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.

Creations for Charity now accepting donations for the 2014 fundraiser

The 6th annual Creations for Charity fundraiser is now accepting donations of custom Lego creations to sell and raise money to buy Lego for underprivileged children. The store opens from October 15th to November 30th where you can buy one-of-a-kind Lego models made by builders from around the world. Check out the awesome creations sold last year and the over $20,000 worth of Lego sets that were donated.

Merry Christmas from Creations for Charity 2013!

Visit creationsforcharity.org to learn about the fundraiser and see how you can take part in the Lego community’s annual tradition of giving back.

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.

Three days to BrickCon 2014 in Seattle

In less than 72 hours, LEGO builders from all over the world will gather in Seattle to kick off BrickCon 2014. Eight of us from The Brothers Brick will be there, and we’ll of course be running our ChronoCon 10,000 BC collaborative display, handing out a bit of swag, and generally making BrickCon that much more awesome.

A Sound of Thunder

“A Sound of Thunder” by TBB’s own Simon

If you haven’t left yet and want to throw together a last-minute build for us, we’ve made things easy — just build a convention booth, celebrity signing desk, or fighting dinosaur.

Teddy Roosevelt on a Pterodactyl

And finally, if you won’t be making it to the full, four-day private convention starting on Thursday, be sure to swing by during the public hours on Saturday or Sunday. You can buy tickets on BrickCon.org.

BrickCon is going to be awesome, but it’ll be even more awesome with you there!

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.

Less than a week to Steam

My American brothers are understandably excited about BrickCon, which takes place less than a week from now. Among British AFOLs and for myself, however, excitement is mounting for another event, the Great Western Brick Show, colloquially known as Steam. It is held in the coming weekend at STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, in Swindon in the UK.

I myself will be there displaying my film and TV cars, but the show is practically a who’s who of British builders. For example:

If you’re in the UK and don’t come to this show, you are missing out on what promises to be a great show. However, you can check out TV coverage of the event via Swindonweb TV. They will be broadcasting on Saturday, and include footage live from the show and interviews with some of the builders. Of course, you can also expect me to write an event report after I get back.

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.

NYCC Ticket Winners [News]

We’ve selected the winners of tickets to attend the LEGO event at NYCC, through the magic of Excel. The five commenters listed below should expect to hear from LEGO PR soon. Congratulations to the winners, I look forward to seeing some awesome photos.

amazingelectro
chris
GarrustheTurian1010
Jangarang15
t.newman

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.

Positions open at LEGOLAND California!

There are currently three full-time positions open, in Ryan Wood’s department, at Merlin Studios Carlsbad, where they build Miniland. One is a permanent Model Builder position and the other two are temporary Model Designer positions that could lead to permanent slots. Don’t have a lot of experience with Miniland scale? Not to worry. They are willing to train the right people. If you are interested, click on the links above to begin the application process. Click on the LEGOLAND banner to go to Ryan’s photostream for more information.

Work Portfolio -2011- Sad Keanu

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.

The Tumbler LEGO Set Review (76023)

LEGO Tumbler Box Art

We recently received a copy of LEGO’s exclusive addition to their Superhero line, The Tumbler. Official piece count is listed as 1869 elements. The actual model measures nearly 16 inches long, over 9 inches wide, over 5 inches high and weighs in at just over 4 and half pounds. The thing is huge! It currently retails at 199.99 USD.

LEGO Tumbler Front Detail

Pros:
– It is very accurate to the original vehicle. The details, inside and out, are very good. The cockpit area is full of minute detail and the stickers really make the control panels come alive. The used of wedge plates, tiles, hinges, bar connections and ball joints work really well together to create the unique shape which is crucial to the Tumbler.
– There are lots of good parts and a fair number of fairly unique pieces. The huge rear wheels are cool and the two front wheels are currently only available in this set, I believe.
– The build is challenging and the there are some unusual techniques that were used to achieve the proper angles.
– It is a very good-looking model…quite an eye-catcher actually.

Continue reading

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.

Win Tickets to New York ComicCon! [Contest]

The kind folks at Lego have offered us five free tickets to the first day of NYCC to give to our readers (Thursday October 9). What’s more, the winners will be invited to a special event at 1pm, where a new theme will be announced! The winners will get access to NYCC that day, the afternoon panel, and a special evening event.

Comment on this post to enter!


You must be able to get yourself to NYCC for the event, at your own expense, as all this contest provides is the NYCC ticket mentioned above. Transportation, lodging, etc is not included. Contest will be closed at 11:59 pm EST on September 19th.

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.

Do YOU want to be a professional LEGO builder?

This may be your chance. Carl Greatrix, who has been working for Tt Games since 2009 (after responding to an advert on this blog) has been in touch. Tt Games, who produce computer games for LEGO, are looking for a new Model Designer to strengthen their team.

LEGO Model Designer
Location: Knutsford (UK)
Advertisement publish date: 10/09/14
Start date: ASAP
Salary: £Competitive + benefits
Duration: Permanent

We are looking for a LEGO Model Designer with a keen interest in Tt Games LEGO Console Games. This is a rare opportunity to become part of the team responsible for bespoke LEGO Models as seen throughout our multi award winning published titles.

You will join the LEGO Models team and work together with designers and technical artists to provide quality LEGO Designs such as creatures and vehicles for in-game use, as well as props of all sizes as used by the Cinematic and wider LEGO Construction teams.

As LEGO Model Designer, you will be responsible for:

Designing vehicles, creatures, props, decorations and stickers for models, from idea to final in-game workable asset.
Ensuring that the LEGO Group’s visual identity is maintained within the LEGO Model Designs.

You’ll work with a variety of departments and with many different stakeholders throughout the development process. These include creative leaders and model designers as well as level directors, level designers and construction artists.
As part of the Tt Games Group, you will join a family orientated team where collaboration and creativity are cornerstones. By combining your experience and imagination, we trust you to help us find the best solutions for our products and help further develop our catalogue of LEGO Console Games.

You should be passionate about designing for our target family demographic. Your areas of interest in LEGO models should include the following: In-organic models such as vehicles and buildings as well as organic models such as creatures and plants.

To succeed in this position, you:

Are an experienced LEGO Model Designer and are able to master several different building styles.
Have an in depth knowledge of current and previous LEGO themes such as City, Creator, Superheroes, Technics, etc.
Are a team player, but are also able to work independently, structure your working day and manage your time to meet the many deadlines you’ll be set throughout the development process.
Thrive in an informal, innovative environment, where you’ll receive a wide variety tasks requiring both a creative and technical mind-set.

Apply to jobs@t-tales.com with LEGO Model Designer as the subject.

People who have a keen interest in LEGO games and an experienced LEGO model designer? Surely some of our readers will fit this profile.

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.

Win a prize by following the Rival’s Tournament!

The folks over at Merlin’s Beard are hosting a tournament and you can get in on the fun! For some time now they have been fighting among themselves in what have come to be called “The Brawls”. Think LEGO Castle Fight Club. Now they are holding the first Lands of Roawia Rival’s Tournament and the contestants have been chosen from the ranks of the Brawlers.

“But how can I get involved since I’m not one of the Brawlers?”, you ask. Good question. You can follow the tournament by filling out their March-Madness-style bracket and posting it on their forums. The winner of the bracket challenge will win their choice of two prizes. If you want to get involved in the Brawling and perhaps be in the next Tournament, you can sign up for that as well!

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.

BrickCon 2014 less than 4 weeks away [News]

Builders, get building – because it’s time to get your Con on!

BrickCon starts October 2nd in Seattle. This is the longest running LEGO convention in the US, and also the ancestral home of The Brothers Brick. If you haven’t done so already, register before September 18th to secure your goody bag and avoid paying the late registration fee of $100. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. As well as all the usual fun and games, this year’s BrickCon includes a couple of special attractions that we’d like to draw your attention to…

Invasion!

The overarching theme of this year’s convention is “Invasion!“. Builders from different specialties are encouraged to collaborate to create mash-ups of traditionally separate themes. Aliens crash-landing in medieval times? Dragons roaming through World War II Europe? Pirates sailing down main street? The more anachronistic the better!

  

ChronoCon 10,000 BC

The Brothers Brick is also sponsoring a collaborative display (in the same vein as our Zombie Apocafest, Big in Japan, and Numereji displays from previous years). This year the theme is time travel. Imagine if time travelers held conventions, and this one was being hosted by the stone age (…yes, a stone age that features dinosaurs!). Our previous post explains everything in detail, and there’s also a Flickr group for inspiration and help. But essentially you just need to build something to add to the display – we’ll work out the rest. There’ll be swag for participants, and of course trophies for the best contributions.

 

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.

Merlin’s Beard: A new LEGO Castle site

There is a new hangout for Medieval-Minded among us! Merlin’s Beard was started earlier this year and it is doing quite well. If you are at all interested in the ‘Castle’ genre, historical or fantastical, you really should check it out. There is a lot going on over there, from challenges and tournaments to convention-planning and role play. The Lands of Roawia Roleplay (formerly Lands of Classic-Castle) is hosted there, along with the infamous Rival Brawls. If you want to hang out with friends, new and old, stop in, put your feet up and knock back a few cold ones with the folks at Merlin’s Beard!

Merlin's Beard Banner

(Banner by |T|itus)

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.

BrickNerd responds to us with Live Build and Ice Bucket Challenge!

In response to my calling out of Tommy Williamson, from BrickNerd, he is streaming a live build followed by his response to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It’s starts at 12 noon PST, so check it out, along with the latest new Bricknerd episode!

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.