Tag Archives: City

2021 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 2

Happy holidays to all of our fellow LEGO builders! As is tradition, we at The Brothers Brick will be opening our advent calendars as we count down to Christmas. We’ll also be sharing commentary on each one, which we hope will provide insight and hilarity to your holiday season!

This year we have new Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, City and Friends advent calendars to open. We will be sharing images of the new calendars every day through Christmas, and hope that you’ll join us! Let’s see what there is to open on Day 2.

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2021 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 1

In 2021, we’re seeing the return of Harry Potter, Star Wars, City and Friends as advent calendar sets. Marvel is being introduced as a newcomer to the regular lineup of advent calendars, and boy was it fun to open those. Check out our daily advent build review below, starting with Day 1.

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LEGO City 30370 Ocean Diver – A polybag that was manta be [Review]

LEGO is known for releasing some very massive (and expensive) sets – a World Map, the Colosseum, and even the Titanic. But there’s another scale to consider – the polybag. Small, affordable sets that span the range of micro-vehicles to minifigure-based adventures. While these polybags are a little too compact for our usual in-depth reviews, they still deserve their day in the sun. So come along as we explore a recent offering – LEGO City 30370 Ocean Diver. Available briefly as a gift with purchase directly from LEGO, this set also had limited availability in other retail outlets.

Click to read the full hands-on review

Maybe it’s a Donut Shop franchise.

I think it’s cool when LEGO builders are inspired to take elements of existing sets and spin them into their own creations. Alex Eylar began by surgically removing the Donut Shop from the 10278 Police Station, striving to keep the modular aspects intact. They then added an adorable bookstore to make the place even more inviting. It feels like the perfect corner to spend a chilly autumn morning exploring. Even if the replication of the Donut Shop suggests it’s more of a chain than a mom-and-pop operation.

The interior of the bookshop is worth a closer look, too. Can you almost smell the scent of used books mingling with the baking from next door? I know I can.

I was amused to find we had a tag for “donut” already – why not take a moment and check out how to make a donut from LEGO bricks? (Probably not how you’re thinking.)

Who said grand stations can’t be cozy?

Spanish LEGO fan-builder Lepralego builds one of the cozies LEGO city corner I’ve seen. And it’s not a flower shop or a family restaurant (which are cozy per se), but a railways station, and a grand one! I adore the way the buildings include all the architectural elements of larger versions while fitting in such a tiny corner. Using rail curves for the station’s roof isn’t new, but it suits the whole build so well. And with all the other excellent piece combinations, I would totally still this diorama for my own LEGO city.

LEGO City and Friends Christmas Advent Calendar 2021 unveiled [News]

LEGO has unveiled the final two Advent Calendar themes for 2021 and a Micro-dolls are featured in the Friends set instead of the usual Mini-dolls. These will be available for purchase in September 2021.

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Medieval skyscrapers are the way to go

Ever wondered what a castle-themed version of Ninjago City would look like? Wonder no more, and just take a closer look at this creation by Tobias Goldschalt. The buildings are larger than life and the Tudor-style homes look very nicely done. Mixing tan and dark tan parts into the white plastered areas really helps with the weathered look. If you look closer, you’ll notice that almost every roof uses a different technique — from straight tiles to pentagonal tiles, from cheese slopes to curved slopes. Variations like this always help keep you, as a viewer, captivated. Every time your eyes zoom across this creation you’ll notice something new. The stone walls are made with two techniques — in some places, the masonry brick gets used, but in others Tobias uses bricks with studs on the sides covered with tiles.

See more of this gorgeous LEGO Castle creation

The houses of blues

This is a street that makes me feel the opposite of the blues! Kristel Whitaker built a collection of identical townhouses inspired by the colours of the world’s oceans – and also LEGO’s many blue colours. Titled “Ocean Drive”, this build is not only the modular houses but an immersive scene of its residents. The children – currently on summer holiday – are playing outside with the cats while their grandma sits on the front steps. The others come and go, both for work and leisure, and the resident flamingo watches the neighbourhood amongst the flowers. Life is good in the big city.

I love how this is reminiscent of London’s famous Portobello Road, which features similar Victorian-terrace houses. Each of LEGO’s common blue colour looks good – especially teal! This scene radiates a certain warmth, both because of the inclusion of light aqua and medium azure, and also the flowers in each garden. I also like the architectural detail of white flowers in the crest that separates the first and second floors. It’s definitely a street that I would love to live in!

Check out more of Kristel’s lovely builds here!

Welcome to Circuit City

Have you ever looked at a circuit board and thought it looked a little like a futuristic cityscape? LEGO builder Adam Betts has run with that idea for this awesome microscale city, which he says is based on the idea that cities, like circuit boards, are highly interconnected and optimized for efficiency. Look closely and you’ll see that the left side of the city starts out with ambiguous structures that mimic circuitry, but then slowly move into more recognizable skyscrapers to the right, complete with a zeppelin and bustling seaport. Or is it a serial port?

“Aliencat-style” highlighted in this ancient LEGO city

This LEGO build from Sebastian Arts (Aliencat!) was inspired by the artwork of Gabriele Pala, “but of course completely in Aliencat-style.” Right away we’re drawn to the enormity of the build, with the main focus being the blue, watery portal through which tiny flying ships pass. The blue contrasts beautifully with the otherwise muted color scheme. There’s a lot happening in this otherworldly city, with lots of traffic coming and going, reminding me of the Mos Eisley spaceport in Star Wars: A New Hope. (I’m sure there’s some scum and villainy afoot in this city as well.)

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A miniature modernist maze

Monochrome geometric shapes descending into infinity – this is the only way to describe Simon Liu’s amazing “Hexahedral” LEGO model which can also be referred to as “Cube City”. Surely it is an interesting architectural concept, the model itself reminds me of drawings done by M.C. Escher, with all of its interesting perspectives, spaces, nooks and crannies.

The visible city portion of the build is divided into cubicle-like zones each containing various buildings and houses, these are mostly rendered using 1×1 modified headlight bricks topped with either a double or pyramid 1×1 slope – all in light grey. Various other small pieces including a ton of 1×1 tiles, ingots, 1×2 grilles, levers, and other modified 1×1 pieces are included to create intricate designs and spaces within the cubicle zones. Any area that has not been carved into this slab of stone-colored brick is plated with 1×1 tiles in a minesweeper-like grid. This build is just wonderful to look at especially with the visual contrast Simon creates between empty space and grey plastic.

What’s happening in the back alley

We’ve featured quite a few LEGO facades, but it’s surprising to see how much life might be behind these buildings. Kris Kelvin (Montgomery Burns) depicts the back lot of two buildings in excellent minifig-scale realism without sacrificing any detail or action. This diorama is bustling with new shipments of lobsters, Scala bottle elements, and pork chops. In addition to the goods, you’ll find dark tan tiles scattered across the sidewalks and air conditioners that really capture that city grime. There’s also a variety of bar and fence parts to create all sorts of railings, gates, and pipes throughout. We’ve spotted the use of some rare brown fence pieces incorporated into the tall gates of the lot entrance. And at the intersection, there’s a pair of stoplights supported by bar handles and lightsaber hilts.

According to Kris, this build, along with an autumn garden, is part of a larger city diorama in progress. While we’re waiting to see it all come together, visit our archives for a look at some more detailed dioramas.