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.

Peace through superior air power

Take a WW2-era Mustang, mix in a dash of muscle-car, then shake with a liberal helping of Dieselpunk. The result? Jon Hall‘s excellent new LEGO creation, the Fe-47 Rapier — a “sky-fi” fighter plane of formidable proportions. The colour blocking on this baby is fierce, the splashes of yellow adding real visual pop to the tail, nose, and engine cowlings. And the overall shaping is classic alternate-technology building — familiar enough to be immediately recognisable, but odd enough to make you look twice.

One of the things I love about Jon’s creations is the attention to detail he lavishes on every aspect. The custom decals are an obvious highlight, but my favourite touch is the undercarriage — managing to let this bad boy land, despite the bulging lower fuselage…

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Powering the rollercoaster with LEGO 70922 The Joker Manor [Review]

LEGO has introduced an all new roller-coaster play system in 70922 The Joker Manor. We discussed it briefly in our review of the full set, but we felt the new roller-coaster rails were important enough to merit a post of their own. As one of TBB’s least Technic-centred members of staff, I found it was great fun attempting to add Power Functions to the rollercoaster and—health and safety aspects aside—it turns out it’s also rather simple.

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Autumn is the most beautiful season in the Allanar forest

With the Colossal Castle Contest XV starting two weeks ago, the greatest castle builders ready their bricks to compete in what is probably the largest themed annual LEGO competition. Lasting till the end of the year, it gets countless high quality submissions every time. John Snyder joins the competition with a diorama of an elven village, setting the bar high for any still considering to compete.

Unconventional colour use and stark contrasts are definitely the first parts to catch one’s eye, but there is more to see beyond that. I am sure many people will take a closer look at this creation, but some details I believe should be pointed out range from blue minifig legs used as waterfalls to the buildings’ textures and the somewhat simple but highly effective autumn trees. Indeed, taking your time and exploring every little corner of this diorama will surely be a nice experience.

The hasty and the tardy meet at the ferry

Charon was the Ferryman of the Dead, transporting the recently deceased across the waters to Hades in his skiff. Charon’s fee was a single coin which was placed in the mouth of a corpse upon burial, those unable to pay the fee and were left to wander the earthly side to haunt the world as ghosts. Brick Spirou has captured the eerie presence of Charon and his skiff in LEGO form with a brick-built Charon, his face obscured by a long black coat with hood. I love the lantern hanging on the back of the boat, the builder used a light brick and some trans-orange plates to perfect the look.

Just make sure you bring the exact change needed for your fare, no credit cards accepted!

College is the best years of your life

Paul Vermeesch created a microscale layout of his college campus at Wheaton College. Two years in the making, this amazing display consists of about 15,000 pieces and captures the details of all the landmark buildings on campus. There are lots of cool details to discover such as the lines in the football field, the miniature columns in the Greek façade, and the tennis courts.

See more views of this lovely college campus

LEGO introduces new rollercoaster system with LEGO Batman 70922 The Joker Manor [Review]

It’s fairly rare and always noteworthy when LEGO introduces a completely new set of elements that work together as a sort of sub-system to the overall LEGO “System of Play.” With 70922 The Joker Manor, LEGO has introduced a new rollercoaster system. We’ll be taking a much closer look at the rollercoaster system and the parts in this new set with a second, parts-focused review, but first we’re taking a look at the new set on its own merits.

Joker Manor includes 3,444 pieces with 10 minifigs, making it the fifth largest LEGO set released in 2017 (after 75192 Millennium Falcon, 10256 Taj Mahal, 70620 Ninjago City, and 10255 Assembly Square). The set will retail for $269.99 and launches on Black Friday, November 24.

Read our full review of the LEGO Batman Movie’s 70922 The Joker Manor

The girl on the balcony

Everybody has a spot either at home or outside where they can take a minute for themselves and meditate. Balconies are often that place and so it seems to be with this young lady in Timofey Tkachev‘s latest scene. She has everything she could wish for, from flowers to fruit and even a cat for company.

Obviously the figure is great and a center point to the scene, but there is much more to the build than that. The white doors are beautiful, with a slightly visible bluish pattern right above it and the inside door behind it. The greenery looks very organic and is in my opinion the defining factor that makes the balcony realistic.

Once upon a time in old Beijing

This diorama by vincentkiew showcases the beauty of traditional Chinese architecture and landscaping. A quaint courtyard and miniature garden completes the peaceful setting, and the use of the new Ninjago fences as well as the wallpaper brick are fantastic details that add style to the creation.

There are many delightful detail shots to discover in the Flickr gallery, or you can check them out in this slideshow accompanied by traditional Chinese music.

Monument valley defies the physical brick

Monument Valley is a beautiful puzzle game developed and published by Ustwo Games. In the game, you guide the silent Princess Ida through mysterious monuments, uncovering hidden paths, taking advantage of optical illusions and outsmarting the enigmatic Crow People. Described as a surreal exploration through fantastical architecture and impossible geometry, it doesn’t immediately sound easy to build from LEGO but that’s exactly what qian yj has achieved. The six main structures are colourful, whimsical with an Escher-like quality of illusion thanks to stairs and clever use of colour and angles.

Each structure appears simple at first but sections are not as connected as they first seem and there are some apparently floating areas within the builds. The apparently simple, surreal structures are the attraction of the game itself, and LEGO seems like an ideal medium to transfer the art from the screen.

The close-up views of each structure can be seen in the builder’s Flickr album but even better is this video showcasing the creations with a mix of LEGO and Princess Ida animation.

3 fans take over 200k LEGO pieces and 2 years to build incredible diorama of Hoth Echo Base from Star Wars

Hoth accounts for less than 20 minutes of The Empire Strikes Back, yet it has left an indelible imprint on Star Wars fans, including Brick a Ben, Ferroh12 and Brick_Phil. Together, they have collaborated to create Winter is Hoth, and incredible diorama built over two years and using more than 200,000 LEGO elements.

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A truly tiny village in the mountains

Break out your magnifying glass for Patrick B‘s mountain village. This miniscule hamlet has a distinct architectural style, with black-clad longhouses of a faintly nordic design. From the palisade wall made of Technic pins to the longhouse butresses made of teeth and a crossbow, Patrick has put all manner of elements to good use.

While the pickaxe as a tiny footbridge is quite clever, and the scraggly wizard’s tower made of robot hands looks appropriately sinister, my favorite details are definitely the covered wagons made with half-round 1×1 tiles. The grooved edges of the tiles fit perfectly as wagon bows under the grey bonnet, and the tile’s hollow underside gives the illusion of an interior.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it’s home from work we go

Most of us grew up watching old Disney films. César Soares says he wanted to live in the cottage in the woods when he watched Snow White as a kid. This fabulous LEGO representation of the Seven Dwarves’ cosy abode is based on a Thomas Kinkade depiction of the famous film.

Cesar claims to have “rushed the build a bit” to make room for other projects, although I see no evidence the final result suffered for it. There is so much to love about this model — the cute little bridge, the shapely trees, and the lived-in feel of the cottage with its gently smoking chimney. Superb landscaping technique and a beautiful array of colourful flowers round this creation off perfectly.

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