Yes, you read the title correctly. Rocco Buttliere has used around 84,000 LEGO bricks, to be more precise. In addition to 300+ hours of building to recreate the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, Rocco also spent 400+ hours designing it first. If that doesn’t blow your mind, it should. That is one giant build of one of the world’s most spectacular architectural sites. Like his earlier LEGO diorama of Ancient Rome, Rocco built this one for a commission for a museum, and boy, does it belong there. The overview picture hardly does it justice, as it all blends together into a blur of flame orange, dark red, and grey, but zoom in and there are as many marvels as in the real deal. Fancy a tour? It’s not forbidden to look at this one, even for a commoner like me. Let’s start the tour at the Meridian Gate, where everyone enters...

M:Tron was a classic space line of LEGO sets back in the day, best recognized by the red color scheme on its vehicles. Though the line ended decades ago, builder Blake Foster resurrects this spacecraft in true M:Tron fashion. This Heavy VTOL, which stands for Vertical Take Off and Landing, is a masterpiece in imagination. Blake Foster ingeniously combined bricks that you usually don’t see together, using large rounded red bricks with harsh green fluorescent wings jutting out. His explanation for this creative decision was that the M:Tron Corporation secretly implemented stolen alien technology into their vehicle. I can’t get enough of the tiny details, like the power plant work around the gun or the vents on engines. See the magnetic drop pods on the bottom of the VTOL? What a great idea! The vehicle can easily transfer cargo at a moment’s notice. Perhaps it would make a great addition to...

What’s the point of a limousine? It has none, except to make the person riding in it seem important, whether that be a bride and groom on the way to the reception or a diplomat going to a complex negotiation. It’s the same with motorcades and bodyguards; their real purpose is to lend clout to the image of the one with them. So, what if the limo has armor and hidden weapons? It’s the same, just with more bang. And if a Humvee can become a luxury vehicle, why not a HEMTT? That was my (Benjamin Stenlund) thought, at least, for my latest LEGO creation. Add in a sporty car and a motorcycle, as well as a triumphal arch and statue, and you have the scene set for inflating someone’s ego. Tasked with building an armored limo, I was inspired by the heavy military truck with 8 wheels. I added some...

LEGO Publishing has announced a fan vote that will determine the direction of the next book they will publish. Fans can vote on LEGO Ideas to choose one of three following titles: “The LEGO Brick Museum,” “The Secret Life of Bricks,” and “LEGO History in 100 Bricks.” The winning book will be written by Daniel Konstanski, editor of the Blocks magazine. Voting ends on Sunday, August 9th at 7 am PT. More information is included in the press release below. LEGO Ideas launches fan vote for a new LEGO book aimed at AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) Billund, 24 July 2020 – LEGO Publishing, a division of the LEGO Group, is excited to announce a public vote on LEGO Ideas to choose the direction for a new book celebrating the rich history of the iconic LEGO brick, made in collaboration with AFOLs. Will fans want to wander the pages of the...

If you missed out on the 2019 holiday gift with purchase last year, have no fear–Christmas in July is here! 40337 Mini Gingerbread House set is a 499-piece microscale version of the 10267 Winter Village Gingerbread House and is available with any order of $100 or more in the US or Canada through 8:59pm PT on July 26th or while supplies last. As always, clicking through the links in the article above helps The Brothers Brick continue to provide the quality LEGO content you’ve come to expect from us. Thanks for the support! The post Celebrate Christmas in July with a free LEGO mini-gingerbread house with purchase [News] appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Dave Schefcik (TBB News Editor)

I really like LEGO creations that tell a story, and Road to the Fruit Festival by Jonas Kramm has enough self-contained world-building to inspire the imagination. These tiny fruit merchants offer next day delivery, provided you live very, very close. Are these tiny people with human-sized mounts and wares? Or are we looking at some seriously up-scaled produce? Each build has clever building techniques and part usage to discover. The road-marking statues have Rancor claws for legs. There are minifigure neck ruffles as parts of flowers, and large figure shoulder armor in the wheelbarrow. But I’m also a sucker for well built LEGO snails, and this one is a beauty. It was the first build in this set, and was apparently so much fun to make that the rest of the scene came to life around it. Those minifigure hairpieces make for perfect berries, and the dark red dome brick make...

What do you do when you’re under five feet tall and your voluminous tresses are getting wild and wooly? Why you would pay a visit to Per Wilkinsson’s Dwarven Barber Shop, of course. LEGO builder Aurore presents this amazing little shop complete with Celtic ornamentation, colorful awning, Viking-style roof and a sign adorned with scissors. Plenty of animals perch on or near the shop while a patron outside haggles for a beard trim. If it turns out Per was just a bit too feisty with the trimmers, you can cover your new botched hairdo with an assortment of bronze and silver helmets at the stand outside. The whole shebang was inspired by the Friends Heartlake City Hair Salon set. Brilliant! The post Short in stature but long in hair? Per Wilkinsson to the rescue! appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Lino

LEGO has released a video showing off the new LEGO Ideas 21323 Grand Piano. In the video, LEGO Designer Chee Woon Tze tickles the ivory, so to speak, to show off how the piano is constructed and how it plays music. The video has constant piano music in the background but unfortunately does not include what the piano music created by the app will sound like. However, seeing the completed set next to the designer shows how massive the model is in context. LEGO Ideas 21323 Grand Piano comes with 3,662 pieces to build the playable piano for US $349.99 | CA $449.99 | UK £319.99 with global availability beginning August 1st. Make sure to read our announcement and interview with the LEGO Ideas design team about the design effort that went into it. The post LEGO Ideas 21323 Grand Piano designer shows off inner workings of the musical model [News]...

It’s got to be one of the most popular memes on the internet. There’s Eddard Stark at the Council of Agent Smith in Rivendell, uttering the unforgettable “One does not simply MOC into Mordor.” Or at least that’s what a LEGO version of double-oh-six would say, right? (A MOC is, of course, an original LEGO build, “My Own Creation”; and wonderfully, it rhymes with walk.) Swap out the Mordor bit and you have a universally applicable meme for difficult things. Fancy your hand at meme-ing this build by Big Stannis? The builder has captured the exact moment of the utterance, so perhaps we need to make this version go viral in the LEGO world. All the little details are there, from the cuffs to collar, and don’t miss that hair with ears poking out. Rounded ears, of course, since he’s not blond Will Turner. And right after you finish publishing your...

LEGO Ideas has revealed its biggest set yet, 21323 Grand Piano. The massive musical model comes with 3,662 pieces that make up the 25-key keyboard, sleek black lid and body, working internal hammers, and even an original composition. The set will retail for US $349.99 | CA $449.99 | UK £319.99 beginning August 1st (becoming the most expensive LEGO Ideas set ever). The Grand Piano comes with a motor, smart hub, and sensor used to connect to the LEGO Powered Up app which creates the sound. The piano can be played in either a “self-play” toy piano mode where hitting any key produces the next note in a selected song, or in an “auto-play” mode where the piano moves randomized keys while the app produces music like a player piano. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.brothers-brick.com/2020/07/LEGO-Ideas-21323-Grand-Piano-5XVCG-Spin.mp4 The Brothers Brick got an early preview of the Grand Piano from the LEGO Ideas design team, so we have...