After its predecessor 71040 Cinderella Castle was retired only six months ago, LEGO has announced the new 43222 Disney Castle as a part of their line of Disney100 sets released this year. Debuting later this summer, the castle features four Disney princess minifigures and their corresponding love interests: Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, Tiana and Prince Naveen, Snow White and Prince Florian, and Cinderella and Prince Charming. The back of the model is chock full of references to Disney’s 100-year history, spread throughout its many rooms and towers. This is the largest classic Disney set yet, clocking in at 4,837 pieces, beating the last castle by almost 800 pieces. The set will be available for VIPs starting on July 1st, with open access at LEGO stores and at LEGO.com on July 4th. To sweeten the pot for early shoppers, there is a gift-with-purchase titled Disney 100 Years Celebration (not pictured) available with...

My wife and I are re-reading The Lord of the Rings together after having done so 22 years ago before the first Peter Jackson movie was released. By sheer coincidence, on the same day we read the chapter about the Battle of Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King, Kiwi builder Pieter Dennison shared the conclusion of a months-long project to recreate a Mûmak or Oliphaunt of the Haradrim in LEGO, based on how they appear in the movies. Pieter’s build features all the iconic details of the enormous beast, from its four tusks (built from a series of 2×2 round bricks presumably strung on something like flex-tube), each with spikes on the end, to the war tower on the monstrous beast’s back. A closer look at the war tower shows just how huge this LEGO build really is, with about a score of minifigs riding into battle against the...

The Pirates line was a seminal theme for LEGO, introducing hoards of new elements and many things we take for granted now, such as unique faces beyond the classic smiley head. One of the largest and most sought-after sets from the original theme was 6276 Eldorado Fortress, a colonial-style base of operations for the blue-coated Imperial Guards. 10320 Eldorado Fortress is a remake of that iconic set taking advantage of 34 years of advancement in parts and techniques since the original. LEGO has avoided straight re-releases in recent years (with some notable exceptions), opting instead to tribute classics for the company’s 90th anniversary in 2022, with 10497 Galaxy Explorer as a modern upgrade to the original set, while 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle pays homage to a whole generation of Castle. Although the anniversary has passed, I am excited that LEGO has continued that nostalgia trend, turning its eye now to my...

We get through all sorts of superlatives to describe LEGO builds here at The Brothers Brick, but there’s surely only one way to describe MySnailEatsPizza‘s Children of the Mountain: majestic. Isn’t it just? It’s reminiscent of the way monarchs were painted in the middle ages. The framing coupled with the forced perspective mountains make this look truly epic. We don’t know who this character is, or what their purpose is, or where they’re going; but that’s not necessary. All we know is that they’re doing it in style. The post The majesty of the Biocup appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer

The broad range of wonderful LEGO creations built for events like the annual BioCup often spark odd memories of my own life experiences. This beautiful Anomalocaris by Care Creations reminded me of Stephen Jay Gould’s 1989 book Wonderful Life, which first introduced me to the panoply of fantastic lifeforms that emerged during the Cambrian Explosion over half a billion years ago. The book changed my view of how life emerged and evolved on our planet, as well as how scientific understanding itself evolves — both mind-blowing to a young missionary kid. One of the strengths of Bionicle is the system’s ability to reproduce organic shapes, enabling talented builders to create much more than Toa. I love the minifigure hands on the ends of Anomalocaris’ tentacles, as well as all the smaller creatures the builder has included to give the impression of the early arthropod in its natural habitat. If you enjoyed...