Tag Archives: Reviews

Not sure which LEGO sets to pick up for yourself? Need ideas for that LEGO fan who already has more LEGO than he or she can possibly build with in a lifetime? Nervous about the quality of the custom accessories that tempted you at your last LEGO convention? Read our reviews of LEGO sets, books, accessories, and more right here on The Brothers Brick.

Surprises are in store within the LEGO City Arctic 60191 Arctic Exploration Team [Review]

The summer wave of LEGO City Arctic sets were released on June 1st, and we’ve already taken a look at the two highlights from the theme — the mammoth in 60195 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base and the saber-tooth in 60196 Arctic Supply Plane. But are there other hidden treasures in this chilly series of LEGO sets? The smallest set is 60191 Arctic Exploration Team at only $9.99 ($12.99 in Canada | £9.99 in the UK). The set includes 70 pieces with three minifigures, plus a husky dog.

Read our hands-on review of 60191 Arctic Exploration Team

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Take to the skies with the new LEGO Harry Potter 75956 Quidditch Match [Review]

We’ve been slightly giddy about the return of LEGO Harry Potter, especially after our chance to get a close-up look at the Fall Preview Event 2018 in New York. Well, now we’ve managed to get our hands on a copy of 75956 Quidditch Match and we’ll see if this set at least lives up to our high expectations of the returning line…

Read our hands-on review of the new LEGO Harry Potter 75956 Quidditch Match

The TBB Field Guide to LEGO Dinosaurs: A Jurassic World Compendium [Review and Infographics]

When the new wave of LEGO Jurassic World sets came out, we couldn’t wait to get our hands on the dinosaurs. The children in us immediately began stomping them around and making roaring noises. Here at The Brothers Brick, we are not ashamed to say we get giddy while playing with toy dinosaurs. We’re also not ashamed to say we are serious nerds. After our dino-dueling escapades, we began to wonder how accurate they are to the real things. As far as scientists can hypothesize, that is. So we did some not-so-archaeological digging — after all, it’s palaeontologists who study dinosaurs, not archaeologists, as Andrew our Editor-in-Chief (and resident archaeology buff) likes to remind everybody!

As it turns out, there is a vast amount of knowledge that scientists have obtained from the fossils of these creatures. That being said, there is a lot of information that they still don’t know, as well as much heated debate on the truth about each one. The Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise has been both heavily criticized and applauded for its attempts at realism. But without getting too wrapped up in the debates, we’ll take a look at the best working knowledge of these dinosaurs. So put on your favorite leather vest or red bandana and paleontologist’s expedition hat, because away we go!

Read on to unlock the mysteries!

Saber-toothed cats join the hunt in LEGO City Arctic 60193 Arctic Air Transport [Review]

We’re continuing our expedition to the frozen tundra of the Arctic with more new LEGO sets from the LEGO City Arctic Expedition theme released on June 1st. In our review of 60195 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base, we took a close look at the new woolly mammoth. 60193 Arctic Air Transport is the smallest set that includes the saber-toothed “tiger” at $39.99 in the US (49.99 CAD in Canada | £24.99 in the UK), with 277 pieces and 2 minifigures.

First, let’s get some taxonomy and nomenclature issues out of the way. While the mammoth is rather evidently a mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius or one of its close relatives), it’s less clear what the “saber-toothed ‘tigers'” in these new Arctic sets actually depict. From more than 40 million years ago until the last Ice Age barely 12,000 years ago, there was a broad range of carnivorous creatures with long canine teeth, none of which were closely related to modern tigers in Asia. As a result, most palaeontologists use the common name “saber-toothed cat” to refer to the true felines that had saber-shaped canine teeth (like the iconic and aptly named Smilodon fatalis from the La Brea Tarpits), and generically “saber-tooth” to refer to the full range of creatures across many orders, genera, and species who had such teeth — even including a few marsupial saber-tooths! Thus, we’ll be avoiding the term “tiger” in favor of saber-toothed “cat” or just saber-tooth. If your eyes haven’t completely glazed over yet due to all this taxonomic minutiae, we’ll return to this point when taking a close look at the saber-tooth in this LEGO set.

Read our hands-on review of the new LEGO City Arctic 60193 Arctic Air Transport

LEGO mammoths arrive with LEGO City 60195 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base [Review]

We’ve been pretty excited about the new Pleistocene megafauna (large, extinct Ice Age animals like mammoths and saber-toothed cats) in the LEGO City Arctic sets released on June 1st, particularly after we had a chance to play with them during the Fall 2018 Preview event in New York City a couple weeks ago. With the sets now on store shelves, we’re digging in to bring you an even closer look at the new vehicles and creatures, starting with 60195 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base, which includes 786 pieces, 6 minifigures, and a frozen mammoth and retails for $119.99 in the US (149.99 CAD in Canada | £84.99 in the UK).

Read our full, hands-on review of the new LEGO City 60195 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base

Summer 2018 wave of LEGO Friends sets [Review]

We recently covered a bunch of new sets announced for many LEGO themes during the Fall 2018 preview event in New York, and there were 13 new sets from the Friends theme, including the advent calendar. I got my hands on early copies of 12 of those sets for review. I divided them into three groups. There were 5 sets focused on customizable go-cart racing, 4 sets centered on Heartlake City businesses and lastly, two sets of bedrooms, and the Friendship Box.

Okay, I’m just going to get this out of the way right off the bat. The Friends theme is not exactly popular with many adult LEGO fans and collectors, but when it comes to parts in both pastel and bright colors, particularly for drafts, they are a pretty great source, and these sets are no exception. There are even some rollercoaster tracks in a few of these sets which we will get to later. I wanted to get some insights from my 9-year-old daughter, but aside from the Friendship Box, she didn’t have much to say about them, preferring the American Girl Mega-Construx sets for their larger and far more customizable mini-dolls.

Note that some of these sets won’t be available in the US and Canada until August 1st. Click the links to the LEGO Shop to check availability of individual sets.

Read the full overview of the summer 2018 LEGO Friends setsreview

LEGO Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron: the world’s most luxurious supercar now a premium LEGO set [Review + Video]

When you’re a kid playing with LEGO bricks, getting a new LEGO set for your birthday or Christmas is exciting beyond belief. There’s so much hidden play value trapped inside that colorful box–yellow, with the words LEGOLAND stamped on the front, if you grew up in the 80s–that you can’t wait to tear it open and begin building. Chances are, if you’re reading The Brothers Brick, you’re like me and still feverishly tear into new LEGO sets, no matter your age. But every once in awhile a set comes along that makes you slow down and just admire the box for a bit. Not that you’re less excited to build it, but rather that there’s something about this set that makes you want to savor it. Ask the butler to bring you some champagne. Settle into your yacht’s white leather couch, and pull up the Swarovski crystal coffee table. This set is going to be epic, and you can already feel it. LEGO’s second premium Technic set, 42083 Bugatti Chiron, is the best set of this kind yet. It’s based on the French ultra-luxury brand’s newest supercar, a 1,500 horsepower 2-seater that can rocket you to 261 miles per hour in pure comfort, provided you can afford the starting price of $2.7 million. The LEGO version is a bit more modest, however, including 3,599 pieces and retailing for $349.99 USD ($399.99 in Canada | £329.99 in the UK). It is available now.

Click to the read the full hands-on review of the Bugatti Chiron and watch the video

Hold on for a wild ride in LEGO Creator Expert 10261 Roller Coaster [Review]

As soon as rumors of Creator Expert 10261 Roller Coaster started flowing, there seemed to be a huge sigh of, “Finally!” that spread throughout the LEGO fan community. I’ll shamelessly admit that I was one of the ones bouncing up and down, shouting that it was about darn time. But even if you weren’t as excited as I was, I’m guessing that it at least piqued your interest, and perhaps that interest brought you here.

When we recently had the chance to go hands-on with the roller coaster at the 2018 Fall Preview event in New York, it was so much fun that we definitely couldn’t wait to do our own review. We anxiously awaited our copy from Billund and it’s finally here! So step right up! Let’s plunge in and see what the exclusive LEGO Creator Expert 10261 Roller Coaster has to offer!

Read our hands-on review, complete with a video of the motorized roller coaster

Netflix releases LEGO episode of The Toys That Made Us. Is it worth watching? [Review]

For Netflix-viewing LEGO fans, the LEGO episode of the The Toys That Made Us has finally made its debut. For those unfamiliar with The Toys That Made Us, it is an eight-part documentary series that delves into the histories of various toy lines including Barbie dolls and Star Wars action figures. Being an avid LEGO history buff, I have been eagerly anticipating the LEGO episode ever since the premiere of season one this past December, so I made sure to watch the episode as soon as it was available. Is it worth watching? Read on and decide for yourself!

Click to read the full review

Solo: A Star Wars Story – LEGO sets vs. the movie [Spoiler Review]

Solo: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters today, but if you’re like many of us here at The Brothers Brick, you already saw it yesterday evening at an opening night event. With the movie now in theaters, we’re taking a look back at our reviews of the LEGO Star Wars sets that accompany the movie, comparing them with the real characters and vehicles.

Obviously, the nature of this follow-up analysis is that it will be full of spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, by all means go out and do that — it’s not a perfect movie, but it’s certainly a fun adventure in the broader Star Wars universe — before coming back and reading this.

Read our in-depth analysis of the LEGO Star Wars sets from the Han Solo movie

HispaBricks 10th Anniversary Set [Review]

As we mentioned in our recent interview with the HispaBrick staff, our friends over at HispaBrick are celebrating their 10-year anniversary. One of the ways this free digital magazine for LEGO fans are celebrating is with the release of a limited edition custom set. Although HispaBrick is online only, the set itself channels a more historical form of magazine and newspaper distribution — the kiosk.

Click to read the full review