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.

Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn!

Once upon a time, the dark fortress of Minas Morgul belonged to the to the world of men. Back then, the city was called Minas Ithil and it protected Gondor from the evil forces of Mordor. John Snyder has built a gorgeous rendition of the city as it was before the Witch-king of Angmar took over.

At first glance, I mistook John’s castle as something out of Disney rather than the Lord of the Rings. Regardless of the source material, from the top of the tower all the way down to the bedrock, this fortress is one of the loveliest LEGO castles I’ve ever seen. According to John, his Minas Morgul weighs 31.2 pounds and is his heaviest build to date. He also says he tried to maintain the architecture (and pointy crenellations) from the original design. The bridge, in particular, reminds me of the scene in the film where the Nazgul ride out in a frenzy to find Frodo.

For more photos, including alternate angles and even an “I Spy” style scavenger hunt, check out John’s flickr.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

A courageous fighter for the Dwarf Clans

Dwalin Forkbeard shows his love for the fantasy worlds of Warhammer with a 52cm tall LEGO Dwarf Thane full of character. The subtle contours of the armor plating suggest the Thane’s battle-hardened stance. The shaping of the face mask and helmet are excellent, especially around the eye holes, allowing for a rather impressive beard to extend downward.

Hong Kong skyline in a island

While architecture skyline builds are a popular way to capture some of the landmark structures of a city, city son has created this fantastic mountainous sculpture of Hong Kong’s landmarks. At the base we have the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre with its glass façade, surrounded by Golden Bauhinia Square. Dominating the scene is the Big Buddha with the Ngong Ping 360 cable car and Peak Tram exiting the mountainside, all of which are located on Lantau Island, Hong Kong’s largest outlying island.

What a great way to capture some of the highs of Hong Kong, although Big Buddha doesn’t look impressed with the cable car exiting his head!

The LEGO NINJAGO Movie’s 70617 Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon [Review]

With only two months left until The LEGO Ninjago Movie, we’re finally getting to review the movie tie-in sets. We got an exclusive sneak peek at Toy Fair in February, but LEGO had banned photography at the time, so we had to wait until June to even show the first pictures. Now, we’re able kick things off big with a review of 70617 Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon. This set is due for release August 1, 2017 and has 1,403 pieces. It will retail for $99.99 USD.

Continue reading →

Computer, end prog... ok, never mind.

Star Trek: The Next Generation turns 30 years old this September! This gave TBB’s very own Iain Heath just the excuse he needed to created this STNG diorama. Inspired by Kadigan Photography‘s printed tile version, Iain came up with a way to brick-build the holographic environment simulator’s famous yellow grid (you can even see how he did it in his Flickr album).

Fans of the show will appreciate Iain’s take on the holodeck, entitled Safety Protocols Disabled, as it was a common trope the writers used to create extra excitement and tension. Captain Picard looks awfully concerned as Data is getting the Donald Gennaro treatment from Rexy, while Crusher’s face seems to suggest she saw it coming. Perhaps she was sick of Data getting all the best one-liners and disabled those protocols herself?

Companion droid is a man’s best friend

Today we bring you not just one, but two companion droids built by GolPlaysWithLego. I like to think that a man’s best friend is WLY on the left, although the look on his owner’s face suggests he is not altogether happy with the ride. The shaping of both droids is very cool with the new curved mudguards ideal to frame the ‘face’ areas. SPD is definitely giving out arachnoid vibes with those spindly legs and seems to be the ‘protector’, being both armed and unmanned.

I love WLY’s legs — ingenious use of helmets, plus a rather unusual part, namely the small armour plates from the Baze Malbus SW “constraction” figure. And did you spot the 1980’s phone speaker printed tile as the droid’s mouthpiece?

Chunky fire truck to the rescue

It doesn’t matter what age you are — everybody loves a LEGO fire truck. This impressive beast from S Asbury doesn’t disappoint with its beefy proportions and use of custom chromed elements.

The truck is built “seven-wide” — a relatively unusual standard in the LEGO world, but one that pays off here, giving the vehicle a real sense of heft and scale. Such a design decision makes for a more complex building experience though — LEGO tends to be better-suited for even-width building. You can see how the builder has had to use a combination of plates on the underside…

And what rescue vehicle would be complete without an extension selection of on-board gear. This model fully delivers, with a number of well-stocked compartments…

All-in-all, this is a cracking model — an air of the “official” LEGO City style letting it fit into any brick-built scene, but at a scale that creates some sense of realism. Big enough to tackle any rescue, small enough to still look kinda cute. Lovely.

Pretty peculiar parts usage

It’s not every day you see a castle made of body parts. And you might not expect such a thing to look quite this pretty. Fresh from using bananas for a cottage roof, alego alego has now put together a cute little microscale castle which makes extensive use of torso pieces from Friends minidolls. The parts selection somehow works, resulting in a creation that’s both weird and wonderful. I particularly like the minifig lifejacket used to create the yellow gatehouse — inspired.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it

Prolific Australian builder Karf Oohlu (aka Fedde Barendrecht) makes use of the still relatively-new “macaroni pipe” piece to create a twisty bendy pipey masterpiece of greebling. I have no idea what this piece of equipment does, but I imagine it makes some immensely pleasing gurgling noises when it’s operating. Aside from the piping, the use of engine turbine inserts placed back-to-back makes for an effective gasket – I’ll be stealing that for my own models.

LEGO’s midsummer sale begins now, including Star Wars, Superheroes, Minecraft, and more [News]

LEGO is prepping for the influx of new sets (such as the Star Wars: The Last Jedi LEGO sets revealed yesterday) by slashing prices for the weekend on a wide range of current sets in the LEGO Shop Online for US and Canada. Most of the prices are dropped by about 20%, but this includes a few hard-to-find sets such as Arkham Asylum (which we reviewed) and the Winter Toy Shop that are more difficult to snag on sale. The sale should begin Saturday and run through Sunday.

10249 Winter Toy Shop, $79.99, now $63.99

Click to see the full list of sets on sale

Fantastic fantasy inn

The inn — an essential location in any half-decent fantasy tale. Where would your adventurers be if they didn’t have a good tavern to bed down in, get drunk in, hear gossip in, and get into fights in? titus.verelst‘s Grand Griffon is an impressive creation, with nicely-built Tudor-style panelling, and landscaping which adds detail and a sense of place without distracting from the central building.

This builder is on something of a roll with the fantasy creations at the moment. I really liked this detail shot from another model, showing an armourer at work in a side-street of a bustling town. It’s great when LEGO builders get their cameras down and close, creating minifigure eye-level scenes like this…

Revenge: best served cold. Justice: best served from the shadows

I don’t know much about the DC Superhero universe beyond the recent movies, but I do know this scene by Andrew Cookston is masterfully constructed. I love the use of the tooth plate pieces as icicles, while the placement of Batman (have you spotted him yet?) lurking in the shadows, just out of focus, is perfect. I viewed the photo a few times before I noticed him!

The presentation overall is outstanding — fantastic photography, with a wonderful focus, good lighting, and smart steam effects.