With every wave, or at least the last few waves, Ninjago mechs are getting better and bigger! And this latest set of summer sets is no exception. Cole’s new mech, the Titan Dragon Mech, stands over 17 inches tall and has some serious anime-inspired design and construction. Unique extra joint elements in the arms and legs allow for a surprising amount of pose-ability in a mech this large. Adult LEGO fans who have become LEGO set designers are bringing much creativity into recent sets in many LEGO themes. LEGO Ninjago 71821 Cole’s Titan Dragon Mech comes with 1,055 pieces for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99. It’ll be available in the UK starting June 1, while those in the US and Canada will need to wait until the start of August to get their hands on this set. The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy...

Ivysaur, Squirtle, and Charizard, the starting trio of the Kanto region in various states of evolution, are some of the most iconic and beloved of the 151 1025 monsters in the Pokédex. They’re also the swappable characters used by Pokémon Trainer in Supers Smash Brothers Ultimate. LEGO Builder Zane Houston pays tribute to this fighting tag team with a Miniland scale ensemble. Zane does a phenomenal job capturing each character’s colors and personality in the Miniland aesthetic that celebrates bricks and studs. My favorite has to be Ivysaur with leaves built from green cheese slopes and the judicious use of whips as the only non-brick element. This isn’t Zane’s first Pokémon or Nintendo tribute. We loved his shocking Pikachu model, and his clever twist on the Nintendo Switch hardware still makes us smile. For more LEGO pocket monsters, catch ’em all in our Pokémon archives. The post Super smashing Pokémon partners...

Iron Builder competitions are one of our favorite sources of delight as we seek out new LEGO creations to highlight and share. These playful competitions highlight some of the most creative builders in the hobby while also showing how much potential is packed into a single eccentric LEGO element. The latest Iron Builder just kicked off between TBB regulars Sandro Quattrini and gGh0st, and the “seed part” is the green Koopa shell with spikes. Sandro fires the first salvo with a majestic green dragon, which uses 34 shells to achieve the snaking, scaly body. The head design is very effective, especially the sculpting around the eyes using minifig arms and frogs for an organic shape. gGh0st strikes back with an elegant Japanese sword display, using koopa shells for the hilt. There are plenty of other nice touches in the still life scene, like the life buoys on the tsuba blade guard...

Rocco Buttliere has been astounding us for years with his massive microscale LEGO creations. Being no stranger to rendering massive landmarks and vast ancient cities in brick form, he has just released a new expansion to his fantastic SPQR diorama of the ancient Roman capital (the right half of the build in the photo below). This new section of the Eternal City – built at 1:650 scale – took over 107,000 bricks and several thousand hours spread over two and a half years to build, but it was well worth the wait! Lets take a tour of some of the ancient landmarks, shall we? The Imperial Forum dominates the local cityscape. From bottom left to top right we have: the temple of Trajan and Plotina, Trajan’s Column, Trajan’s Forum, and the Temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Agustus. We can take a closer look at each of them. The...

Who’s the coolest Water Toa from LEGO’s Bionicle line? Gali, the OG? Nokama, perhaps, who appeared twice as a Toa as well as a humble Matoran? In truth, Mitch Phillips (AKA Gamma Raay)’s unnamed Toa of Water might have them both beat. There’s some serious bling on show here: an enormous gold door makes for a nice shield. The cape is pretty majestic, too. But the biggest party piece is actually the mask. Don’t recognise it? That’s because it’s exceedingly rare – handed out during the 2015 LEGO Inside Tour, only 200 of these transparent-blue ones were ever made! As a result it’s something of a collectors’ item, but it’s refreshing to see it used in a MOC. At the end of the day, it is still just a LEGO piece! The post All that gold, and it’s still not the blingest thing on this Bionicle appeared first on The Brothers...

It’s no secret that George Lucas looked to World War II-era dogfights for inspiration when envisioning the space battles of Star Wars, so a mashup of the two in LEGO form simply makes sense. Here, simplethinker elegantly blends the celebrated North American P-51D Mustang with Star Wars‘s X- and E-wings, with pleasing results. The two ships (fittingly nicknamed “Rebel Scum” and “Laser Bait”) look ready to duel German fighter planes or Imperial TIEs, whichever they happen to run across—a testament to both Lucas’s original vision and the skill with which they were executed in brick form. The post These Star Wars/WWII mashups are just plane awesome appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Ryan Kunz

The next wave of Ninjago sets is coming soon, which means another dojo/battle arena to add to our growing collection. The Tournament Battle Arena includes six minifigures and is compatible with the much larger LEGO Ninjago 71814 Tournament Temple City. There’s a fun moveable platform for fighting, a large statue, and a drum. There are also a few neat hidden traps to catch intruders by surprise. LEGO Ninjago 71818 Tournament Battle Arena comes with 659 pieces and will be available on June 1st globally and August 1st in the US for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £44.99. 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. Unboxing the parts, instructions, and stickers The set comes in a small box with the Dragons Rising branding. The arena is shown on the...

Qian Yj is no stranger to triumphs, having brought home the trophy in LEGO Masters China. For his latest build, he turns his thoughts to ancient Rome (as men so often do) and presents a glorious temple facade. There is so much to laud about this capital diorama, but the sweet reliefs definitely take the cake. Marble supplicants kneel at the feet of a god in the pediment, flanked by floral designs all in white. The columns are most impressive too, the Corinthian flourish created by arranging teeth in eyelets around gnashing gears.  The braziers are a simple yet very effective design. And those statues! Such lovely use of tiles to create lifelike forms at this scale. On the temple base, a gallic touch with croissant garlands. Qian Yj excels at immersive models that sweep you away to a living past. To see the builder’s LEGO tributes to his native China,...

If the price tag on the newly announced Lord of the Rings Barad-Dûr LEGO set is making your wallet feel like Viggo Mortensen’s toe, you should check out this micro-scale tower by Joe! From this mini monument to malevolent majesty, you can keep an eye on the hobbits with the DREAMZzz eye tile. With just a few pieces, Joe has captured the evil essence of the dark tower. The two outer towers are captured by a hilt and a plate with a bar, while all the spiky decorative business is made out of a few grills and a gear. I do wonder if Sauron will need a microscope to find the one ring at this scale! The post Micro Barad-Dûr menaces a tiny middle earth! appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Simon Friesen

Baseball season is in full swing in Japan and famously passionate fans of the Hanshin Tigers are making noise for their favorite team. Amongst those fans is Sasaki Nobuyuki (Sasapon), two time competitor on early LEGO competition show King of LEGO on TV Tokyo, and member of the OG brickshelf community. Sasapon built this prize-winning mech last year for a “SigFig” mech contest. What is a SigFig? Essentially it’s a minifig avatar that represents you. Sasapon’s SigFig wears his Hanshin Tigers fandom proudly resulting in this delightful tiger-themed mech. Sasapon leaned into yellow elements with black stripes and the associated construction aesthetic, adding a detachable bulldozer scoop and  claw to the mech’s back. The highly-poseable mech is packed with personality and clever parts usage. レッツゴー　レッツゴー ささぽん! The post Proud, invincible Hanshin Tiger mech! Go, go, go! appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Jake Forbes