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.

African architecture in Age of Empires II

You may recall Andrew JN‘s previously featured Middle Eastern vignette or his working trebuchet from earlier this year. Andrew has done it again with this beautiful Al-Khahr, inspired by John Snyder and largely based on the African architectural style house from the newly released expansion for Age of Empires II.

This build has so many colorful details that leap out of the picture: the reds of the awning, the blue ostrich egg, and the lime green creepers by the front door. I love the palm tree with older dying branches hanging under the newer lime green canopy – and a monkey! But my favorite detail of all is the camel who appears to be giving his master a rather stubborn look!

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Saturn 0.5 is go for launch

If the latest LEGO Ideas set NASA Saturn V is a little too big for your shelf or for your wallet, we have the perfect solution. Jussi Koskinen has built a compact Saturn V that can still separate into the launch and mission stages, just like the official set. Jussi has taken care to ensure each stage has the correct number of engines and maintains the same separation function as the larger model. I am impressed with the shaping achieved, since making a cylindrical LEGO rocket can be a challenge.

As you can see, despite being small in size, Jussi’s mini Saturn V still looks the part when launched.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for June 25, 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 last week of June 2017.

TBB NEWS: The past few days should have been called Ninjago Week, based on all the new sets and minifigures revealed from the upcoming movie. Take a look at the cool mechs, dragon boat and the massive Ninjago City.

LEGO Ninjago 70620 Ninjago City set revealed — This jaw-dropping and eclectic set is one of the largest sets in LEGO’s history, with 4,867 pieces and 16 minifigures, and is coming your way this fall.
First ten LEGO Ninjago Movie collectible minifigures revealed — The newest collectible minifigures series was revealed and will feature your favorite ninjas and supporting characters from The LEGO Ninjago Movie. We have your first look with a plethora of new parts.
Second half of LEGO Ninjago Movie collectible minifigures also revealed — LEGO later revealed the second half of the series, and from the adorable Unikitty top to an ugly sweater, it appears that the complete series will be another highly sought-after collection.
LEGO reveals more pictures for upcoming The LEGO Ninjago Movie sets — LEGO has revealed more photos of sets for their upcoming The LEGO Ninjago Movie including 70618 Destiny’s Bounty, 70612 Green Ninja Mech Dragon, Toys R Us exclusive 70616 Ice Tank, Target exclusive 70613 Garma Mecha Man, and Walmart exclusive 70610 Flying Jelly Sub.
New items from Citizenbrick, Brickarms and Eclipsegrafx — Last week was a big week for fans of custom made LEGO figures and accessories, with three of the biggest 3rd party vendors releasing new products.

OTHER LEGO NEWS: This week had a few other interesting LEGO-related news articles, so here are the best of the rest.

‘LEGO Ninjago Movie’: See How Designers Turned Film’s Setting Into Epic Model, Yahoo! — LEGO designers worked hand-in-hand with filmmakers to make sure the Ninjago film matched the toy aesthetic, and vice versa.
How I Built an AI to Sort 2 Tons of LEGO Pieces, IEEE Spectrum — A GPU-based neural network was the only way to handle a garage full of LEGO for builder Jacques Mattheij.
LEGO model of Titanic built with 125,000 pieces on display in Cavendish, CBC News — The model is nine feet long and took Ben MacLeod more than three years to build.
LEGO Boost and Friends tops Argos toy predictions for Christmas 2017, Mirror — LEGO and tech toys look set to dominate Christmas wish lists this year (already!?).

Cruising the streets with cool treats

The summer sun is shining, there’s a hazy wave of heat beating off the pavement, and you’re feeling hotter than a jalapeño’s armpit. When an ice cream van comes into view, it’s like spotting an oasis in the desert. Firas Abu-Jaber has converted his International Harvester Metro into a vintage ice cream truck, all ready to serve up delicious cool treats. The classic red and white candy stripe body paint is sure to catch the attention along with some tinkling music.

This 1:17 scale model is not just about the candy stripe exterior. The interior is easily accessed via the removable roof and rear panel and contains freezers full of everything required to satisfy your ice cream cravings.

Storm spire rises to the heavens

BobDeQuatre says he doesn’t have the skills for castle building, but his recent entry in the Summer Joust 2017 build challenge’s 8×8 vignette category is one of the best entries I’ve seen yet. The story behind the build is that the castle was built by northern men, enslaved by the black queen. After the castle was completed she summoned a magical storm which lifted the castle up to make it impenetrable to her enemies. The builder has represented the storm perfectly by using a NEXO Knights whirlwind part, along with other dark purple bricks that bleed into the base of the castle.

However, the lighting is what really sets this vignette apart from the crowd — it adds an epic effect to the storm by shining through the transparent portion of the NEXO Knights piece, adding a sinister red glow fitting of the castles backstory.

I feel my luck could change

Celebrating the 20-year anniversary re-release of a 1997 Radiohead record, Anthony Wilson presents a LEGO rendition of OK Computer. Subdued color choices and good line placement using plates and tiles make Anthony’s build a great representation of the album cover.

Beware the Denizens of the Underdark

You may recognize the style of David Zambito‘s work as we have featured his awesome bear-faced giant and Bilbo’s encounter with Smaug. This time he as presented us with Traversing The Underdark. For those unfamiliar with Dungeons and Dragons, the Underdark is “a vast subterranean realm inhabited by sinister creatures. It is a place where few humans go and from where even fewer return.”

David has captured the airy otherworldliness with stalactites, stalagmites, suitably creepy blackened water, and fantastic flora and fungi — I love the hair pieces as spooky tendrils on the larger mushrooms and the subtle streaks of rusty color accenting the rocks throughout. I would wish the adventurers a safe journey, although I have my doubts they will receive one.

A challenger approaches

Take just one look at these stunning LEGO video game characters by Anthony Forsberg and you’ll be itching to play a few rounds of Super Smash Bros. Pictured from left to right are four of the toughest characters ever to enter the arena: Mr. Game and Watch, Fox McCloud, Pac-Man, and Kirby. These brick-built renditions of the pixelated icons from your childhood are pretty spectacular.

And to top it off, Anthony even built adorable miniature versions of these four foes!

Going stair crazy

Karf Oohlu has produced an absolutely wonderful little scene, which could easily be a piece of art. This microscale diorama of grey stairs reminds me a lot of Hera’s Garden in God of War 3. It’s a rather simple build with the 1×1 plates with two studs serving as the basis for the stairs, and some nice touches such as the Exo-Force hair pieces for the tree.

Second half of LEGO Ninjago Movie collectible minifigures revealed [News]

Yesterday we brought you the first ten LEGO Ninjago Movie collectible minifigures (complete with bowls and cereal) and today LEGO has revealed the second half of this series. Here they are below, with our initial impressions. It appears that the complete series will be another highly sought-after collection. Go ninja, go Ninjago!

Lloyd

After seeing the amazing bowls from yesterday’s Lloyd minifigure, today’s is a bit more straightforward with standard ninja garb. However, a possibly new 3×3 tile with the blueprints of an awesome dragon mech as well as the new tassel piece at the bottom of his sword are welcome additions. It appears that he will also come with a hairpiece, doubling his dashing looks.

Flashback Garmadon

We called it yesterday, folks, with a younger Misako comes the downright terrifying Flashback Garmadon. I’m not sure if it is the smooth blonde locks or the aviator glasses, but this Garmadon strikes more fear into me than his normal-decked out villain look. He comes with a camera and a lovely photograph of his cozy volcano home. At least we now know where La-Lloyd got his hair from!

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Over 9,000 LEGO bricks complete an epic Chinese dragon

LEGO dragons are always great to see, but HUGE ones are even better! This is the case with this incredible, 150 centimeter long (nearly 60 inch) Chinese style dragon built by Ming Jin, and the beast is also currently the only LEGO creation on their photostream. The build has beautiful curvature achieved by a rather simple segmented body design, with subtle angles between individual segments.

There are cheese slopes covering most of the body, giving an impression of scales and other details like spikes and flame pieces as characteristic Asian dragon features. While legs and to some extent the head possibly expose too much of the inner structure, the beautiful long body more than carries the creation.

Why, oh why must earth’s sky be blue? Why can’t it be magenta too?

Rob Damiano has been building an epic series of LEGO scenes telling the story of the NOVA team and their expedition to investigate rare biometric readings on a distant planet. I love his recent builds depicting an alien oasis, with a magnificent magenta hue. The builder added in the effects using Photoshop, and these effects really make the scenes shine.

Here, the NOVA team exits the R-RAV to explore the oasis. The usage of red tree leaves and trans-purple parts on the ground are the perfect accent to the magenta haze. The fantastic minifigures were designed by the builder and custom printed in a very small quantity.