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.

LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector’s Series Snowspeeder 75144 [Review]

The T-47 airspeeder, adapted for cold weather use on Hoth, is the most memorable Rebel vehicle introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, and has been a staple of the LEGO Star Wars theme. Commonly called the Snowspeeder, this hardy little two-man craft first appeared in LEGO form in 1999, with more than a dozen variations since across a variety of scales. The latest iteration is also the largest, and the Ultimate Collector’s Series 75144 Snowspeeder packs a massive 1,703 pieces. As we announced last month, it costs $199.99 USD and is set to premiere on May the 4th (aka Star Wars Day).

Like other recent UCS sets, the Snowspeeder includes a stand, information placard, and two minifigure pilots. The displayed ship comes in at 16 inches long, 12″ wide, and 9″ tall (41 x 30 x 23 cm).

Let’s see how the Snowspeeder stacks up.

Click to read the full hands-on review

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LEGO Architecture 21035 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum [Review]

As we reported from Toy Fair in February, the April 2017 LEGO Architecture releases include a redesigned Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (21035). The new LEGO Guggenheim includes 744 pieces and retails for $79.99.

This latest Guggenheim is a new edition of an earlier LEGO Architecture set released in 2009. We’ll compare the two versions later in this review.

Click to read the full review

LEGO Star Wars 75172 Y-wing Starfighter from Rogue One [Review]

With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story available for purchase beginning today, we’re circling back to some of the 2017 LEGO Star Wars sets we haven’t reviewed yet, starting with 75172 Y-wing Starfighter. This is the fifth minifig-scale Y-wing that LEGO has released since 1999 and the largest at 691 pieces.

75172 Y-wing Starfighter depicts a Blue Squadron Y-wing featured during the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One, with five minifigures. The set retails for $59.99.

Read the full review of this Rogue One set after the jump

LEGO 71018 Collectible Minifigures Series 17 [Review]

With seventeen numbered series in, plus another 7 special series, LEGO Collectible Minifigures are just as popular as they were when they debuted 7 years ago. The wide cast of characters in each series, always sporting a variety of new elements, keeps fans coming over and over again. With such an open-ended theme, LEGO designers are nowhere close to running the well dry on popular and recognizable occupations for minifigures. 71018 Collectible Minifigures Series 17, which will be available beginning May 1, draws from this infinite well to add a host of interesting new characters, ranging from a Dance Instructor to a Gladiator. Aside from the box art revealed at the New York Toy Fair, we only got our first look at this series yesterday, so I was delighted to have my review case show up on my doorstep that same day. Let’s dig in, and see what Series 17 has to offer.

Click to read the full review

LEGO Technic 40th Anniversary Car Chassis [Review]

This year, the LEGO Technic theme celebrates a remarkable date — 40 years since the first Technic sets hit the store shelves in 1977. To mark that occasion, LEGO prepared a couple of surprises for the theme’s fans: a commemorative 1×3 white Technic beam with “40 1977-2017” print included in every set released in 2017, plus something truly touching — a remake of the legendary 8860 Car Chassis set from 1980.

After the instruction booklet became available online earlier this week, every LEGO fan can build his or her own modern copy of the iconic set using pieces from three 2017 Technic sets — 42057 Ultralight Helicopter, 42061 Telehandler and 42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure. The total price of these sets is about $120 USD/95€ for which you will get 4 vehicles at once. At the same time, those with a vast collection of Technic pieces will be able to build their own copy of the classic chassis without getting any new sets, although it would be quite a challenge to get all the pieces in correct colors. The chassis consist of 572 pieces, which sets the model right behind the 42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure in this year’s line-up with a price tag of approximately $50 USD/45€.

Read the full review of this unique LEGO Technic set

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.

Continue reading →

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.

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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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.

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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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.

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

See the full review of the LEGO Bugatti Chiron

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.

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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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 & 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 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