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 February 24, 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 February 2019.

How many LEGO bricks did it take to create this life-size VW Camper? Read on to find out more.

TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: After all the news from the New York Toy Fair last week, we weren’t expecting three more sets to be announced this week.

Review of LEGO Creator Expert 10265 Ford Mustang – This might just be LEGO’s best Creator Expert vehicle yet. Read our review to se what impressed us the most.
Customizable 10265 Ford Mustang revealed as next LEGO Creator Expert vehicle – The LEGO Ford Mustang comes with 1,470 pieces and will be available next week.
Review of LEGO Ideas 21316 The Flintstones – Yabba Dabba Do or not to Yabba Dabba Do? Check out our review of the newest LEGO Ideas set to find out!
LEGO Ideas 21316 The Flintstones now available for VIPs – GO back to Bedrock bacause this Flintstones set is now available from LEGO.
Steamboat Willie and TV Show Friends will be next two LEGO Ideas sets – Take a look at the winning ideas that will become LEGO sets over the next year.
Instructions: Build a bird with attitude – Huw Millington from BrickSet said we wouldn’t notice his cute rebuild from the 30545 Fish Free Builds polybag. We did and made instructions!
Feature: Wrap-up from LEGO’s booth at the 2019 New York Toy Fair – What was LEGO’s presence at the New York Toy Fair 2019 like? We’ve got the inside scoop in this wrap-up of our live coverage.

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:
Click to read even more LEGO news

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.

Warning! Do not copy! A violation of these instructions will result in cell lysis!

Six months ago, we featured an incredibly unique spacecraft by Dwalin Forkbeard, but now he is back with a new installment in the series. This virus-inspired LEGO spaceship called Heavy Transport M11 Phage expands on his previous build both from a technical and design point of view. He’s also given it an even more molecular twist with a double strand of DNA in the cargo compartment, built out of two tipper beds he had lying around trying to find a use for. Most builders, myself included, will surely relate to the feeling of having a unique piece they desperately want to find a use for, and this is a great showcase of how to perfectly integrate them.

The spaceship has some killer colour blocking and oozes with intense technical detail like hoses, gears and pistons. I love the custom sticker saying PHAGE and the extra effort in the presentation, but the best detail is probably everyone’s favourite, the double helix.

Holey moly this is one cool sports shop!

Welcome to a sporting goods store that sells itself before you even walk in! The look is inspired by a real store in Japan, but in LEGO it can’t be more gorgeous. What’s even better is that this render, created by Aukbricks, is actually completely buildable, with all the parts existing in their appropriate colors.

But if the outside isn’t beautiful enough, the inside is incredible. The zoom-worthy photos will make you fall in love even more. Every detail is perfectly placed, and essentially covers every bit of minifigure sports equipment LEGO has ever made. Even the brick-built equipment is perfect, from the treadmill to the ping-pong table. And I’m a big fan of the frogs used to create a rock wall on the third floor.

If you love this you should also check out Aukbricks’ Friends kitchen and family house. And for something totally different, she even made a giant minifigure!

The cruise missile that ended the Cold War?

At the moment I am building models from the Cold War for a collaboration with my friends at BrickFair Virginia. I already presented my Soviet SS-20 “Saber” about a week ago. That missile platform was seen as a direct threat to Western Europe. Whilst I was buying parts for that, I was already planning to build one of the weapons systems that NATO fielded in Europe: the BGM-109G Gryphon ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM). Or, more precisely, the vehicle used to transport and launch them.

It consisted of a large German-built MAN truck that pulled a semi-trailer with the launcher. This housed up to four cruise missiles in a box that was elevated to an angle of 45 degrees before launch. I built the vehicle to a scale of 1/43, making it roughly 53 studs long. Building its four-tone camouflage scheme (with dark green, dark tan, tan and black) was a challenge, especially on such a small vehicle.

Continue reading →

A wheely great tower

Builder Sarah Beyer built this model for one of New Elementary’s fantastic parts exploration articles, which challenge builders to use newly released LEGO elements in interesting ways. The microscale tower employs the hubcap element from the James Bond Aston Martin DB5. The center stud allows the parts to be stacked neatly, and the edges of the spokes bring a fascinating texture that implies intricate detail on each level of the tower. It’s a great reminder to break outside the box of using LEGO elements for their intended purposes.

The tools of the trade

Whether you like your role playing games online or dice based, we can all agree on the joys of spending that hard-earned gold on some serious equipment upgrades. Spencer’s shop offers the discerning adventurer a smorgasbord of LEGO swords, shields, and other paraphernalia. The store has it all from your standard spear to the more exotic aftermarket weapons, and for the right price I’m sure that shifty looking dwarf might even supply a black market Mega Bloks Halo sword – but that’s just speculation, and you definitely didn’t hear it from me.

Blacktron dropship is seriously loaded

A long time ago, in a toy box far, far away…there were Classic Space LEGO sets. Blacktron followed in 1987 and was characterized by its black, yellow, and transparent yellow color scheme. They were a thriving intergalactic crime syndicate until the Space Police tracked them down in 1989. Many LEGO fans have created custom Blacktron-themed models over the years, including Jme Wheeler, who built this imposing dropship as a tribute. The model does a great job of capturing Blacktron’s distinctive aesthetic.

The dropship features retractable landing gear, a bomb bay in the belly that drops, and a substantial missile rack that unfolds from the tail. I think it might even be packing more firepower than the U.S.S. Sulaco’s dropship from Aliens.

Beware of Snowmaggedon!

Last week it snowed a fair amount in the Pacific Northwest. Here in Seattle, citizens were all but losing their minds, stockpiling food and survival supplies, and fearful of leaving their homes. As someone who comes from a place that sees a lot of snow, it’s a little funny. But now serious snow is hitting states all across the country. This terrified LEGO snowman, built by Joseph Grysban, may not be built for this purpose, but it’s the perfect mascot for Snowmaggedon.

Other than the look on his face, the best part of this build is that he’s motorized and runs away from the snowballs! A pair of Power Functions L motors and a battery box are perfectly hidden inside his body. Additionally, the snowballs don’t just drag behind; instead, they roll around their center.

Snowpocalypse jokes aside, we realize that these storms have been very serious and scary for thousands of people. We hope those of you who have been affected are safe and we wish you a swift return to normalcy. Hopefully you were at least able to get a good amount of building done while stuck indoors!

A month of deals at Honest Joe’s Used Rovers

For the past several years LEGO space enthusiasts have been getting together on Flickr each February to showcase planetary exploration rovers of all shapes and sizes. While it’s not a contest, as the month draws down one builder, in particular, is standing out as the unmistakable leader of this year’s Febrovery event. US-based builder Frost has certainly been no slouch with one new eye-catching rover after another each day so far. We’ve already featured his glamorous P6R, but now is a great time to highlight some of the other fantastic rovers he’s added to the current lineup. Here’s one which looks as if it was made specifically for a space-faring Clark Griswold:

This thing is ugly, but in a really good way. The lime-green body, wood paneling and gold trim grants a rather funky, 70’s vibe. I wouldn’t be surprised to find an eight-track player and shag carpet inside this futuristic station wagon. Further down the line, Frost’s two-wheeled rover is ready to cover some ground with its single axle, Segway-esque design: Continue reading →

Nothing says adventure like this rig

I’m not super familiar with car models. All I know is that I love anything that looks like a Jeep. And this sand blue SUV is my kind of fun. The rig, loaded with supplies, is the work of Koala Yummies, and it has me itching for an adventure!

I really like the body shape, which is smooth and cohesive from front to back. All the bits really work together to create a fun addition to any outdoorsy scene.

If you like this build, be sure to also check out Koala Yummies’ mini Ecto 1!

A full service station for all your LEGO automotive needs

Growing up in and around automotive repair shops, I feel some nostalgia anytime I catch the scent of fresh engine oil or hear the whirring of an impact gun. So naturally, Chris Rozek’s charming vintage car garage caught my attention. It’s an atmospheric scene thanks to the lighting and little details scattered around the shop.

You know, actually working on old cars isn’t too much different than building with LEGO. Sometimes you follow the instructions. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you just give up entirely and never return. Also, opportunities for creativity can be as unlimited as the most vulgar of vocabularies. There is one rather important difference, however, of which my wife constantly reminds me — compared to fixing up old cars, LEGO has the rare honor of being the cheaper hobby.

A graceful companion for a wizard of refined taste

The wizarding world of J. K. Rowling has been generating quite a lot of interest in the LEGO community recently, in large part thanks to the recent revival of the official Harry Potter LEGO theme. There have been many amazing creations and many contests dedicated to it (such as our own Microscale Magic contest), showing how popular the universe of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts is among LEGO fans. Revan New‘s latest creation is the winning entry to a contest on bricker.ru, the goal of which was to create a magical animal that does not exist in the books and movies, but very well could.

The builder has obviously succeeded in making an animal that looks coherent with the fantasy of J. K. Rowling’s universe, but it is much more than that. The head of the bird is an intense mix of rounded parts representing feathers and the body is full of wedge plates and slopes to get this same effect of feathers and colour patterns. A nice little detail is translucent fins used as tail feathers, giving the bird a truly magical feel. But Revan New does not stop there. He adds a little stand for his wavebird complete with velvet and a magic wand.