You’ve probably seen dozens of emails and dozens of pop-ups about updated privacy policies from just about every website you’ve ever visited over the past few weeks, and Brothers-Brick.com is no different. Ever since our founding in 2005, The Brothers Brick has been committed to our readers’ online privacy and security. Like nearly all websites that share content for free, Brothers-Brick.com relies on advertising to cover the costs of server infrastructure, products for review, event travel, and so on. As a result, we have always relied on a variety of advertising partners and technologies to operate the website. TBB’s commitment to your privacy and security remains unchanged. Similarly, how The Brothers Brick uses your personally identifiable information is not changing as a result of the new Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that is coming into effect on May 25th, 2018. However, the GDPR requires that all websites who have visitors from...

The new City train sets have been revealed last week partially confirming the long-rumored updates of the Power Functions system. With only the pictures of the front of the boxes it was pretty hard to say whether the new system will support Bluetooth connection or not, but now, as pictures of the rear side have appeared online, the answer is “yes”; the new trains can be both controlled with a remote controller (included in each set) or with a smart phone. The new trains will bring two major updates. First, no dedicated receiving element is required from now on. The new power brick, despite being roughly the same size as the old versions (84599 and 87513c01), is designed with Bluetooth receiver integrated into it. Secondly, both trains can be controlled via a smart phone application called LEGO Powered Up, first announced with the new App-Controlled Batmobile. Judging by the picture of its...

Today at the Licensing Expo 2018 in Las Vegas, Activision Blizzard has announced they’ve reached a licensing agreement with LEGO for the blockbuster game Overwatch, according to Business Wire. Overwatch is a first-person shooter with a loose sci-fi setting, breaking new territory for LEGO in their licensing agreements, as they’ve traditionally steered clear of such properties. The announcement comes amidst a slew of other new license partners for Activision Blizzard, including UNIQLO, Nerf, and more. There’s no word yet on specifically what sorts of sets we’ll see from LEGO, but with LEGO’s theme-crossing video game Dimensions finished, it’s certain this won’t simply be a small tie-in expansion pack. We hope they’ll be as cool as this yellow D.Va mech by TBB’s own Nick Jensen. And if you can’t wait to buy some official Overwatch sets, Nick has provided instructions for this mech in the link above. The post LEGO Overwatch sets coming, Activision Blizzard...

Video games are a great source of inspiration when it comes to building LEGO spaceships, especially the Halo franchise, with a wide variety of orbital, deep space, atmosphere, and ground vehicles from many space-faring species. Marius Herrmann, who has built models from Titanfall 2 and Horizon: Zero Dawn has built a stunning version of the AV-22 Sparrowhawk from Halo Wars. While this might look like a digital render to some, the source for many of the unusual olive green elements is much more analog. The builder used a very careful application of spray paint to produce the needed parts for this wonderfully detailed craft, and the results speak for themselves, if you ask me. On the more traditional side of things, I especially like the propellers, made from a lattice radar dish plus mini-fig hands and hooks. Here is even an added bonus, a depiction of the craft in action. The...

The excellent photography and advanced building techniques may be what drew my attention to this creation by Patrick B., but they are not the most interesting part to me. What is so unique about this creation is the accompanying description, crediting a handful of builders who inspired Patrick’s Sandyman’s Mill, either by building their own versions prior or as Patrick’s sources for some techniques used. It is normal for builders to both reuse previously discovered techniques and credit their sources, but I rarely see it like this particular example. It almost reads like a scientific publication! When I started my Shire project one year ago I wasn´t sure if I should make a Sandyman´s Mill creation, because there are some fantastic versions from @TheBrickAvenger and from @Roanoke Handybuck and I really enjoyed their MOCs. Nevertheless my Hobbiton project would never be complete without a Sandymans Mill creation, for that reason I...

At the  LEGO Fall Preview 2018 event, we’re bringing you all the new product reveals in the LEGO City line, scheduled for release later this year. We got our first look at the line  This year the design team invites us to take part in yet another Arctic expedition. Let’s see what surprises the White Continent will bring this time. 60190 Arctic Ice Glider | 50 pieces | $6.99 USD | Available Aug. 1 The ice glider is the smallest set of the City sub-theme utilising the format of the good old 6577 Snow Scooter set from year 2000. It has everything a young Arctic explorer can wish for including some basic equipment and a cool-looking vehicle, which makes it a perfect impulse purchase. 60191 Arctic Exploration Team | 70 pieces | $9.99 USD | Available Aug. 1 The Arctic Exploration has all chances to become the most popular set of the line....

At the LEGO Fall Preview 2018 event we got a chance to take a look at the new LEGO City trains that were revealed yesterday. The designers have chosen to stick with a familiar theme that includes another modern passenger train as well as an industrial type train. We’ve also got a first look at a few new track packs that will be coming earlier in the summer. Let’s take a look at what’s in store. 60197 Passenger Train | 677 pieces | $159.99 USD | Available Aug. 1 The last time that LEGO released new trains, the High Speed Passenger Train set 60051 was almost entirely white, before that it was almost all red. This time they gave the train a little pop of multi-color, with yellow and dark blue. The style and layout is very similar, but this set only has an engine on one end. This set also includes...

In conjunction with our in-person coverage of the LEGO Fall 2018 Preview event, we’re bringing you all the new product reveals in the LEGO Technic line, scheduled for release later this year. There are several fun sets coming up in this series, and we even got an up-close look at the new Volvo Concept Loader today. 42079 Forklift Truck | 592 pieces | $69.99 USD | Available Aug. 1 The smallest in the line-up, this build looks much simpler than the rest. It features a standard yellow forklift and includes a pallet that can hold a dangerous materials drum container. 42080 Forest Harvester | 1,003 pieces | $149.99 USD | Available Aug. 1 This large green harvester is equipped with a giant red saw, flanked by dangerous-looking yellow feed wheels. It has 8 wheels, and is a 2-in-1. The arm is pneumatic and can be powered by either Power Functions versions. 42081...

LEGO’s event today in New York City has unveiled more of the LEGO Star Wars sets that the company had held back from Toy Fair in February. Although much of the event is focused on the current product assortment, including sets like 75208 Yoda’s Hut and all of the Solo: A Star Wars Story LEGO sets, the event has given us a look at some exciting new sets being released over the next few months. 75214 Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter | 247 pieces | $19.99 | Available August 1 No matter what you think of the Prequel Trilogy, you can probably agree that Obi-wan’s Jedi starfighter with its enormous hyperdrive ring looks pretty cool, as seen in the current 75191 Jedi Starfighter with Hyperdrive. The Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor is a frequent subject of LEGO sets, with and without the hyperdrive ring. Nevertheless, it’s been 10 years since LEGO released an update...

Live from the LEGO Fall Preview 2018 event, we’re bringing you our hands on experience with the newly revealed Harry Potter line, scheduled for release on August 1st. From first glance, it looks like the Wizarding World is being given the star treatment, so let’s dive in. 75953 Hogwarts Great Hall | 878 pieces | $99.99 | Available Aug. 1 The flagship set of Hogwarts, the Great Hall comes with ten minifigures including Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Susan Bones, Albus Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell (with reversible Lord Voldemort face), Hagrid, and Nearly Headless Nick, along with Hedwig, Scabbers and the Sorting Hat. For the first time we are seeing the entire brick-built Basilisk snake and Mirror of Erised, and it looks like the model has been simplified slightly from the prototype we saw at the New York Toy Fair, resting on a flat base rather than...