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.

Exactly three inches high — a very good height indeed

We’ve seen Alice In Wonderland LEGO creations before, but Martin Redfern proves himself a master of quirky character once again with this version of Alice encountering the Caterpillar. Alice herself is fun, and the caterpillar curling over to peer down at her is nicely put-together. However, it’s the little touches which elevate this model out of the ordinary — the funghi-flavoured foliage at Alice’s feet, the shaping of the big mushroom, and that hookah pipe. Don’t miss the white snake used as a curl of smoke — we’ve seen it before, but it’s perfectly placed here.

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HispaBrick Magazine 028 is out now [NEWS]

Lluís Gibert, Jetro de Château, and the rest of the team at HispaBrick Magazine have just released the English edition of Issue 028 as a free download.

This issue includes a report from the LEGO Fan Media Days in Billund, plus interviews with LEGO theme teams, and Robert “RobenAnne” Bontenbal — the fan designer of LEGO Ideas 21310 Old Fishing Store.

There is also a reconstruction of the conversation the team had with LEGO’s then-CEO, Bali Padda, by Richard Jones from The Rambling Brick, and Stuck in Plastic talk about their toy photographers’ collective. The rest of this issue is packed full of articles about education with Six Bricks, set reviews, robotics, MOCs, and all you need to know about LEGO Boost.

Hispabrick 028 is available as a free download in English, Spanish and Croation, thanks to a collaboration with Kockice.

Out on patrol

The stripped-back colour scheme used in this model could easily have seen it turn out as a big lump of grey bricks — a common problem in LEGO creations depicting modern maritime vessels. However, this offshore patrol ship by Luis Peña has a really pleasing level of detail. The depth of texture around the bridge is excellent, and the microfigures on the forward deck create a sense of the appropriate scale in which to consider the model. The isolated splashes of colour offered by the helicopter and the flags manage to break things up a bit, and the use of Technic bricks for portholes down the hull may be obvious, but it’s also effective.

It’s a cool model, however the white backdrop for the photography is a little stark. Might have been nice to set the scene with a “sea” of loose trans blue 1×1 plates or something?

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for September 17, 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 third week of September 2017.

TBB STAR WARS NEWS: Every list of the largest LEGO sets ever released must now be rewritten, because the UCS Millennium Falcon has landed! We’ve got your full LEGO Star Wars coverage right here, including a chance to win the largest LEGO set ever made.

TBB sits down with LEGO Star Wars UCS Millennium Falcon designers — We interviewed the lead designers for LEGO Star Wars – Jens Kronvold Frederiksen and Micheal Lee Stockwell and found out some of the challenges of building such a large model.
LEGO Star Wars UCS Millennium Falcon and Winter Village Station now available for VIP members — The UCS Millennium Falcon sold out like hot cakes (surprise!) but the Winter Village Station is still up for grabs. Now the only way to get your hands on the largest set ever made is to…
WIN A UCS MILLENNIUM FALCON! — TBB is hosting a building contest and giving away a UCS Millennium Falcon as well as FOUR elusive Space Slug sets. Get building! The deadline is Oct. 15th.
Review of LEGO Star Wars 75187 BB-8 — This charming LEGO BB-8 includes 1,106 pieces, a bobbling head, and a lighter thumbs up, all retailing for $99.99 USD.

See the rest of this week’s LEGO news after the jump

The Void Raven under cover of night

From Random Vector‘s imagination flies the beautiful stealth starship Void Raven. The dark color scheme not only evokes the stealthy feel of the spacecraft, but also places the spotlight on brilliant texturing and clever parts usage throughout.

The pair of translucent blue Bionicle masks inside of an inverted tire in the rear, and the arrays of tread links, are my personal favorite details highlighted here.

You’ll need a longer tape to catch this fly

Red, who is at his best creating characters with uncommon Bionicle and Hero Factory pieces, presents a very charismatic figure of a space smuggler. Large insectile eyes and a pair of antennae is all you need to create a very vivid image of an anthropomorphic fly. One moment you put it in some bright armour and give it a gun, the next it is already smuggling goods!

Bleak but beautiful

If I had to pick one element of the LEGO world where building styles and expectations have changed the most in the last few years, I’d suggest landscaping has seen the biggest transformation in techniques and general quality. The level of detail, clever brickwork, and creativity on display in a good piece of landscaping now is amazing. EdgelessAbyss provides a great example — a scene where the rockwork is the absolute star of the show. The restrained use of colour, the way the tumbledown ruins blend into the surrounding earth, the solitary figure — the elements all comes together to make a bleak and beautiful fantasy scene.

The builder says this was based on the style of the Dark Souls III and Berserk videogames. However, I’d love to see them use these techniques and styling on a version of Ahch-To, the Star Wars planet whose distinctive rocks and twisting stairs were filmed on the Irish island of Skellig Michael.

Ta Davy Jones’ locker with ya!

There is no doubt that William Navarre is one of the best and most active LEGO builders out there, churning out build after build of great quality almost every week. This one and his previous creation were built for the Colossal Battle Contest.

This naval battle has a lot going for it; the positioning of the ships is very expressive and dynamic, not to mention how well they are constructed. The scale is deceiving and the details are amazing — from the burning elements of the sinking ship to the rigging on the victorious side, each vessel is worth looking at individually. What I like best though, is the surrounding water, achieving a realistic look with two layers, a top textured one, and the bottom for colour (and a great look from the side!). William’s creations seem to have a theme of their simpler environment ending up capturing my attention even longer than the build’s focal point…

LEGO Dimensions Wave 9 now available, including Beetlejuice, Powerpuff Girls and Teen Titans Go! [News]

With all the UCS Millennium Falcon craziness going on this week, LEGO also quietly released the next (and most likely final) wave of LEGO Dimensions sets. Wave 9 is now on store shelves featuring Beetlejuice, Powerpuff Girls and Teen Titans Go! Unlike past releases, none of the sets is a retailer exclusive, so all should be available from most major retailers.

See more of the latest wave of LEGO Dimensions after the jump

Don’t worry, this is just a test

I’m not sure if these still even exist on television broadcast channels anymore, but for me this build by Jason Cichon brings back a flood of childhood memories of waking up early in the morning to catch my favorite weekend cartoons. And on the other end of the spectrum, during my teenage years, this is what we dreaded at the end of the day, when TV broadcasts would go off-air.

Consisting of roughly 530 pieces, this is quite an accurate build of the PAL PM5544 test pattern that often is broadcasted before or after the closing of a TV channel. For you young ones: yes, there was once a time when TV channels did not broadcast round the clock and operators actually had to go home and sleep, leaving us to figure out how to entertain ourselves during those periods.

WIN A UCS MILLENNIUM FALCON! [Exciting News]

Unless you’ve been hiding from the Empire on a remote desert planet for the past few decades, you’ll know that LEGO recently unveiled its massive new 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon set. But in the all the excitement you may have missed the fact that to celebrate this event, The Brothers Brick is currently holding a Millennium Falcon themed building contest!

Well, it’s time to add to that excitement: We are pleased to announce that LEGO has graciously donated a copy of the new UCS Falcon set as an additional prize in our contest. That’s right, you can now win* one of these monsters, rather than dipping into your kids’ college fund (again). All you need to do is wow us with an amazing Falcon-themed LEGO model or scene of your own creation!

Four winners will still each receive a super rare limited edition Escape the Space Slug set. But the 1st place winner will now receive a 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon, and the 2nd place winner will receive the smaller 75105 Star Wars Millennium Falcon.

We are also extending the competition deadline to Sunday, October 15th. That gives you a whole month from today to dream up something really special …so get building! Any style, scale or idea goes so long as it features the Falcon or something Falconesque, in whole or in part. For example, it might be a re-themed version of the Falcon, a movie crossover space battle, or even a mini-fig scene that takes place inside the ship. The more imaginative and original the better.

RULES FOR ENTERING: Contestants must be 18 years of age or older. Once you have built your entry, post a single photo of it to the contest Flickr group. Only one entry is accepted per person. All entries must be new builds, that have not been previously posted online. They must also be physical models — no digital renderings will be accepted. However, use of custom accessories and stickers is permitted. Entries must be submitted by October 15th to be considered for judging.

*Please note that the grand prize UCS set will be shipped directly from LEGO, who have stipulated that they cannot ship to addresses in China or PO boxes.

Beasts from Bricks [Review]

Beasts from Bricks: Amazing LEGO Designs for Animals from Around the World is the latest LEGO instructional book from Quarry Books, authored by LEGO artist and designer Ekow Nimako. This is the second book in the series following Birds from Bricks. The 144-page book presents illustrated step-by-step instructions to build 15 animals from around the world: Africa, Europe, Asia, Antarctica, Oceania, Central/South America, the Caribbean, and North America. Each set of instructions includes a couple of paragraphs of information about the animal’s characteristics and habitat. Also included is a bonus gallery of Ekow Nimako’s more complex, large-scale animal designs.

Read the full review after the jump