Nearly every month, LEGO gives away a small set with purchases over a certain amount. We don’t always review these little bonuses, but sometimes they catch our eye with a standout model, such as last month’s excellent 40289 Diagon Alley or June’s 40291 Creative Personalities. For the first 10 days of December, the gift-with-purchase set is 40293 Christmas Carousel, featuring 251 pieces and valued at $15 USD. The set is available both in stores and online with purchases over $99 in the US and Canada, or £85 in the UK. The lovely design and moving parts made us decide to take a closer look, so let’s see what’s in store.
Category Archives: LEGO
LEGO auctions on Catawiki include 928 Galaxy Explorer, 7755 Diesel Locomotive, and other rare LEGO [News]
A couple weeks ago we started featuring curated LEGO auctions featured on Catawiki. Current auctions include some rather rare LEGO sets from the 70’s and 80’s, along with custom models by LEGO artists.
One of the most nostalgic LEGO sets from the Classic Space era is 928 Galaxy Explorer. A copy of the set complete with box and instructions in great condition is up for auction right now.
See more interesting LEGO auctions on Catawiki
Defending the grey depths of space
In space, enemies can come from any side. And so rigorous armor is needed in addition to heavy armaments. Enter Patrick Massey‘s UNN-717 Olympia, replete with rows of chunky armor paneling and heavy turrets and a subtle submarine vibe (complete with rudder and diving planes). The nearly unbroken grey of the ship’s hull lends weight and scale to the model, helping it convey the ship’s monstrous size. And speaking of size, the LEGO model is no slouch either, ringing in around 3 feet in length.
A dementor descends over this diminutive Hogwarts
Wow–either someone cast engorgio on a dementor (and who in their right mind would do that?) or diminuendo on Hogwarts castle. Whatever happened, this brick-built dementor by Maxime Cheng hovering menacingly over Hogwarts is magical. Special recognition goes to the dementor’s mouth, made from two collars from the William Shakespeare collectible minifig. The sculpted body and the streams of tattered cloak give this model a very sinister appearance. The school grounds and building are also very nicely detailed at this scale.
2018 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 1
It’s that time of year again! Break out the hot cocoa and stoke the fire, because The Brothers Brick is counting down to Christmas the only way we know how: with LEGO Advent Calendars! Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2018 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.
If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. So without further adieu, here we go!
Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!
The mighty walls of Carcassonne
For about the past decade, LEGO castle builders have trended towards what I like to call a ramshackle aesthetic, with precariously towering walls and gravity-defying roofs attached with a song and a prayer. It’s natural that builders would flex their chops in that manner, as that painterly style requires a great deal more skill than the simple, studs-up brick walls of classic castle sets and many early castle builders. However, equally difficult is building more traditional, real-world castles and avoiding the dreaded “grey wall syndrome” of thoroughly boring architecture. Isaac Snyder‘s walls of Carcassonne accomplishes this excellently, featuring a short segment of the French city’s fortifications. The walls and even roofs are no less detailed than any you’d find in the more ramshackle style, yet are thoroughly grounded in authentic style.
Perhaps next time Isaac can include a road though, as I’ve been needing a straight wall segment with a road to complete my city for ages!
Large-scale LEGO hardsuit pounds into action
One of the defining subjects of the Maschinen Krieger sci-fi world is the hardsuit, an environmental suit that is meant to help the wearer survive in hostile environments like outer space or in radiation-heavy post-apocalyptic locations. While mini-fig scale LEGO hardsuits may be more common, this one by Marco Marozzi is built to a much larger scale, and as such, is packed with details. Like many of Marco’s mechs, this one has plenty of poseability. I especially like the ball-socket shoulder attached through a wheel rim.
The white engine cowl found on many space shuttle sets provides the hardsuit with the pod-like look that seems to take some inspiration from early deep-sea diving suits, and an abundance of tubes and canisters come together to lend an industrial feel to the model.
LEGO Star Wars Darth Vader’s Castle now available with exclusive Christmas Carousel gift with purchase [News]
December has arrived and with it a handful of new LEGO sets including Darth Vader’s Castle from Star Wars and the global launch of a new wave of Spider-Man sets. 75251 Darth Vader’s Castle was previously available for pre-orders from Amazon.com, but is now generally available from LEGO for $129.99 in the US, $149.99 in Canada, and £119.99 in the UK.
Along with the new sets, LEGO is offering another exclusive holiday gift with purchase: 40293 Christmas Carousel. The set features a rotating carousel on a festive base and comes with 251 pieces. To set is available with purchases more than $99 through December 10th or while supplies last.
A peaceful winter village with a unique Christmas tree
What do you do when you get your hands on a giant pile of white ornamental fence pieces? Build an extravagant winter village of course! At least, that’s what builder Joe Gan did. The lovely white houses definitely make this picture zoom-worthy, but my favorite part is the giant purple Christmas tree. The color choice, in addition to the other accents throughout, make for an eye-catching build.
The Interlace – an organised disarray of an architectural design
The Interlace is an exquisite, award-winning design of a residential apartment in Singapore. The seemingly disarrayed yet artistic placements of the apartments makes it stand out. The layout resembles layers of blocks stacked on top of each other at odd angles, forming a maze-like arrangement. This LEGO Architecture styled custom build by Daniel Stoeffler captures the real-life buildings elegantly in LEGO, with 2×1 grille parts for the windows.
See more views of this Singapore landmark and compare it to the original
The next evolution of walking LEGO dinosaurs [Video]
We’ve been following the ongoing evolution of a series of mechanical LEGO dinosaurs built by Dan Schlumpp. Each iteration has become more and more streamlined, and the latest addition to his Mesozoic menagerie is no exception. The body-shaping is excellent, as well as the color choices.
This stegosaurus not only looks great, but lumbers around beautifully! It’s amazing to get such an organic body while still trying to create and hide all the right mechanical components.
If you’re curious about the previous iterations, check out our feature on one of Dan’s previous dinos.
“Fatality!” Scorpion breathes fire into this LEGO character
“Get over here!” for one of the most iconic one-on-one fighting games. Julius von Brunk brings us a LEGO rendition of Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion, complete with the character’s signature fire-breathing fatality move. Back in the 1990s, imagery like this freaked out parents and helped contribute to the development of the modern ESRB rating system. However, we think even Joe Lieberman would have to agree that Julius’ scene is spine-chillingly good. When we learned he used practical effects in rendering this scene, it left us screaming, “finish him!”
