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.

Lumos Maxima! This incredible custom LEGO Hogwarts Castle looks like it could be straight from the movies

LEGO builder Hyungmin Park has brought something incredible to life. The many official iterations of the Harry Potter universe from LEGO have granted many builders the parts, concepts and construction ideas to achieve so much, and LEGO fans have responded with countless adaptations in a wide range of scales. But when I saw this new Hogwarts castle, I had to rub my eyes. I already have a love for both minifig and microscale builds, but here they work together to create a great forced perspective, all the while being impeccably lit with a huge amount of LEDs.

The Hogwarts Castle is as iconic as a pop culture building could be, and Hyungmin Park’s rendition is just stunning. The main structure of the building has been predominantly locked into microscale, with the odd exception of a well-placed minifig scale scene, reminding me a bit of the giant official LEGO microscale Hogwarts Castle. But this does two things: it allows the viewer to soak in some of their favorite scenes, and it gives some great forced-perspective photos. Having them completely lit up, only enhances the experience even more.

Click to see more photos of this incredible Hogwarts Castle

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Does this bug you?

Surveillance technology gets a creepy boost with Marty McFly, Cole Blaq’s latest creation. I’m not sure if this steampunk drone is designed to extract information or blood. It looks like it could do either. Or both. Probably at the same time. Like I said: Creepy.

From a LEGO perspective there are lots of things to love about this build. The spear gun proboscis and minifigure whip antennae fit the insect shaping well. The plastic insect wings are effectively incorporated. My favorite details, though, are the Imperial astromech droid heads. Those transparent domes perfectly combine the suggestion of circuity and faceted eyes.

Cole provides more great views of this creation in his blog post. While you’re there, take some time to explore this builder’s other amazing creations.

Hey Ma, is it meatloaf night?

In true stylised 50s decor, Aukbricks has brought this living room to life. The grand windows, framed by long curtains, really open this space up without losing any of the warmth. I can almost smell the cookies baking in the adjacent kitchen. The lamp, with its combination of Technic wheel and inset steering wheel is ace — the leg composition and string with stud ends, makes it perfect. A staggered and framed arrangement of printed 1×1 Plates appear behind it, seemingly like an unexpected but good way to use them. I’m also impressed by the billy clubs, used as rounded feet on the sofa. Though the part combinations are superbly placed throughout this build, the overall ambience set in the render process has given it a distinctly 1950s nuclear family feel. All it needs now is a turntable with Buddy Holly set to a comfortable level.

The new LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Avengers set brings fantastic minifigures of Hulk and Pepper Potts [News]

Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame is probably the biggest movie of the year. Although, a lineup of LEGO Marvel sets was released in April, the design team made an excellent job not spoiling any plot details. Now, once the whole world learned the outcome, LEGO has something to surprise us with. Pepper Potts in her Rescue armor, Black Widow and Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Hulk all come in 76144 Avengers Hulk Helicopter Drop. The 482-piece LEGO Marvel Avengers: Endgame set hits store shelves November 25 and will retail at US $59.99.

Click here for more pictures…

Revisiting the LEGO Wild West Saloon set from Bricklink’s AFOL Designer Program [Review]

Over the last few months, we reviewed the Wild West Saloon and the popular Löwenstein Castle custom LEGO sets from Bricklink’s AFOL Designer Program (ADP). Since we received an early review copy, it arrived without the actual packaging and manuals. Bricklink has now generously sent us the actual packaging backers can expect to receive. With box-in-hand, we wanted to provide our readers with a quick revisit of the set, this time only focusing on the unboxing experience and instruction manual.

Click here to experience the full unboxing

What lies beneath the waves?

Every year for the past few summers, right around now talented castle builders start coming out of the woodwork and displaying their creations for the Summer Joust. One such talented castle builder is Carter Witz, who has built the ruins of some ancient civilization on the edge of a tropical island. Unlike most such builds, however, Carter has set most of the building beneath the waves, implying either that the level of the sea has risen or that the level of the land has sunk. Or were the original inhabitants merfolk? Our only clue is that the builder has titled the work “Flooded…”. Whatever the events were that befell the now-ruined tower, it is an impressive build.

Large sections of rocks often get to be tedious, but Carter has kept the rocks looking interesting by varying the pieces and techniques on the way up. Minifigure arms on the submerged trees make for effective branches, and the tan gears look like nice corals. There are even ball joint pieces used as some sort of sponge, perhaps. The nicest detail, though, is the fish hiding in the hole in the tower. They don’t mind at all that the place is flooded.

LEGO 75253 Boost Droid Commander now available for purchase in US and Canada [News]

The LEGO Boost 75253 Droid Commander details were revealed back in May and you can now order it online at LEGO Shop@Home on the US and Canada stores. It comes with 1,177 pieces and retails for US $199.99 and CAN $249.99. Other locations such as the UK does not have them listed as of yet.

Click here to order for the US Store listing and here for the Canada Store listing.

You can read more about the details of this set and features in the Press Release announcement or check out the Designers Video released recently below.

A beast from a garden that is older than your grandads

The good old backyard wriggler seems like a toddler in comparison to Tino Poutiainen’s mighty “Ancient Earthworm.” Its resemblance to both the famed Jurassic-era predator and a Tremors Graboid is quite striking. Even still, this leaves me to wonder what scale is it built in? Is it in minifig scale or actually closer to life-size? Whatever the case, this LEGO beast gives me the feeling that it would be an unrelenting foe, whether chasing me down a main road or a garden path.

Poutiainen’s use of the long cattle horn and spiky appendage piece, both in reddish-brown give this build some sensory perception when deep underground. It’s crowning part use though, is the large figure forearm with fist for the head. This piece was only produced in one set almost a decade ago, so it is good to see it making such a purposeful appearance here.

2,000-brick LEGO version of Edinburgh Castle and gardens

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, famous for its castle atop a volcanic plug of rock, and the Princes Street Gardens, a public park lying between the city’s Old and New Towns. It’s my home, so I’m obviously biased, but it’s widely regarded as one of the most beautiful and dramatic city centres in the world. The challenge of recreating my home city in the brick has haunted me for years, and I finally decided to take a proper crack at it. After 18 months of off-and-on building, multiple orders of bricks, and a great deal of cursing and starting over, this 2,000(ish) brick model was the result.

The model is 75cm by 40cm and captures the upper stretch of the famous Royal Mile, the Castle Rock, and the whole of the gardens — including the train tracks, the Scott Monument, the art galleries on The Mound, and the various churches which are dotted across this slice of the city.

Over a total of a year and a half, I was probably building this for three months or so, with flurries of activity punctuated with periods when I couldn’t bring myself to even look at it! Google Maps was a constant companion throughout the project, allowing me to zoom in on individual buildings to capture detail, or zoom out to understand general scale and comparative distances. It’s amazing how much you learn when you look in this level of detail at somewhere you think you know well.

Once the model was completed, I wanted to get some images against a real sky. The photo below captures one of my favourite views of the city — looking out from Waverley Bridge across the Eastern section of the Gardens, the National Gallery and Royal Academy buildings ahead, and the Castle looming over everything in the background. As happens often in real life, one of the city’s many double-decker buses has managed to get into the shot…

Whilst I’m pleased with how the final model turned out, at the moment I’m saying I’m never attempting such a project ever again! However, I’ve already caught myself looking at maps of the city and idly wondering in which direction I should extend the diorama. I think it’s only a matter of time before I’m engrossed in mini city-building all over again.

LEGO Speed Champions reissues the classic 911 with 75895 1974 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 [News]

Today, LEGO is taking the wraps off the sole entry to the Speed Champions fall 2019 lineup, 75895 1974 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0. Although we previously got a small glimpse of the model in the 2019 catalog, we’ve now got all the official details and photos for the set. Retailing for $14.99, the set will have 180 pieces and is slated to be available Aug. 1.

Click to see all the pictures and read the press release

No, really. Space is curved.

When you hear the term “LEGO brick” your mind is drawn to an image of just that…a brick. Rectangular. Boxy. Brick Spirou shows us the alternative with the Space Police Interceptor. Decked out in classic Space Police I colors, this single-pilot ship is all about the curves. The wings feature the repetition of double-curved slopes in a design that reminds me of the air turbines you might see in a strictly atmospheric craft. The front forks have triple curved wedges that add even more smooth lines to the look.

The rear of the craft also has some nice shaping. An aircraft fuselage section leads your eyes to the just-textured-enough engines. My favorite detail, though, is the Hero Factory Spine placed just in front of the tail fin.

Space Police interceptors have been all the rage here at The Brothers Brick lately. Be sure to also check out the Galactic Interceptor we reviewed recently!

The wendigo is scary indeed...

The 2019 Bionicle-building challenge Biocup is on and LEGO Bionicle enthusiast chubbybots has jumped into the ring swinging. The first round’s theme is scary monsters, which I definitely think this wendigo fits into. Intimidation and furious brutality are the words that spring to mind. The Hero Factory Hand Armor as the top of its head was an excellent choice that brings those stark white teeth to the foreground on that monstrous underbite. Those rubber tyres on the arms and ankles remind me of the tufts of hair on a minotaur. I wonder it played some role as a muse while chubbybots started to piece this guy together? My favourite piece use on this terrifying vision would have to be a tie between the four eyes made from small red lever bases and the shadow trap, creating what looks like the end of a gnarly set of gauntlets.

Be sure to stop by and check out some of the other contenders in this year’s Biocup!