Welcome back to the Hidden Side! For our second review of the current wave of sets, we are looking at the largest of the five, 70437 Hidden Side: Mystery Castle! This set contains 1035 pieces and retails for US $99.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £89.99. It is available now in Europe, and will be released later this summer in the US and Canada, likely on Aug. 1.
Read on to discover all the mysteries inside!
Due to the tragic murders of George Floyd, Manuel Ellis, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and far too many other African-Americans, racial injustices that Black people experience every day have come to the forefront of white consciousness once again. We’ve been examining how this very real-world issue affects the hobby we participate in, not just for a moment in time but on an ongoing basis. Earlier this week, we sat down with Canadian artist Ekow Nimako, whose LEGO work we’ve featured several times, including his stunning Flower Girl sculpture and wonderful Beasts from Bricks book.
Our conversation with Ekow covered his experience growing up playing with LEGO, interactions with the LEGO hobbyist community, the Afrocentric and Afrofuturist themes of his artwork, and how LEGO communities such as The Brothers Brick can operate more inclusively.
We ask you to watch the full video before reacting with comments. While the reaction from some quarters to recent statements we’ve made that Black Lives Matter has been dismissed as “political” and some reactions have been outright hateful, by and large the response from the LEGO hobbyist community has been empathetic and supportive. Nevertheless, there is much more to be done. A number of our readers have rightly pointed out The Brothers Brick’s own contributor list as one area where we can improve, asking us to work harder to recruit a more diverse team while highlighting more non-white builders and highlighting the LEGO creations of people of color. As I committed to during the video conversation with Ekow, one of our next steps will be to kick off a new round of contributor recruiting to improve our own diversity and better represent the community we are a part of.
LEGO Brick Sketches are a new collectible series of brick-built portraits of popular characters intended for display, not play. Slated to be available July 15, they will retail for US $19.99 | EU €19.99 each. We’ve already taken a look at the LEGO DC Brick Sketches characters in the first wave, and today we’ll check out the Star Wars sketches. Are 40391 Brick Sketches: First Order Stormtrooper and 40431 Brick Sketches: BB-8 worth the price point, and do they have any appeal for the larger LEGO market?
Click to read the full hands-on review
For many, there will never be a chance to visit The LEGO House in Billund for varied reasons. With the current situation of lockdown and travel prohibitions, the team at LEGO House has put something new and unique together – virtual Live Tours of The LEGO House. Don’t miss this perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity to tour The LEGO House right from your very own home.
Click here to find out more details of the virtual tours
LEGO Brick Sketches are a new collectible series of brick-built portraits of popular characters. A departure from the standard “building toy” concept, but in many respects similar to the collectibility angle of LEGO BrickHeadz, these are small pieces of art meant to be hung on the wall or displayed on a shelf. Slated to be available July 15, they will retail for US $19.99 | EU €19.99 each. The first four sets in the series are split between DC and Star Wars characters, and this time we’ll take a close look at the two comic book offerings, 40386 Brick Sketches: Batman and 40428 Brick Sketches: The Joker.
Click to read the full hands-on review
Last month, toy retailers first revealed an image of the upcoming LEGO Iron Man Helmet that only offered a flat front view and did not showcase the entire model. Now that LEGO has published the official photos and product details, we can appreciate this helmet in a better light including a 360° video spin. The LEGO Marvel Avengers 76165 Iron Man Helmet comes with 480 pieces and will be released on June 21st for US $59.99 and CAN $79.99 and on August 1st for UK £54.99.
Click to see the images and video with the full product specifications
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 first week of June 2020.
A Black Lives Matter mosaic by Dave Kaleta served as a good opportunity to provide our thoughts on racial inquality in this editorial penned by TBB Editor in Chief Andrew Becraft. Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.
TBB NEWS: This week we took a hard look at equality within the LEGO community, learned a bit about LEGO photography, checked out all the new summer wave LEGO sets and more.
TBB FEATURES:
MORE TBB NEWS:
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:
In response to the growing protests about racial inequality centered in the US, LEGO announced that they stand with the black community and will donate $4 million to several organizations working to both support and educate children about racial equality. The donation is one of the largest by a corporation announced so far, similar in scale to the $5 million donation announced by Disney.
LEGO’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement and their sizeable donation is a notable response to the tragic events unfolding throughout the US, especially considering their own flagship store in New York was looted earlier this week. These pictures from Twitter users @aaronwhite and @SteveKornacki show the Flatiron District LEGO Store’s windows smashed and shelves wiped clean, with only a broken Star Destroyer and a few permanent displays remaining.
LEGO’s core values state that the company will strive to “make a positive difference in the lives of children… not because we have to – but because it feels right and because we care.” LEGO has also asked retailers and affiliates to pause advertising a variety of products including City sets featuring police officers and firefighters as well as the new LEGO Architecture White House.
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) June 3, 2020
The LEGO Ninjago theme has been around for nearly a decade and spans over 50 released sets. The “Legacy” sub-theme is LEGO’s way of bringing back classic Ninjago offerings, which is usually a win for both new and old fans. The summer 2020 set 71703 Storm Fighter Battle is interesting in that it’s a Legacy version of a Legacy set. In 2019 we got 70668 Jay’s Storm Fighter, the reissue of 2012’s 9442 Jay’s Storm Fighter. But this 2020 version is a “4+” simplified build, making this a very different take on the vehicle. This set also comes with Serpentine Quad bike (likely a call back to 2012’s 9445 Fangpyre Truck Ambush) and a temple holding the Sword of Fire. The set’s 165 pieces are rounded out by three minifigures: Kai, Jay, and Lasha. This set became available on June 1st, and retails for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99. Is this “juniorized” version worth the price or time? Read on to see what we thought!
Click to read the full hands-on review
As reported by Brickset today, the collection of the LEGO House exclusive sets is about to get one set bigger with the release of the next limited edition product, 40501 The Wooden Duck. The original wooden LEGO duck was designed in the 1930s, and since then has become one of the main symbols of the toy manufacturer.
It is safe to assume that the new set will be available only in the LEGO House brand store once it is open again from June 22. Meanwhile, you can build your own copy of the set using the building guide available online directly from LEGO.
The new Wooden Duck exclusive set is the next in the series of LEGO House exclusive sets, which started with 21037 LEGO House set in 2017 and was continued with 4000026 LEGO House Tree of Creativity and 40366 LEGO House Dinosaurs. However, this is not the first LEGO building set commemorating the bird. Another one was gifted to the company employees back in 2011 as 2011 Duck.
Last week, we had a chance to talk to Chris McVeigh, the designer of the new Brick Sketches series. Chris developed the concept of Brick Sketches long before joining the LEGO Group last year. Now he tells us more about his first major release as a LEGO designer.
Read our interview with LEGO Brick Sketches designer Chris McVeigh
Summer 2020 has arrived, and LEGO has launched 130 new sets and items available today. Fans of Technic, Creator 3-in-1, City, Friends, Architecture, Hidden Side and more have a lot to choose from. The new Technic Lamborghini is also available today as well as a slew of exclusive polybags not previously available from LEGO’s online store and a Hogwarts Students booster pack. Nearly every LEGO theme has some new sets–it can be a lot to process!– so we have your complete guide right here detailing each and every new set and item.
Because LEGO releases summer waves at different times across the globe, the majority of these sets are available now in the UK. You can see the complete list of all 130 sets and items after the jump. Sets with a Red Indicator are currently available in the US and Canada as well (61 in total). The Americas will get access to the rest of the sets later this summer.
LEGO is also offering a free gift-with-purchase of 40409 Hot Rod with purchases more than US $85 | CAN $85 | UK £85 through June 21st or while supplies last. You can check out our review of 40409 Hot Rod to see if you want to add it to your collection.
See the entire June 2020 wave of new LEGO sets now available