Category Archives: News

Stay current on the latest news and information about LEGO, from sales & deals to new set announcements. We also cover LEGO events and conventions all over the world.

LEGO Star Wars 75230 Porg – The Last Jedi’s cutest creature is now a life-size LEGO set [Review]

Love them or hate them, Porgs are one of the most iconic creatures from the new Star Wars sequel trilogy. Nearly universally loved for their cuteness, the tiny feathered creatures have featured prominently in promotional materials and scores of toys from The Last Jedi right from the beginning. The first minifigure-scale LEGO Porgs appeared in the 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon last year, but LEGO is now releasing a life-size sculpture of the fuzzy birds. 75230 Porg contains 811 pieces, and we believe it will retail for $70-$80 USD beginning in October, but LEGO has declined to confirm either the price or the availability date at the time of publishing.

Update Oct. 1: The set is now on sale from LEGO for $69.99 in the US ($89.99 in Canada | £59.99 in the UK).
Update Sept. 17: LEGO has confirmed that the official release date for 75230 Porg is Oct. 1, and it will retail for $69.99 USD.
Original update on Sept. 16: We have personally observed this set being sold in retail stores, where it’s priced at $69.99 USD. Obviously, that also means that it’s already available, at least in some markets.

Click to read our full, hands-on review

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LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City and Winter Village Fire Station now on sale [News]

LEGO VIP members get early access to two sets today, the 75222 Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City and the 10263 Winter Village Fire Station.

Both sets will be available generally starting October 1, though since technically anyone can sign up for the LEGO VIP program, anyone could get them today as long as they are still in stock.

75222 Betrayal at Cloud City includes 2,812 pieces with 18 minifigs and retails for $349.99 in the US ($399.99 in Canada | £299.99 in the UK). Check out our review of the first set in the Master Builder Series.

10263 Winter Village Fire Station includes 1,166 pieces with 6 minifigs and baby and retails for $99.99 in the US ($129.99 in Canada | £84.99 in the UK). Check out more pictures of this year’s Winter Village set.

LEGO Star Wars 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City – the first Master Builder Series set [Review]

LEGO has been producing large models in the Ultimate Collector Series of LEGO Star Wars sets since 2000, which was only the second year of the LEGO Star Wars theme. But on October 1st, 2018, LEGO will be releasing 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City, the first in a new “Master Builder Series” focused more on playsets based on locations than on large vehicles like the 7,500-piece 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon. This first set in the series includes 2,812 pieces with 18 minifigs and will retail for $349.99 in the US ($399.99 in Canada | £299.99 in the UK), and it’s available early to LEGO VIP Program members today.

LEGO tells The Brothers Brick that the new Master Builder Series branding will be applied to “complex” sets that include “many play features and functions, interior details as well as a range of minifigures.” Let’s dig in and find out if the set lives up to that description.

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Star Wars 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City

LEGO and Bricklink will sell fan-designed sets through new AFOL Designer Program [News]

Today LEGO launched a new initiative in cooperation with Bricklink called the AFOL Designer Program where fans can submit custom designs which will be then be produced and sold by Bricklink. (The term AFOL is an acronym that stands for “Adult Fan of LEGO.”) The creations will be judged by current LEGO designers, “crowdfunded” through pre-sales, then released as limited edition 60th Anniversary sets.

The one-time program will accept submissions through November 18, and the designs must be created in Bricklink’s new Studio 2.0 software. Up to 20 finalists will be selected for judging. The eventual release of the fan-designed sets is slated for April 2019, with 10 percent of the sales going to the designer.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for September 9, 2018 [News]

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 September 2018.

TBB NEWS: This week had incredibly varied topics of news, from new sets and ideas to sales and conventions.

10 fan projects have qualified for the second 2018 LEGO Ideas Review – Which of these fan creations could become an official LEGO set?
LEGO reveals 10263 Winter Village Fire Station as their next holiday set – The tallest ever building enters the LEGO holiday lineup complete with a fire truck.
LEGO unveils 41631 Fantastic Beasts BrickHeadz – Newt Scamander and Gellert Grindelwald appear in BrickHeadz form starting Oct. 1.
BrickCon 2018 LEGO convention in Seattle is now just one month away – Come meet The Brothers Brick at one of the best LEGO exhibitions on the west coast.
LEGO Friends, Elves, Star Wars and more on sale at Amazon – Many of these sets are 30% to 40% off retail.

TBB REVIEWS & FEATURES: Get to know TBB better by watching our video review and reading about one of our contributor’s build process.

Video review of LEGO Star Wars 75220 Sandcrawler – Check out our hands-on look at the newest set of wheels from Tatooine.
Feature: How to build a LEGO Grumman E-1 Tracer early warning aircraft – TBB contributor Ralph Savelsberg takes us through his build process in this new series.
Interview with Takamichi Irie, builder of LEGO House bugs and a motorized BB-8 – What inspires this builder to create such organic shapes with unconventional pieces?
Talented Italian LEGO builder Luca Di Lazzaro dies far too young – The LEGO fan community lost a great builder this week, so we compiled some of his best work in his memory.
Enter Brothers Bricks’ LEGO Harry Potter microscale competition – Show off your stuff and you could win the massive new 71043 Hogwarts Castle.

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:
Check out the other LEGO news of the week

LEGO reveals 10263 Winter Village Fire Station as their next holiday set [News]

Every year since 2009, LEGO has released an addition to their Winter Village theme. Following last year’s 10259 Winter Village Station, LEGO has revealed that the model for 2018 will be another type of station — a fire station! 10263 Winter Village Fire Station includes 1,166 pieces, six minifigures and a baby, a Dalmatian, red fire truck, frozen fountain and a Christmas tree.

The set will retail for $99.99 starting on October 1, with LEGO VIP availability beginning on September 13.
Click to take a closer look at the LEGO Winter Village Fire Station

40198 LEGO Ludo Game (also known as Parcheesi or Sorry!) [Review]

Unlike building with LEGO, playing board games implies very specific elements of luck, strategy, and competition. It’s very hard to draw parallels between building with plastic pieces and spending hours over a board moving tokens back and forth. So when the two universes meet each other, the result can be absolutely unpredictable — just like 40198 LEGO Ludo Game, the new LEGO version of the famous Ludo board game. The set consists of 389 pieces, includes a small army of 16 minifigures and retails at $39.99/€39.99. And could I have imagined how much fun was hidden inside the box..?

Click to read the full review

Talented Italian LEGO builder Luca Di Lazzaro dies far too young [News]

The Brothers Brick is a website dedicated to sharing amazing LEGO builds, news, and reviews. We generally write about things that make us happy. But it is with deep sadness that we must share the passing of an incredibly talented builder, Luca Di Lazzaro. The Italian native was a Deputy Commander for the Carabinieri station in Remanzacco, and an avid bicyclist. Unfortunately, it was a bicycling accident that ended his life at the young age of only 45.

We know Luca (pictured center) because of his presence in the Adult Fan of LEGO community. We have written many articles about his charming and wonderful creations, but we’d like to honor his memory by re-sharing a few of our favorites. You can click the links below to read those articles.

Cycling the Paris-Roubaix

Mamma mia! Che bella città!

Cast a coin into The Well of Desires

Udine, Italy’s Piazza San Giacomo in LEGO

If you don’t speak Italian, you can still read outside articles about Luca by pasting web addresses into Google Translate. If you’d just like to see more fantastic pictures of his work, check out his Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr. Our sincere condolences to his family and friends. In the LEGO community he will be sorely missed.

LEGO Friends, Elves, Star Wars and more on sale at Amazon [News]

Every now and then, certain LEGO themes go on sale at Amazon, and today it appears to be Elves and Friends coming in at between 30% to 40% off retail. We’ve assembled a list of the sales below, along with a few Star Wars, City and Creator sets as well, so happy shopping!

Friends

Time to go for a snow vacation with these discounted sets from last year, plus a few houses and bedroom sets have some fantastic parts.

Elves

If interesting parts and colors is your thing, then these sets are for you. These sets have great decorative pieces and foliage.

Star Wars

The Y-wing is on sale, along with sets from Jakku as well as some awesome buildable figures.

Creator, City & Superheroes

Looking at everything else, we have a spaceship, bus stop, and even the classic “Go Brick Me” all on sale.

As always, a tiny portion of these sales goes to support the reviews, event sponsorship, contests, and more that The Brothers Brick gives back to the LEGO building community.

LEGO unveils 41631 Newt Scamander and Gellert Grindelwald BrickHeadz from Fantastic Beasts [News]

LEGO just unveiled two new characters to add on to the BrickHeadz family from the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Newt Scamander and Gellert Grindelwald, numbered 76 and 77 respectively, are featured in a two-pack set of 247 pieces and retail price of $19.99 USD. These are the first two characters to be featured from the Fantastic Beasts theme and will be released for sale on October 1.

Click here to read the full press release…

We’re building the new LEGO Star Wars 75220 Sandcrawler [Video Review]

It’s been four years since LEGO released the last Star Wars Sandcrawler, the massive Ultimate Collector Series Sandcrawler. Now LEGO has returned with a set that’s a bit smaller, but still has 1,239 pieces, 75220 Sandcrawler. It’s available now, and retails for $139.99 USD. Today we’re building the set in this video review to see exactly how this giant mobile Jawa fortress stacks up.

75220 Sandcrawler includes 1,239 pieces with 6 minifigs. The set is available now from the LEGO Shop (USD 139.99 | CDN 159.99 | GBP 109.99), Amazon.com, eBay, BrickLink, and elsewhere.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick a copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

BrickCon 2018 LEGO convention in Seattle is now just one month away [News]

We’re now just one month from BrickCon 2018, the country’s longest-running LEGO convention. Each year LEGO fans flock to Seattle the first weekend in October to view more than 30,000 square feet of custom LEGO models, along with vendors featuring everything from custom-engraved bricks to vintage sets. The event is open to the public Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 6-7, and tickets can be purchased online, with prices ranging from $11-$17 depending on entry time. Last year tickets sold out in advance, so don’t wait to get yours.

Adult fans who wish to get the all-access treatment can sign up for the full four-day experience, which includes the ability to display their own custom LEGO models, along with workshops, prizes, games, drafts, access to the friends-and-family night, and more. Signups for the full adult fan convention, which runs Oct. 4-7, can be found on the BrickCon builder site. Tickets for the full event are $75 if purchased before Sept. 18. After that, you’ll need to pay the late registration price of $100 or sign up at the door if any space is available (though that will cost even more).

The Brothers Brick is sponsoring a Ninjago City collaborative build at this year’s BrickCon, featuring creations from our staff and readers like you. Click the image below to learn more about how you can get involved.

The Brothers Brick is an official sponsor of BrickCon.