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.

Mad about LEGO

Completing a new model and posting the first pictures online is always a bit exciting. Seeing the model being blogged here is even more exciting. Now imagine getting the opportunity to contribute to this blog yourself.

It is with great pleasure that I introduce myself as the newest writer for TBB. I am a Dutchman and live in the Netherlands, but I spent several years living in the UK, where I was and still am an active member of The Brickish Association. Regular readers may know me as Mad physicist. I have been mad about LEGO since I could first put two bricks together and have built many different things, but nowadays I primarily build scale models of vehicles: cars, trucks, aircraft and helicopters.

For Model Show Europe (a show for scale models of heavy haulage and earth-moving equipment) that I attended yesterday, together with fellow Lowlug-members, I recently built this Dutch MAN truck with a step-frame trailer and a JCB backhoe.

With my aircraft building, I am currently having a bit of a Seventies kick and recently completed a US Marine Corps F-4 Phantom II in the bright markings that were typical for the period.
F-4N Phantom of VMFA-321 Hell’s Angels (1)

I will post about my own work now and then, but I am looking forward to seeing all the wonderful stuff all of you are up to, picking my favourites and sharing them with the world.

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.

Save $32 on LEGO Star Wars 9516 Jabba’s Palace

Amazon.com has discounted 9516 Jabba’s Palace, down $32 from $120 (27% off). With free shipping and no sales tax in most states, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

(Via FBTB.)

And if you’re still looking to complete the current Tatooine collection, 75005 Rancor Pit is also 13% off.

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.

TBB Cover Photo “Contest”

How would you like to have your photo featured on either our Facebook or Twitter page for an entire month? We’ve created a Flickr group called TBB Cover Photos to give you that chance.

It’s simple: Just add a high-quality picture of your LEGO model to the group. Once each month, we’ll select two photos for our cover pages, one for Facebook and one for Twitter. You then get bragging rights for a whole month!

Tips for success & glory:

  • Landscape photos work better than portrait photos for cover photos. We’re most likely to pick photos that have lots of detail across a wide part of the picture.
  • Regular readers will be familiar with our high standards for presentation. As the “face” of TBB for a whole month, the photos you submit should be something we might blog — even if we haven’t yet.

Here are some examples of the aspect ratios to keep in mind:

Facebook cover specs  TBB Twitter Cover Diagram

Legalese: Please keep in mind that by joining and submitting a photo to the group, you are granting permission to The Brothers Brick, Facebook, and Twitter to use the photo (with full credit to you, of course).

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.

LEGO Iron Man 3 sets out now [News]

The movie doesn’t come out for nearly two months, but the Iron Man 3 LEGO sets are out now from both the LEGO Shop online and Amazon.com (though they’re coming and going from the latter).

Note: You might temporarily need to turn off any ad-blocker plugins you’re running in your browser to see the links.

LEGO Shop links:

Amazon.com links (make sure you don’t get gouged by third-party vendors; check MSRP before buying if it’s not available directly from Amazon):

And since they were out at brick-and-morter stores even earlier, check out Chris’s reviews of all three sets right here on The Brothers Brick:

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.

SeaLUG display at Emerald City Comic Con

What do Hogwarts, the Batcave, the Shire, a four-foot Borg cube, and an eight-foot Space Needle have in common? They were all at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this last weekend!

Emerald City Comicon Logo

I spent three days immersed in nerd-culture and am only now beginning to recover. What an awesome time! This was the second year that SeaLUG has put on a display at ECCC and it was definitely a success.

There were many highlights throughout the weekend but a big personal highlight was getting my Patrick Stewart, Christoper Lloyd and Batman mosaics signed.

Patrick Stewart Signed Mosaic Christopher LLoyd Signed Mosaic! Batman Mosaic Signed!

The display itself was like a “Who’s Who” of impressive builds. Alice Finch brought her incredible Hogwart’s. Wayne Hussey and Carlyle Livingston brought The Batcave, Shawn Steele brought his Space Needle, Dan Parker brought an enormous Borg Cube, there was a collaborative build of The Shire, a Miniland-scale BrickCon, DisneyLand, Mosaics, Space Ships (with Space Kraken) and much, much more.

DSC04333

The entire weekend was full of good times, good food, catching up with old friends (Hi Will!) and making new ones. Celebrity sightings were a common occurence. I’m told Felicia Day came by and checked out the LEGO display. I attended the panel she co-hosted with Wil Wheaton but missed her apperance at the Sealug tables. Panels, sessions and workshops are a huge part of comic book conventions. I attended several, including Patrick Stewart’s (yes, he is awesome). Mariann Asanuma got LEGO on the agenda running a panel on “Building with Lego – for a Living!”

KR-KN Destroyer Destroyer

The convention attendees seemed to be impressed with the display of LEGO creativity. There was a constant flow of traffic at the tables on Friday (the only day that wasn’t sold out), but Saturday and Sunday were packed. People were lining up around the corner to check out our LEGO creations. I heard cries of delight all the way down the display and quite a few people wanted to know how to get involved with the hobby. We passed out SeaLUG business cards and BrickCon bookmarks like they were candy and people wanted even more information.

Our Admiring Public!

For many it was the first time they had seen what adults could do with the amazing little bricks we play with and it was a whole new world to them. So, to sum up, SeaLUG had a great time at Emerald City Comic Con. If there is a similar event in a city near your LUG, I highly recommend getting involved. It’s a great way to spread the word about your LUG, show off your creations and to meet new people!

The Brothers Brick Van

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.

LEGO negotiating Simpsons license with Fox [News]

According to Brickset’s translation of a Danish news article, LEGO Marketing Director Mads Nipper has confirmed that LEGO is in negotiations with Fox to license long-running TV show The Simpsons.

The Simpsons

The Wall Street Journal also quotes LEGO Spokesman Jan Christiansen as confirming the negotiations, but with the vague caveat, “We are continuously looking into new collaboration possibilities.” And a 20th Century Fox spokesperson says, “We can confirm that discussions with Lego have taken place but there are no initiatives to announce at this time.”

As Huw puts it, “It’s rather surprising that news that negotiations are taking place has become public as normally such things are veiled in secrecy until the contract is signed.” Indeed. We ourselves generally hold off reporting on set rumors, but we’d be remiss in our news duties if we didn’t pass this along to our readers, given the confirmation from three separate, official sources.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments.

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.

Lego Collectible Minifigure Encyclopedia Pre-Order

It looks like the new LEGO Minifigures: Character Encyclopedia (through series 10) is now available for pre-order on Amazon at a pretty nice price. Ten bucks isn’t bad for a book that comes with a special fig itself (rumor is that it’s a toy soldier).  I have a funny feeling that secret figure is going to be highly sought-after, and it will likely fetch nearly the price of the book on BrickLink.

Minifigure Encyclopedia

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.

Christchurch Brick Show from LUG 4/2, July 20-21, 2013 [News]

LUG 4/2, the LEGO Users Group of New Zealand, will be hosting the Christchurch Brick Show this July at the Air Force Museum.

LUG 4/2 logo

The Christchurch Brick Show is back for 2013, boasting the biggest Lego Show in New Zealand!

After a huge success last year, the team is taking the show to new heights with a new much larger venue, and models to please fans of every age and stage. The show is being held July 20th and 21st at the Christchurch’ Air Force Museum, with public open hours 9am-5pm. Ryan McNaught, The southern hemisphere’s only Lego Certified professional, will also be present at the show along with his famous 5m tall Saturn V. There will be hundreds of models plus a huge building area for kids to build to their hearts content – plus all sorts of other fun! There will also be an AFOL event on the Saturday night which will be a great time to meet like-minded enthusiasts!

Registrations for Exhibitors, AFOL’s and Sellers are all now open, so head over to the LUG4/2 website for details and signup.

See you in July!

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.

76006: Iron Man 3: Extremis Sea Port Battle [Review]

76007 Iron Man: Extremis Sea Port Battle

Get to de choppa 76006 Extremis Sea Port Battle is the last of the Iron Man 3 sets I’ll be reviewing. Be sure to also read my reviews of the Malibu Mansion Attack and the Ultimate Showdown sets, if you’ve missed them. The Extremis Sea Port Battle consists of an Extremis speedboat driven by badman Aldrich Killian, and Iron Man and War Machine to fight him. This set is what you’d expect from an MSRP $19.99 USD set: one large vehicle, and three minifigures, for a total of 195 pieces. The box contains two numbered bags, the instructions, a sticker sheet, and the same LEGO-style comic as the other two Iron Man 3 sets. The first bag builds the minifigs, and the bottom half of the boat, and the second finishes the boat and adds the buoy.

The boat is fairly large at almost 27 studs long, and looks pretty snazzy with its dark green and yellow color-scheme. It’s one of the cooler LEGO speedboats I’ve seen in a while, and I really appreciated the little touches the designer added like the swept-back windshield. I do always find it odd when a LEGO model calls for numerous plates where a single larger one would do. In this case, the bottom deck of the boat is held together with a row of four tan 1×10 plates. Perhaps that’s to make it look Get to de choppa more like planking, or perhaps a 4×10 plate would have put the set over-budget. Either way, there are no complaints from me; I’d rather have the smaller plates. There are two flick-fire missiles in the aft compartment of the boat. Unlike most flick-fire missiles which I find cumbersome to flick with your finger and ineffective for range, these fire via a small lever mechanism which works remarkably well, and blends in well with the design of the boat. The foredeck also pops off, allowing for a minifig to hide in there. Really, though, a sleek speedboat is its own play-feature in my book, and you don’t need too many gizmos added to it to make it fun. The bottom of the boat is, of course, covered in boat-tiles to make carpet-sailing an easy adventure. Next up is the buoy, which explodes when you press one side. It’s built sort of like a minifig-flinger, but I’m not certain it’s meant to be used like that. Spare parts were slightly nicer than usual, with an extra light-grey lightsabre handle, and some other typical pieces.

Get to de choppa The Iron Man minifig here is in the same Mark 42 Armor that’s in the Malibu Mansion Attack set. War Machine is definitely the coolest of the minifigs in this lot, especially since we haven’t yet had a version of him, despite his role in Iron Man 2. Naturally, the helmet is the same as Iron Man’s, just with a different color scheme, and the shoulder cannon looks nice, even if a little simple. Despite being covered by the neck-bracket for the shoulder cannon most of the time, War Machine does have a detailed printing on the back of the torso. The two-tone silver printing on this minifig really looks gorgeous. Aldrich Killian is sporting a simple tan suit with front and rear prints, and the two-sided glow-in-the-dark head is almost, but not quite, identical to that of the Extremis Soldier in the Malibu Mansion Attack set.

Get to de choppaAll in all, this is a solid set. There’s nothing outstanding here, except for the exclusive War Machine minifig, but the speedboat is a satisfying build and looks good when it’s done. For those not wild about keeping the set built, here’s a look at the inventory pages. I’d say the set is a pretty fair source of pieces, with lots of easily useable pieces, and an abundance of slopes of all sizes.

Finally, since some of you seemed particularly interested in what’s happening with Iron Man on the box art of the Malibu Mansion Attack set, I’ve scanned part of the comic that’s included in all three sets, which expounds on that scene a little more. Here there be spoilers.

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.

76008 Iron Man vs. The Mandarin: Ultimate Showdown [Review]

76008 Iron Man vs. The Mandarin: Ultimate Showdown

full set76008 Iron Man vs. The Mandarin: Ultimate Showdown is the smallest set of the trio of LEGO sets for the upcoming Iron Man 3 film. With only a vehicle and two minifigs, it’s clearly an action-based set. The box includes two un-numbered bags, the instructions, and the same 10-page comic as the other Iron Man 3 sets. The comic includes scenes from all three sets, and is really quite nice.

The vehicle seems to be some sort of flame-thrower armored car, and it’s driven by the big-bearded Mandarin, aka Iron Man’s new nemesis. The vehicle is pretty standard, with the flame-thrower stand holding two flick-fire missiles (where would we be without flick-fire missiles? Here’s a challenge: build a creation using only flick-fire missiles!) and being mounted on a 4×4 turntable. The rear of the vehicle does incorporate one of those multifaceted train slopes, which is a nifty under-utilized piece, so that’s cool. Beyond the missiles, though, there are no play-features in this set, so you’ll have to use your imagination. There are a few left-over pieces of the regular sort, and as usual, I’ve included a shot of the inventory page. I suspect figsthe real reason that most people will buy this set, though, is for the minifigs. Both are exclusive to this set. Although a minifigure of the Mandarin appears in the Malibu Mansion Attack set, and naturally Iron Man is in all the sets, both are unique versions here. This Mandarin has a bedraggled look, with a kerchief covering whatever-that-is on his chest (here’s a picture comparing the versions). In fact, this torso looks terrific for making your own generic guerrilla fighter, since it doesn’t really have anything in the print that specifically ties it to the Mandarin or this theme. The Iron Man minifigure here is the star, though. This is my favorite of all the LEGO versions of Iron Man we’ve seen so far. This Iron Man features awesome blue eyes and a blue power circle on his chest (here’s a comparison photo between the two armor types).

With an MSRP of $12.99 USD, and 91 pieces, I would pass on this set, unless you want the minifigs. Get to de choppa It’s not a great parts pack for those of you who aren’t enamored by the minifigs. On the other hand, a great many of you will thoroughly enjoy the minifigs in this set, and with the set price being so low, it’s probably cheaper to buy the whole set than attempt to buy just the minifigs on the secondary market.

Read my review of the Iron Man 3 Malibu Mansion Attack set here.

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.

Free shipping & mini Republic Frigate + 10232 Palace Cinema out now [News]

This month’s LEGO Shop promotions include free shipping on all orders over $75/£50 today through March 15, and you get a free Republic Frigate mini-set with any LEGO Star Wars order over that amount through the end of the month.

10232 Palace Cinemaicon is also officially out (previously available only to VIP Program members).

icon
icon

Here’s a picture of the Republic Frigate mini-set:

30242 Republic Frigate

Help support The Brothers Brick by clicking through to the store for your region.Unfortunately, it looks like our Canadian readers are out of luck this time. UPDATE: Looks like LEGO just hadn’t gotten all the graphics in place for the Canadian program when I posted this earlier today.

Note: You might temporarily need to turn off any ad-blocker plugins you’re running in your browser to see the links.

Link for US readers:

FREE Shipping on orders of $75 or more.  Valid 3.1.13 - 3.15.13

Link for UK readers:

FREE Delivery on orders of £50 or more.  Valid 1.3.13 - 15.3.13

Link for Canadian readers:

FREE Shipping on orders of $75 or more.  Valid 3.1.13 - 3.15.13

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.

First high-res image of Lego series 10 minifigs [News]

The image featuring the full lineup of series 10 minifigs has surfaced on Argos. It also reveals the rare gold minifig that’s limited to 5,000 copies worldwide.

Series 10 minifigs

Via Brickset

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.