“The crunch of snow beneath my boots betrayed my presence with every step. The forest, a solemn witness to my journey, contoured the world with branches heavy under the weight of winter.” Even without those words, it’s amazing how much of a story the simple but beautiful LEGO build tells. “Prey,” by Louis Nutwood, transports you to a single moment as a solitary hunter stalks a rabbit half-hidden in the snow. Gazing at this build, the world goes still until all you can hear is the sound of your own heartbeat in your ears as you take aim. Will the shaft fly true? Or will the hunter go hungry?
Purging the swamp of Imperial occupiers is more than a solo job
All the Empire wanted to do on Mimban was bring peace and prosperity, install a regime loyal to the Emperor, and eradicate the hostiles. Arthur Behe takes to LEGO to show what happens when those “hostiles” fight back. Seen during Han’s brief tour with the Empire in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Mimban is a literal swamp and a figurative quagmire for the Imperial forces. Arthur’s Imperial base, with all of its sensors and greebles, imposes on the inhospitable world perched atop rocks and surrounded by sand-green sludge. I love the dynamic terrain, with a speeder bike swooshing under the gangway. Almost as impressive as the building technique is the number of Swamp Troopers Arthur managed to recruit for the diorama!
“It’s against my programming to impersonate German Expressionism”
Fritz Lang’s silent sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis remains one of cinema’s most iconic films nearly 100 years after it first hit screens. Paolo Loro‘s LEGO tribute to the film’s classic poster should be instantly recognizable to cinephiles. A black brick skyline and shafts of golden Ninjago blade “light” capture the dramatic angles of Lang’s German Expressionist vision. C-3PO stands in for the Maschinenmensch, appropriate as the film’s robot inspired our favorite protocol droid’s design 50 years later.
Ace space base that fits on your bookcase
Being left behind on Mars and having to science your way out of certain death might sound like a terrifying fate, but I’ve always found The Martian a very cozy slice of science fiction. Nuno Taborda‘s LEGO space base isn’t based on that film, but it brings the same cozy vibes that has me daydreaming of tooting around an inhospitable planet in my little rover like Matt Damon. Nuno’s living module looks great with its round corners, orange detailing, and tasteful array of sensors and solar panels. Wouldn’t mind settling down in a base like that. But where am I supposed to grow the potatoes?
Château de Chenonceau shines in LEGO
In between competing in another Iron Builder competition and contributing to New Hashima, builder Gerrit Gottschalk (gGh0st) spent much of 2024 working on his microscale masterpiece — a model of Château de Chenonceau. The 16th-century French castle sits in the Loire Valley with its bridge and gallery crossing the river Cher. Gerrit’s model consists of about 6,600 LEGO elements and is 80 cm long.
Building in the Architecture style at this scale was a new adventure for Gerrit but you wouldn’t guess it from the end results. It’s a remarkable build filled with innovative parts usage and a high level of detail that remains virtually seamless.
Click for a detailed look at Gerrit’s majestic microscale castle !
Settle into some snowy steampunk serenity
We’ve all been there: you’ve had a busy year fighting sky pirates in your steam-powered dirigible and now you just want to kick back and enjoy some holiday cheer in peace. Thankfully, “Snowbound Serenity” by Isaac Snyder has just the steampunk-friendly winter retreat for you. At first glance, the retrofuturistic aspects of the cabin are subtle, playing second fiddle to icy landscape and inviting exterior of the cabin. Blue and green cheese tiles make for great angled siding, with gentle slopes of snow piling up on the ground next to the icy lake.
Stepping inside, however, is where it becomes clear this is no ordinary cabin. A steam-power boiler keeps the fire going. Pipes spread warmth throughout the house, weaving through pearl-gold accents. A few relics from our steampunk hero’s adventures adorn the walls. Our wily adventurer himself sips hot cocoa and helps himself to a cinnamon roll while his beloved pets look on. I love this build because it brings to life several fantasies at once—both the call of adventure and the allure of a cozy winter night.
LEGO and F1 announce the upcoming suite of 2025 racing sets [News]
Debuting at the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024, LEGO has treated us to a wealth of new racing sets ready to speed onto store shelves in 2025. The array of F1 sets operates almost like a subtheme, similar to 2024’s LEGO Space sets, showing up in LEGO City, Speed Champions, collectible blind boxes, and even a Duplo set. With 17 sets in total releasing in the first quarter of 2025 (and collectible blind box cars coming later on in May), it’s a good time to be a racing and building fan. We’ll cover the highlights of this massive set announcement below, but be sure to check the dedicated LEGO Formula 1 webpage for all the new cars and supporting sets coming out next year.
To boldly go... and sometimes not come back
In a Star Trek world of Enterprises and Klingon Birds of Prey, sometimes it’s the little ships that mean a lot. Take this LEGO Shuttlecraft built by Horace Worblehat for example. It’s expertly crafted and certainly takes me back to classic Star Trek episodes. This little craft has taken these two crewmembers to parts unknown. What will harangue them next? Will it be a ferocious Gorn or a hideous Salt Vampire? One thing for certain is one of these guys will escape by the skin of their teeth and the other will die a horrible yet amusing death. It’s the Redshirt, by the way. It’s always the Redshirt.
Fall leaves when snow falls in LEGO
There is so much to appreciate about Mark van der Maarel‘s Edo-era Japanese diorama in LEGO, but it’s the red leaves against the newly fallen white snow that draw me in like an ukiyo-e woodblock print. The central cottage is charming and full of details of everyday life. A bundle of reeds over the window made from broom elements is a great touch. Towering over the cottage is an incredible wall made of interlocking brick-built stones (Mark gives credit to collaborator Marshall Banana for this technique). Down by the river, a woodcutter kneels as a samurai approaches on horseback. While Mark doesn’t offer a story, I imagine the woodcutter has a blade hidden in the cottage and soon leaves won’t be the only red splashes in the snow.
Mark’s build was part of the Rogue Ronin collaboration displayed at the Bricking Bavaria event in Germany where over 30 members of the Rogue Bricks community participated. We also adored felix-workshop’s award-winning contribtion.
Digital distortion in physical LEGO
Inspired by a painting from an unknown artist in a Korean hotel, Luka set about trying to capture distorted reality in LEGO with a work titled “Error.” The results are stunning, as pastel mountains and a city skyline get stretched at the horizon into abstract color lines. The shadow box frame looks to be about 5 bricks deep to allow for the stacked layers of the diorama. The distortion lines would have extended even further had the builder not run out of time and pieces. Luka (aka First Order Lego) is a builder who continues to impress and inspire with both abstract builds like this one and minifig scenes like his recent Witcher 3 tribute.
LEGO Icons 10335 The Endurance: worth enduring, or a polarising proposition? [Review]
Whenever we’ve had LEGO sets representing old sailing ships, they have more often than not been connected to pirates or their adversaries. In that respect, the newest entry in the Icons line is rather unique: a vessel designed purely for exploration. Polar exploration, that is! This is 10335 The Endurance, a model of the ship which took Ernest Shackleton and his crew to the Antarctic, only to get stuck and then crushed in the ice of the Weddell Sea. The Endurance has since become one of the great undiscovered shipwrecks until it was found in 2022, 100 years to the day after Shackleton’s death. Two years on, and you can now recreate this legendary ship from 3,011 LEGO pieces for US $269.99 | CAN $349.99 | UK £229.99. Availability starts from November 29, while it may also be available from third-party sellers like Amazon or eBay.
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.
Set sail on the Endurance and read the rest of our review here!
These Star Wars TIE Arrestors have questions
Boy, I sure love a fan-made Star Wars concept! These LEGO TIE Arrestors built by Alec Hole look like they can be canon but are inspired by the Cantwell class Arrestor Cruiser from the Andor series. The TIE Arrestor, according to Alec “is an Imperial starfighter with two powerful tractor beam emitter dishes. It can be deployed to intercept, disable and tow Rebel starfighters suspected of stealing Imperial technology. It can also be used to capture Rebel personnel wanted for questioning.” It sounds like such unpleasant business! What’s with the purple? Well, it seems our alum Mansur Soeleman has his tentacles all up in the influence of this color decision. Alec tells us the purple accents denote the evil counterpart to Mansur’s Teal Squadron.
