Today we get a reveal of the upcoming Disney Themed BrickHeadz featuring Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy. These new characters will be a welcome addition to the existing family together with the Mickey and Minnie Mouse sets.
Click to have a closer look at the two new BrickHeadz sets
These days it’s pretty impossible to escape exposure to a Disney product. They own the lion’s share of today’s biggest themes and properties. (Was that an oblique Lion King joke? You bet it was.) But, before they owned Marvel…and Star Wars…and everything else, Disney created their own in-house characters, too. Like Mickey Mouse. You’ve heard of him, right? Cool. But how about Oswald the Lucky Rabbit?
…Yeah, that one stumped me too. It turns out Oswald starred in 27 animated shorts back in 1927 or so. He made a return in 2010’s Epic Mickey video game. Still managed to fly under my radar, though. Luckily, Bruce Lowell didn’t overlook Oswald. And, as a result, we get an amazing LEGO recreation of this possibly-not-quite-iconic character. The expert use of rounded tiles recreates the distinctive facial styling. Even if you don’t know the character, you know this guy has to be part of the Mickey Mouse Club.
Bruce was inspired by Paul Lee’s 2010 Mickey Mouse build. Paul was inspired in that build by Bruce’s sphere technique. What goes around comes around! (Get it? Round? Like a sphere? Oh, nevermind…)
Is this real life? Or is this just fantasy? How about a fairy tale then? Yeah, that’s what we’ve got here. Letranger-Absurde brings Rapunzel’s Tower to tiny life in this charming microscale build. Filled with innovative part usage, this scene balances whimsy with rock-solid building techniques.
The most eye-catching feature is probably the use of the costume from the LEGO Movie 2’s Crayon girl minifigure. (Some other figure lost their purple leg to fill in the archway, too.) That tower also features the use of a banana and bar holder with clip to make Rapunzel’s tresses.
The rest of the landscape has some cool secrets as well. That’s a dragon arm providing a bit of greenery. Tree tops are from Joker hair and a skater helmet. My favorite detail, though, is the waterfall turbulence that perfectly-repurposes ghostly minifigure legs.
2020 has arrived and the floodgates of LEGO have opened with 153 new sets available today. Fans of Star Wars, Technic, Ninjago, City, Architecture, Creator 3-in-1 and even the new Trolls product line have a lot to choose from. The new modular Bookstore is available today as is a new white baseplate. Nearly every LEGO theme has some new sets–it can be a lot to process!– so we have your complete guide right here detailing each and every new set and item.
Some regions have seen these sets on shelves already, but now they are all available online. There are a few sets that really stand out to us, and you can see the complete list of all 153 sets and items after the jump.
See the entire January 2020 wave of new LEGO sets now available
2019 was a big year for LEGO with an incredible amount of new sets, business changes and announcements. The Brothers Brick has brought you the LEGO news in our in-depth style, sharing interesting stories that we’ve all read, shared, liked, and chatted about around the water cooler or LUG meetings. Here are the ten most popular LEGO news articles of the year.
Click to see the top 10 news articles for 2019
The subject of an impressive official LEGO set, Disney’s Cinderella’s Castle has also proved itself a popular building with LEGO microscale modellers. However, few of the versions we’ve seen previously have captured the detail of the original as effectively as this beautiful creation by Koen Zwanenburg. The high walls rising out of the water are nicely shaped, with some ingenious parts use (check out the hammers as supporting buttresses beneath the crenellations). The soaring towers are lovingly depicted, with a level of texture and detail which makes the model seem much bigger than it really is. And who would have thought the underside of plates would so perfectly depict the tall windows built into the Mansard roof?
This is an extensive redesign of a model Koen built a couple of years ago. It’s a great example of a builder revisiting their work and improving on it in almost every aspect. This is excellent microscale LEGO building.
Ready for some Disney racing action? You’d better be, because here come Mickey and the Roadster Racers, depicted in LEGO bricks by Ian Ying. This super-cute trio of racing vehicles are nicely matched to their counterparts in the cartoon series — Mickey’s Hot Doggin’ Hot Rod is particularly good, with its twin-ear spoiler at the rear. The purist builders out there might have palpitations about it, but I think removing the arms from the minifigures was a smart choice. It allows the hot rods to have tighter proportions than if they’d have to accommodate the limbs, and it gives the characters’ heads an oversized chibi appearance which enhances the cartoon-style appeal. Seeing these, I demand Disney introduce an instant rebranding of the rather tired Magic Kingdom “classic,” Tomorrowland Speedway — I’d queue for hours to race one of these babies!
Disney’s iconic ship, the S.S. Willie, set sail earlier this year with a LEGO Ideas set. Sure, the boat was a little smaller than the cartoon original, but you could forgive that little bit of cost-cutting since few of us would be able to afford a bigger one. But at least LEGO didn’t go as far as alego alego did when it comes to reducing part count. Because…wow. This is one tiny version.
Creating a recognizable shape at microscale takes some creative part usage, and we certainly have that here. The helm’s windows are roughed in using a single 1×1 plate with black square pattern, with the front whistles represented by a round 1×1 tile with pin holder. The star of the show, though, is the re-use of Vintage Mickey’s hat as the smokestacks.
With all the huge sets being released these days, it’s nice to see fan creations that don’t require an entire spare room to display.
LEGO has released a new video featuring the designers of the new 71044 Disney Train and Station. LEGO Design Manager Marcos Bessa and Graphic Designer Austin Carlson both show off the set and its features, and discuss their inspirations and design processes.
Some interesting things to note, the Disney Train is 8 studs wide instead of the standard 6 that LEGO has been known for in order to make space for all the interior details. There are also no new elements in the set aside from Goofy’s head. Marcos also talks about a fun detail that he doesn’t want to spoil, so if you are curious head to the end of our review to find out what it is!
Today we’re getting our first official look at the tie-in sets for Disney’s upcoming Frozen II. As the sequel to the incredibly popular 2013 animated movie, the new film will follow the further wintertime adventures of sisters Anna and Elsa and snowman Olaf and is slated for release Nov. 22 of this year. Six new sets based on the movie were revealed by toy retailer Kockarium, so we’ve got all the details below. There are four regular sets, and two in the 4+ line (which used to be known as Juniors). We don’t have USD prices, but we do know an approximate Euro price for each.
UPDATE | Sept. 11, 2019: The images contained within this article were sourced in good faith based upon their being made public by multiple toy retailers, including Kockarium. The LEGO Company has determined that these retailers should not have published the images, and have asked that the images be removed from The Brothers Brick as well. In furthering our good-faith efforts, we have removed the images. We will return the images to the article at a later date once they are made public again.
A new month means brand new LEGO sets are now available, and there are a quite a few great ones to choose from. 21319 LEGO Ideas Friends Central Perk set is sure to be a hit, 71044 Disney Train and Station is now available to everyone (read our review), and the new Series 19 Collectible Minifigures is now broadly available. (LEGO Store links for our UK and Canadian readers.)
In addition, LEGO has launched their seasonal line-up including the 40351 BrickHeadz Halloween Ghost, 60203 LEGO City Ski Resort, and four advent calendars including Star Wars, City, Friends, and the new Harry Potter themed one.
In terms of freebies, there are three offers from LEGO. 40270 BrickHeadz Bumble Bee is free with purchases of $65 or more and 40186 Year of the Pig is free with purchases of 80103 Dragon Boat Race, both available through Sept. 8 or while supplies last. The Hidden Side 40336 Newbury Juice Bar will be free with purchases of $50 or more starting Sept. 2.
What sets are you most excited about?
Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Chip, Dale, and Goofy are already waiting for you for a ride on the iconinc Disneyland Railroad train. 71044 Disney Train and Station is now available to LEGO VIP members for USA $329.99 | CAN $379.99 | UK £299.99. LEGO VIP membership is free, but if you don’t want LEGO perks and the occasional free set with purchase, this fancy train set will be generally available beginning September 1st.
