From The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug comes a scene of fiery wrath by W. Navarre. This build exists for the Middle-earth LEGO Olympics, bringing an iconic scene from the movie to life. Bard the Bowman pauses a moment as his home is set ablaze by the vengeful dragon Smaug, his determination to save his family and fellow townsfolk set by the heat. The fire illuminates some wonderfully crafted LEGO building and buildings. The homes have great details and features, though those sconces are no longer necessary with Smaug’s flames lighting the place. Some of the roofs have printed tiles, but others have the textures of Technic tread pieces. Of course, the town isn’t the only cool thing in the scene–the ice floating in the water is pretty neat too. The ice is brick-built sideways with slopes and wedges to give it those angles and edges. Though, I think most of it...

There were few LEGO sets as a child that were precious to me, but one that was just perfect was the Black Falcon Fortress, and in this miniaturised digital form, ZiO Chao has realised a favourite set of mine that I needed to share! In building this in a miniature scale, ZiO hasn’t compromised on detail at all. Everything that made Black Falcon’s Fortress a great build can be found here too. From the drawbridge to the stone detail of the turrets and on to the design of the battlements of the castle themselves, this diminutive version of the castle captures all the highlights of the set. I love that this reimagining of the set retains the hinged wall to open up this citadel and explore the courtyard and its decorated yellow timber building. But a castle is not without its inhabitants, and ZiO has captured the essence of all the...

A LEGO builder who goes by the wackadoodle name of MySnailEatsPizza has concocted this Bionicle creature called The Jury. They tell us that this is a “Divine Automaton responsible for seeking truth and evaluating guilt”. They go on to say it is “composed of many consciousnesses, its single eye pierces the soul”. That settles it then. I’m pretty sure they know it was me who opened a bottle of dish soap in The Brothers Brick hot tub. Admittedly some maturity could have gone a long way but I definitely didn’t leave a whoopee cushion on Andrew’s office chair so don’t get that idea in your heads. The post The Jury is out and we’re probably screwed appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Lino

I love a good motley crew, especially when it is made out of LEGO. This can be straight-up minifigures or brick build characters. In this case Dan Ko created a pirate crew. They had a ship, but they wrecked it. Apparently, they left the steering to a mosquito, which to be fair doesn’t sound like a very smart idea. These guys are a fest for the eye and there are quite a few bricks used in smart ways. Let’s take a closer look. We have a mouse, a rat, a hedgehog, and a mosquito and every one of them has a very cute snout. The hedgehog is sporting a technic ball joint for a nose and wind-up keys for its spikes. This is not your everyday hedgehog. This is a well-groomed hedgehog who permed its spikes. The rat has a microphone nose and shovel legs. I am not sure if the...

Folks, Pretzel Day has come early! This morning, LEGO debuted it’s latest Ideas set: 21336 The Office. Based on the US television show of the same name, the diorama features a whopping 15 minifigures! Almost all of the regular cast members are featured, as it looks like Andy may be off at anger management after punching a Technic hole in the wall. In these 1,164 pieces, we also get details from some of our favorite storylines: Meredith’s encounter with a bat, the teapot, “Lazy Scranton,” Kevin’s chili, and the iconic stapler in jello. Forget new chairs or a new copier, this is where the surplus should go! LEGO Ideas The Office is now available for pre-order in the US and Canada, with release on October 1st. It retails for US $119.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £104.99 21336 The Office | 1,164 pieces | Available Oct. 1 | US $119.99 |...

Sometimes something comes along that has us simply awestruck. That would be the case with this stunning LEGO 1/38 scale U-BOOT TYP VII C built by Ciamosław Ciamek. This model has roughly 15,000 pieces and is about 70 inches or 177 centimeters long. It also took staggering four-and-a-half years to build. In case you were wondering this is the same type of U-Boat from the Das Boot movie, which, in my opinion, is one of the tensest and most exhilarating movies ever made; a worthy watch if you haven’t seen it already. The hull panels can be removed on both the port and starboard sides. Here’s a view with the port panels removed to view the interior spaces. This photo highlights what the port side looks like with the hull intact but it also illustrates the model broken into six modules that accurately represent how the real vessel would be compartmentalized....

Calling a build for a contest ‘First Place’ could be seen as a tad arrogant. But I think we can let it slide in Vohdoff‘s case given the quality of this latest Bio-Cup effort. It’s a build so smooth I had to triple-check it was indeed made of Bionicle pieces, let alone regular LEGO! All the panels are so seamlessly blended – I bet this thing cuts through the air like butter. The bike itself is very Akira-esque. It bears a resemblance to modern high-performance motorcycles you might see on the road, but there are just enough unusual elements to give it a near-future sci-fi aesthetic. The same could be said for the rider in their chunky leathers. Take the head, for instance: it comes from a K-2SO buildable figure, which could imply a mechanical pilot. But it looks just human enough that it could equally be a futuristic helmet suitable...

I always knew LEGO could be sharp (underfoot), but this ship from Tim Goddard really shows off how sharp! There’s not a curve to be seen, outside of the canopy, on this interceptor, giving it the intended sharp-edged appearance. The ship looks like to could cut through anything as it speeds along on its mission. It possesses the style choices of the classic LEGO Space theme–always a welcome sight! Even the canopy is in the color scheme of the theme, but that’s not where it comes from… The canopy is the only curve in the build, and it comes from that most excellent Lightyear 76832 XL-15 Spaceship set. It’s the perfect canopy for this build, lending itself well to that tapering wedge of the nose. I also really appreciate the sloping where the wings join the body. The use of wedge slopes with hinges isn’t a new technique, but it’s one...

Seeing nature transformed into plastic bricks can be an amazing experience, and Maxx Davidson shows us just how it’s done with this 1:1 recreation of a Yellow Crowned Amazon. This green and yellow parrot has some gorgeous curves to it’s body, and some beautiful plumage to boot. I admit, though, that it was the 1×1 round bricks and “jumper stand” handles that form the talons that first caught my eye. It’s a neat solution that successfully mimics the real biology’s textures. Like what you see here? Well there are a lot more realistically sized creations in our archives! The post It’s not Amazon Prime, it’s a Prime Amazon appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Chris Doyle

In Part I of our review of LEGO Icons 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle, we explored the building at the center of this massive, 4514-piece love letter to the Castle theme. Here in Part II we’ll meet each of the twenty-two minifigures that accompany it. This set will be available to VIPs on August 3rd (and everyone on August 8th) for US $399.99 | CAN $499.99 | UK £344.99, but you can continue your early look now! The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews. The Minifigures The Lion Knights Castle comes with a very impressive count of 22 minifigures. What’s even cooler is that twenty-one of them are exclusive to this set! Now, to be upfront about that…while there are 22 distinct characters here, there is a LOT of repetition in part selection, particularly with the Lion Knights....