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.

Please welcome Daniel Rubin to The Brothers Brick! [News]

I’m very pleased to announce that Daniel Rubin is joining The Brothers Brick as a contributor.

We’ve featured Dan pretty regularly over the years (the yellow beauty to the right was the first, way back in 2006), and Dan has contributed enormously to the LEGO fan community — particularly as a CSF Admin and LEGO Ambassador.

I’ve also had the pleasure of hanging out with Dan at LEGO conventions, and he’s just as much of a great guy in person as he is online.

Without any further prattling from me, here’s Dan in his own words. Take it away, Dan!

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.

Mega Bloks gets Halo license [LOL!]

In news sure to disappoint unsupervised tweens everywhere, knock-off construction toy company Mega Bloks announced that they’ve won the license to produce toys based on the Halo video game universe.

DRIVEN magazine has a roundup of the reaction from around the gamer community, but what does this mean to LEGO fans? What effect will this have on BrickForge (and their “Space Marine” armor) and BrickArms (with their sci-fi weapons)?

What do you think? Sound off in the comments (here or over on DRIVEN, if you like). Thanks for the tip, Eric Grant!

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.

Early 2009 LEGO City Farm sets out now. How now non-brown cow? [News]

The complete series of early 2009 LEGO City Farm sets are now available from the LEGO Shop online.

7637 Farmicon includes two black-and-white cows, tan fedora, tractor, and more:

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7634 Tractoricon and 7636 Combine Harvestericon add critical vehicles to your agribusiness:

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A hearty “Moo!” to reader kastlekid for the tip.

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.

TT Games announces LEGO Battles for Nintendo DS, due Summer 2009 [News]

TT Games‘ publisher Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment just announced LEGO Battles for Nintendo DS. The game is due out this summer, and will apparently emphasize building in original themes over the movie-based and comic-inspired adventures of games like LEGO Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Batman.

Check out this graphic of LEGO Pirates in action:

The game will also feature LEGO Castle:

Though the press release didn’t include an image, the game will also allow players to build Space creations.

Here’s a bit more:

LEGO® Battles offers a new kind of “build and battle” LEGO gameplay. Through six distinct story lines, players build their own LEGO bases and battle teams as they engage in over 70 different levels, mixing and matching units to create the ultimate customized LEGO squad. These unique LEGO battles teams see pirate swordsmen fighting side-by-side with wizards and aliens; dragons battling ninjas; and pirate ships launching broadsides against spacecraft and knights! Players can also challenge friends on the battlefield in multiplayer mode through wireless DS multi-card play.

And in case you missed it farther down the page, TT Games is hiring!

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 LEGO board games to be released [News]

LEGO has announced the release of six new board games in the second half of 2009 where players construct their own board and dice, adding a level of fun where one can play a new version of the game each time. The UK and Germany Toy Fair Press release have more coverage on these new products, but unfortunately the US will not be seeing them anytime soon as the games are to be first released in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, UK and Ireland with more countries to follow in 2010.

One game, Rameses Pyramid, involves children building their own pyramid, complete with treasure buried inside and Egyptian sphinxes. Players have to collect crystals to climb their mini-Lego character up the pyramid and claim the prize – the king mummy.

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.

Latest LEGO sales & deals from the LEGO Shop & Amazon.com [News]

With all the new LEGO sets out in December and January, it’s been a while since we’ve shared sales and deals with you.

10175 Vader’s TIE Advanced™ is 50% off:

Lots of small sets are also on sale, including Racers and Bionicle.

Click the banner to see all of the current deals from the LEGO Shop online:

LEGO

In a first for us, here are the latest LEGO sales and deals on Amazon.com as well:

Amazon.com offers free shipping on most orders over $25 that ship directly from Amazon.

As much as I’d personally like to avoid it, advertising is what keeps The Brothers Brick running smoothly. In a weakening economy, diversifying our sources of revenue is critical. Still, let us know what you think about our addition of the Amazon links.

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.

Announcing the Job Mullers Contest [News]

Aliencat and Bluesecrets are hosting a brand-new contest over at Classic Castle.

Born in a frenzy of whimsy and late-night chatting, the Job Muller’s Contest is something unique. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is build a fictional medieval occupation, the funnier the better. I think I’m going to be entering this one….

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.

Announcing winners of the GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest [News]

We’re very pleased (and relieved) to finally announce the winners of our GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest!

Grand Prize goes to “The Surfer” by tiberium_blue:

Erik Smit takes himself back in time for First Prize in the 1970s category with “Me in the 1970s”:

Al Eisenbart captures the spirit of the 1980s with “Iron Maiden – World Slavery Tour Circa ’84”:

Alex Eylar keeps things musical through the 1990s with “Mid-nineties: The Rise of Indie Rock”:

“30: The Photograph” by keithcku wins First Prize in the 2000s category:

Second Prize winners:

Congratulations to all the winners! And thanks to LEGO Brand Relations for generously providing the prizes and judging. Winners, we’ll be putting you in touch with LEGO for your prizes shortly.

Thanks for your patience as we stepped through the judging process. Look for my roundup of my favorite runners-up shortly 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.

LEGO Designer/Artist position open at TT Games [News]

Video game studio TT Games contacted us recently to ask if we could help them find someone to fill a cool new position they have on their LEGO design team. Naturally, we thought of all the talented builders who read The Brothers Brick! ;-)

Check out the job description below:

LEGO Designer/Artist

We are looking for an individual to join the LEGO Games – design/modelling team within our company in Cheshire, England.

Candidates must have a passion for all things LEGO and will need an excellent knowledge of existing LEGO sets and bricks in order to design and build unique LEGO models within a given time scale. The indivudal will be required to design models for a range of purposes for various members of the team in our dynamic and exciting working environment.

3D modelling experience in Autodesk Maya will be required however training can be made available. We are primarily looking for an individual who is able to create fun/accurate/working LEGO models for the increasing number of LEGO games we are working on.

Examples of designs from previous games can be found here.

Applicants should send their CV and sample images to cmcnair@t-tales.com.

Here at The Brothers Brick, we’re big fans of the LEGO video games created by TT Games, so further confirmation of an “increasing number of LEGO games” is good news indeed!

Good luck to the applicants, and let us know (if you can) how things go.

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.

Colossal Castle Contest 2008 Winners! [News]

This week Classic Castle announced the winners of their huge annual contest! The quality of the entries grows every year, but this year they seemed to really blossom. Quite a few of these have been featured already. But here they are, all in one spot, for your viewing pleasure.

Tapestry:
Knight by Bluesecrets

Vignette:
Double Trouble by Hippotam

Chivalry:
Life for a King by Crises

Haunted Castle:
Tower of Torment by Tyler

Seige:
Estrelaron by SlyOwl

Secret Hideout:
The Empty Barrel by Tom Snellan

Crime and Punishment:
Slaver’s Lucky Day? by Michal H.

Custom Figure:
Bishop by Armothe

Misc:
Market Madness by Rock Adams

Castle:
Herenbosch by Sebastiaan Arts

Congratulations to all the winners!

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.

ChiefLUG Battlestar Galactica Viper Fly-In at BrickCon 2008

It was recently brought to my attention that we missed covering a major collaborative display at BrickCon last October. This was a major oversight on our part as this display was incredible. In fact, I think it was one of the best collaborative displays I’ve seen.

Ryan Wood, founder and namesake of ChiefLUG, organized the first ever BSG Viper fly-in. Ryan, Mark Sandlin, and Andrew Lee built 13 foot of hanger bay, which was filled to overflowing. So much so that there were Vipers covering all the tables around. The final count was 35 Vipers and other Battlestar Galactica-inspired craft. It was most impressive! I saw every imaginable Viper on display, from pink Pardisa-inspired to Black Fantasy-infected. I was amazed at the amount of time and effort Ryan and the ChiefLUGers put in to this. Needless to say, it spawned a huge bandwagon of Vipers online! You can check some of them in this post, by clicking on the pictures, or you can see the whole fleet in the ChiefLUG Flickr Group.

Way to go, ChiefLUG!

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.

Registration now required to post comments on The Brothers Brick [News]

Anonymity on the Internet has costs as well as important benefits. One cost we’ve seen here on The Brothers Brick is a commenter’s ability to hide behind complete anonymity when stating an opinion or giving feedback they think may be unpopular or controversial. Another cost is that commenters can switch between multiple identities or even “spoof” the identify of someone else.

To help resolve these and related issues, I’m announcing that you will now need to be registered to leave a comment on The Brothers Brick. We’ve updated our Privacy Policy to reflect the new ways in which we use information you share with us. That said, you still only need a name and e-mail address to register — just like leaving a comment today.

Starting with our new Terms of Service, this is part of a series of changes we’ll be making to improve the interactive experience here on The Brothers Brick — both for readers and contributors. For more information and discussion about the Terms of Service, read the announcement post.

If you feel uncomfortable registering and leaving a comment about this change, please use the Contact Us page to send us a private e-mail.

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.