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.

Is it a bird, a plane or a butterfly?

You would be forgiven for thinking that this was a huge LEGO butterfly. It certainly seems to have the key features of one; four wings, clubbed antennae and a segmented body. In fact, Milan Sekiz has called this beastie a Leption, the combination of the Serbian words ‘leptir’ meaning butterfly and ‘avion’ meaning airplane. I love those shapely wings, Milan must have used some LEGO mathematics to work out how best to fill their centres with decorative, coloured parts.

You will notice that there is a pilot at the helm, holding on to some handlebars – is he steering or just along for the ride?

Fans of butterflies may enjoy revisiting these two previous butterflies we have highlighted; a colourful glass-like butterfly and a larger, realistic butterfly.

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Ultimate LEGO Star Wars author event at Powell’s Books: Sat Jan 20 [News]

As part of an ongoing mini-tour to support our Ultimate LEGO Star Wars book from DK, Chris Malloy and I will be guests at the Powell’s Books location in Beaverton, Oregon next Saturday, Jan 20th at 2:00 PM. We’ll be doing a panel discussion moderated by one of our LEGO friends from PortLUG, a Q&A, and book signing.

Andrew at Powell’s City of Books in downtown Portland. Andrew and Chris really need to get a photo taken together…

Powell’s Books is the world’s largest independent bookstore, and I’ve been buying books from Powell’s in Portland my whole life. It’s a little surreal to be doing an author event with Chris there now! You can read all of the Beaverton event details on Powells.com, including a pre-order of a signed copy.

For LEGO Star Wars fans closer to our home base here in Seattle, Chris and I also be doing author events at two Third Place Books locations in Seattle (Ravenna and Seward Park) in February, so stay tuned for more details.

A flying fortress of LEGO bricks

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft that played a key role for the Allies in World War II. When the prototype B-17 first flew in 1935, a reporter for the Seattle Times was watching and coined the name “Flying Fortress” with his comment, “Why, it’s a flying fortress!” The B-17 was mainly used in the strategic bombing campaign of World War II. PlaneBricks has built a fantastic LEGO version of this famous bomber, complete with the machine guns poking out of clear ‘blisters’ to allow bombardiers and gunners to visualise their targets.

See more images of this classic LEGO aircraft

LEGO Star Wars 75201 First Order AT-ST reveals The Last Jedi spoilers for no good reason [Review]

It’s rare that a LEGO set on its own serves as a major spoiler for a movie. From the now-classic Indiana Jones sets to Jurassic World sets more recently, LEGO sets provide characters, vehicles, and locations without revealing much more than a character’s name. But 75201 First Order AT-ST reveals several fundamental plot points of a major scene late in the movie. The set includes 370 pieces with 4 minifigures. Beyond just our usual criteria of design and value, is the set worth the spoilers?

We’d normally add a SPOILERS! warning here before the jump to the full review, but hey, LEGO has already spoiled several key plot points by releasing the set, so let’s just dig in.

Read our full review of LEGO Star Wars 75201 First Order AT-ST

Nasty green water, gangsters, crime in the streets! Sounds cool doesn’t it? Because it sure looks like it.

Cyperpunk is one of my favorite themes to build in LEGO, so naturally I love this cyberpunk diorama by Letranger Absurde, and I have no doubt you will too. Although the diorama is not as run-down and dilapidated as we are used to seeing in the genre, it serves as a perfect example of the distinction between cyberpunk and cyberpoc, the latter of which is much more ugly looking. The build is packed with tons of interesting details, including a guitar player who has set out a hat for donations, a sushi stand on the docks, and an unfortunate fellow who’s being pulled into the storm drain by a monster.

The colorful pollution in the water was accomplished using Ninjago dragon wings, a truly ingenious usage of the part.

Click here to see more pictures of this amazing cyberpunk diorama

An enchanting lake castle

Many LEGO castle creations are built into a rocky or wooded landscape, possibly inspired by real-life castle locations found all over the world. It’s one of the reasons that this castle by Isaac Snyder stood out to me, situated in a tranquil lake setting.

The round transparent blue dots used for the water surface and the bricks made from tiles in the foundation are simple but elegant. I also appreciate the dark blue slopes used in a variety of ways to form the many roof sections.

LEGO Star Wars 75200 Ahch-To Island Training from The Last Jedi [Review]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been out in theaters for nearly a month, so we’re circling back to some of the LEGO sets released to support the movie. 75200 Ahch-To Island Training retails for $29.99 (US) with 241 pieces and features Luke Skywalker, Rey, and a porg.

We hope you’ve had an opportunity to see the movie, but fair warning that we’ll be discussing the movie’s plot freely, so consider this your standard SPOILERS! warning.

Read our full review of LEGO Star Wars 75200 Ahch-To Island Training from The Last Jedi

And I thought... they smelled bad...

But thanks God brick-built LEGO tauntaun smells of nothing but the finest ABS plastic. Robert Lundmark surprises us with this bodacious statuette of one of the most famous creatures of the Star Wars universe, and there’s so much awesome about it.

Click here to get a closer look at the build

An unconventional LEGO vehicle: The URB-E electric bike

Browsing through our archive of LEGO vehicles you’re sure to see a lot of sports cars, super bikes and hotrods, not to mention the science fiction stuff. It’s what you’d expect to see people recreate with bricks. What I didn’t expect to see in LEGO, however, is this foldable electric bike created by Paul Lee.

Take a look at some promotional pictures of the URB-E to see how well this build imitates it. Good use is made of Technic liftarms to imitate the drilled metal, and it even folds up like the real thing.

Say hello to my belly button blaster

LEGO mecha-building master Moko has done it again with his AM-01 alien mecha. The build features seamless integration of System pieces with parts from the Stormtrooper constraction figure to give the build curves and shapes not possible with normal bricks.

Although I wasn’t sure of the choice at first glance, I like the pearl brown accents under the arms, as it makes for a more original color combination. And yes, it does appear to have some sort of cannon for a belly button.

Who watches the (LEGO) Watchmen?

Timofey Tkachev has not only created a LEGO version of Rorschach from Watchmen, but he’s also done so at a large scale. Make sure you zoom in on this build to see how big it really is and how the large plates have been cleverly shaped to make the coat that forms the majority of Rorschach. The large, layered bricks used for the tree give it a lot of depth despite it being essentially flat, and the sign being has some nice lettering work.

Aside from those large details, there’s a lot of clever little inclusions too. Some constructible character or “constraction” parts are used to create the texture around Rorschach’s neck, the thin clock numbers are actually cleverly positioned lever pieces, and the familiar face pattern uses dragon arm pieces in an intricate build.

A fine fortification

One of the challenges facing any castle builder is how to make a big gray wall interesting. Maxim Baybakov has risen to the challenge with this wonderfully detailed castle. Maxim uses textured bricks, and the occasional side-facing stud to create visual interest, along with some well-placed plates of an alternate color. The same technique on the white walls provides a nice weathered look. Another great detail is the curved windows of the upper towers. But the most interesting design choice — which caught me by surprise — was using window elements turned backward, with the screens on the inside. This simple choice makes the windows seem much more natural in a castle wall.