Long before the Covid19 pandemic rocked the world, the BrickCon staff chose to playfully name this year’s theme “Hindsight”. The idea was based on the old expression, “hindsight is 20/20,” referring to past events and decisions being clearer in the present. It was hoped that the theme would spark creations that poked fun at the past. Unfortunately, most of us around the world could not have seen this coming, nor prevented it if we did. The irony has been palpable and even painful for millions of people across the globe. There’s no denying it’s been a tough year – for everyone. But one part of “hindsight” that benefits BrickCon, is the fact that it’s one of the last conventions of the year, and thus, they’ve had a chance to learn from all the rest. This con promises to be different than the others. Read on to learn how, and in what ways you can help.
Category Archives: News
LEGO 77906 Wonder Woman and the Cheetah now available for pre-orders [Sales]
The LEGO 77906 Wonder Woman and the Cheetah Fandom reveal earlier today is now available for pre-order on LEGO Online Store (US Only). It is priced at $39.99 USD and will ship on October 1st. The set comes with 3 minifigures and 255 pieces. We are also extremely proud to note that this is first LEGO set designed by former TBB Contributor Carter Baldwin in his new role as LEGO product designer.
Click here to pre-order the set now and read the full details of the reveal here
TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for August 22, 2020
In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the third week of August 2020.
We create LEGO art with the new Iron Man mosaic set. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.
TBB NEWS, REVIEWS AND INSTRUCTIONS: This week we got a backstage look at the Lego Instructions For Every Day Life series, saw the reveal of the new Harry Potter collectible minifigures, learned to make a tiny NES and more.
- The LEGO Foundation expands Braille Bricks availability to aid visually impaired learning – LEGO Braille Bricks have officially launched, providing an interactive learning tool for both the visually impaired and their sighted peers.
- LEGO Art 31199 Marvel Studios Iron Man mosaic + 7,000-piece Ultimate Build [Review] – We’re going hands-on in this review with the new LEGO Art 31199 Marvel Studios Iron Man mosaic, including the Ultimate Build that uses over 7,000 pieces!
- Build your own microscale Nintendo Entertainment System [Instructions] – Thomas Gion has you covered if you love the new LEGO NES set, but don’t have the budget.
MORE TBB NEWS & FEATURES:
- Behind the scenes: How the instructions for your everyday life in LEGO were made [Feature] – We go behind the scenes and interview Primus Nair, Head of Creative of Asia Pacific from LEGO to find how the team pulled the LEGO Life Instructions together.
- LEGO’s next book will be “The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks” – What secrets are LEGO bricks hiding? You can find out when LEGO’s next book for adult fans is published.
- The new LEGO 71028 Harry Potter Collectible Minifigures Series 2 revealed – The second series of the Harry Potter Collectible Minifigures have been revealed.
- LEGO 60271 City Main Square with characters from LEGO City Adventures TV show revealed – A new LEGO City set featuring a town hall building, a limousine, a classic diner and a city park with a concert platform and new trackless tram as been revealed.
OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:
- Legoland’s upcoming New York park has an attraction that makes riders feel like they’ve shrunk down to the size of a Lego brick, Insider – The Lego Factory Adventure ride will make riders feel like they’ve been shrunken down to the size of a Lego brick.
- Adidas x Lego Sneakers Dropping This Fall, Complex – Adidas will soon launch a collaborative project with Lego.
- Patent Filings Roundup: AI Inventor Facial Challenge Filed; Lego and WB Challenge RFID Toy Patents; Uniloc Challenge Denied for Indefiniteness (Sort Of ), IP watchdog – The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), for its part, saw 36 patent filings, driven up in part by a half-dozen petitions from LEGO® and Warner Bros. against assertion vehicle MQ Gaming, LLC.
- Lego piece falls out of New Zealand boy’s nose after being stuck for two years, The Guardian – Sameer Anwar’s parents thought the lost piece of Lego was long gone – until their son took a great big sniff of a plate of cupcakes
LEGO 77906 Wonder Woman and the Cheetah revealed as DC Fandome Exclusive [News]
As the DC Fandome event is only hours away from opening its virtual doors, we get a peek at yet another exclusive – this time featuring Wonder Woman, the Cheetah and Etta Candy. It comes with 3 minifigures made up of 255 pieces in total and a vignette of Cheetah wielding a sword in a mid-flight pounce attacking Wonder Woman.
LEGO Supergirl Exclusive Minifigure to be released at DC FanDome event as a giveaway [News]
The upcoming DC FanDome event has announced that a new LEGO Exclusive Supergirl Minifigure will be given away during the online experience. A total of 1,495 figures will be part of the sweepstakes. This version of the Supergirl minifigure is inspired by the CW DC Comics Television Series Supergirl featuring Melissa Benoist in the lead role as Kara Zor-El.
Click to find out more about the event and giveaway details
LEGO Art 31199 Marvel Studios Iron Man mosaic + 7,000-piece Ultimate Build [Review]
A few months ago we reported that LEGO was discontinuing its Creator Expert branding in favor of a broader array of adult-targeted LEGO sets. There’s no longer a handy moniker to round up these sets, but most of them bear the new 18+ age recommendation, which simply denotes their focus on adults rather than signifying anything about the difficulty of the set, as the age bracket has traditionally done. However, most of the sets that have come out of the new initiative fall neatly within the familiar styles from previous years, such as the Star Wars UCS A-wing, Crocodile Locomotive, or the Haunted House. One new assortment stands out, though, with the LEGO Art line featuring a series of four sets that let you assemble your own wall decor mosaic-style. Today we’re taking a look at 31199 Marvel Studios Iron Man, which is available now for US $119.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £114.99. It has 3,167 pieces, and includes instructions to assemble one of three different portraits of various Iron Man suits. Alternatively, if you purchase three copies of the sets, you can build a huge Iron Man image that’s three times the size. So let’s take a look at the new mosaic set and see if it lives up to expectations.
The LEGO Foundation expands Braille Bricks availability to aid visually impaired learning [News]
Last year, the LEGO Foundation revealed Braille Bricks, a tool to “help children with vision impairment learn critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration through play.” Today, they are announcing that the bricks are being officially launched in Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, the UK and the US after a successful pilot and testing program. The toolkits will be distributed free of charge to select institutions and schools serving the needs of children with visual impairments. Training and teaching supplements are available to everyone at LEGObraillebricks.com.
LEGO Braille Bricks are molded so that the studs on top represent individual letters and numbers in the Braille alphabet. They are also printed with the letters and numbers so they can be used in a collaborative and inclusive way with sighted peers. The LEGO Foundation will launch Braille Bricks in an additional 13 additional countries in early 2021, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
Read the official Braille Bricks announcement from LEGO and see an expanded gallery of photos.
LEGO’s next book will be “The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks” [News]
Last month, fans of LEGO were invited to vote on one of three titles for the next book the company will publish. The votes are in, and “The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks” took the top spot. The book is targeted at Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOLs) and will be published by the LEGO Group’s publishing partners Unbound and AMEET. The book will be crowdfunded starting today with expected availability in Spring 2022.
“The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks” will feature interviews with the designers, managers and technicians who brought them to life. The book will be written by Daniel Konstanski, the US Editor for Blocks Magazine. Of note, the press release also mentions rewards for crowdfunding backers including a print of the original LEGO wooden duck and several retired LEGO sets with specifics to be revealed soon.
Read the official announcement about
The new LEGO 71028 Harry Potter Collectible Minifigures Series 2 revealed [News]
LEGO has just revealed the 2nd series of Collectible Minifigures for one of the most popular franchises on the planet, Harry Potter. With 16 figures to collect, it will be available come September. The Characters featured are, James Potter, Ginny Weasley, Griphook, Albus Dumbledore, Moaning Myrtle, Ron Weasley, Bellatrix Lestrange, Lily Potter, Professor Pomona Sprout, Neville Longbottom, George Weasley, Hermione Granger, Fred Weasley, Harry Potter, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Luna Lovegood
Click more to see the rest of the minifigures in this series
LEGO 60271 City Main Square with characters from LEGO City Adventures TV show revealed [News]
A new LEGO City set featuring a town hall building, a limousine, a classic diner and a city park with a concert platform and new trackless tram as been revealed. The LEGO 60271 City Main Square is inspired by the popular LEGO City Adventures TV show and comes with a total of 1517 pieces and 14 minifigures. Availability is set for 1st September 2020 and will be priced at US $199.99 | CAN $229.99 | UK £169.99 in both LEGO.com and LEGO Stores
Click to take a closer look at the set details and the full press release
TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for August 15, 2020
In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the second week of August 2020.
We relive those heady days of sugar cereal, Capri Sun and hours of punching blocks with our review of the new LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.
TBB NEWS: This week we took a deep dive into LEGO Control Panels, reviewed three new sets including the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Crocodile Train, saw the reveal of a new LEGO Star Wars Holiday special streaming on Disney+ and more!
- LEGO Education joins consortium to accelerate STEAM learning in response to COVID-19 pandemic in the US – The LEGO Foundation, Intel, and CDW-G are partnering with non-profit First Book to create a grant program to bring new methods of digital learning to under-served children across the US.
- New LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special to stream on Disney+ – Get ready to celebrate Life Day again with an all-new Star Wars Holiday Special starring LEGO characters from across the Skywalker saga.
- A fascinating article on the UX design of LEGO control panels [Feature] – An insightful analysis of the User Experience design process of LEGO control panels by George Cave.
TBB REVIEWS:
- LEGO 10277 Crocodile Locomotive [Review] – After a 7-year hiatus from the last standalone serious-looking train set, we take a look at the Crocodile Locomotive and share our thoughts.
- Is the LEGO 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) more than just a 1-UP of 1980’s Super Mario nostalgia? [Review & Video] – The answer is yes. Read our review to see why LEGO 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System may be one of the best LEGO sets of all time.
- LEGO Technic 42112 Concrete Mixer Truck [Review] – Let’s mix it up! The LEGO Technic line has lacked a concrete mixer for far too long…but set 42112 makes up for that lack in a big way.
OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:
- Orlando Bloom Shows Off His LEGO Room on THE TONIGHT SHOW, Nerdist – Apparently, Legolas is not LEGO-less.
- LEGO Game Steam Sale Includes LEGO Marvel’s Avengers, Lego Batman: The Videogame, And More, Player.One – Steam is hosting a special sale for LEGO games right now, with select games going for up to 80% off their original price.
- Celebrating 80 Years of LEGO, Smithsonian Magazine – Children and hobbyists rejoice – today is Lego’s 80th birthday
- Help! I spent the hottest weekend of the year grappling with the new Lego set from The Beatles, NME – It took a whole day, soundtracked by the deluxe version of ‘The White Album’.
New LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special to stream on Disney+ [News]
The infamous Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978 ranks as the low-point of the Star Wars franchise for many fans, and for most of my lifetime Lucasfilm essentially refused to acknowledge its existence. But in recent years the made-for-TV special’s epic terribleness has gained it a cult notoriety, and Disney is ready to embrace it by reviving the Holiday Special in conjunction with LEGO, according to an announcement on Starwars.com. A new animated special is set to stream on Disney+ starting Nov. 17.
Staring Rey and BB-8 and set after The Rise of Skywalker, LEGO Star Wars characters from across all three trilogies of the Skywalker saga will gather to celebrate Life Day in an “endearingly irreverent way.” According to the press release, the 2020 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar (75279) that was announced earlier this summer will feature some of the holiday-themed characters from the special. The special will also undoubtedly serve as a promotion for the upcoming LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga videogame that was announced last year. No official release has been given for the game yet, though it is still slated to be released this year.