Tag Archives: Town

Towns in the world of LEGO have everything cities in the real world do — police stations, fire engines, trains, hairdressers and veterinarians. Check out all the beautiful buildings and vehicles we’ve featured here on The Brothers Brick.

7684 Pig Farm & Tractor includes 4 porkers, out now [Mini-Review]

Perhaps a bit buried among the news about the release of 10211 Grand Emporium and LEGO Board Games is that the new LEGO City set 7684 Pig Farm & Tractor is also out now.

I’m certainly excited by these other new releases, but it says something that I’m choosing to build the pig farm first. Seriously, pigs! Four of them! Mmmmm, bacon…

UPDATE: I just finished building the set, and it didn’t disappoint. Aside from the pigs, the set also includes a number of other parts I hadn’t gotten before, starting with the short-brimmed baseball cap and a new exhaust pipe piece that appears to be new in 2010.

The tractor includes a lot of nice lime green to complement your Power Miners acquisitions, as well as my favorite wheels and tires. For play value, it has several connection points compatible with attachments from 7637 Farm and 7634 Tractor.

And finally, the elephant (or pig) in the room — the inevitable comparison to BrickForge pigs.

As you can see from the set pictures, the LEGO pigs are similar in style to the new LEGO cows from the farm and 10193 Medieval Market Village. They’re more rounded, and to a certain extent more realistic than traditional LEGO animals like the dog and horse (with printed eyes and rounded bellies).

BrickForge pigs, cows, and sheep share their design aesthetic with the older LEGO animals. Depending on whether you prefer your animals more consistent with your older LEGO animals or more adorably pot-bellied, there’s still a place for both BrickForge animals and their official LEGO counterparts. I like both.

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Yachts of luxury

I’m most familiar with Daniel Z from his epic castle creations, but I like that he’s branching out with this series of boats.

Consolidated 600-series Faran crane truck

We know Aleksander Stein best for his impressive military hardware, but he’s branched out lately with civilian versions of those vehicles. His latest is a highly detailed 6×6 crane truck:

The pneumatic crane on Aleksander’s truck isn’t just for show. Here, it’s lifting his Dragoon APV:

10211 Grand Emporium due out March 1 – modular building, full interior [News]

Contrary to some of the earlier reports about its release date, LEGO has informed us that 10211 Grand Emporium is due out next Monday, March 1st, 2010.

LEGO has also provided some high-resolution photos of the set, including several nice interior shots and pictures of the little bits and pieces that make these modular buildings so awesome. See the full photoset on Flickr:

Here’s the complete product description from LEGO:

10211 – Grand Emporium
Ages 16+. 2,182 pieces.
US $149.99 CA $199.99 UK £ 139.99 DE € 149.99

Welcome to the grand opening of the Grand Emporium!

The LEGO® Modular Buildings series continues with this spectacularly detailed 3-story department store, designed in a realistic scale with lots of special building techniques and rare pieces. On the street outside, citizens carry shopping bags, send letters at the mailbox, admire the window mannequins, and cool off at the ice cream stand while a busy window washer works above. Enter through the revolving door to discover a ground-floor clothing department, complete with a cash register, fitting room, hats, jewelry, perfume, and even a selection of spare trousers. A brick-built escalator carries customers to the second floor housewares department with glassware and golden plates for special occasions, and then it’s up to the top floor for the toy department (complete with toy house and push-scooter) and a great big chandelier above the open atrium. Up on the roof are a billboard and skylight. Includes 7 minifigures and measures 15″ (38 cm) high and 10″ (25 cm) wide. Ages 16+. 2,182 pieces.

Includes 7 minifigures: 1 window cleaner, 1 female shop assistant, 1 genetleman and 1 lady with shopping bags, 1 boy plus 1 male and 1 female mannequin!

Enter the Grand Emporium through a revolving door that really spins!

The first floor has a clothing department with cash register, fitting room, hats, jewelery, perfume and more!

The second floor has a housewares department with glassware and golden plates!

Take the amazing brick-built escalator to the top floor of these 3-story department store!

The top floor is a toy department complete with toy house and push-scooter!

Grand Emporium features a big chandelier above the open atrium and even a skylight!

Lots of realistic details with a rooftop billboard and shoppers with shopping bags!

Raise and lower the window washer outside the building!

Send letters at the mailbox outside the Grand Emporium!

Admire the window mannequins from the street and stop at the ice cream stand for a treat!

Includes new inverted arches and rare elements like transparent 1×1 ‘headlight bricks’ and dark green windows!

Combine with other modular buildings like 10197 Fire Brigade and 10185 Green Grocer!

Measures 15″ (38 cm) high and 10″ (25 cm) wide!

20000 studs under the sea

Fedde (Karf Oolhu) busts out the technic figs for this deceptively large but totally lovely personal SUB-21 submarine. I now sit in wait for comments about the lack of watertightness.

But I don’t have enough bricks

Thanks to the new LEGO Remix pool on flickr I’ve uncovered not one, but two excellent builds made using only the pieces from one or two set. Alternate set builds are a great way to get creative without access to a lot of bricks like when you’re on holidays. Cole Blaq‘s Rat Rod (above) is made from 5867 Super Car while Jim Devona’s (anoved) Asymmetrical Starfighter (below) is made from sets 8969 and 8630.

Picking up trash in style

Apparently, there are garbagemen who ride tricycles. This falls under the immense category of stuff I never knew before. If Marin Stipkovic hadn’t built this clever rendition of the trike that they use….I probably never would have known.

You can check out more pictures at Marin’s MOCpages account.

July 18, 1887 Eiffel Tower

Andrew’s blast from the past reminded me to check my own list and I discovered that I hadn’t blogged this masterpiece. Steven Marshall makes use of his design talents and, I suspect, the TLG rendering libraries to present this excellent virtual recreation of the Eiffel Tower under construction. It’s really, really, really excellent.

Goodbye to the Brickston sun

Ralph Savelsberg (Mad physicist) recently moved from England back to The Netherlands, and he misses his former adopted home already. Away from the collaborative displays of the Brickish Association, Ralph decided to combine all of his Cafe Corner-standard buildings into his own layout, resulting in “Brickston Borough”.

As much as I like each component of Ralph’s layout — the lettering on the distinctly British buildings, the vehicles, and even the road itself — it’s the sentiment that brought them all together that I love. It’s the same community spirit on display in AFOL: A Blocumentary.

LEGO brings us together, and can keep us in touch even when we’re apart.

Marek goes for some serious truckin’

Marek Markiewicz‘s Kenworth W900 Rotator tow truck has it all and is the best large truck creation I have seen. Beyond aesthetics and resemblance, the truck boosts a sick array of Power Functions features including lights, remote control with steering, pneumatics, and countless motors that drive even the tiniest detail. You have to see the video to be convinced.

1931 Ford Pickup with instructions

Tyler Clites (Legohaulic) has made instructions for his popular 1931 Ford Pickup. For once, the answer to the question “I can has instrucshuns?” is:

“Can has.”

Analogue signals

I’ve added a signal box to my vanity project. There’s also a beer van using the level crossing.