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.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for September 14, 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 second week of September 2019.

LEGO serves up a freshly baked gingerbread treat this holiday season.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS: This week we saw the reveal of two new Technic sets, reviewed the Series 19 Collectable Minifigures, took a look at the newest entry in the Winter Village line and got a peek at the design process of the Disney Train and Station.

- LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 19 (71025) are back to the basics and better than ever [Review] – ere’s what we think of LEGO’s new Series 19 minifigures (hint, with 4 brand-new animals, it just might be the best series in a while!)
- Announcing the TBB Banquet brick-built food collab for BrickCon 2019 – Do you like brick-built brunches? Studded snacks? How about AFOL appetizers and MOC munchies? Then you’ll want to attend the TBB Banquet!
- LEGO Technic 42110 Land Rover Defender officially unveiled – This LEGO Land Rover Defender comes with more than 2,500 pieces and is the first Technic model ever to be released in olive green.

LEGO Technic’s biggest set ever now available for pre-order: 42100 Liebherr R 9800 Excavator – The massive LEGO Technic Liebherr excavator is now available for pre-order. This huge 4,108-piece set is the biggest Technic set ever!
Free Star Wars mini droid VIP exclusive with Droid Commander set purchase and a free LEGO lunchbox – There are two promotions at the LEGO Store online right now, a mini droid set and an awesome retro lunchbox.
LEGO celebrates 10 years of the Winter Village with 10267 Gingerbread House – LEGO is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Winter Village line with a sweet treat, the new 10267 Gingerbread House.

TBB FEATURES AND VIDEOS

Behind the scenes of the new LEGO 10267 Gingerbread House – Watch a hands-on tour of LEGO’s sweetest set yet, 10267 Gingerbread House to find out what was the hardest part of the model to design.
Tom Servo and me – a journey, part 3 [Feature] – Chris Doyle has been working on a new version of his Tom Servo replica, his first big build in nearly a decade. Come along on part three of this journey of LEGO rediscovery.
LEGO designers of the new Disney Train and Station talk about their inspirations – LEGO designer Marcos Bessa and graphic designer Austin Carlson talk about the details of the Disney Train and Station.

OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:

We’ve made updates to LEGO Ideas!, LEGO Ideas – LEGO has made quite a few changes to the way LEGO Ideas works.
Python for EV3, LEGO Education – You can now use your EV3 Brick to unleash the power of Python programming using MicroPython.
Making Minifigure Dioramas – San Diego Comic-Con 2019 – LEGO Model Shop, LEGO – LEGO interviews two designers (including yours truly!) on their process of making dioramas for San Diego Comic Con 2019.
Are you ready for the world’s largest display of LEGO art? Here’s the scoop, TimeOut – Venture to one of your favorite kids’ museums, the New York Hall of Science, beginning Sept 28 for a glimpse at this record-breaking exhibit.
Towers of Tomorrow With LEGO® Bricks Arrives at The Henry Ford Oct. 12, The Verge – The exhibit features 20 of the world’s most astonishing skyscrapers.
Lego movie and game bundles are coming to PS4 and Xbox One, Engadget – Watch the film, then play the game (or vice-versa).

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Don’t eat purple mushrooms unless you are a certified mycologist

I suspect that any self-respecting mycologist would eschew chewing on any purple mushrooms; a bright color like that probably screams “I’m poisonous!” That’s not to say a purple mushroom is not edible. All mushrooms are edible, after all; it’s just that some can be eaten only once. This purple mushroom mansion built by Jaap Bijl can be viewed as many times as you like but, like a real purple mushroom, I would not recommend eating it – ABS plastic doesn’t go down easy. Built for the Parts Festival hosted by our friends at New Elementary, there is an abundance of lovely parts usage, as well as plenty of Jaap’s favorite color, purple.

In particular, the new projectile launchers make for nice columns to flank the stairs. You’ll also find some stars, hearts, and splats for flowers and archways, and who doesn’t like some clever carrots in builds? The large flowers to either side give the scene some scale; either the house is small, or the flowers are huge! I like to imagine that there are little imps or faeries about. There seems to be a budding theme of tiny fantastic creatures growing, with some recent examples here and here, and I am a big fan.

Hunt for pirates on the HMS White Card

When I was a kid, pirate ships (as I called all boats with sails) were one of my favourite things to build with LEGO bricks. While I thought mine were OK, I wish I’d been able to jump forward in time and see some of Gerard Joosten’s ships, especially his HMS White Card.

While childhood me and adult Gerard’s ships are similar in that they start at the bottom with boat hull pieces, that’s where the similarities end. Though we’ve featured his builds before, Gerard pushed himself to take his shipbuilding to another level with this one and it shows. The two aspects that jump out the most to me are the shaping of the hull and the intricate rigging. Those large sails, coupled with small details like the brick built wooden stock on the anchor cement the HMS White Card as quite the stunning ship.

Not a drab grey brick in sight

If there’s one thing that sets today’s LEGO elements apart from those of the past, it’s the wide range of bright colors found in modern sets; they expand upon the original LEGO primary color palette with stunning diversity. Many of these colors are only available for a limited assortment of parts. This digital model by Pau Padrós uses some great new parts like this brick with a half arch first released in 71043 Hogwarts Castle, and this rounded brick in colors LEGO has not released yet, but we can hope that maybe someday, they will. The model features an angled facade and plenty of unconventional construction that orients the LEGO stud in several directions within a single structure.

LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 19 (71025) are back to the basics and better than ever [Review]

LEGO’s long-running collectible minifigures theme is back again with its third wave for the year. The last few waves focused on IP tie-ins, bringing a second wave of Disney, The LEGO Movie 2, and the Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts series. 71025 LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 19 returns to the classic formula with a wide variety of non-branded characters from all walks of life and lore, and it’s a refreshing change of pace even for those who loved the latest several series (I particularly enjoyed the Harry Potter figures). Series 19 is also the smallest set in the past year, returning to the standard 16 figures that were the trademark of the line until recently. As usual, they will retail for USA $3.99 | CAN $4.99 | UK £2.99 per figure and are packed in blind bags. With characters ranging from a Fright Knight to a guy in a pizza costume, let’s dive in and take a look at Series 19.

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Nevertheless, Warsaw persisted

It’s safe to say that Warsaw was a dangerous place to be in 1944. Already oppressed for five years by both Soviet and Nazi forces, the Warsaw Uprising was the resistance movement led by the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) to liberate the Polish city from German occupation. This Home Army mostly consisted of volunteer civilians and a faction called “the Gray Ranks” who were merely the Polish equivalent of young Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Despite being severely outgunned and outnumbered, the Home Army fought like the damned and while eventually obliterating 85% of the city’s structures, Nazi forces didn’t quite establish a comfortable foothold there. What I find particularly intriguing about this build by H2brick is instead of a sprawling World War II layout, he offers just a well configured slice of what it must have been like to be in Warsaw at that time.

The wide black band flanked by two rows of 1×2 Medium Dark Flesh plates establishes a solid stand for the scene and I rather like how some of the 1×1 bricks and tiles along the stairs and wall are not quite clicked into place, thus offering a more broken, haphazard texture to the terrain. The advancing Nazi forces clearly outnumber the fighting citizens in this diorama, and the one officer without a helmet; his blonde hair offers a striking visual contrast to everything else and somehow implies that he is the one in charge. As foreboding as this scene is, the builder (maybe knowingly) offers just a glimmer of hope for both the Home Army and the viewer. The solitary tree, with its roots exposed, is a life form that may hang on despite the tragedy surrounding it. The bit of graffiti on the wall, while not entirely intact, is the Polish flag and serves as a symbolic reminder of what the citizens are fighting for. While things didn’t go entirely well for the Home Army, their efforts were not for naught. The nation of Poland still stands long after what was supposed to be a “Thousand Year Reich” was wiped from the Earth.

Lounge in this library with style

Libraries are more than book repositories; they also provide educational services and activities for their surrounding communities. Thanks to Łukasz Libuszewski’s, the little citizens of LEGOLAND can now enjoy everything a library has to offer. It looks both modern and inviting, complete with enough glass to let the sunshine in. The library sports a modular design, in which sections can be removed to reveal the service desk and bookshelves. Especially impressive is the motorized glass elevator. Be sure to watch Łukasz’ video to view the library from all angles, the interior and elevator in action. You might even want to sign up for a library card!

Behind the scenes of the new LEGO 10267 Gingerbread House [Video]

LEGO has published a festive video showing off the new Winter Village set, 10267 Gingerbread House. Former LEGO Designer Tiago Catarino gives a hands-on tour of the set, showing off the whimsical design, play features and gingerbread minifigures.

Tiago said that the most difficult parts of designing the set were getting the multiple angles of the roof to work together as well as nailing the look of the chimney. He also told one of his dark secrets that he has actually never tasted gingerbread! Hopefully that changes this holiday season.

Tiago was a LEGO designer for a little over three years, but left earlier this summer for family reasons, meaning that this video has been kept under wraps for quite some time! We wish Tiago the best of luck, and thanks for leaving us with such a sweet goodbye present.

Baby got Dewback

From the giant rancor to that thing in the Death Star’s trash compactor, there’s no shortage of interesting creatures in the Star Wars universe. One of the most memorable for me is the dewback, a reptile found on the desert world of Tatooine. Over the years, LEGO has released a few minifigure scaled versions of this creature. Some were very movie-accurate in appearance, but were constructed of giant molded parts without much hope for reuse. The recent Escape Pod vs. Dewback Microfighters set features a brick-built dewback, but the adjustments needed to meet the microfighter theme meant that the creature wasn’t particularly movie-accurate. Luca S Projects has given us the best of both worlds with a brick-built dewback that looks just like the real thing.

Despite the necessary evil of the occasional blue-grey connection brick, the sand-green creature’s curves are very accurately reproduced. The use of the Legends of Chima crocodile eye tile works well, as do the minifigure arms and hands used as part of the bridle. It’s also worth mentioning the diorama as a whole; the base is subtle but enough is present to set the scene, and the use of the dusty stormtoopers is certainly apt. Now, when can I expect to see a nice 1:1 model? Someone’s got to be working on that…

LEGO celebrates 10 years of the Winter Village with 10267 Gingerbread House [News]

LEGO has revealed the newest set in their Creator Expert Winter Village line, 10267 Gingerbread House. This sweet treat of a set comes with 1,477 pieces, two minifigures of a gingerbread man and woman, and a printed tile with a gingerbread baby.

This seasonal sumptuous set will retail for US $99.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £84.99 starting September 18th for LEGO VIP members with general availability beginning October 1st.

Click to get a closer look at the new LEGO Winter Village Gingerbread House

We all float down here, Georgie

With their exaggerated features and over-the-top antics, clowns can inadvertently scare children and more than a few adults, rather than entertain them. Couple this with the notion that, prone to depression, alcoholism and criminal misconduct, real-life clowns can sometimes be an unsavory lot. If that doesn’t give you just a touch of Coulrophobia already then leave it to Stephen King to hammer that fear into the rest of us when he wrote It in 1986. Tim Curry first frightened television viewers in 1990 when he gave Pennywise the Clown a savage, sneering malevolence and a Bronx accent in ABC’s two-part miniseries. In 2017 a new generation of moviegoers were scared out of their wits when Bill Skarsgård portrayed a redesigned Pennywise with a childlike curiosity and a seething maliciousness. Now, just in time for It: Chapter 2, City Son recreates Pennywise’s likeness in LEGO.

His signature red balloon and string seems to be the only non-LEGO elements here, but red puff balls adorn his Shakespearean outfit while what we commonly call “cheese slopes” comprise his Elizabethan ruffle collar. The whole getup sort of implies he’s been doing this evil clown gig far longer than any of us has been alive. A closer look at his mug shows that a hot dog makes up his sinister smile while several horns in red and white and a flower denote his make-up design.

If you haven’t seen the movies or read the book, I don’t want to spoil much for you, but you can file this next bit under good general advice and not so much a spoiled plot point: if a clown tries to lure you into a sewer with him, it is probably best you don’t go. And now you know.

LEGO Technic’s biggest set ever now available for pre-order: 42100 Liebherr R 9800 Excavator [News]

LEGO Technic is getting bigger this year, with the Liebherr R 9800 Excavator (42100) clocking in at a massive 4,108 pieces, making it officially the biggest Technic set ever. It’s now available for pre-order from LEGO.com for US $449.99 | CAN $549.99 | UK £399.99. Although the site doesn’t list its release date, we expect it to be Oct. 1 based on the previously released catalog. Using a customized version of new Control+ app that we just featured in our review of the brand new LEGO Technic 4×4 X-treme Off-Roader (42099), the giant mining excavator has not one but two smart hubs and seven motors.

Check out all the details of this huge new set below. Like Technic? Be sure to check out the just-announced 2,500-piece LEGO Technic Range Rover Defender (42110).

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