Most of us are at home right now, but if you are in a position to fill your time with some LEGO building, there are 19 new sets and items to choose from for April. The biggest set launching today is the new LEGO Ideas Pirates of Barracuda Bay followed by pre-orders for the Technic Fast & Furious Dodge Charger. LEGO is also offering two seasonal gifts-with-purchase, an exclusive Easter Egg with purchases more than US $50, and a smaller yellow Easter Bunny polybag with purchases more than US $30. Both gifts-with-purchase will be available through April 14th while supplies last, and yes, you can get both on a single order. This is a full list of LEGO themes with new products released today (alphabetized for your ease of use) that you can click on to go directly to that section of this article (unless you just love scrolling, then scroll...

If you think about it, the Super Mario universe is one of the only places where you want to go down the tubes. I mean, other than a water slide, where else can you find something fun at the end of a “plumbing” pipe? Perhaps this extra large (64×64 stud) pixleated pipe, built by H.Y. Leung, contains all the extra coins Mario could dream of. And don’t worry, he’s not going to be stuck in mid-air forever. This pipe contains an equally large mechanism inside to move him up and down. If you’d like to see more of H.Y. Leung’s builds, be sure to check out our previous articles highlighting them. The post Double jumps and pipe dreams appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Bre Burns

Back in January, we featured a tiny LEGO upright piano with instructions, built by Tiago Catarino. Now he brings us another mini masterpiece: a baby grand! While they’re both adorable, I have to say, this one is my favorite. He captures the shape perfectly. As he often does, Tiago has shared instructions and a video tutorial so you, too, can compose this sweet little instrument. If you’d like to try out more of Tiago’s instructions, we feature many here. Or you can check out other music-inspired masterpieces in our archives. The post How to build the baby-est of baby grand pianos [Instructions] appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Bre Burns

Sometimes it feels like every spaceship I see out there in the LEGO building community is either a single-seat starfighter or a giant capital ship. Sometimes the fighters are tiny, sometimes they themselves are giant, and some of the capital ships are minifig scale and others are microscale. But wouldn’t it be nice to see something else with more frequency? Like, what about the civilian ships, or even the military support vessels? Someone has to move the supplies from Planet A to Planet B, right? Well, thankfully we have Blake Foster, who has made us a small, minifig scale Neo-Classic Space (NCS) cargo shuttle. Called the Blue Lobster because it grips two containers at a time in its mechanical claws and it’s blue, it is the ship you hire for small jobs, when you don’t want to spend an entire nation’s GDP to move a few crates. The coherent color scheme...

Early last year, I wrote an article about a pair of LEGO meerkats and mentioned the species’ vigilance and protectiveness. And it’s true, these little guys are one of the most family-oriented animals in the world. It’s the job of every member to take a fearless rotation as babysitter or sentry, and when there’s danger they act as one “mob” to defend themselves. Quite impressive! When I saw this build by Felix Jaensch, I swore I had seen it before. But maybe that’s just because he’s such an incredible artist of lifelike LEGO art. While these guys are certainly impressive, I wouldn’t even say this is his best build. We’ve featured many more, including a rabbit, macaque, red panda, hamster, kestrel, and blue and gold macaw. The post The strength of family appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Bre Burns

We have all known that person at some point. The one who says something and all you can do is silently give them that judging gaze. Sometimes they’re even a friend. And you love them, but man are they weird. This build by Gregory Coquelz, inspired by the writings of author China Miéville, perfectly captures that moment. Maybe it’s the slurping in the middle of a very serious Dungeons and Dragons quest. Whatever thought bubbles you give the scene, the characters and their outfits tell a great story. You can see more of Gregory’s work by visiting our archives. The post The classic side-eye appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Bre Burns

Ludwig van Beethoven is known across the world as one of the greatest composers who ever lived. He ranks among the most famous and influential musicians of all time. So naturally, there are plenty of busts of his form in colleges, museums, and concert halls all over the globe. But how many are made with LEGO? Steven Howard has expertly rendered one, complete with note-studded parchment. The stern face, flowing locks, large collar, and ascot make Ludwig instantly recognizable. But one of the best aspects of this creation are the expressive eyebrows, shaped using Wampa horns. There are a lot of musical builds coming together for a LEGO Ideas contest right now. You might want to try your hand! If you’d just like to see other musical masterpieces, keep an eye out for more cool content, or visit our music archives. The post A bust-y composition appeared first on The Brothers Brick....

LEGO has revealed the Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger, a 1,077-piece set depicting the iconic car driven by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) in the Fast & Furious film franchise. The 1:13 scale model features details from its on-screen inspiration like a V8 engine, double-wishbone suspension, a wheelie bar and a few extra nitro bottles in the trunk. The set announcement comes only a mere two months after we first reported that LEGO had entered into a partnership with the Fast & Furious film franchise. Dom’s Dodge Charger will retail for US $99.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £89.99 with pre-orders available immediately. The sets will become globally available on April 27th. LEGO TECHNIC GOES FULL THROTTLE WITH DOM’S DODGE CHARGER SET FROM THE FAST & FURIOUS FRANCHISE 30 March 2020, Billund: Muscle car lovers and Fast & Furious fans are getting set for the ultimate thrill. Today, the LEGO Group and...

While stuck at home in quarantine or self-isolation, people need fun activities to pass the time. One popular activity is building LEGO sets and designing new creations. If you don’t have LEGO to build with, you can still appreciate other people’s creations online, like Mihai Marius Mihu’s wise owl. And once you’re done appreciating it, this LEGO owl has a new activity for you, read a book! Well, assuming you can get it out from under his sharp talons. I absolutely love the use of 1×2 slopes as the plumage. The waves they’re arranged in makes the owls chest look especially fluffy. The post Be wise like the owl, read a book appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: David Guedes

In the non-LEGO “real” world, I work in innovation, developing ideas for new products, mostly in the world of drinks. Doing work like this, you come across multiple techniques for enhancing creativity and improving idea generation. In my experience, one of the most effective is the setting of constraints and rules around what you’re trying to do. Although it seems counterintuitive, the narrowing of possibility, the scaling-back of the intimidating blank canvas, gives more permission and opportunity for creativity. That’s where my recent Hover Car Racer models came from. In a bid to get past a bout of “builders’ block,” I set myself some constraints — a handful of key elements which would be common across the models, but beyond those, each racer could vary in design. The “rules” I set myself: bold color styling, a whiff of a muscle car, elements of asymmetry, and an enclosed cockpit. I’m really pleased...