To aid LEGO’s ambitious goal of breaking into the enormous Chinese market of potential customers, LEGO is kicking off 2019 with a series of three exclusive sets celebrating the Chinese New Year. All three are only available in the Asia Pacific region. Today we’re looking at the first of these sets, 80101 Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner. It contains 616 pieces and retails for CNY 699 (about $100 USD) in China, with similar prices in other Asian markets.
Category Archives: LEGO
Have yourself a very merry Potter
Christmas may have come and gone, but Jonas Kramm is still celebrating with this elaborate scene calls “Christmas at Hogwarts.” I love the composition of this build, which is filled with plenty of excellent architectural details and brick-built furniture. Jonas drew partial inspiration from The Book of Unwritten Tales 2, a modern point-and-click adventure game. This is where he found the idea for the curved balustrade and fireplace depicting stacks of books. Some of my favorite details include the bat-a-rang used in a candelabra, gifts tied with LEGO rubber bands and Belville bows, and the dark orange easy chair. The tree also looks nice, with enough decorations to make it stand out but not distract one’s eye from the rest of the image. I’m sure Harry would approve!
What lies inside the tower of a corner townhouse
I really love this simplistic yet almost mysterious corner townhouse built by Nybohov Creation Ltd. The tower takes a different shade that does not match the rest of the building facade, yet seems pleasantly in place. I tend to let my imagination run wild and think of mysterious permanent residents who have the free will to leave but choose not to. Perhaps it’s those street lamps that remind me of scary exorcist movies. From a building technique standpoint, the dark orange roof stands out using staggered 1×2 slopes, contrasting nicely with the sand blue tones of the structure. Keeping things simple sometimes gets you the best outcome.
TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for December 30, 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 December (and the last one for the entire year of 2018)!
TBB NEWS: 2018 is coming to a close, and we are taking a look at the most amazing creations of the year, plus big changes you hopefully won’t notice as we try to preserve some LEGO history.
- Shortlist announced for Brothers Brick LEGO Creation of the Year 2018 – Check out the best LEGO models of 2018, as picked by the Brothers Brick team.
- The Brothers Brick to safeguard all LEGO creations featured since 2005 in response to Flickr’s changes – More than 25,000 photos and 13,500 articles are now protected as long as The Brothers Brick remains online.
- The LEGO Movie 2 sets now available with free movie tickets offer – Snag a pair of tickets to the upcoming movie at the same time you pick up some of these new sets!
- Japan Brickfest 2019 – Registration closes on December 31 – Sign up today for the largest international LEGO fan event in Asia.
TBB TOP TEN LISTS: What are the most popular LEGO creations, reviews, instructions, news and sets of 2018? We have your top ten lists to fulfill the wishes of all the list-likers out there.
- Top 10 most popular LEGO creations featured on The Brothers Brick in 2018 – Out of the nearly 1,500 LEGO creations we featured in 2018, what did you like on the most?
- Top 10 most popular LEGO set reviews of 2018 on The Brothers Brick – Which set reviews rose to the top for 2018? We have your list right here.
- The 10 most popular custom LEGO creation instructions on The Brothers Brick for 2018 – These were the most looked at instructions from the last year. Did you build any?
- Top 10 LEGO news articles of 2018 on The Brothers Brick – What were the top ten LEGO news articles that made the biggest waves in 2018?
- The top 10 best LEGO sets of 2018 – Here are ten of our favorite sets released in 2018.
TBB REVIEWS: From cars to cubes to clams, we have reviews of a few new sets for your reading enjoyment.
- Review of LEGO Speed Champions 75890 Ferrari F40 Competizione – The LEGO Speed Champions line goes back to the 80’s with this red supercar.
- Review of LEGO Minecraft Big Figs Series 1 – Steve, Alex and the Skeleton look an awful lot like the game characters, but how do they stack up as LEGO models?
- Review of LEGO Sea Accessories Xtra 40341 – What parts come with this seaworthy accessories pack? Let’s pier in to see water in ‘pacific we shell get!
TBB FEATURES & INSTRUCTIONS: How has LEGO holiday advertising changed through the years? We have that and more instructions for you as we wrap up the holidays.
- FEATURE: Dashing through the decades of LEGO’s holiday advertising – Warm up some cocoa as we take you on a journey through the LEGO advertisements of Christmas past.
- Instructions to build Christmas-themed BrickHeadz – You can build this cute holiday BrickHeadz out of nothing but the Go Brick Me set which brings out our holiday cheer.
- Instructions to build a LEGO Bumblebee beetle – This stylish model of Bumblebee in beetle form by hachiroku24 shines just in time for the new movie.
LEGO Sea Accessories Xtra 40341 [Review]
LEGO has recently re-introduced accessories packs. Discontinued way back in 1999, the return of these little parts packs has been quite a delight. In 2018, LEGO released the first five accessory packs and three Xtra-themed playmats, but today we’re looking at the newest, 40341 Sea Accessories. It will be available January 1 and like the other packs, it retails for $3.99. Since the packs include only accessories with no minifigures, we decided to call in the Mono Brothers team to help us model these while we dive through the parts.
Dive right in to see the elements unveiled
Top 10 LEGO news articles of 2018 on The Brothers Brick [News]
As 2018 comes to an end, we can’t help but look back and reflect on what an amazing news year it has been for the LEGO community. From old themes coming back to some of the largest LEGO sets ever released, The Brothers Brick has brought you credible LEGO news from all over. So let’s look back at the year and see what made the biggest splash as we analyze the top 10 LEGO news articles of 2018.
Click to reveal the Top 10 most read LEGO news stories of 2018
Discounts for pre-order of LEGO Blizzard Overwatch sets available on Amazon [News]
Amazon is offering a great deal on the yet to be released Overwatch sets. 4 of the 6 sets are on discounts and will be released on 1st Jan. Grab them while you can! You can still order the other 2 sets (D.Va & Reinhardt and Bastion) from LEGO directly at the retail price.
75970 Tracer vs. Widowmaker | 129 pieces | Tracer & Widowmaker minifigs | Retails at $14.99 | Pre-order for $11.99
75971 Hanzo vs. Genji | 197 pieces | Hanzo & Genji minifigs | Retails at $19.99 | Pre-order for $15.99
75972 Dorado Showdown | 419 pieces | McCree, Reaper, & Soldier: 76 minifigs | Retails at $29.99 | Pre-order for $23.99
75975 Watchpoint: Gibraltar | 730 pieces | Winston, Mercy, Pharah, & Reaper minifigs | Retail at $89.99 | Pre-Order at $71.99
He’s back, and he’s not happy
While I was never a fan of the later games in the series, I grew up playing the original side-scrolling Duke Nukem and its sequel. The maniacal, cigar-wielding hero full of over-the-top bravado come shining through in this LEGO take by Green Axles, and the addition of the background artwork settles it perfectly into the Duke’s world. The combo of brick-built face and constraction-figure muscled chest blend flawlessly. The Duke Murshy poster name is an inside joke, but make no mistake that this is, in fact, the Duke you know and love.
The Brothers Brick to safeguard all LEGO creations featured since 2005 in response to Flickr’s changes to free accounts [News]
Early last month, we noted how changes to Flickr’s free accounts have the potential to significantly harm the historical record of the LEGO hobbyist (AFOL) community. Historically, Flickr provided unlimited storage to its Free account users, but the number of photos that can be hosted on a Free account will be limited to 1,000 starting January 1st, 2019. As a result, many LEGO creations hosted in Free accounts are now at risk of disappearing forever. This is particularly heartbreaking for photos from LEGO builders who have passed away or are no longer participating in the hobbyist community. But we have good news to share, so please read on!
Read more about what TBB is doing to help ensure continuity in the LEGO building community
This incredible custom LEGO Flying Dutchman from the Pirates of the Caribbean is over 3 feet long
After six years in the making, master shipbuilder Sebeus I has completed his sensational LEGO version of the Flying Dutchman. The 3-foot-long ship has been fittingly constructed from a muted palette of grey, dark tan, and sand green bricks, giving it the perfect spectral hue. It also allows for an amazing amount of detail to be packed into the vessel’s decaying hull.
The tattered sails and rigging are particularly well realised, looking most effective as she glides out of the gloom. Sebeus’s photoshop skills enhancing the atmosphere to good effect.
Click to see more of the amazing Flying Dutchman
Top 10 most popular LEGO creations featured on The Brothers Brick in 2018
The Brothers Brick featured nearly 1,500 LEGO creations in 2018, ranging from unique characters to recreations of iconic vehicles and scenes from movies like Star Wars and Harry Potter. We recently shared our short-list for the best LEGO creations of 2018. But what custom creations we’ve featured were the most popular with you, our readers? Let’s take a look at the top 10 most popular LEGO models highlighted over this past year.
See the full list of the 10 most popular LEGO creations on TBB this year
Impressive LEGO version of Star-Wars AT-Hauler
The theft of an Imperial AT-Hauler spacecraft forms a key part of the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story. The AT-Hauler is an interesting design, with rotating lift-arms the key feature, designed to carry and deploy the Empire’s fearsome AT-AT Walkers. skeptical.bricks spent six months designing and building a screen-accurate LEGO model of the ship, and the end result is a beauty. The large-scale model perfectly captures the shape of the spacecraft, and whilst it’s very grey, the somewhat drab colour scheme is faithful to the source material, and the mix of plate and tile cladding certainly recreates the feel of armour plating.
Click through to see more pictures of this impressive Star Wars creation