I am mesmerized by this delicate pine cone by Cecilie Fritzvold. I just can’t figure out how she built it! The branch of the pine tree completes this snowy scene. The branch is nearly as delicate as the pine cone itself. I love how this beautiful scene is built using simple parts, including clips and 3-stud long rods. The Nexo Knight’s shield as the pine cone’s scales works very well too.
Last month, I had the chance to visit the LEGO offices in Enfield, Connecticut. How’d I snag such a sweet opportunity you may ask? Well, the LEGO AFOL Relations & Programs team (aka the “AR&P team”) issued a general invitation to sites like The Brothers Brick as well as to United States RLUG members to participate in a workshop. Unsurprisingly, the workshop spaces filled up in less than 24 hours.
I and 33 other lucky AFOLs got to sneak a peek inside LEGO’s U.S. headquarters and participate in several discussions about LEGO’s community outreach programs. In total, the workshop participants hailed from nine different RLUGs, including QueLUG, WMLUG, NEOLUG, TexLUG, MichLUG, NELUG, ConnLUG, RLUG, and PennLUG.
As a huge fan of LEGO’s Classic Space theme, I’ve always felt that there is so much more to explore around this old-school theme. Until the day comes that the designers in Billund decide to renew this theme, we can continue to enjoy the vast imagination of builders like Brian Grissom. Cleverly crafting a great-looking lunar dune crawler that seats two Minifigures comfortably, this rover is surely a favourite of Classic Spaceman Benny, who’d be delighted to add this to his ever growing collection of vehicles.
This week’s Amazon deals include sets from Star Wars, Super Heroes, City and Trains! See more of Amazon’s LEGO Sales and Deals for discounts on many other sets and themes.
LEGO STAR WARS TIE Striker 75154 is 30% off, currently listed at $49.00.
LEGO Star Wars Encounter on Jakku 75148 is 35% off, currently listed at $39.00.
LEGO Super Heroes Hulk vs. Red Hulk 76078 is 20% off, currently listed at $48.06.
LEGO City Trains Cargo Train 60052 is 30% off, currently listed at $139.99.
LEGO City Trains High-speed Passenger Train 60051 is 20% off, currently listed at $119.99.
This weekend, Bricks Cascade will bring together builders from the Pacific Northwest and beyond to the Oregon Convention Center for a public expo showing some incredible LEGO creations. The show will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, March 11th and 12th, between 10 AM and 4 PM both days. Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased online.
In addition to custom LEGO creations, there will be a plethora of vendors selling T-shirts, minifigs, retired sets and more. TBB will be there on the lookout for amazing builds to highlight, so we hope to see you there.
Multnomah Falls by Erik Mattson
The relationship between Batman and The Joker has been the source of countless LEGO creations, not to mention the main theme of the recent LEGO Batman Movie. However, we don’t often see large-scale interpretations of where it all began, the confrontation between Batman and the leader of the Red Hood Gang at Gotham’s Ace Chemical Plant — as depicted in the classic graphic novel The Killing Joke. Once again Tim Lydy proves he’s a master of LEGO Batman creations, following up on his wonderful large-scale figures with this brilliant diorama.
I love what Tim’s done with the chemical tanks — their contents look suitably toxic. And the level of detail and greebling creates a fantastic impression of a working plant, full of pipes and valves and gauges. As soon as I saw the Red Hood figure in the Batman Collectible Minifig range, I knew someone would have a go at this scene. I’m just glad it was Tim — he’s certainly done it justice.
Last month, we went to New York Toy fair to bring you the first images of 71042 Silent Mary when LEGO unveiled their latest Pirates of the Caribbean tie-in set, 71042 Silent Mary, and now we’re pleased to bring you this exclusive early review of the set. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and is due for release on 26 May, 2017. Although the official trailer for the movie features the Silent Mary, Armando Salazar’s ghost ship, there may be some very minor spoilers below.
LEGO 71042 Silent Mary has 2,294 parts and is due for release to LEGO VIP members on 17 March, 2017 priced at $199.99/£179.99/199,99 € and is listed for ages 14+. The Silent Mary isn’t quite the largest ship LEGO has made, though she does impressively measure over 18” (48cm) high with the main mast in vertical position, and 26” (68cm) long and 8” (22cm) wide. She’s just over 14” (36cm) wide with the main mast collapsed. To give you a comparison, a largest LEGO ship is 10210 Imperial Flagship, which measures 29.5” (75 cm) long and 23.6” (60 cm) tall. 4184 The Black Pearl is a bit smaller, coming in at 21” (53cm) long, 20” (50cm) tall and 5” (12cm) wide.
Continue reading
We all knew this was going to happen sooner or later: the invasion of BrickHeadz has crossed over to a galaxy far far away. Jared Chan brings us four Star Wars characters; the twins Luke and Leia along with Han and C-3PO. I’m impressed with the builder’s use of a limited palette of gold bricks to pull off the shiny protocol droid.
This morning LEGO revealed another supercar entry to the popular Speed Champions line. The McLaren 720S (set 75880) will be joining the likes of the Ford GT, Bugatti Chiron, and more when it’s available this June. The bright orange car also includes a car designer minifigure and a design desk for sketching out the cars of the future. We don’t have word yet on the price or part count, but it’s a safe bet it will be priced at $14.99 USD like the other standalone Speed Champions.
See more of the new McLaren 720S below. Continue reading
Every year, the LEGO Group releases its financial results, providing an insightful look into the operations of the company. For 2016, the company reported the highest revenue in the company’s 85-year history at 37.9 billion DKK (approximately 5.38 billion USD), representing a 5.5 percent increase over 2015. Notably in the US, however, consumer sales were flat despite a significant increase in marketing spending from LEGO in the second half of the year.
After all expenses, that leaves The LEGO Group with a net profit of 9.4 billion DKK (approximately 1.34 billion USD), slightly higher than the year before. The net profit is calculated after subtracting all operating expenses, including costly construction projects like the LEGO House in Billund and a new manufacturing facility in China, which ate up nearly a third of LEGO’s overall net profits. Continue reading
Most of us remember Tonka trucks and diggers from when we were kids, but Beat Felber has done one better and created his very own heavy duty yellow construction toy out of LEGO. The Marathon LeTourneau L-1200 LeTro-Loader is built at a scale of 1:28.5 and has all the functions of the original, including all-wheel drive, articulated steering, pneumatic lift arm and bucket and more! The sheer size of this monster is amazing.
Beat has also created the Euclid R-170 Mining Truck at the same scale. The action shot of the siblings with lights on looks fantastic. They just may be the envy of every LEGO Tonka enthusiast.
Since you all loved the LEGO Thunderjaw that we featured the other day, we figured you might enjoy a LEGO version of another creature from Horizon: Zero Dawn. This time it’s a Tallneck by South African builder Wayne de Beer. However, Wayne has not only recreated this majestic beast in brick form, he has also created instructions so that you can build your own!
