The Brothers Brock features section is where our contributors dive a little deeper into a particular area or people of interest via interviews. If you’re ready to sink into details and a longer read about the community and topics of interest, we’re sure you’ll find an article or two that would capture your specific interest. Let’s take a look at the ten most popular feature articles that we produced in 2020.
As we head onwards into the new year, let’s wrap up the highlights of 2020. This year, the world entered lockdown and many LEGO builders found time on their hands to create. Here at The Brothers Brick, we’ve witnessed the wildest dioramas, passion projects, and engineering feats finally come to fruition. Now it’s time to look back at the custom creations that were most popular with you, our readers, throughout this past year.
In addition to this retrospective, don’t forget to check out the Top 10 most popular LEGO set reviews and The Brothers Brick’s final selections for the 2020 Builder of the Year and 2020 Creation of the Year. And without further delay, let’s begin with number 10 and work our way to the most popular LEGO model of 2020.
As we saw in our list of top 10 LEGO set reviews of 2020, big sets and brand new product launches generated a lot of excitement among LEGO builders and collectors in 2020. The same is certainly true about the first looks that we got of many of those same sets that we reviewed hands on closer to each product’s launch. Licensed themes like Star Wars and Harry Potter continued to dominate the LEGO news cycle, but our list also includes several completely original products.
The year 2020 has been an interesting one indeed with most of us remaining indoors and glued to whatever form of entertainment we could get keep busy with. It’s also been a year where LEGO pushed the envelope further to target more adults by revamping their packaging and product strategy. The result of that action has definitely had some impact on this list.
Do you have a favourite set that you’re hoping to see on this list? Counting page views as a frame of reference, read on to find out if it made the Top 10 most popular set reviews of 2020. These were selected by you, the readers with your visits to the Brothers Brick set reviews.
Some LEGO creations are just so representative of their subject material, it’s eerie. If you put this picture of Koala Yummies’ creation next to a calendar of the year 2020, I wouldn’t be able to point out which is which. In a year in which so much is going wrong, many people are finding LEGO to be a great way to keep distracted from the bad news and stay sane. This creation uses a technique that is easy to attempt, but in my opinion difficult to do well: dumping piles of loose bricks everywhere. Even when the world is falling apart around you and you’re waist-deep in LEGO bricks to sort, you can still pause with a warm beverage and tell yourself “This is fine”.
Long before the Covid19 pandemic rocked the world, the BrickCon staff chose to playfully name this year’s theme “Hindsight”. The idea was based on the old expression, “hindsight is 20/20,” referring to past events and decisions being clearer in the present. It was hoped that the theme would spark creations that poked fun at the past. Unfortunately, most of us around the world could not have seen this coming, nor prevented it if we did. The irony has been palpable and even painful for millions of people across the globe. There’s no denying it’s been a tough year – for everyone. But one part of “hindsight” that benefits BrickCon, is the fact that it’s one of the last conventions of the year, and thus, they’ve had a chance to learn from all the rest. This con promises to be different than the others. Read on to learn how, and in what ways you can help.
We get a look at 3 new City police sets that are slated to be available in August as revealed by retailer Brickshop.nl. All three sets have pieces that range from 160-189 pieces. All three sets feature chase scenes, including a helicopter, a police car, and a boat. Each set comes with two minifigures, each featuring a single police officer and three cleverly named criminals. The prices are only listed in Eurodollars at the moment, and we’ll update them as soon as we get more information.
Last week we had a first look at the June-December German consumer catalogue images of the upcoming Summer 2020 LEGO Technic sets. Today we get to have a look at the actual box art as revealed by the retailer Meinspielzeug. While we still do not have the regional pricing, part counts are now available for all three sets. These will be available August 1st 2020. We will update the US, UK and Canadian retail prices as we get more information.
Click to see the box art of the new Summer LEGO Technic 2020 releases
Throughout Asia, the lion dance is a traditional event in which trained acrobatic performers impersonate the movements of a mythical Chinese lion. Of all the festivities in which the lion dance appears, the most significant is during Chinese New Year celebrations in which they are supposed to invite fortune and luck to businesses, events and festivals. This set was released alongside the 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair, both of which can be combined to create a larger atmosphere of a celebration. 80104 Lion Dance comes with 882 pieces, a new rat costume minifigure, and retails for US $79.99 | CAN $109.99 | UK £64.99. Let’s take a closer look at this set to see how it captures the spirit of such a unique event.
Last year, LEGO released sets 80101 Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner and 80102 Dragon Dance to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival, also known as the Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year). At the time, the sets were only sold in the Asia Pacific region, causing an uproar among fans elsewhere in the world who felt slighted by their regional exclusivity. The extent of this reaction was influential in LEGO’s decision to make this year’s Chinese New Year sets available worldwide. Today, we take a look at this year’s LEGO 80105 Chinese New Year Temple Fair to give you insight into a brick-built celebration filled with fun and beautiful details. The set has been available in the Asia Pacific region since December 26, 2019 but is being released worldwide today. It consists of 1664 pieces and retails for US $119.99 | CAN $159.99 | UK £89.99
Read the full review to learn more about this Chinese New Year exclusive.
LEGO’s early 2020 wave of sets is slowly taking shape with new Technic sets and the City theme focusing on the police again. In addition, we are also getting our first look at the LEGO Creator sets on their way. This wave features a toy shop, dragon, some cool vehicles and a monster burger truck.
The sets were revealed by retailer Mein Spielzeug, and though we do not know their exact release date, we assume they will be released around January.
Don’t miss the other new LEGO sets for 2020:
