Babydozer on the path of destruction

Accomplished LEGO artist Ted Andes has presented us with a cute riddle: What’s under twenty pieces, adorable and could potentially demolish your house? Baby’s First Bulldozer. This is a prime example of minimal part use for the win. Also known as the Pamper Pusher, this little guy was built as a part of a collaborative effort for Brickworld Chicago. I always enjoy seeing simple two- or three-piece combinations that just work. The tread system made of the microfighter wheel base, a 1×3 thin Technic lift arm, and a stretched tyre, is absolutely one of those.

Baby's First Bulldozer

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