Tag Archives: Television

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown

Confused about the true meaning of Christmas? Wondering if it’s all become too over-commercialized? Well these aren’t new thoughts, and you’re not alone. Fifty years ago this year, the Charlie Brown Christmas TV special first aired, featuring a seasonally depressed Charlie trying to make sense of it all – and picking a sad little tree that perfectly reflected his state of mind, recreated for us in LEGO here by Chris Maddison.

Charlie Brown eventually learns the true meaning of the holiday. And in his own way, he even helped make Christmas a little better for all of us… Aluminum trees had become popular in the US at that time, but were portrayed so negatively in the TV special that within two years they were no longer being produced.

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Do not adjust your television screen

I assure you: you’re seeing the image correctly. Jimmy Fortel presents this glorious retro television for all of your family flashback needs. Complete with bright colors, knobs, and no remote, this excellent little build is packed full of nostalgia.

And by nostalgia I mean that hideous (and yet so wonderful!) wall-paper.

Retro Television

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He’s Popeye the LEGO Man!

Very few characters lend themselves to being made out of solid, usually rectangular bricks without some amount of artistic interpretation. But Popeye, with his cartoonish proportions, actually lends himself to being made in brick. Eh, it must be the spinach.

Kosmas Santosa brings the character to life with a faithful build that manages to nail every aspect of the famous design of the sailor. Some custom stickers give the spinach cans their labels and that massive forearm an anchor tattoo, but the rest is straight LEGO and all Popeye.

Popeye

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No sprinkles! For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you...

Described by his creator Seth MacFarlane as an “evil Rex Harrison”, this psychopathic matricidal infant genius adorable little rascal from TV’s Family Guy probably needs no introduction. But the question of whether the other characters in the show can actually hear him talking remains a topic of endless debate! TBB regular Jimmy Fortel has put together this great little palm-sized version Stewie for our enjoyment:

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Transporting you to other worlds

I’m not sure whether these remind me more of our wildly popular microfighter contest, or are meant to foreshadow LEGO’s much anticipated Dimensions product line (JUST ONE MORE WEEK FOLKS). But French builder Eric Druon has assembled this adorable armada of TV and movie inspired miniature road vehicles, in a strict 4-stud-wide format.

Eric has even made instructions available for anyone who wants to build their own copies. And for the record, this is actually *not* the most builds that we’ve ever featured in a single post – but it’s close!

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Perhaps a LEGO Sherlock can find your missing piece...

The best sleuth in the business is back at it, in brick form this time, thanks to the handiwork of Hacim Bricks and UmmWho. This particular iteration is, of course, from the popular and much lauded BBC series Sherlock.

Our friends over at Beyond the Brick also did a short video on it when it was recently displayed at BrickFair Virginia.

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EXTERMINATE: This LEGO Dalek is coming for you!

EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! This LEGO version of Doctor Who’s infamous villains, the Daleks, looks creepily accurate. I almost thought creator Matt De Lanoy’s version was made of cardboard, plastic, and a toilet plunger, like the show’s originals. Don’t forget that official Doctor Who LEGO is now a thing you can buy, with the Doctor making an appearance in LEGO Dimensions!

EXTERMINATE

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Polish Television Truck

According to builder Karwik, this type of Polish Television truck was the first such vehicle to be designed and built in then-Communist Poland, and helped facilitate the first color TV broadcast in Poland in 1971: a program of Communist Party government proceedings.
Karwik has done a stellar job adding details on this model, from the myriad cables and wires that always accompany broadcast trucks to building nifty minifig-scale cameras. My favorites are the tiny stepstools by the truck doors.

Jelcz / Mielec / WZT WR-0043 (1971)

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BRICKNADO² contest ends soon!

Don’t be fooled by all this Pluto flyby nonsense – NASA is just trying to distract you from the fact that our BRICKNADO² building contest ends in one week! Hell yes, that’s just one week to craft your glorious LEGO tribute to the third (and hopefully silliest) installment of the Sharknado movie series.

Need inspiration? Then check out the Sharknado 3 trailer. Or pore over the entries from last year’s contest. Better still, pore over our prizes, each of which features at least one LEGO shark:

1st place: 60014 Coast Guard Patrol
2nd place: 60093 Deep Sea Helicopter
3rd place: 60092 Deep Sea Submarine


And that’s not all… Each winner will also receive a trophy in the form of a Sharnado pop vinyl:

You know what do to. So get to it. Don’t let NASA win this one…

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LEGO Ideas The Big Bang Theory 21302 [Review]

In November last year, LEGO announced two new ideas sets. By now the birds setby Tom Polsoun has already been in shops for months, but although we’ve previously seen pictures of The Big Bang Theory set, it is taking a bit longer to hit the shelves. It has finally been officially launched at the San Diego Comic Con earlier today.

The Big Bang Theory - Lounge

Several of us at The Brothers Brick are fans of the show, but being a physicist, I was the lucky guy granted the opportunity to review this. Having worked in both a physics and an engineering department of two universities, the characters from The Big Bang Theory are very recognisable. There may even be a bit of Sheldon, Leonard, Raj and Howard in me. This is not my life story or a review of the TV show, however, so I will cut straight to the chase: the price is pretty steep for only 479 parts, so if minifigures aren’t your thing or you don’t like the show, this set is not for you.

The minifigures are the highlight of the set and probably the main reason why anybody would want this. All seven characters are instantly recognisable and come with new printed parts for the faces and clothing. The prints are highly detailed and look crisp, with Amy’s knitted vest and the tiny flowers on Bernadette’s skirt standing out in particular. The backs of the torsos are also printed. The upper and lower parts of the legs on Amy and Bernadette are molded in different colours, to represent skirts, with the obvious advantage that the figures look decent when seen from the back (in more ways than one).

The Big Bang Theory - Figs

As a bonus all the figures have reversible heads, with happy faces on one side and an alternate expression on the other. Bernadette’s is a particularly menacing angry look and Penny’s will also be instantly recognisable to any fan.
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Have a smurfy day!

Despite more comebacks and fewer female characters than the Star Wars franchise, the Smurfs are still wildly popular today, almost 60 years after their first appearance as a Belgian comic strip. With two new Smurf movies behind us and another one in the works, it was only a matter of time before fans got tired waiting for LEGO to get in on the action, and took matters into their own hands. Which is exactly what Lee Jones and a team of builders did at BrickWorld Chicago did last month!

This huge diorama depicts the Smurf village, complete with forest landscaping, mushroom houses, and a forced-perspective version of Gargamel’s castle. All beautifully rounded off with the giant intruding faces of Gargamel and Azrael (courtesy of Tyler Halliwell and Kevin Lauer).

But the most remarkable part of this display have to be the Smurf minifigs. No, you’re not seeing things… Those aren’t shoddy clone brand figures. And no, LEGO didn’t secretly launch a line of collectible Smurf figs when no-one was looking. These are 100% custom manufactured! Lee’s team worked with BrickForge and Brick Fortress to design and produce custom components (heads, tails, even rotatable arms) all to “LEGO quality”. The results speak for themselves. Our pals at Beyond the Brick talked to Lee at BrickWorld and got the low-down…

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Guns don’t kill people... George RR Martin kills people

Winter is coming, and it’s adorable! This chibi-like White Walker by simplybrickingit reminds us that while the television version of Game of Thrones is over for another season, and all your favorite characters are now dead, there are other ways to get your GoT fix. Like building it in LEGO…

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.