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.

LEGO wins Chinese copyright case against imitators [News]

LEGO has dealt a major blow to counterfeiters in China by winning a court case against two companies that produce imitation LEGO products. This is the first case that LEGO has filed and won in China claiming unfair competition, following a ruling last month proclaiming LEGO to be a well known recognized trademark in the region.

The suit was filed against two Chinese companies including the company Bela Bricks that were producing sets nearly identical to those from LEGO’s Friends line as well as other top-selling products. According to the ruling from the China Shantou Intermediate People’s Court, the two companies must stop copying LEGO’s designs, packaging, and instruction books due to copyright infringement. Continue reading →

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LEGO Star Wars 75188 Resistance Bomber from The Last Jedi [Review]

With Star Wars: The Last Jedi in movie theaters in just a few days, we’re focusing again on the LEGO Star Wars sets released ahead of the film’s release. 75188 Resistance Bomber joins a substantial line of LEGO Star Wars sets from The Last Jedi, including 75187 BB-8 and 75204 Sandspeeder we reviewed previously. 75188 Resistance Bomber includes 778 pieces with 5 minifigs and retails for $109.99.

Read our full review of 75188 Resistance Bomber

Market District – Ring of Kafrene from Star Wars Rogue One

I have always loved the look and feel of the lower levels on Star Wars planets like Coruscant, and while this scene by {eeza} isn’t exactly that — it’s based on the Ring of Kafrene mining outpost featured in Rogue One — it still has that underworld, black market slums feel I so adore. The lighting is very well done, giving off an appropriate colored glow from each of the shady shops.

My favorite part of the scene has to be the droid parts booth, complete with the assorted droid parts for sale. However, don’t miss the leftmost green stall next to Cassian Andor, which appears to be selling Gorgs to snack on.

2017 LEGO Advent Calendars: Day 8

Welcome to Day 8 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.

If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump and posted in the evening every day, so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. Will Day 8 be great?

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

There is no problem that cannot be fixed by a combat mech

Dealing with the “situation” from an earlier build by Devid VII, the astronauts get their combat mech ready for action. There are so many tools, canisters and other industrial elements everywhere that I feel comfortable trusting them with anything.

While the detailed floors, clutter and minifig action are great, the star of the show is obviously the mech with its beautiful angles and an orange face. I love you, mechy…

Build a tiny minifigure scooter for your LEGO city scene [Instructions]

One of my favourite parts that were introduced back in 2014 was the red scooter that resembled a classic Vespa. This tiny brick scooter by Nieun reminds me so very much of it. This 23-element build looks like something you could whip up with ease from a decent sized brick collection to add to your city scene. It’s really well-designed for such a small scale yet has a great number of details put into it.

Click to see the build steps

LEGO addresses 2018 Friends character redesigns by Bricking Around [Guest Post]

Here at The Brothers Brick, we tend to specialize in certain kinds of news, LEGO creations, and reviews, but thanks to our partnerships with other LEGO websites, we’re able to bring you more kinds of content. Please enjoy this excellent observation of the expansion of diversity within the 2018 LEGO Friends line, which originally appeared on Bricking Around, an Australian LEGO fan blog.

When the first images of the 2018 Friends sets started appearing online I noticed that Olivia looked odd. I sent off a message to LEGO to find out what was going on and they got back to me tonight. You can read their full statement in full at the end of the article.

Essentially the visual changes to the characters are actually only one part of the change. Heartlake City will be undergoing changes as well. The town will become more realistic, with different districts and other citizens.

With regards to the five main characters the LEGO Friends team assures us that they will each still have the same personalities and interests as before. Their design changes are just to diversify their appearance.

What are those design changes? Here is a rundown, starting with the most different…

Olivia

The most obvious difference is that new Olivia has a darker skin tone and now wears glasses. Her hair style is also slightly different, with a braid in the front.

Emma

Emma’s eye colour changes from a deep green to brown in the redesign. It could just be me but it seems that they have also changed the eye shape slightly.

Andrea

New Andrea also gets an eye colour change from green to brown. The lip colour has been darkened too. The new hair style is longer and looser than current version.

Mia

While Emma and Andrea switch from green to brown eyes, Mia’s eyes go the other way changing from brown to green. Her lips also have been changed to a more subtle tone.

Stephanie

Stephanie seems unchanged. What do you think of the changes?

You can read the LEGO Friends team’s statement below.

Every year we strive to innovate and make our products even better for children all over the world. A lot of effort has gone into the development of the LEGO characters and universes across our entire product range, so it makes us very happy when changes are noticed.

LEGO Friends in 2018 looks a bit different than what it has in the past. To be specific, the 5 main characters have a slightly different look but also the city and the citizens of Heartlake City have changed.

But what are the reasons for the change?

Firstly, we want to assure you that all 5 friends are still there in 2018. Andrea, Mia, Emma, Stephanie and Olivia – they all still exist! Also the character’s main interests and personalities remain mainly unchanged.

What you will see in 2018 is an evolution of LEGO Friends, a progression of the story and characters to make sure children get an even greater play experience. Every year more than a million children and parents reach out to us and share what they love and what they would like to change. In the LEGO Friends range children told us that they would like even more differentiated characters and also suggested improvements to Heartlake City.

We always take great care to listen to input from children, and the LEGO Friends team has worked hard to make even more engaging and relevant experiences for children – and also make the LEGO Friends universe more true to the actual world children live in.

Taking a starting point in reality, we’ve made the characters more diverse in their appearance and have added more depth to their personality. And of course, they still live in Heartlake City. But just as the characters have changed, Heartlake City has become more differentiated and rich. There are different districts and there are other citizens that play a more active role in the story.

The changes we have made does not change the fact that previous and new LEGO Friends sets will cater for great building and play experience in 2018 and beyond, and we hope to inspire even more stories and play opportunities for children in the future.

This article originally appeared on Bricking Around, and is reproduced here with permission.

Weather the winter in this medieval cottage

Winter is gaining a foothold on the northern hemisphere, and with it comes winter-themed LEGO creations, most notably so in the LEGO Castle theme. A great example is this recent winter cottage built by Andreas Lenander, complete with snow-covered landscape and minifigures going about their daily errands.

Surprisingly enough, the white walls of the upper floor of the cottage don’t blend with the snow too much, an effect achieved by using dramatically different textures for the two. There is just enough details around the base to show that this is more than just a house on a plate, and the landscape spilling out of the borders helps a lot to bring life to the scene. The best part, however, must be the roof – the tiles used are only half-way pushed in to give a very realistic texture, although it is not obvious whether the roof is thatched or just tiled with very bright tiles.

Sketching Captain Phasma’s best side

Chris McVeigh has built many well-known characters using his brick sketching technique. His latest brick sketch uses layers of curved plates to capture an intimidating portrait of Captain Phasma. The female Captain of the First Order has been crafted using only red, bluish greys and black LEGO parts, yet she is instantly recognisable. As always, Chris has created some lovely angles by layering plates and tiles, giving depth to the build.

If you like this style of building, you will enjoy Chris’ brick sketch self-portrait and brick sketch of Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy. Paddy Blicksplitter also built a portrait of Charlie Chaplin in a similar style.

2017 LEGO Advent Calendars: Day 7

Welcome to Day 7 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

The dragon that still roams our earth today

The largest species of lizard that still roams the earth today is the Komodo dragon. This monster LEGO version, built by Dennis Qiu, is made from about 5500 bricks and sports a very lifelike menacing pose. It might surprise some to know that recently researchers have discovered that Komodo dragons can reproduce without mating ensuring a single isolated female can have male offspring and ensure the species continues. Dennis has used a lot of curved slopes and wedges to achieve this shapely, pose-able LEGO version of the Komodo.

A brave minifigure has volunteered to stand next to this beast to give a sense of its huge scale.

Fresh building techniques make for a very modern medieval workshop

There is no shortage of excellent medieval LEGO creations out there, and at first look this metallurgic workshop by Markus Rollbühler might not stand out. Take a closer look however, and you’ll spot the cobblestone foundation is made out of silver ingots. The cascade of amazing details spirals out of control from here…

The tree is in a league of its own, built from several hundred pieces with every single leaf captured using green feathers. The chest lids used as roof eaves are a stroke of genius, and there are great textures throughout the build. Details like the birdhouse and the wheelbarrow are amazing, but the entire build is filled with ingenious techniques and solutions — well worth a closer look.

See more of this great medieval workshop!