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.

In space, no one can hear you “swoosh.”

Over the past few years, Rob Damiano has been building up a believable world around his Classic Space-inspired Nova Team. We have featured his work before and were pleasantly surprised to see this lovely Nova Team star-fighter. In a nod to the Classic Space ship numbering system, Rob named his star-fighter the LL-824 Paladin, and it is clad in the iconic blue, gray and trans yellow colors. It looks incredibly fun and swooshable. However, what really makes Rob’s work stand out is his photography, which utilizes a mix of practical effects and digital editing. While the Paladin is great, the setting and lighting help bring it life. It is reminiscent of the lively scenes found in LEGO product catalogs of the 1980s and 1990s, which also happen to be one of Rob’s sources of inspiration.

Twilight Run in the Paladin
 

Dare you face the giant lord in his Profaned Capital?

One of the more interesting video games in terms of story recently has been the Dark Souls series with its subtle lore. Revan New has created this visually impressive diorama of the Profaned Capital from Dark Souls 3 with hardly any description, save for it being inspired by said videogame. With imposing pillars and arches set in a rocky environment, this is definetely one of the most memorable areas of the game.

Profaned Capital

See Yhorm the Giant upon his dark throne

Redesigned LEGO Architecture 21047 Las Vegas revealed [News]

It’s rare that LEGO sets are directly affected by the tragedies that happen in the real world. But just as the first photos were turning up online of a new LEGO Architecture set depicting the Las Vegas skyline, a gunman opened fire on October 1st, 2017, firing down onto a packed concert venue from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel casino. The gunman murdered 58 people, injuring hundreds of others. In light of this tragedy, LEGO never officially unveiled the Las Vegas set, originally scheduled to be released alongside 21039 Shanghai in January 2018. LEGO has finally revealed the redesigned (and re-numbered) set, 21047 Las Vegas on Amazon.fr.

The French Amazon website doesn’t list a price or part count, but we expect it to be in the same range as Shanghai (597 pieces for $59.99) and New York City (598 pieces for $59.99). We’ll update you as we learn more, though thus far LEGO has been keeping this set fairly low profile.

See more photos of 21047 Las Vegas skyline, along with the original version

Bicycle made for a Brickheadz

Builder Cindy Su reminisces about the past with a Taiwanese postman built in BrickHeadz form that’s pretty detailed and cute.  These days, the postal services have moved on to motorbikes and cars, but you can still find them on bicycles out in the countryside.  A specially crafted green bicycle with the capability to have the LEGO character mounted is the icing on the cake. Cindy uses a specially modified part for the fork of the bicycles. See if you can spot another nice part usage – find the frog in the build!

Back to the 1960s—Postman

Click to see how the postman can ride his bicycle

Gaze of a magnificient Cocaktrice

Builder Timothy Jones brings to life a large Cockatrice in a majestic pose. I’ve since learnt that a Cockatrice is a fictional and mythical beast. It’s supposed to be different parts of a serpent, dragon and rooster all combined together. This does have certain elements of those, and it’s pretty grand with the wings spread out — I’m especially impressed with how it all holds up given the amount of weight those wings must have.

Gaze of the Cockatrice - HD

Channel your wizardry or witchcraft through a brick-forged wand [Instructions]

I’ve been practising the Wingardium Leviosa spell for quite a while now, but it’s not been very effective. Builder hachiroku24 seems to have better success than I’m having. I blame my wand instead of the lack of skill. As a fan of LEGO, I feel the bricks calling and channelling through me, and I believe that it will be the right instrument for me instead of the wooden wands. If any of you are up for a duel with your own brick-built LEGO wand, here are the instructions to get you started.

Lego Harry Potter's wand MOC

See the parts list and instructions for building your own Harry Potter wand from LEGO

A samurai’s secluded retreat

The flower-laden gardens and open paddy fields that surround Rollon Smith’s Snake Samouraï Temple create a beautifully secluded retreat for the noble Japanese warrior.  What I find really appealing about this scene is the way the well-selected decorative details, such as the serpent reliefs and the various printed tiles, are balanced against an obviously tended natural landscape.

Snake Samouraï Temple

Zooming in you find the minifigure inhabitants of the temple caught in the acts of harvesting rice, pruning plants and raking gravel; and it’s this little nod to Zen aesthetic practice that ultimately makes for such a satisfying build.

Bacta tank Luke returns in LEGO Star Wars 75203 Hoth Medical Chamber [Review]

Luke Skywalker gets roughed up quite a bit in The Empire Strikes Back, first by a giant Yeti-beast and later by his own dad, who cuts off his hand just for mouthing off and refusing to obey! As a result, Luke spends quite a bit of time in Rebel Alliance medical facilities, both on Hoth and aboard the Nebulon-B medical frigate. While LEGO Star Wars fans have clamored for a UCS or even microscale medical frigate for years, LEGO has instead focused twice on the bacta tank treatment scene, most recently with 75203 Hoth Medical Chamber. Available August 1st, this set includes 255 pieces with 3 minifigures and retails for $29.99.

Read our hands-on review of 75203 Hoth Medical Chamber

Explore the ruined grandeur of this ancient Mayan temple

Overflowing with architectural features, Noel Peterson’s El Templo de Uxmal revels in the crumbling splendour of the ancient Mayan civilisation. As you explore the ruins, you have to marvel at just how many different building techniques have been used: from the rings of brackets used to shape the distinctive holed blocks, to the row of modified bar elements inset to replicate relief carvings.  The arrow head portal, made by off-setting cheese wedges, adds a spectacular focal point to the build that I particularly like. Noel’s attention to detail carries on throughout the model, creating weathering effects, age and a real sense of history everywhere you look.

El Templo de Uxmal

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for July 29, 2018 [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 July 2018.

TBB NEWS: Harry Potter stole the show this week with the reveal of the massive “microscale” Hogwarts Castle, along with a few winter themed sales to whet your LEGO whistle.

TBB REVIEWS: Are you ready for a brand new wave of sets coming in August? We have your early reviews right here to get you ready.

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:

Check out the other LEGO news of the week

A lumbering giant forged in stone

It’s easy to love life-like animal builds (at least for me), but some certainly stand out more than others. This giant rock tortoise by Ralf Langer  is one of those builds. The shaping is truly splendid, especially when it comes to the head, and the eyes are also quite expressive. In addition, the engineering to stabilize and support the head and neck had to be pretty tough to master!

Rock Tortoise

According to Ralf, this was sort of an accident. He was going for something else but apparently that something really wanted to be a tortoise instead. I think this birth of art has happened for many of us, and I’m especially grateful for builds like this. Apparently the rest of the tortoise isn’t quite finished, so I have my fingers crossed that there will be more to come soon!

Classic roadster gets a Classic Space upgrade

Take the classic lines of a 50s-styled roadster and sprinkle on the magic dust of LEGO’s Classic Space theme. What do you get? This fabulous Jetsons-esque vehicle from billyburg. It’s a glorious mash-up — sleek curves with a retro roofline, aerials, and fins, all decked-out in the immediately-recognisable colour scheme of LEGO’s original sci-fi line. Ingot parts offer a bit of bonnet texture, and the rear fin is an excellent use of a boomerang piece. Cut tubing provides a nice touch of blue detail to the open studs down the sides, and that front grille is beautiful. If our vehicular future looks anything like this, I want it to arrive right now!

Cosmic Cruiser