Honestly, just about anybody with a handful of bricks and minimal finger dexterity can accidentally build some minifigs that look like they belong in the Star Wars universe. But this gang here is more than just slapped together. TR Brownridge has carefully assembled a band of no-good brigands that makes the phrase “scruffy-looking nerfherder” take on a whole new meaning. Now you can see why Princess Leia thought that phrase was such a good insult, and why Han Solo was so offended by it.
This month’s cover photo comes to us from teen builder K.Kreations, and is a depiction of Scottish hero William Wallace. This scene and more of his work were featured in the book Medieval LEGO, which we reviewed here last year.
Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then acquaint yourself with the submission GUIDELINES (no, seriously, read them) and submit your photo today.
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I think Bricktology has great ideas for this weekend. Let’s start Friday with a cool gathering in front of the old karaoke machine, fueled by sugar and delicious things to eat. Don’t forget to let the Yeti in from the cold!
Then on Saturday, its time for a BBQ! Plenty of food and drink and friends. Don’t go overboard, though; you’ve still got a day to go!
Last, but not least: Sunday. This day is for rest, relaxation, and remembering all the fun you had this weekend. If you have the energy, take some time to build with LEGO.
So, what are your plans for the weekend?
LEGO has officially revealed the long-awaited Disney series of the Collectible Minifigures, so here’s your first look at the Magic Kingdom’s most famous characters in LEGO guise. The Disney series will be available beginning in May, and will retail for $3.99 USD each.
[Update] Thanks to Collider, we also have high quality individual images of all the new Disney figures. Check them out below!
Click to see the rest of the Disney Collectible Minifigures
British builder Tim Goddard is well known for his fantastic Neo-Classic Space creations, but his latest build provides a change of scenery. We are not the only people admiring this lovely scene of a mother elephant and her calf — there’s a brave photographer filming their every move. Her camera is mounted on a professional looking LEGO tripod and she has managed to locate a rare ‘Classic Space safari outfit’ for the event. Up in the tree, a vulture seems to be keeping watch.
The elephants are minifig-scale and ingeniously constructed with Mixel joints providing movement of the calf’s legs and the mother’s ears. Tim has designed their skin with a mix of textures; studs on show, smooth tiles and the odd light bluish grey ingot to provide a wrinkle or two.
I was going to make a clever comment about the mother’s knee joints and impossible movements but remember, this is LEGO and anything is possible!
One of the kings of space corridors, Jeremy Williams has built the most gorgeous reactor I have ever seen. It is cavernous, beautifully lit and full of of enticing details. The lighting of the observation balconies is atmospheric and the choice of white spacemen gives a real ethereal quality.
This is not just a LEGO build, it’s a theatrical performance!
While it’s not the first time an astronaut has flown with LEGO into space, it’s always exciting to LEGO and space travel make the news for the same reason. Back in September, we reported that Denmark’s first astronaut, Andres Mogensen, flew with LEGO up to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 44.
It’s been exciting first week of March for space travel as American Astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth after 340 days in orbit as part of ongoing scientific studies for long-term spaceflight. They left behind minifig doppelgangers of themselves, courtesy of Tim Peak from the European Space Agency.
Picture courtesy of ESA/Tim Peake
Click for more spacey goodness!
Cpt. Brick shows us what the Ghostbusters crew might have looked like if they’d been born in London instead of New York, a hundred years earlier. These Victorian gentlemen look ready to tackle ectoplasmic entities as well as pesky librarians. Just don’t cross the steams! That would be bad — nearly as bad as that steampunk pun right there.
Sometimes it’s just fun to play with minifigs. Despite all the LEGO Star Wars sets I’ve built to review over the last month since the movie’s release, there are still some key characters from The Force Awakens missing from my collection. One of the most intriguing new factions is the Knights of Ren, of whom we only really get to know Kylo Ren, their commander. There was, however, a brief flashback that showed a squad of Knights lit up by lightning on a rain-drenched battlefield, so I thought I’d take a crack at building minifig versions of the Knights of Ren.
While the minifigs themselves are just your usual “figbarf,” I’m pretty pleased with the presentation. I’m not skilled with Photoshop or GIMP, so I primarily just use the Photos app on my Mac. First, I took my photo of the minifigs on a black cardboard background. With a screenshot from the movie trailer as a reference, I began post-processing by darkening the photo significantly, and reduced the warmness to get the bluer tones for the background as seen in the movie (which fortunately still kept the minifigs black). Next, I found a free online tool that lets you add effects like rain and a vignette to photos, so I processed a copy of my photo with that tool (first the rain, then the darker, blurred vignette border).
All in all, it was fun to build the minifigs, taking me back to my early days online, but I particularly enjoyed finding easy ways to post-process the photo to mimic the movie still.
Contrary to the resource-strapped organization in The Force Awakens, the First Order in the LEGO Star Wars universe certainly doesn’t lack stormtroopers, helped along by new releases like the 75132 First Order Battle Pack, which accompanies the 75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack we also reviewed recently. This battle pack has 88 pieces, the usual 4 minifigs, and retails for the normal $12.99.
Click through for the full review
Although there still seems to be a supply chain issue here in North America, where new 2016 LEGO sets are rather hard to come by, our friends in Billund have sent us another batch of sets that we’ll be reviewing here on The Brothers Brick over the next week or two. LEGO continues to expand its range of minifig-centric Battle Pack sets with 75133 Rebel Alliance Battle Pack, alongside the 75131 Resistance Trooper Battle Pack I reviewed over the weekend. The set has 101 pieces, including 4 minifigs, with a price of $12.99.
Click through to read the full review
Series 15 of LEGO’s incredibly popular Collectible Minifigures line is starting to hit stores. And if you’re going to find a full set, you’ll need to either buy a full case (which can get very pricey), or stand in the store feeling the blind packs to determine what’s inside. If you opt for the latter route, we’re here to help you get started with this feeling guide. We’ve already done a full in-depth Series 15 minifigure review, so here we’ll just cover the important things you’ll want to know when standing in the store with your fingers on a blind pack.
