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.

Double falcon or double awesome?

Sky-fi may be among the more obscure LEGO building themes, but if you dig deep, plenty of amazing models can be found. The F70 Double Falcon by Vincent Tolouse is a great representation of the alternate-history early aviation-based theme, because it has everything, from beautiful curves to unique and imaginative shapes. Add to that the gorgeous dark red and chrome silver along with some nice part uses such as the Galidor shields at the front, and you get a very memorable and absolutely insane aeroplane.

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Nice ABS!

Who needs to hit the gym when you have abs made of ABS? This stud by timofey_tkachev has the perfect grin to show off his six-pack—or should that be six-brix? The use of the tan large-figure parts for the pecs, lats and calves are spot on.

Riding the wave

This windsurfer figure by Dmitriy and Anna is awesome, but just glancing at the picture hurts as my summer vacation is still too far away! Even though there are no huge waves around and the board has no actual sail, the posture of the figure is what makes this vignette so good. The figure on the board’s edge, with its body leaning back, makes it look as if the surfer was struggling with a pretty strong gust of wind.

A place where a technical mind is at peace

I am not here to downplay the classic minifig’s ability to convey emotion, but it is a fact that its range of movement is much more limited than that of a Technic figure. Heikki Mattila uses this posability to great effect in his large scale vignette called “Thinking at night”. The technic figure is set in a convincingly contemplating and perfectly peaceful pose, while the setting is full of nice details like tyres, boxes and more. The backlit window makes for a convincing nighttime effect as well. I could not imagine a better happy place for a Technic figure than a workshop or garage.

Calosoma australodrepa

Insects and other arthropods lend themselves surprisingly well to be built from LEGO. There are many elements like hinge pieces and wedge slopes that are oddly appropriate for building creepy crawlies. Olga Rodinova (Ольга Родионова) uses such pieces very well to create this (probably very smelly) beetle.

Un-BEAR-able cuteness

The overwhelming cuteness of this red panda by Vitreolum might blind you to some of the great LEGO parts usage on display. Sure, it’s the chubby feet and the stripey tail that’ll catch your eye — but don’t miss the white croissants as bushy eyebrows, and the black Kepi cavalry hat for a nose! This is a cracking little model, somehow managing to be realistic but packed with cartoony character at the same time.

Tiny Transportation and Technic Tools: an interview with Czech builder, František Hajdekr [Interview]

This week our travels take us to South Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. There we tracked down František Hajdekr, a builder known for his small builds of big vehicles and equipment of all kinds. František lives in the town of Bavorov, with his wife and three sons. He is 39 years old, teaches high school and runs his own Youtube channel, which is loaded with lots of “how-to” LEGO videos. Let’s explore his mind a bit, shall we?

TBB: Hello, František! How you got into LEGO and what was your first set?

František: My first set was the classic Town 6621 Fire Truck from 1984. And for a long time it was the only set that I had. Lego was not so available in my country, so I built mainly with different building blocks – Seva or metallic Merkur (Czech made).

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When steam powered a revolution

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the late 1700s and saw a shift from manufacturing within people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines, to powered machinery, factories, and mass production. Factories and steam locomotives were signature developments of the times. Toltomeja has used both of these icons of the industrial revolution in his LEGO diorama. There’s a large factory with tall chimneys emitting clouds of smoke (the part used is the cloth spider’s net) and a steam train loaded with coal. The bridge and the factory are very nicely put together, but it was the brick-built lettering and the little horses and carts that really caught my eye.

The steam locomotive is cleverly built at this scale, using a telephone handset as the coupling rod connecting the drive wheels, while a few treasure chests become the open wagons containing coal.

Beautiful and dangerous

This entry for the ABS Builder Challenge by Brother Steven is simply prickle-licious. The dark red and bright yellow of the desert flower really make the creation leap out, contrasting beautifully against the green cactus. And those olive spines are so prickly they almost sting your eyes. This build is simple, elegant, and perfect. I love that it comes with a cheeky note from the builder: “A gift to my competition. Handle with care.” Brilliant!

The LEGO Batman Movie 70900 The Joker Balloon Escape [Review]

The LEGO Batman Movie has been out for over a month and it’s still going strong in the weekend box office sales race. Last week, for example, it was the fifth highest grossing film of the weekend. Not too shabby for a kids movie featuring LEGO minifigures.

By now, most of you have probably picked up a few of the LEGO Batman Movie sets (or at least eye-balled the back of the boxes in the store). And while we here at the Brothers Brick have already reviewed many sets from this line, there are still a couple of LEGO Batman Movie sets that we haven’t looked at yet. Here’s a look at one of the entry-level sets…

Joker Balloon Escape [70900] retails for $14.99 and contains 124 pieces. At LEGO’s standard price of $0.10 per piece, this small set may be slightly overpriced. However, since it contains two minifigures and some new, useful parts, many Batman fans may choose to overlook that fact.

The main components are the two minifigures, a power plant console, a comically over-complicated bomb, and the Joker’s balloon pack. There’s also a play feature where the two halves of the tank break away from each other, simulating a bomb explosion. (You know, just in case Batman doesn’t make it in time.)

Interestingly, this set can combine with Mr. Freeze Ice Attack [70901] and Scarecrow Special Delivery Vehicle [70910] to form a mega-set: the Gotham power plant featured in the beginning of the movie.

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The question is: Who... are you?

Although often offering wise words to Simba, the wizened old Rafiki nevertheless delights in riddles and unorthodox tutelage. Channeling that spirit of unconventionality, builder SephiMoc FF7 uses quite an interesting assortment of LEGO pieces to bring life to this sage from Disney’s The Lion King. The eccentric mandrill is recognizable with his brightly colored face, which is framed with white fur made of feathered wings and various horn elements. Look closely and you’ll spot that Rafiki’s eyebrows are a handlebar, while the ball joints give this character plenty of poseability.

The bold choice of a purple background works splendidly, offsetting both the white face and the grey body, as well as complementing the orange logo nicely. There’s even a tiny Simba cub for Rafiki to gloriously hold aloft:

Battle above unknown worlds in a vertical starfighter

Nick Trotta’s series of detailed and unusually shaped starfighters continues with a vertical fighter named Volkite. The verticality combined with excellent color blocking and smooth transitions between sections of the craft make an eye-catching model.

On his YouTube, Nick shows a couple videos about Volkite. The video below shows how each chunk of the starfighter fits together (about 18 minutes long). It is a fascinating watch as you can see how the smooth transitions between components are achieved.