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.

The LEGO Batman Movie 70900 The Joker Balloon Escape [Review]

The LEGO Batman Movie has been out for over a month and it’s still going strong in the weekend box office sales race. Last week, for example, it was the fifth highest grossing film of the weekend. Not too shabby for a kids movie featuring LEGO minifigures.

By now, most of you have probably picked up a few of the LEGO Batman Movie sets (or at least eye-balled the back of the boxes in the store). And while we here at the Brothers Brick have already reviewed many sets from this line, there are still a couple of LEGO Batman Movie sets that we haven’t looked at yet. Here’s a look at one of the entry-level sets…

Joker Balloon Escape [70900] retails for $14.99 and contains 124 pieces. At LEGO’s standard price of $0.10 per piece, this small set may be slightly overpriced. However, since it contains two minifigures and some new, useful parts, many Batman fans may choose to overlook that fact.

The main components are the two minifigures, a power plant console, a comically over-complicated bomb, and the Joker’s balloon pack. There’s also a play feature where the two halves of the tank break away from each other, simulating a bomb explosion. (You know, just in case Batman doesn’t make it in time.)

Interestingly, this set can combine with Mr. Freeze Ice Attack [70901] and Scarecrow Special Delivery Vehicle [70910] to form a mega-set: the Gotham power plant featured in the beginning of the movie.

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LEGO BrickHeadz 41593 Captain Jack Sparrow and 41594 Captain Armando Salazar [Exclusive Review]

Last month we revealed the two new BrickHeadz characters from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Captain Jack Sparrow (41593), and a new character, Captain Armando Salazar (41594). TBB has already exclusively reviewed Salazar’s enormous ghost ship 71042 Silent Mary and now we’re taking a look at the movie tie-in BrickHeadz characters.

TBB_POTC_BHZ_Completed

Like all the BrickHeadz, Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Armando Salazar will retail for $9.99 USD/£9.99/9,99 €. They have 109 and 118 pieces respectively, and will be available March 17 for LEGO VIP-card holders both in LEGO stores and from the LEGO Shop Online.

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The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales 71042 Silent Mary [Exclusive Review]

Last month, we went to New York Toy fair to bring you the first images of 71042 Silent Mary when LEGO unveiled their latest Pirates of the Caribbean tie-in set, 71042 Silent Mary, and now we’re pleased to bring you this exclusive early review of the set.  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and is due for release on 26 May, 2017. Although the official trailer for the movie features the Silent Mary, Armando Salazar’s ghost ship, there may be some very minor spoilers below.

TBB_POTC_71042_Completed_Set-Edit

LEGO 71042 Silent Mary has 2,294 parts and  is due for release to LEGO VIP members on 17 March, 2017 priced at $199.99/£179.99/199,99 € and is listed for ages 14+. The Silent Mary isn’t quite the largest ship LEGO has made, though she does impressively measure over 18” (48cm) high with the main mast in vertical position, and 26” (68cm) long and 8” (22cm) wide. She’s just over 14” (36cm) wide with the main mast collapsed. To give you a comparison, a largest LEGO ship is 10210 Imperial Flagship, which measures 29.5” (75 cm) long and 23.6” (60 cm) tall. 4184 The Black Pearl is a bit smaller, coming in at 21” (53cm) long, 20” (50cm) tall and 5” (12cm) wide.

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The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Speed Champions 75878 Bugatti Chiron [Review]

For those of us who are fans of cars we’ll never own, the LEGO Speed Champions sets have provided a rather more affordable way to collect Ferraris, Porsches, McLarens, and more. Absent from LEGO’s eclectic mix of supercars has been the Bugatti. While the inimitable Veyron might have been more to the liking of many fans, Bugatti retired the Veyron toward the end of 2014, just before the release of the new LEGO Speed Champions line. Perhaps better late than never, its even faster successor the 75878 Bugatti Chiron was just released on LEGO.com, and should be available more widely on March 1st.

75878 Bugatti Chiron

The LEGO Bugatti Chiron includes 183 parts and one minifigure for $14.99.

See the full review of the LEGO Bugatti Chiron

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Technic 42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure [Review]

Unlike many of my childhood friends, I’ve never been fond of motorcycles. Well, some of them look cool and I heard some of them are really fast but while all of my mates spent hours drooling over pictures of bikes in auto magazines I was pretty content with a huge yellow pneumatic tractor from LEGO Technic on a table in my room. And now, 15 years later, here I am, feasting my eyes on the new LEGO Technic 42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure on my table, thinking that I’ve been missing something in my life till this very moment. Although there have been plenty of LEGO Technic motorcycles before it, this 603-piece beauty is the first licensed motorcycle released, and the retail price of $59.99 / 49.99€ makes this BMW a solid bargain among all the licensed LEGO Technic sets.

42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure

Reviewing a BMW R 1200 GS set gives a lot of opportunity for reflection upon the licensed models in the Technic theme, as well as comparing them to the old Model Team sets, and this is what I’d planned to base my review on until I got my hands on the set. The problem is this BMW doesn’t need to be compared to other bikes, cars, or cranes. It stands out against every other 2017 Technic set. Its announcement was highlighted by several official press releases, emphasizing that this bike is a self-contained and stand alone model. It’s not a primarily meant as toy, nor is it merely a sophisticated mechanism or a dodgy Technic machine by Billund’s designers. Rather, it’s a decent, scaled copy of a BMW motorcycle made of Technic pieces — and this is what makes it genuinely beautiful.

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The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Speed Champions 2016 Ford GT & 1966 Ford GT40 [Review]

In both 1966 and 2016, Ford won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, marking 50 years of victory for their GT supercars. 75881 2016 Ford GT & 1966 Ford GT40 brings together the iconic race cars on either end of that 50-year span.

75881 2016 Ford GT & Ford GT40

75881 2016 Ford GT & 1966 Ford GT40 includes three minifigures, with 366 pieces to build two cars and a podium and trophy for the winning driver.

Read the full review after the jump

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The LEGO Batman Movie 70901 Mr. Freeze Ice Attack [Review]

What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age! Whether you love him for his puns or hate him for the same reason, Mr. Freeze is an excellent counterpoint to the broody Bat of Gotham. So buckle up readers and get nostalgic for icy puns because it’s time to review Mr. Freeze Ice Attack (Set 70901).

This set retails for $19.99 and has 201 pieces. Based on LEGO’s standard pricing of $0.10 per piece, this price tag is pretty much spot on. It comes with three minifigs (Batman, Mr. Freeze, and a Security Guard), Mr. Freeze’s Exosuit, a power plant console, and a minifig-sized chunk of ice. Interestingly, this set combines with two other new Batman sets: 70900 The Joker Balloon Escape and 70910 Scarecrow Special Delivery. The end result is a mega-set that looks like the power station from the opening scene of the LEGO Batman Movie. Pretty nifty, right?

Read the full review after the jump

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO BrickHeadz Marvel characters [Review]

A few days ago we reviewed the first four LEGO BrickHeadz characters, all from The LEGO Batman Movie. Today we’re moving on to the second four characters in BrickHeadz Series 1, the Marvel characters. We get Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, and The Hulk. Like all the BrickHeadz, they will retail for $9.99 USD, and they’re available beginning Feb. 15 for LEGO VIP-card holders both in LEGO stores and from the LEGO Shop Online.

LEGO Brickheadz Marvel

As we mentioned in our last review, each of the characters’ boxes are numbered for Series 1, with the DC characters being 1-4, the Marvel characters 5-8, and the Disney characters 11-12. The back of the Disney character boxes reveal what the missing two characters are, but LEGO has asked us not to show them yet, although images are available elsewhere.

LEGO BrickHeadz Series 1 Continue reading

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO BrickHeadz DC characters from The LEGO Batman Movie [Review]

We loved what we saw when we got our first look at LEGO’s new BrickHeadz theme, but how do they stack up in the brick? The LEGO BrickHeadz will be available to LEGO VIP-card holders in LEGO stores and the LEGO Shop Online beginning Feb. 15, and they’ll retail for $9.99 USD each.

LEGO BrickHeadz

We’ve got our hands on all 10 of the characters that LEGO has announced so far, and we’re keen to show you what we think. We’re starting off with a look at the four DC characters, all from The LEGO Batman Movie. (Read our review of the movie here.) Continue reading

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The LEGO Batman Movie is a funny Batman movie built with bricks [Review]

The first words in my review of The LEGO Movie three years ago were “I’ll admit it: I had very low expectations for The LEGO Movie.” But as we’ve all discovered since then, everything was awesome! Nevertheless, I attended a press screening this evening of The LEGO Batman Movie with fairly moderate expectations, not expecting a miracle twice.

While I would be hard-pressed to call The LEGO Batman Movie miraculous, much of the movie does deliver on expectations set by its predecessor, from its constant stream of sight gags and totally unexpected cameos to the largely brick-built world that the minifigs inhabit.

Batman flying

Read the full review of The LEGO Batman Movie

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The LEGO Batman Movie 70912 Arkham Asylum [Review]

As the days count down to the release of The LEGO Batman Movie on 10 Feb 17, we wanted to keep your interest piqued with our latest movie tie-in set review, 70912 Arkham Asylum. Containing 1628 pieces, this is the largest set in The LEGO Batman Movie theme at present with the associated largest price tag of £139.99 / $149.99 / 149.99€, which equates to a price per piece of 8.6p / 9.2c / 9.2c, respectively. This set is rated for ages 12-16.

70912 Arkham Asylum

This is the third LEGO incarnation of Arkham Asylum and the biggest, though only just. The first was back in 2008 with 7785 Arkham Asylum, which has 860 pieces, 7 minifigures and a £59.99 / $79.99 price tag.  The second,  10937 Batman: Arkham Asylum Breakout, was a 2012 set with 1,619 pieces, 8 minifigures, and a £129.99 / $159.99 / 159.99€ price tag. Finally, we have this latest release which nudges into the lead with a part count of 1,628, but has no less than 12 minifigures (well 13 if one includes the statue minifigure).

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The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Batman Movie 70909 Batcave Break-in [Review]

I don’t know about you guys, but I am super pumped for The LEGO Batman Movie coming out on February 10, 2017. We already know that Will Arnett as Batman is hilarious and there’s bound to be plenty of LEGO jokes hidden in the background. So while we count down the days until the hilarity ensues, let’s review one of the The LEGO Batman Movie sets: 70909 Batcave Break-In.

70909 Batcave Break-in

Overall, this set has a lot going for it. There are a ton of interesting play features built into the design and the two vehicles are phenomenal. Best of all, the set comes with 9 great minifigs, several of which are exclusive to this set. Continue reading

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.