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.

Astounding LEGO Super Chief train up for charity auction [News]

The Super Chief was the flagship of the Santa Fe Railway. During the 30s and 40s it earned the nickname “The Train of the Stars” by hauling Hollywood celebrities from Chicago to Los Angeles, and becoming almost as famous as its passengers. Tony Sava has put together a formidable LEGO version of this iconic train, and has decided to auction it off for charity at Brickworld 2019 in Chicago. The 8-wide locomotive is a beast, beautifully detailed, fitted with Power Functions motors, and features smart custom stickers to recreate the Santa Fe livery. It’s a lovely model, and a lovely gesture for it to be donated to a charity auction — I hope it raises a caboose-load of cash.

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International Space Station voted as winner of LEGO Ideas Extraordinary 10 Year Anniversary Fan Vote [News]

The votes have been tallied, and the winner of the LEGO Ideas Extraordinary 10 Year Anniversary Fan Vote is the International Space Station by XCLD.

Click here to continue reading…

A droid strewn jawa junkshop

Capturing atmosphere in LEGO is an art, and it’s an art that Ben Cossy has mastered in his moody model of a Jawa junkshop. Its cleverly built sand crawler interior is combined with sophisticated photography, conjuring up that distinctive Tatooine feel. Having scavenged through his LEGO bins, Ben has decided to showcase the elusive TC-14 as the Jawa’s latest prize find. The silver protocol droid works as a glistening visual foil, backlit by the glowing red furnace grill. It’s a neat cinematic trick that renders the whole scene believable and somehow resonant with the Star Wars universe.

The massive mech of your nightmares

If you’re looking for a video game villain to rule all, look no further. Anthony Wilson’s centipede mech will leave you squirming in your seat. This thing is filled will all sorts of nasty, from its menacing claws to what can only be described as egg-filled hatchling pods. The overall color scheme is phenomenal and the parts usage is superb.

Every inch of the build is filled with cool techniques, from its numerous varying legs, up its spine, and to its terrifying head, complete with serrated swords for pinchers. The design truly brings it to life. Now, it’s important to realize how big this thing is. It would be scary enough small, but it’s over 50 studs tall, not including the upper arms. That’s 40+ centimeters, or nearly a foot and a half. Imagine if it was human scale compared to a minifig. Shudder.

Posing is everything when taking pictures of a build like this, and Anthony has nailed it here. While it’s a completely different kind of build, he also did a great job posing his coffee-loving dragon.

A garden for Nya

Builder Rollon Smith brings us this serene garden scene grown especially for Ninjago’s Ninja of Water, Nya. This is just one part of a lovely trio of scenes dedicated to exploring Nya’s past.

I love the symmetry used in this build as it creates a wonderful sense of balance and harmony. A place you could go to meditate in peace. Some clever use of parts such as the upside-down Wonder Woman tile and the sideways Brickheadz glasses add some fine detail. I’m also quite fond of the elegant curves and shape of the back wall.

Read on to see the rest of the tryptic!

Brick-built ode to Notre-Dame de Paris

Since the disastrous fire on April 15th, many LEGO fans have built their own renditions of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. It comes as no surprise that the best rendition I’ve seen was built by Rocco Buttliere. Rocco, who has a penchant for recreating famed architectural landmarks of the world, got to work on this one immediately following the fire.

Not only did he build the cathedral itself, but he accurately reproduced the landscape around it: remove the building and this creation would still be a masterpiece. The curves of the river and roadways, the textured ground and gardens. I’m especially fond of the little details, like the old hinge tile used as bollards – magnifique! While the surroundings are definitely beautiful, we can’t ignore the church itself. While I might be satisfied to just recreate the shape of the building, Rocco has carefully detailed the structure’s ornate detail. Everything is here, from Gothic arches and rose windows to buttresses and even gargoyles. This is achieved through skillful use of the LEGO parts palette, using a wide variety of old and new pieces of all different types: Technic elements, textured bricks, and minifigure accessories. With this creation, Rocco has built a fitting tribute this wonderful landmark truly deserves.

If you enjoyed this, check out Rocco’s other amazing creations we’ve highlighted, such as the entire Thames waterfront of London.

LEGO Minions are coming in 2020 [News]

In case you needed more Minions in your life, here is some exciting news: LEGO has announced Minions as a new product theme beginning in 2020. A short teaser featuring a brick-built yellow face and a pair of eyes appeared today in the company’s Twitter feed. The LEGO products will accompany the release of Minions: The Rise of Gru, which is scheduled for July 2020.

Bello! LEGO Minions coming in 2020 @Minions pic.twitter.com/HjUKsRVvXT

— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) June 3, 2019

LEGO Minions are joining another animation-based theme announced a couple of weeks ago, LEGO Trolls. More details about the new products will follow soon, but both themes shall be available around spring 2020.

LEGO Creator Expert 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander [Review]

Along with Town, Castle, and Pirates, the theme of space exploration has always been one of the pillars of LEGO philosophy. It all started with 801 Space Rocket set released just three years after the first human spaceflight in 1961. Throughout the decades of play bizarre space sub-themes like Insectoids, Ice Planet 2002 and Spyrius have appeared. But it turns out kids (and adults, too!) are fascinated with the real spacecrafts just as much as sci-fi ones. The memorable LEGO Discovery line-up brought us models of the most amazing human-made space ships and commemorated the landmarks of space exploration, and LEGO’s first Lunar Lander was way back in 1976. Now celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, LEGO is taking us back to the moon with a very special LEGO Creator Expert 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander set. The set consists of 1,087 pieces, includes two minifigures of astronauts and retails at US $99.99 | CAN 139.99 | UK £84.99, and is currently available with a special promotion of a commemorative LEGO Apollo 11 patch.

Click to read the full review

Smoke and cloak

The two most immediately eye-catching bits on this scene are the smoke and cloaks–well, capes, actually; 8 to be exact. Kevin Peeters does a nice job incorporating them into this lovely windmill. But that’s not the only great part about this build. The cobbled-together look of the stone building and rooftops makes for a great medieval homestead.

The foliage, including the fall-colored tree in the back are also nicely done. But my favorite part might just be the white snake element used for the wisp of smoke from the chimney, a technique we never tire of.

If you’re a fan of the medieval theme, check out some other cool architecture, like a seaside market, floating castle, hero’s cottage, or micro kingdom.

Tougher than crocodile skin

Crocodiles are one of the toughest animals on the planet. Makes sense, considering their ancestors were around during prehistoric times. So why not create a mech in their image? This excellent mecha croc by Mitsuru Nikaido is one of the coolest I’ve seen. All of the plating and fine detail make for a handsome and fierce opponent.

As a big animal person, I’m always impressed by lifelike body-shaping, and I’m not sure it could be done better here, especially considering it uses a plethora of pieces to give it that mech look. To me, that seems more difficult than building a realistic croc. I love everything about that head, including the lever based used for the eye. The back legs and perfect taper of the tail are also noteworthy.

Mitsuru Nikaido is no stranger to impressive animal mechs. Just take a look at his chameleon (scroll down), lemur, dragonfly, and crane and grasshopper duo.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for June 2, 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 first week of June 2019.

What was the most challenging part of bringing the newest LEGO Lunar Lander to life? LEGO Designer Lars Joe tells us all, so read on to find out more.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS: Houston, we have a model! (And a cute space ride promotion review and another awesome X-wing spaceship.) This week was about all things SPAAAACE!

LEGO unveils Creator Expert 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander to celebrate 50th anniversary of the Moon landing – LEGO is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing with one small step for a minifigure and one giant leap for LEGO-kind.
Review of LEGO Ideas 40335 Space Rocket Ride gift with purchase – This simple and cute set will be available later this week with purchases more than $99.
Feature: This fan’s quest to build the perfect LEGO X-wing results in an amazingly accurate model – Has Mark Chan built the perfect LEGO X wing? You might be surprised at just how accurate Mark’s model is.

MORE TBB NEWS: We are still getting our first looks at some new sets, and there are lots of new sets on sale for the start of June.

Final images of LEGO Star Wars Boost 75253 Droid Commander set revealed – Check out these new images of the Star Wars Boost set, including R2-D2.
LEGO Hidden Side Diner Shrimp Shack Attack 70422 set is unveiled – The eighth LEGO Hidden Side announced this week features a spooky battle by a haunted diner.
LEGO NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander now available with stellar space patch promotion – You can now get your own LEGO Lunar Lander along with an awesome space patch promotion.

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

A Mon Calamari Cruiser crewed by Mon Calamari

LEGO Star Wars sets do a good job of supplying fans with minifigures of the main characters. But what if you want more to really fill out a scene’s background? If you’re like simon-wild, you build more from other characters’ parts, like he did for his Mon Calamari Cruiser Bridge. The scene on display wouldn’t be half of what it is without some custom characters – they really give it the busy and bustling look of a working command ship. I especially like the high proportion of non-human characters. Oftentimes, it seems that there are so many more humans than beings of other species in the galaxy, but not here: the Mon Calamari cruiser is appropriately crewed by Mon Calamari. The bridge itself is beautiful too. There are enough well-detailed instruments to keep everyone present busy, as well as displays and warning lights to let them know what’s happening.