Hot on the tails of their DOTS success, LEGO has revealed the SPOTS line of accessories for boys ages 6-12. In advance of the theme’s release on April 1st, The Brothers Brick obtained an advance copy to share our impressions of the boys’ extension of the creative tile theme.
Our reviewer got his grubby little hands all over these new sets. Will he deem them totally badass or do they just blow chunks? Maybe a little of both? Read on to find out.
Did you know that the very first LEGO Technic mobile crane was released more than 40 years ago? The lovely 855 Mobile Crane became the eighth product in the Technic lineup since its start in 1977. Despite its simple design, it had every essential function of a real machine. A handful of mobile (and stationary) cranes have been released since then. The year 2020 brings yet another one, 42108 Mobile Crane. During the previous decade, the variety of LEGO Technic pieces have evolved a lot, and multiple new mechanisms have been introduced, too. The question is, how many of those new concepts are implemented in the latest set and how different is it from the previous versions of mobile cranes? Let’s build and test this 1,292-piece set, which retails at US $99.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £89.99, and find out if it is worth a purchase.
LEGO introduced the Minifigures theme back in 2010, and over the past decade the theme has wandered as far and wide as the Simpsons and a German football team. But it returns every once in a while to the lineup of strange characters and professions that started it all. The latest wave is the 20th classic numbered series, and 71027 Collectible Minifigures Series 20 will release April 19, 2020, with 16 unique figures drawing inspiration from fiction, history, and a wide variety of walks of life. They’ll retail for US $4.99 each, setting a new high-water mark for a non-licensed series. We got a brief in-person look at Series 20 at Toy Fair New York back in February along with official images earlier this month, but now we’ve got our hands on a full case to bring you a proper review.
With Easter celebrations just around the corner, LEGO has released an Easter Egg exclusive Gift With Purchase set. Available from the 23rd of March until 13th of April (or while stocks last) the 239-piece Easter Egg is available with purchases of $50 in the US and Canada and £55 in the UK. We have a quick review for you to decide if this is something you’d like to save up for and enjoy during the holidays.
What makes a LEGO set great for adults? Is it the subject matter, something that makes a cool display piece for your den or office? Is it the model’s complexity, a building experience that introduces you to new techniques and cool connections? Or is it simply the size, a build with thousands of parts that will take you a weekend to complete and leaves you with satisfaction when you’re done? All of these can play a role in how much we adults love a LEGO set, but there’s no surer way to capture the hearts and minds of older builders than to make them feel like a kid again. The latest model to come out of LEGO’s crowdsourcing Ideas platform is 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, which we’re revealing for the first time today. It’s an island refuge made of the remains of a shipwreck, and more than any other LEGO set I’ve built in recent years, building it took me back to being a kid and getting my first LEGO sets. Unlike the tiny Pirate sets I had back then, though, the set’s 2,545 pieces ring it in as the biggest Pirate set to date, besting the relatively recent runner-up Imperial Flagship by a wide margin. It will retail for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £179.99 and is slated to be available April 1. Here is an article with all the official product images, but we just couldn’t wait to bring you a detailed, hands-on look at the real set.
You may remember the last few Pirates themes from 2007 and 2015. They were largely solid sets; a modern take on what LEGO Pirates sets can be. But beyond some broad thematic strokes (guards vs pirates, etc) they had little tie-in to the classic theme that ran from 1989-1995, much the same as Space Police III had almost no connection with I and II. This set, however, is determined to get straight back to where it all started.
If you grew up in the 1990s, you’re probably already getting excited just from seeing the name of this set and the box with the yellow stripe. The name hearkens back to the classic Black Seas Barracuda, released in 1989, which was the very first LEGO Pirate ship and by far the most famous (and it sells for commensurately high prices, with sealed copies ranging well over $1,500). The set was so popular that it was among the first sets for LEGO to ever re-release, with a nearly unaltered version briefly gracing store shelves again in 2002. The Barracuda name here isn’t just an homage plastered on a new version of Pirates to cash in on that nostalgia. Pirates of Barracuda Bay is a continuation of the original theme. The ship that’s been wrecked is the Black Seas Barracuda (BSB), sporting a more detailed design that utilizes the last 30 years of development in LEGO elements. The pirate crew are modern takes on the original set’s crew, headed by the infamous Captain Redbeard, and weathered by 30 years of island living. But perhaps best yet, the set can build either the shipwrecked BSB or the fully rigged, ready-to-sail version.
So now that we know the set is packed with nostalgia, let’s see if the build holds up.
You may have seen our recent news announcement for the LEGO 10271 Creator Expert Fiat 500 set. Now we have a chance to build and review the iconic little car. The set consists of 960 pieces and is rated for ages 16+. It retails for the price of US $89.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £74.99; and is available directly from LEGO Stores & LEGO.com as of March 1, 2020.
LEGO may have released a batch of new March 2020 LEGO sets yesterday, but there’s still a wealth of sets from January worth taking another look at. One of the biggest changes to happen within a LEGO theme is the change in LEGO Speed Champions models from six studs wide to eight studs wide. While I personally enjoyed 76896 Nissan GT-R NISMO, comments from builders indicated that the GT-R may not showcase the change as well as other models might. 76899 Lamborghini Urus ST-X & Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO (US $49.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £54.99) includes two models built from 663 pieces that I think both illustrate the benefits of the change.
Read our full review of LEGO Speed Champions 76899 Lamborghini Urus ST-X & Huracán Super Trofeo EVO
For LEGO’s upcoming gift with purchase, 40370 Push-Along Steam Engine, they are diving deep into the archives to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of 7180 The Push-Along Steam Engine set. This set was introduced in 1980 at the dawning of the 12v train era, and it’s quite a rare find these days. If you can find one still in a sealed box, you can bet it will set you back a bit. Lucky for you, this updated version of the model will be free with purchases over $99 / €99 / £99 available March 1st – 15th in LEGO Stores and Shop At Home. We got our hands on a copy before it hits stores to see what it’s all about.
LEGO’s new Dots line is the company’s latest attempt to gain a foothold in the tween girl jewelry market. (See the LEGO Dots announcement here.) Most LEGO fans are probably familiar with the company’s previous venture into this market with the Clickits theme, which had dozens of sets from 2003-2006. And while that theme’s success in its target market is open for debate, it’s rarely a theme that elicits positive responses from adult fans, thanks to one fatal flaw: Clickits is barely compatible with traditional LEGO. Certainly, some enterprising fans have put bits to great use, but it’s largely its own system. Thankfully, LEGO appears to have learned a lesson from that experiment and its new line of tween jewelry is solidly grounded in the bricks and plates that we all know and love. Or, perhaps more accurately, the tiles. The titular “dots” are the plethora of good old fashioned 1×1 tiles included in every set.
In advance of the theme’s release on March 1, LEGO sent us what they’re calling a Creativity Box. It is not a retail product and is instead intended to showcase the variety of parts Dots sets will include. So let’s dive in and take a quick look at some of Dots’ offerings. Continue reading
Year after year, the LEGO city keeps expanding with plenty of houses, modular buildings, vehicles and, of course, fire & police stations. All that development is bound to attract legions of minifigures — it’s only a matter of days before the plastic trash begins to pile up. To keep up with this issue, LEGO has released several garbage trucks over the years, but what happens when baseplate streets become filthy? You need a good street sweeper, but the last street sweeper to appear in LEGO City was carted around by a minifig 12 years ago. That’s a long time for discarded 1×1 plates to accumulate alongside the curb. The wait is over because LEGO is back to keep the brick-built highways clean with set 60249 Street Sweeper. The set consists of 89 pieces and is available now via the online LEGO shop for $9.99 USD | $13.99 CAD | £8.99 GBP
Does the LEGO Street Sweeper clean up well? Find out in our in-depth review!
Many of us here at The Brothers Brick are space fans in one way or another, so we were pretty excited to see that the next LEGO Ideas set would be 21321 International Space Station when it was proclaimed the winner of the 10th-anniversary fan vote last summer. Now less than a year later, LEGO is revealing the final version of the set today, and we’ve got our hands on a copy to bring you a full review. Retailing for US $69.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £64.99, the newest model from the LEGO Ideas crowdsourcing platform has 864 pieces and will be available starting Feb. 1.
Soccer fans (or football fans as they’re called everywhere else) will get a kick out of the newest Creator Expert set, 10272 Old Trafford-Manchester United, a massive 3,898-piece model based on the Old Trafford soccer stadium in Greater Manchester, England, which serves as the home of Manchester United F.C.and over 76,000 of their closest friends. The 1:600 replica model is rated for 16+, clearly targeting an adult market, and is available now directly from LEGO for US $299 | CAD $349 | UK £249.99 for V.I.P. members — just in time for the stadium’s 110th anniversary this February.
