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.

It’s not the beauty of a building you should look at, it’s the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time

Taking a break from creating stunning LEGO characters, Finnish builder Eero Okkonen has assembled an equally-stunning, 360-degree city block filled with gorgeous early-1900s modular buildings. Each of the four buildings (“Grand Hotel Masaryk”, “Olofslott”, “Louhi” and “House of the Brick Wall”) has its own unique style and charm. But the block as a whole still feels very cohesive.

Eero says he began sketching the design for his creation after a train ride from Helsinki to Tampere. His design incorporates Finnish Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) elements and tries to avoid 90-degree angles wherever possible.

Click here for more photos of Eero’s LEGO city block

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Avengers: Infinity War LEGO BrickHeadz: Iron Man, Thanos, Star-Lord, & Gamora [Review]

By now, nearly everyone is familiar with BrickHeadz: the chubby cubic caricatures of various pop culture franchise icons. Introduced in 2016 with four limited edition sets, BrickHeadz didn’t become widely available until last year, but in just that short time the theme has spawned 40 different characters. All BrickHeadz are numbered in the same sequence, regardless of the franchise they belong to, and the lastest lineup of superheroes hail from Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War and are numbered 35-38, slotting in right before Han Solo and Chewbacca that we recently reviewed. The four sets have part counts ranging from 101 to 136, and each retails for $9.99 USD.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these superhero (and supervillain) characters. Although these characters are from Avengers: Infinity War, this review will be spoiler free.

Click to read the full review

Get on your bikes and ride

Here’s a fun vignette from Elspeth De Montes of a Technic figure bike mechanic working on his bicycles. Open drawers and containers full of tools and parts make the scene lively, but the bicycle model is the highlight here, showing off the excellent use of various bars, clips, and even a ray gun for the frame.

Perhaps the most notable parts usage on Elspeth’s bicycle is the clear pulleys as wheels, which she says was inspired by a fellow builder. Elspeth’s bicycle model is fantastic, and you can build your own with this step-by-step breakdown.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for May 6, 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 first week of May 2018.

TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: From May the Fourth to the Revenge of the Fifth, we have all your LEGO Star Wars news and reviews, plus two new set announcements and a TBB BrickCon collab!

Review of LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series 75181 Y-wing Starfighter – It has been 14 years since the last UCS Y-wing. How does the new set compare to the last one?
LEGO Star Wars set designers discuss 75181 UCS Y-wing Starfighter – Check out this video in which LEGO designers chat about how they made the latest UCS Star Wars set.
Review of LEGO Star Wars 75208 Yoda’s Hut from The Empire Strikes Back – Return to Dagobah with this set with three minifigs and 229 pieces for $29.99.
May the Fourth 2018 LEGO Star Wars sales and deals + 75181 UCS Y-wing and BB-8 promo sets now available – Today is the last day to snag some of these exclusive deals!
Go for a stellar pedicab ride in a LEGO Millenium Falcon – LEGO created a Star Wars pedicab to give rides to folks in NYC. Check out the fastest hunk of junk in the big apple.
LEGO unveils Marvel Ant-Man and The Wasp set 76109 Quantum Realm Explorers – The life-size set contains 200 pieces, three minifigures, and will sell for $19.99.
Massive LEGO City 60200 Capital set revealed – The next huge city set includes a museum under construction, double decker tour bus, a skate park and 12 minifigs.
Announcing TBB’s “Ninjago City” collaborative display at BrickCon 2018 – The Brothers Brick is going big, creating the biggest LEGO Ninjago City ever built. Come build with us at BrickCon 2018 in Seattle!

TBB FEATURES & INSTRUCTIONS: This week was about everything Star Wars and we have the best of the best for you, with our top ten lists and even some custom instructions.

Top 10 favourite LEGO sci-fi builds inspired by the Star Wars universe – We’ve pulled together our list of favorite LEGO creations that could be in the Star Wars universe.
Top 10 favourite LEGO Star Wars custom vehicle builds – No movie series comes close to the amount of custom Star Wars LEGO creations fan make. Here are the best of the best.
Top 10 life-size LEGO Star Wars creations – The number one life-sized LEGO creation clocks in at five million pieces. Can you guess which iconic Star Wars creation it represents?
Build your own microscale LEGO Star Wars Republic Gunship, complete with decals – Watch this video to see how TBB writer Peter can make the cutest gunship ever.

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

A new take on an ancient protector

While this creation by MemeLUG member Micah Beideman definitely looks amazing, I still have to ponder the practical benefit of a fence underwater. All joking aside, this is indeed a pretty sweet re-imagining of a LEGO Atlantis set, Gateway of the Squid.

The base looks somewhat rushed or simple until you take a closer look at it, with some nice textured stone walls in the back and very well placed vegetation. The little temple and titular gateway are not bad either. The main focus of the build is the squid though. It is not the first time we have seen inverted tyres used as organic texture, and it is not the first time the builder used this technique either, but he still managed to sneak in a bit of a unique twist with the printed 4×4 domes as eyes. I am personally always wary of using inverted tyres, because their shape and texture is hard to match with other bricks. Micah did not seem to have such problems, as the tentacle elements and a wedge slope used as the tip of the squid’s conical body flow very well with the tyres.

Cool off with this Hot Piece of Waterfront Property

If you’re traveling through Northern Italy, you might encounter the picturesque city of Lecco. In his latest masterpiece, “Memories of Lecco”, Dario Minisini chose to model a representation of the city’s renowned waterfront architecture. I really enjoy the overall composition of this model, which has made an excellent use of color. The brown and lavender buildings make for an excellent contrast to one another, and the mixing of old light yellowish-gray and light blueish-gray bricks creates a vintage-looking patina that feels authentic.

There is certainly no shortage of charm here. What makes Dario’s model so memorable is the amount of thought and effort that went into incorporating so much detail. A look at the tree with half its leaves missing suggests Fall must be right around the corner. Weathered-looking roof shingles are made possible with parts such as the boat oar, and the benches utilize classic Fabuland fences to great effect.

Fuel, Give Me Fire, Give me the Gas Station I Desire!

This rustic gas station was built by Markus Rollbühler. He started things off with the Ford tow truck, which then served as the inspiration behind the surrounding architecture and landscaping. According to Markus, he’s “not much of a car builder,” but I can’t help but be impressed by the intricate-looking towing mechanism on the back of his vibrant, bright-light-orange truck. Thanks to the excellent use of darker colors, Markus’ gas station really looks like something you might find while cruising down Route 66.

There are plenty of little details to enjoy, including the building’s tilted siding, the custom-built outdoor furniture, and the little red bird in the tree. In particular, I’m loving the design of those trees, which uses several green feather parts as leaves. This same technique was used in one of Markus’ models we featured back in October. In fact, that particular tree looks like it might have been transplanted next to this gas station.

Take Flight into the Winds of War with these Fantastic Aircraft

World War I (1914-1918) marked a turning point in military technology. While the age of aircraft was still quite young, it did not take military strategists long to recognize their advantage on the battlefield. The era produced legendary pilots like the Red Baron and Eddie Rickenbacker. 100 years later, we can add Wesley to the list of flying aces with his brilliant aircraft from the Great War.

By themselves, Wesley’s models look really slick, but his excellent photography really kicks things up a notch. He does an excellent job of setting the scenery, with believable landscaping and cloud laden skies. The muted colors used to present the images are reminiscent of turn-of-the-century hand-tinted color photographs. Wesley has created a number of planes for us to enjoy, including…

Check out the rest of Wesley’s amazing aircraft below

The scroll containing the secrets of dragon taming

It takes a lot these days to impress with a LEGO castle creation, and while an interesting roof technique and deceptively simple rockwork can help, this floating island scene by ArzLan shows creativity a level higher. The build doesn’t just feature new ways to build something seen before, but adds another dimension with an open scroll from which the island emerges.

It is not a coincidence that I mentioned the roof technique and the rocks as examples of attractive traits of a build, because those are two of the highlights in this particular example. The dragon is important too – it is very well built and adds a lot of life to the scene. The scroll is great as well, and it should not be taken only as a unique subject, but also as a well-built scroll in its own right.

Death Star rule #1: When you hear the theme music play, line up in the main hangar bay

I don’t think there is anything more fitting to celebrate “Revenge of the Fifth” (the day after May the Fourth) than this diorama by Sergio Jaensson, which depicts the arrival of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Although the shuttle and some of the tie fighters are official LEGO sets, their use doesn’t hurt the overall build — the diorama is so big you probably didn’t even notice them. The signature imperial white glowy lines on the walls of the hangar are a particularly excellent detail, as they prevent the walls from looking too simple and barren.

I like the use of the yellow Emperor Palpatine minifigure as it gives the scene a bit of a classic flavor. The build also contains a few Easter eggs: If you look closely in the background near the TIE fighter, you can spot some bumbling Stormtroopers — one has almost fallen from the walkway!

Micropolis block packs a lot of Microscale punch

The Micropolis standard is what allows LEGO builders from around the world to come together at a convention and build a sprawling but tiny city that fits together. Here, LEGO creator Tammo S demonstrates some great microscale building techniques in this city block, featuring a hotel, some apartments, a pizzeria, a few residential buildings and a lovely courtyard. The model has a very European vibe, with a variety of dormer window designs, satellite dishes, and landscaping.

See more photos of this lovely little town

This Cute Corgi is the Queen of the Castle

In addition to being the grandmother of Prince William and Harry, Queen Elizabeth II is known for her love of Corgis. She has owned several over the years and, if given the chance, would probably adopt this glorious puppy built by BrickinNick. BrickinNick’s chibi-like design is simply adorable, from the dog’s panting mouth and big eyes to the cape on its back and tilted crown. The small arches also make for nice, little, perky ears. I can almost feel the warm and wet puppy kisses!

The Queen recently lost the last of her famous pack of Corgis, a dog named Willow who starred with Daniel Craig in the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies. Our condolences to Her Majesty.