When the death troopers first appeared on screen in the recent Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie, they just might have been the first troopers to actually look menacing. This amazing figure by nobu_tary captures that sinister countenance with ease. The stormtrooper doll featuring minifig helmet helps to represent the scale, and man, that rifle! This model even manages to look at least as ominous as the reference material… maybe more.
Category Archives: LEGO
There’s always a bigger brick
After highlighting the instructions for Hoang Dang’s awesome air compressor, TBB Senior Contributor Elspeth De Montes was totally pumped up to create this visual gag using Modulex, System, and Duplo elements. We don’t usually post comics, but I guess we’ll let this one float; after all, she was just trying to expand her LEGO collection to keep up with the price of inflation.
TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for November 5, 2017 [News]
In addition to the best LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick also brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the first week of November 2017.
TBB NEWS: Want to own one of LEGO’s most iconic sets? The vault is opening, but sadly not every set will be available to the public. Read on to see which set made the cut.
- LEGO to re-release 5,923-piece Taj Mahal on Cyber Monday 2017 — The second-largest set of all time with 5,923 pieces will be available starting on Nov. 27 for $369.99.
- Review of New York Comi-Con exclusive 41498 Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite BrickHeadz — Check out our review and editorial thoughts about the best little set you are never going to get. C’mon LEGO, you are better than this.
- LEGO Ideas 21312 Women of NASA available now — The set retails for $24.99 and includes 4 minifigures with 231 pieces. We hope that LEGO makes sufficient quantities for everyone to have this lovely little space set packed full of history.
- Star Wars BrickHeadz now available, including Finn and Captain Phasma — The first ever Star Wars BrickHeadz have become available for purchase including 41485 Finn and 41486 Captain Phasma. How do the BrickHeadz from a galaxy far, far away stack up?
- Interview with Moonbase builder Jason Briscoe — The collaborative model is enormous, measuring 2.5m square and built with more than 50,000 bricks.
- Instructions to build The Ghost from Star Wars Rebels — If you missed out on buying LEGO’s 75053 The Ghost before it retired, then this beautifully designed microscale version by Inthert is well worth building.
OTHER LEGO NEWS: This week had quite a few other interesting LEGO-related news articles. Here are the best of the rest.
- Airbnb Unveils Its Geekiest Rental Yet: A Night at the LEGO House, AdWeek — Airbnb is offering a night at the LEGO House in Billund but only if you put your imagination to work.
- LEGO Fans Celebrate Release of Women of NASA Set, Space.com, — “Do you know what’s so important about this Lego set?” a woman asked her grandson. “A woman designed it, about women. It shows that women can be anything they want, and they always have been.”
- The LEGO trademark recognized as a well-known trademark in China, LEGO.com— The Beijing Higher Court passed a ruling recognizing the LEGO logo and name as ’well-known’ trademarks in China, a milestone in getting broader protection for LEGO trademarks in China.
- LEGO RC Motorized AT-M6 First Order Heavy Assault Gorilla Walker, YouTube — YouTuber Alternate Bricks adds a few modifications to this walker and stomps into our hearts.
Building will bring you focus
What better way to relax than to rake through the brick bins and create an Oriental pavilion? At least that’s what David Hensel appears to have decided. David clearly felt the roof was the key element of this LEGO creation — and no surprise, it’s wonderfully detailed, and a nice mix of colours without appearing garish. That would explain the shallow depth of field in the photography, bringing the roof into sharp focus and rendering the rest of the scene with something of a haze. This, coupled with the lack of minifigures, creates a strange dreamlike atmosphere. I like it.
LEGO doppelgänger of a VW doppel kabine
The Volkswagen Westfalia camper van is one of the best known of the VW vehicles — especially amongst LEGO fans following the release of 10220 VW T1 Camper Van. The next van was logically named the Type 2, and within the variants was one particular model known as the DOKA or doppel kabine. Jonathan Elliott has built a great looking LEGO version of the DOKA — a flatbed truck with an extended cab and two rows of seats. The use of the 1×1 printed VW tile from 10252 VW Beetle is a nice touch and the minifigure heads as wheel rims really look the part at this scale.
One variant down, several more to go Jonathan… Can we have have a Type 2 Kombi next please?
Classic Porsche 911 Targa in gorgeous black and gold
A few months ago, we featured the Arvo Brothers‘ beautiful white Porsche 911 Targa. The Spanish duo have since revamped and recolored their design in the iconic black and gold color scheme prevalent in the 70’s, and it’s definitely worth another look.
While identical in shape to the rear of the white version from this summer, we didn’t highlight the Targa’s cute little rear end with its dual exhaust, so here it is. Don’t stare.
You’re all clear, kid! Now let’s blow this thing and go home
We got breathlessly excited about a trio of mid-scale LEGO starfighters from Rogue One a few months ago, centered on the amazingly detailed U-wing dropship. Now, Tim Goddard has updated his classic T-65 X-wing and gives us a closer look. Tim has rebuilt the rear third of the X-wing’s fuselage with more detail and better accuracy, and added a cool stand depicting the Death Star exhaust port.
But what’s so striking about his X-wing design (something we just didn’t notice last time, distracted as we were by the U-wing) is the tiny details of the astromech droid, with 1×1 half-round tiles built into the body of the X-wing as the droid’s legs. Amazing!
One man’s waste is another man’s treasure
Household waste disposal sites are more commonly called Recycling Centres here in the UK, and putting it out onto the street for collection is definitely discouraged. Marion would find herself reported and fined after leaving such a large amount of household waste in the street if she lived near me! Thankfully in the LEGO world, everything is awesome, and that includes household waste left outside on an autumnal day. There are so many objects in here to love: the blackboard, old mattress, children’s chests of drawers, adjustable spotlight, folding table… Even the cardboard boxes are cleverly built with ‘interlocking flaps’.
It’s a melancholic scene in some ways as it looks like there’s been some growing-up in this household with old toys, a tricycle, high chair, booster seat and bike pump lying amongst the other discarded items.
Such adorable war machines
This simple scene by Justin Chua demonstrates a keen skill essential to any microscale build: achieving great accuracy with the smallest number of parts. These three distinct tank models, when compared to images of the real thing, manage to capture essential details in a delightfully simple way. The many varieties of trees and the brick-built road round this vignette out quite nicely.
Where have you been hiding, Master Wu Dragon?
Master Wu Dragon in the Ninjago animated series seems to be on a leave of absence. This is Tan Kok Mun’s reimagined tale of it popping by after being in hiding for a while. I love this build for its tiny little details all poured into a single baseplate.
A tiny gazebo adorned with golden parts, Sinsei Wu sitting on a bench under a full-blown sakura tree, and the mighty dragon peeking out from the cave… and in case you missed it, a lovely Ninjago themed lamp post.
Salvage your treasures from under the sea
Imagine a future where the sea levels rise rapidly, causing massive flooding to coastal regions and changing seaside resorts into underwater history. Jonas Norlen has used this scenario as the back story to his latest LEGO creation, Storken, a giant robot developed by the Coast Guard to salvage things from the bottom of the sea. The Storken looks super futuristic with cables and lights aplenty, albeit with a hint of comedy thanks to those gangly limbs. The hovering Coast Guard helicopter above the robot is ideal to give a sense of scale, and the same goes for the cute little truck in his hand and the blue tractor at his feet. I particularly love the colour blocking used for the robot, which gives it a very realistic Coast Guard ‘corporate’ feel.
Utilising a Storken to find the soap in the bath tub is definitely considered overkill.
New York Comi-Con exclusive 41498 Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite BrickHeadz [Review & Editorial]
Over the last few years, LEGO has released a number of limited-run sets and sold them at non-LEGO events like San Diego Comic-Con. Invariably, the sets reflect highly collectable subject matter like Star Wars and Marvel super heroes. We reviewed Detention Block Rescue (the set LEGO sold at Star Wars Celebration earlier this year), and we recently purchased the New York Comic-Con exclusive 41498 Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite BrickHeadz on eBay for $105 so we could bring our readers another review of a set you may not be able to get yourselves.
41498 Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite includes 329 pieces, and while it was sold at the event for an already inflated $40, its original price during NYCC frankly doesn’t matter — it’s currently available ranging from $110 to $300 for Buy It Now listings on eBay and $112 to $145 for Amazon.com marketplace listings. This review, in addition to providing a vicarious build experience for those not privileged enough to attend NYCC or able to purchase the set on the secondary market, will discuss LEGO’s business practice of releasing limited-run products in ways that prevent most actual builders and LEGO fans from ever getting their hands on the set.
Click through to read our hands-on review of 41498 Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite BrickHeadz