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.

It’s the 10th anniversary of Brothers-Brick.com! [News]

In 2015 we marked the 10th birthday of The Brothers Brick, and today marks 10 years since we launched the Brothers-Brick.com domain. I promised we were making some changes here at TBB, and I highlighted a few of the changes in our 11th birthday post six months ago.

But rather than focusing on the improvements we’ve been making — not least of which are several new contributors who just joined yesterday and the server migration that will be complete by the end of the year — I wanted to go back to something I’d shared with our readers in years past.

Brace yourselves for website analytics! Oh wait, that’s not very interesting. Ahem. It’s all about you, our readers!

(There will still be charts and graphs. And numbers. Maybe just a little bit of metadata. Mmmm, metadata…)

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The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

New digital LEGO building software, BrickLink Stud.io, now available [News]

Those of you who build with digital bricks now have a new option. BrickLink launched a CAD-like digital LEGO building software earlier today called Stud.io to compete with current programs such as LEGO Digital Designer and LDraw. The software was demoed for builders at BrickCon 2016 and is now available for free on both PC and Mac computers.

We have a review of the software coming, but at first glance, there are quite a few features to get excited about.

Direct integration to BrickLink’s catalog to make finding LEGO parts easier
Color check as you build to see if a part even exits in the color you want
Continuous price estimates to see how a part affects the total estimated price of the model
Simultaneous real-time building with multiple people
CAD-like controls to allow for building in any direction (including illegal connections)
Ability to import your current projects from LDraw and LDD
Integration with BrickLink to export a digital model to a wanted list

The Stud.io software is an open beta test right now, so you can expect a few bumps and more updates to come, but we’re always excited to see a new tool for the building community.

Create-a-calendar contest ends Saturday night! [News]

Ho, ho, ho! This is a friendly reminder that the Brothers Brick Create-a-calendar building contest ends at midnight this Saturday, December 17th. After that, judging will begin so that we can announce winners on Christmas Day. We’ve already seen some great entries in the contest Flickr group, so now you know what you’re up against! There are some cool prizes to be won, so dream up a theme and get building those tiny Advent calendar models today.

Pantone Fashion Color Report reveals trending colors for the upcoming LEGO building season [News]

LEGO has spoiled us with an enormous choice of colors over the past couple of years, most notably in the Elves and Friends lines. So it would be foolish not to keep an eye on new trends in the color industry. Now that LEGO has unveiled most of its lineup of sets for the first half of 2017, it’s about time we looked at them in terms of colors using the Pantone Fashion Color Report. This annual report, presented by the Pantone Color Institute, the world leading provider of color systems, predicts the top 10 trending colors for the upcoming 2017 spring season.

Based on a list of the most popular colors seen on the world’s hottest fashion runways, this guide includes hues described as natural and vital, rustic and relaxed. According to Pantone’s press release, the selected colors are perfect for portraying the warmth of a sunny day (with PANTONE 13-0755 Primrose Yellow) or conveying the feeling of breathing fresh mountain air (using PANTONE 18-0107 Kale), while PANTONE 14-4620 Island Paradise represents the tones of some far away exotic location.

And naturally, each of these trendy shades can easily be found amongst the LEGO color palette! Here’s our totally fabulous LEGO version of the list, showing rough equivalents of the Pantone colors:

Clearly any self-repecting, fashion-conscious LEGO fan will want to stock up on next season’s trendiest colors as fast and efficiently as possible. So which sets should we begin hoarding in the new year? We browsed the Spring 2017 themes to create the ultimate shopping list for a multi-colored and diverse refresh of your LEGO collection. We’ll start with some basic options and work all the way to the most fashionable new sets. Feel free to use the current official LEGO color chart to compare the selected colors with the wide range of the colors available.

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The LEGO Batman Movie Collectible Minifigures 71017 [Review]

The LEGO Batman Movie, due out Feb. 10, is making waves in the DC universe as it dusts off villains old and new, and gives the Batman himself a plethora of new costumes. And there’s no better way to get your hands on a whole load of those new characters in minifigure form than with The LEGO Batman Movie 71017 Collectible Minifigures. The 20 unique figures will hit store shelves Jan. 1 for $3.99 each.

[Update] The LEGO Batman Movie 71017 Collectible Minifigures are available now on the LEGO Shop Online.

LEGO sent us a case ahead of time, and you can read our full hands-on review below, or read through our Feel Guide for The LEGO Batman Movie Collectible Minifigures to help you collect a whole set.

Click to read the full review

LEGO Star Wars 75153 AT-ST Walker from Rogue One [Review]

Back in October, LEGO released its first batch of LEGO Star Wars sets from Rogue One without a whole lot of fanfare. We’ll be reviewing those sets around the movie’s release in just a couple of weeks, but one of the sets stands on its own without reference to its place in the forthcoming film — the new 75153 AT-ST Walker is the same vehicle seen throughout the Classic Trilogy, and it’s currently 20% off from Amazon (that’s $31.99).

75153 AT-ST Walker includes 449 pieces with 3 minifigs and retails for $40.

Read the full review after the jump

LEGO names new CEO and creates LEGO Brand Group [News]

LEGO is shaking up their box of bricks and appointing a new toymaker in chief.

Long credited as the man who saved LEGO in 2004, CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp will be replaced by Bali Padda, LEGO’s current chief operations officer, on January 1. Padda is British and will be the first non-Dane to lead the company. He has been with LEGO 14 years, starting in Enfield, Connecticut, and has in the past mentioned his desire for greater market expansion throughout the world, focusing on Asia.

Bali Padda will become the new CEO Jan. 1

Before you think that Knudstorp is off to take a well-deserved vacation, LEGO also announced the formation of a new parent-like LEGO Brand Group that he will head, as well as being named chairman of LEGO’s board of directors. The new group’s purpose is to increase brand cohesion and efficiency across all products, not just the interlocking bricks, and to pursue further partnership opportunities beyond its theme parks, Hollywood movies, television shows and video games. The new parent group will also serve as a way for the Kristiansen clan, Denmark’s richest family and private owners of LEGO, to become more personally active in all brand efforts.

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, left, with Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, fourth generation owner of the LEGO Group.

Oddly enough, this reorganization leaves the new LEGO CEO with fewer responsibilities and more time to focus on plastic bricks and sets. It remains to be seen what kind of impact this move will have on the LEGO fan community, but 2017 is shaping up to be quite an interesting year.

Press releases after the break.

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Amazon announces Golden Brick LEGO contest, discounts The SHIELD Helicarrier by $50 [News]

Amazon.com is running a contest through Dec. 10 which challenges fans to find a Golden LEGO Brick on the site’s LEGO product pages. When you find one, you can click it to be entered in the prize drawing, and you can read the full rules below. (You must be a US resident to enter the contest.)

And if you’re looking for an extra reason to go browse Amazon today, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 76042 The SHIELD Helicarrier has been discounted by $50, bringing the massive 2,996-piece set to $299.99. This is the best discount on this set we’ve seen yet, and if you’re still hesitating, check out our review of the SHIELD Helicarrier, but don’t wait too long — the sale ends today. And don’t forget that lots of other LEGO sets are currently on sale, including steep discounts on many of The Force Awakens sets.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 76042 The SHIELD Helicarrier, $299.99

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LEGO Batman Movie 70907 Killer Croc Tail-Gator [Review]

Why does all the crazy news seem to be from Florida?

That’s a line I never imaged using in opening a review of LEGO set, but look closely at the bumpers on The LEGO Batman Movie‘s 70907 Killer Croc Tail-Gator, and you’ll spy Florida plates on this backwoods monster truck due out January 1, ahead of the film’s February 10 release date. The set has 460 pieces, and will retail for $69.99. Ready to take a trip to swampy roads of the everglades? Let’s dive in.

Click to read the full hands-on review

Awesome sales for LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens sets, including $50 off the Millennium Falcon [News]

Only 3 weeks until Christmas, and you still haven’t bought gifts? Well, here’s a great sale that could help you catch up on some gift giving, or maybe just sneak a little something for yourself under the tree. Amazon has moved a number of Star Wars The Force Awakens sets to deep discount territory. The highlight is the awesome The Force Awakens version of the Millennium Falcon, which sees a $54 price cut, bringing this 1329-piece set to just $95.99. Check out all the sales below.

LEGO Star Wars 75105 Millennium Falcon, $95.99 (36% off)
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John Lewis Christmas adverts recreated in LEGO [News]

UK retailer John Lewis have teamed up with the UK’s only LEGO Certified Professional Bright Bricks to recreate 5 years of classic John Lewis Christmas adverts. Something of a UK Christmas tradition for the past 10 years, the John Lewis’ adverts are eagerly awaited at the beginning of each festive season, ready to tug on heart-strings, bring a smile, and generally start the festive snowball rolling. The brick-built creations took a team of seven expert LEGO builders 116 hours to construct and comprise a staggering 9,400 bricks in total.

The 5 John Lewis adverts were shown between 2012 – 2016 and Bright Bricks captures the iconic moment from each advert. In 2012, the advert depicted a snowman’s epic journey across mountain, highway and manic shoppers to return to his waiting ‘snow-woman’ on Christmas morning. The Journey has 1,800 bricks and took 18 hours to build.

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Interview with The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book author Chris McVeigh

Canadian brick artist Chris McVeigh is one of our favorite builders, and No Starch Press is one of our favorite LEGO-friendly book publishers, so their new book The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book: 15 Designs to Spread Holiday Cheer is a match made in holiday heaven.

No Starch released the book back in September, but between a lengthy overseas trip for work followed by BrickCon, I simply dropped the ball — my sincerest apologies to Chris and our friends at No Starch for the delay. But the good news is that it’s now officially the Christmas season, so I guess this is even more timely? Enough excuses. On to the interview!

The Brothers Brick: We first featured you here on The Brothers Brick way back in 2008, when you were taking pictures of chipmunks with action figures. When did you start focusing more exclusively on LEGO?

Chris McVeigh: It happened rather quickly! Pairing Star Wars action figures and chipmunks was a fun challenge, and it motivated me to do more photography of action figures and other toys. Unfortunately, Hasbro wasn’t producing any play sets (aside from large ships), so it fell to me to create my own sets and backdrops for action figure photos. This was a rather time-consuming task that ultimately prevented me from getting on with toy photography.

Click through for our full interview with Chris McVeigh

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