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.

A bit of summer haunting

It’s already that time of year when stores begin their months-early preparations for Halloween, filling aisles with spooky themed decorations and sweet treats. But whatever your feelings on the imposition of this decidedly autumnal holiday intruding on the coattails of summer, you can certainly agree that it’s not too early for this haunted Victorian LEGO house by Anton Kushnir. Complete with knarled trees and an ominous carriage, the scene is just the thing to bring a bit of chill to the air. The mansion’s facade employs the less-used side of the masonry brick as wooden siding, and the medium nougat makes a lovely contrast with the light grey highlights and black roof.

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LEGO Frozen BrickHeadz 41617: Elsa and 41618: Anna and Olaf [Review]

Disney’s Frozen joins the growing ranks of pop-culture BrickHeadz now available from LEGO. 41617 Elsa is available by herself, along with 41618 Anna and Olaf, who come in a buddy pack. Elsa comes with 130 pieces, and retails for $9.99, while her sister Anna and her childhood friend Olaf come with 201 pieces, and retail for $14.99. They are numbered 52, 53 and 54 in the BrickHeadz series and both sets are available now.

Read on for our full review of these two sets

Mimic Mishap: a Dungeons and Dragons LEGO adventure!

Taylor, of the Brandon and Taylor Walker building duo, has put out another entry in his Dungeons & Dragons series. As a newly-minted D&D player in the middle of his first adventure (I’m a half-elf Ranger with a sailor background who always follows orders, even if they’re wrong), I’m probably paying more attention to this one than I normally would have! There are five unique figures representing a range of the official character classes all facing off against a monstrous mimic treasure chest. The standout figure for me is the demonic tiefling with his mustache-for-horns. The floor and walls are also extremely well done, adding a patterned texture to offset the chaotic battle.

And if you’re as hungry for more D&D LEGO content as I currently am, check out our archives for cool models featured previously!

Bricks for Glory I: so you want to build a hero

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Sierra was one of the biggest names in PC gaming, and high-quality adventure games were one of their specialties. One of their most beloved franchises was the Quest for Glory series, developed by Lori Ann and Corey Cole. Of the five games in the series, Letranger Absurde chose to recreate the opening scene of Quest for Glory I: So You Want to be a Hero. As the hero enters the picturesque town of Spielberg for the first time, he is greeted by Sheriff Schultz Meistersson and his massive right-hand-man, Otto Von Goon. Going by the colors used, Letranger appears to have based his representation on the VGA remake. He makes a great use of various angles to form the buildings in front of the town square, and forced perspective is cleverly used to suggest there is another area to explore. The characters are instantly recognizable, including a brick-built version of Otto pulling off a yo-yo trick like he often does in the game.

Designed the Blacktron way

When revisiting a classic LEGO theme such as the first wave of Blacktron sets, as CK-MCMLXXXI does here with his Ravenwing Fighter, you have to really get your head around the original design principles. It seems obvious when pointed out, but the black- and yellow-accented Blacktron fleet references the danger markings of the animal kingdom. The insect quality of this nifty spacecraft draws on this, bringing to mind an angry hornet. Best of all, it takes the triangular Blacktron insignia and uses its angles to form a distinctive bug-wing shape. Marrying this with an abdomen-like cylindrical body completes a near perfect Blacktron vehicle.

Vortexx, the beckoning Bionicle nightmare

Vortexx 2.0 is a stunning display of craftsmanship by Andrew Steele. It follows his amazing mighty Talos we featured recently. I get major Transformers Beast Wars Waspinator vibes from this model, but with a deadly serious twist instead of comedic incompetence.

Thanks to a beautiful blend of minifigure blasters, horns, robot arms, armor, chains, and a prize trophy stash of Atlantis treasure keys, this model jumps off the screen. This is actually my favorite shot of the model; the dim lighting and beckoning pose add to the feeling of emotion dripping off this hyper-detailed Bionicle/System creation.

A magical little windmill

This innovative building technique for windmill sails is simply magic! Magic wands that is. Andreas Lenander leaves some of the new wand pieces from the Harry Potter Collectible Minifigures attached to their plastic sprue and takes full advantage of their interesting shape. Beyond the smart parts-usage for the sails, the mill itself has a decent level of texture for such a small model, and is set within a nice little landscape — suggestive of a wider world around the building. This wouldn’t look out of place in a medieval real-time strategy game. And anything which reminds me of The Settlers is a good thing in my book.

LEGO reveals The Simpsons BrickHeadz including Homer and Krusty the Clown [News]

Today LEGO revealed a brand new BrickHeadz double pack, 41635 Homer Simpson and Krusty the Clown. This comedic duo come from the longest running animated show in history, The Simpsons, which has been featured in LEGO form before in two collectible minifigure series, three Dimension expansion packs and the excellent 71006 Simpsons House and 71016 Kwik-E-Mart.

It seems this has been the summer of BrickHeadz with product announcements coming fast and furious from Harry Potter to Ghostbusters. The Simpsons Brickheadz at first glance take a minimalist perspective opting for brick built details rather than numerous printed tiles (though Homer’s chubby belly is quite well done this way). LEGO has not announced the release date or price yet, though we expect the double pack to sell for the typical $19.99 USD.

An explosion of complex life in the early Paleozoic

Great museums like the American Museum of Natural History in New York City include educational displays that span the entire history of life on earth, from samples of banded iron (chemical evidence of early lifeforms such as stromatolites) to dioramas of creatures from the Cambrian half a billion years ago to the Holocene today. But you don’t have to travel to a museum in a far-off city to see great tableaus that illustrate early life on our planet — just check out this colorful scene built in LEGO by Luis Peña. Luis’s scene features an ammonite and sea jelly bobbing along in the warm current above a trilobite scrabbling along the ocean floor. Luis has included pearl-gold pieces in the ammonite’s shell, capturing the pearlescent look of the extinct creature’s nacre.

And the forecast for Jedha city this week is...gray...light bluish gray to be exact.

The scene from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in which an Imperial Star Destroyer menacingly hovers over Jedha City certainly makes for a striking LEGO diorama, and it seems to entice some of the best Star Wars builders. Although we’ve seen Jedha City with a Star Destroyer expertly recreated once before by Hannes Tscharner, this time 0necase has made a much larger version of the scene, and the result is breathtaking.

The Star Destroyer is superb, and the shaping on the front and back of the bridge is particularly well done. However, the real star of the show is the mountainous base and city itself. I love the amount of colors and different greebles the builder has incorporated into the city, which serve to make it pop against the beautiful layering accomplished with various brown and earth orange wedge plates. Even the Imperial cargo shuttles transporting kyber crystals to the Star Destroyer are present, represented by minifigure roller skates — a particularly inventive parts usage.

In the City of the Dead, you will find the Claw Viper Temple

Diablo 2 is a game that is almost two decades old now, yet still holds a sizable following, including myself and, judging by some of his creations, Tammo S. Taking the game’s age into consideration, the photography angle of the creation makes much more sense, as it reflects the top-down view of the game. If you’re familiar with the game, you’ll love this creation for all its accurate details like the Paladin character in the middle sporting a Holy Fire aura and a Bone Shield. But even if this is the first time you’ve heard of this game, there is a lot to see.

Combinations of different tan colours to create an impression of stone bricks and all the textures and architectural elements really facilitate the Egyptian style of this part of the game. The creation was undoubtedly built for the top-down view characteristic for the Diablo videogame series, but this alternate angle still shows a some details that would otherwise remain hidden.

LEGO GAT-X105 Strike Gundam with AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Striker

The LEGO Ideas Voltron set has made me nostalgic for all the Giant Robot TV shows I watched as a kid back in Japan, not least of which was the fantastic Gundam. Two Rabbits shares my love of all things big and stompy, and demonstrates that passion with a series of really excellent Mobile Suits, kitted out with extra gear like the AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Striker pack with Strike Gundam from the SEED series. Beyond the rocket engines and weapons pods, the highly detailed frame itself is worth a closer look, with great shaping on the legs and torso, topped with the iconic Gundam head.

From the Wing series, the XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero features gorgeous angel wings and completely different detail on the mecha frame.