When it comes to superb custom brick built creations that you can actually build on your own, none comes first other than Build Better Bricks. For almost a year now, Master builder Tyler Clites have wowed us with his original LEGO MOCs based from various LEGO themes and IPs that we wish could have happened as an official LEGO set. Thankfully, we stumbled upon the idea of making these custom LEGO sets accessible to like-minded LEGO fans, giving everyone the opportunity to build these uber impressive creations. Hence, Build Better Bricks (or B3 for short) was born, and together with builder extraordinaire Sean Mayo, the site’s repertoire of quality custom LEGO instructions just keeps getting better and better. You’ve seen the videos of these custom sets, and also heard our thoughts on them, and this time we’re giving everyone a chance of owning one of these cool, custom LEGO sets.
To celebrate the launch of B3, Brick Show will be doing a giveaway where you get a chance to bring home an actual custom LEGO MOC of your choice from any of the sets listed at Build Better Bricks. The cool part is, we’re not just giving away its free instructions, but we will also send the needed LEGO pieces to build them! Check out Jason’s announcement, followed by some of our favorite MOCs from B3.
You can choose from any of these custom LEGO models and more from B3’s website. To join the giveaway, simply head over to this link and follow the instructions on the page. It’s basically helping us spread the word about B3 through various social media channels and on the web. Again, if your entry is chosen via electronic raffle, you’ll receive not just the building instructions to create these MOCs, but also the pieces to build them all for free. So help us spread the word about Build Better Bricks and support Tyler and Sean’s work.
It seems that we’re now getting our first look at the much awaited LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series 18. Jason already described at length each of these awesome minifigures, revealing that they are all part of a costume party-themed set commemorating the 40th anniversary of the iconic LEGO minifig. This time, Serbian toy shop Dexy Co Kids have shared what seems to be our first images of the much hyped CMF Series 18 minifigures, particularly those of Red Suit Brick Guy, Blue Suit Brick Girl, Orange Balloon LEGO fan boy, and Cowboy Suit Guy. As it is, these minifigures perfectly matches those that we described before. Take a look.
Red Suit Brick Guy
Blue Suit Brick Girl
Orange Balloon LEGO Fan Boy
Cowboy Suit Guy
I guess it’s a matter of time before we see the rest of these CMF 18 minifigs since April is just a few months away. Please take note that these are not their official names – we just based it on how they look primarily. Lastly, I do hope that the posting of this image from Dexy Co Kids is not just a slip up, otherwise, there will be LEGO minifig heads that will roll (forgive me for this bad attempt at humor).
The LEGO Creator Downtown Diner (10260) is fairly fresh out on the store shelves, but already some Builders have seen the many MOC possibilities in the 3-story, 2480-piece building set to begin trying out their own customizations. That of course should be obvious from the look of the box image.
One of those Builders that have begun sharing images of their Downtown Diner (10260) MOCs is brickdance9. The latest photo on his Instagram account shows his transformation of a diner into an auto dealership showroom and garage, which is named Downtown Cars. The results are amazing and just so photogenic.
Like many MOC Builders, brickdance9 was able to use only the existing number of blocks on an official set and reconfigure them into something new. In fact, the only element not part of LEGO Creator Downtown Diner (10260) is the LEGO Speed Champions Mercedes AMG GT3 (75877) on floor 2.
Only the most awesome automobile makers would have showrooms that have cars anywhere other than the ground floor. And the Speed Champions Mercedes (75877) looks so integral to the Downtown Cars MOC that you’d think it was part of the original 10260 set design, like the retro pink convertible below.
Just looking at brickdance9’s MOC would be enough to inspire even casual LEGO Builders to try really letting their imagination run wild. He’s not the only one posting custom designs online, but his Downtown Cars creation is one of the best out of a new set, currently available on shop.LEGO.com.
Alright, I know I may have probably pushed it a little bit with that headline, especially if you’re looking for a way to snag that ridiculously large LEGO Disney Castle (71040). It is an impressive set no doubt, so much so that it even caught the attention of the Beckhams, Kardashians and other A-list celebrities last year. Standing at almost 2 ½ feet tall, and more than 1 ½ feet wide, the LEGO Disney Castle (71040) is one majestically built set that any Disney fan would love to have. This time around, Build Better Bricks gives tribute to this iconic symbol of Disney magic by coming up with their very own micro scaled, custom LEGO Disney Castle. Designed by Master Builders Tyler Clites and Sean Mayo, this custom LEGO Disney Castle is the perfect, smaller scaled version of the original set, a perfect fit to adorn any Disney AFOL’s desk.
Coming in at 427 pieces, this micro scaled version measures 7.6 inches tall, 6 inches wide, and 3.5 inches deep. Tyler and Sean’s attention to the minute details of this MOC is absolutely amazing, and the colors that they used in building this set are really spot on. It is a relatively straightforward build, with each side of the MOC perfectly recreated in an appropriately scaled size. Check out this video from Build Better Bricks to have a better look at this custom micro-scaled LEGO Disney Castle.
You can also listen to Brian’s review of this custom LEGO set right here. So, if you wish to have a piece of the Disney magic right in your own homes, shelves or study table, be sure to check out the instructions on how to build this project at Build Better Bricks. For a minimum amount $5 USD, you’ll be receiving a set of building instructions in PDF format, a parts list, and a Stud.io file to easily import the list of needed parts which only cost you around $43 via Bricklink.
Be sure to check the rest of B3’s quality custom LEGO creations, by checking out these personal favorites of ours:
After LEGO Rebrick’s Great Mountain Chase photography contest, comes the next high-octane competition that will test your brick-building mettle. Season 8 of LEGO Ninjago has introduced the latest bunch of baddies that is causing mayhem in the city of Ninjago. The Sons of Garmadon is bent on resurrecting their master Lord Garmadon – the ninjas’ former enemy – at all cost. It’s up for the young heroes of Ninjago to foil their plans and retrieve the powerful Oni Masks.
This time, builders are tasked to create the craziest and most out of this world conclusion to LEGO Ninjago’s short video, Chasing the Mask of Vengeance by coming up with their very own brick film about how they think the chase should end. To have a pretty good grasp of how your own version should bel like, watch the video clip below.
That video was a real cliffhanger to say the least! Now it’s your turn to think how this story should be concluded. Simply get your bricks and camera and start making your very own LEGO Ninjago film. There will be five grand winners to be selected, and each of them will be bringing home a customized winner’s trophy from one of LEGO Ninjago’s designers, a winner’s certificate, and this year’s first wave of LEGO Ninjago sets.
Kai – Spinjitzu Master (70633)
Nya – Spinjitzu Master (70634)
Jay – Spinjitzu Master (70635)
Zane – Spinjitzu Master (70636)
Cole – Spinjitzu Master (70637)
Katana V11 (70638)
Street Race of Snake Jaguar (70639)
O.G. Headquarters (706340)
Ninja Nightcrawler (70641)
Killow vs. Samurai X (70642)
Temple of Resurrection (70643)
LEGO is also throwing in one surprise LEGO Ninjago swag package which will be shipped to the winners once it’s released this summer. To have an idea on what this set could possibly be, check out my post on the details of these upcoming Summer 2018 LEGO Ninjago sets. Here’s the rest of the contest description and rules:
CONTEST DESCRIPTION
How would you end the “Chasing the Mask of Vengeance” video (featured below)? What crazy, unexpected turn will you have the video take? What sort of funny thing will happen to the Ninja? What kind of stunts will they pull? What sort of fight scene will they have? You decide! Create a brickfilm using NINJAGO characters to end the video. If you don’t have the exact characters or pieces, just re-create them the best you can to tell your story. Show us your thrilling conclusion!
Before you start please check out the entry guidelines and how to enter in the RULES.
Entry Deadline
Submit your entry no later than March 15th at 2018 at 10:00AM EST.
If you’re not sure what time zone you’re in here’s a time zone converter.
Judging
A panel of judges from the LEGO NINJAGO team will select five grand prize winners in five different categories – Best Brickfilm, Funniest Moment, Best Stunt, Best Fight Scene, and Viewer’s Choice.
They will judge entries upon:
– Overall coolness and originality: 25%
– Video Quality: 25%
– Relevance to listed categories: 25%
– Most inspired details: 25%
It is up to the judges to place an entry in a given category based on their category. The winner for the category “Viewer’s Choice” will be voted for on LEGO Life. The NINJAGO team will pre-select 10-15 entries, which will be uploaded to LEGO Life for the community there to for their favorite brickfilm.
Please see the prizes section for further details.
How to Enter
– Watch the LEGO NINJAGO “Chasing the Mask of Vengeance” video (featured above)
– Create your brickfilm according to the RULES. Please note only original audio is allowed
– Upload your video to a video hosting site of your choice and copy the URL to your video in the URL field on the entry page on LEGO Rebrick
– Take up to five screenshots from your video and upload them on the entry page on LEGO Rebrick
– Use the description field to tell us how you made you audio– then hit submit
– When you receive a “Success!” pop-up notification after clicking “submit” on the entry submission page, your entry has successfully been submitted. Our moderation team will review it within 1-3 working days to make sure it fits all the contest rules
– Tweet or share your entry on the LEGO Rebrick Twitter and Facebook Page with the hashtag #RebrickWeeklyPick for a chance to have your entry shared on these channels as a Pick of the Week!
Be sure to check out LEGO Rebrick’s set of contest rules and have your entries submitted on or before March 15 at 10AM EST. So have your bricks ready and camera on hand, and build your own action-packed LEGO Ninjago ending. Happy building!
If you haven’t been keeping up with news, the newest in-production LEGO Ideas set, Flagship Leviathan – Ship in a Bottle (21313), is ready to whip up a storm when it hits stores in February. You can even get it earlier at a creator’s signing event in Utah on January 27.
The journey from custom fan design to official packaged set has been long though. LEGO Ideas project contributor Jake Sadovich had first submitted his proposed set way back in November of 2016, got its 10,000 supporters a month later, and then eventually approved by the LEGO Ideas Review Team in August of the following year.
Since then, it would take about half a year (which is almost at an end this January 2018) before the Ship in a Bottle (21313) will be out for interested collectors to buy. In that period, LEGO designers would go on to make some necessary alterations and improvements to Sadovich’s original design.
But how different is the LEGO Ideas Ship in a Bottle (21313) compared to the original proposal? Sadovich helpfully answers that by posting a photo of his original creation and the official version on the AFOLs of Facebook closed group page. At first glance, the final version’s smaller than the prototype.
That isn’t the only difference though. Sadovich self-depreciatingly hints to a possible higher-difficulty assembly level of his work by saying that set 21313 is even more “user-friendly”. Perhaps the smaller size means a smaller number of pieces to put together. We can find out for sure this coming February 1.
LEGO Ideas can be perceived as a godsend to the really skilled near-Master level builders with custom set ideas in their mind. If their set passes the approval of 10,000 like-minded fans, then the LEGO Ideas Review Team could be convinced to make it official. However, there’s never an absolute guarantee of success.
This was hammered home back in 2015 when the LEGO Ideas panel selected none of several set proposals that were sufficiently supported for review. It has happened several times since, most recently this January 22 when six set pitches in the Second 2017 LEGO Ideas Review all came up short with panelists.
One possible reason the Ideas panel gave for turning down a submission project would be that the set in question shares similarities to an either already existing LEGO, or something that’s being developed in the pipelines by LEGO designers. Of course, if such a thing happens, the reviewers can’t say it out loud to protect secrecy.
That seems to be the case as Hasan explains it in the Second 2017 Review Results video. Parts of his speech were bleeped out, but it implies that “set X” shared some similarities to a “giant [bleep]” that LEGO will introduce soon.
Speculation abounds on which of the six “Second 2017 Review” sets has a coincidental in-house developed counterpart that led to its rejection. The Brick Fan has an interesting theory that maybe “set X” is the “Luke, I am your Father” set design by szabomate90. Why? Hasan’s censored words seem familiar.
A lip reading by the Brick Fan might have it that Hasan was saying “Bespin”. Star Wars fans know that Bespin/Cloud City was the place in Empire Strikes Back that Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader had the fateful encounter. Maybe LEGO Star Wars has a Bespin set incoming?
If true, then this possible set could be a re-imagining of the LEGO Star Wars Cloud City that was released in 2003. It would also be similar to the new Mos Eisley Cantina set (75205) from an earlier 2003 version (4501). It’s only rumors for now, but we’ve been surprised before.
2018 is seeing quite the number of decades-spanning anniversary celebrations related to LEGO. It is 60 years after the approved patenting of the first LEGO brick, and 40 years after the introduction of the modern minifigure models. But what’s one more anniversary? This one’s just as old as the minifigures.
In 1978 LEGO released their set 375, a modest-sized medieval castle of yellow brick walls on a green surface, with a garrison of knights with shield, swords, poleaxes and horses manning the ramparts and riding through the gate. From this individual set arose one of LEGO’s famous themes: LEGO Castle.
Ever since the debut of the first holdfast (375) in 1978, LEGO Castle had added new fortifications, other structures and minifigure characters to build up on that theme at a yearly pace. At least that was back in the heyday of the theme, which eventually died down with the advent of sets from licensed franchises.
There have been several occasions when LEGO tried to either revive the Castle theme or do something unexpected with it. The latter saw the introduction of the Knights’ Kingdom II line that blended medieval and futuristic designs, to a lackluster reception. A more straightforward reboot was attempted in 2007, but the last sets from that revival came out in 2013.
Two years later, LEGO launched a new magical-steam-punk spin on the knights-and-castles thing with NEXO Knights in 2015. Yes, it featured some wacky siege machines and weapons for the knight characters, but it proved popular especially with its tie-in animated series running on Cartoon Network.
Unfortunately, its fifth season this year will be the last, and once it’s done there’s no indication on whether anything majorly related to medieval knights and castles will follow afterwards. Still, with LEGO paying tribute to the fourth decade since the original release of the progenitor Castle set (375), we can hope that the theme will have a new resurgence in the future. Do check back with us every now and then for possible news.
For those LEGO fans with the ways and means to have been there in Billund last December to take part in the Holiday events held at LEGO House, they’ve got something new to look forward to at The Home of the Brick next month. It’s going to be a milestone.
On the last Sunday of January, the 28th, The LEGO Group will celebrate the 60th year to the day when the original LEGO brick patent by Ole Kirk Christiansen was approved. That date was the foundation of a legend in the toy-making industry that led to the rise of the LEGO we know and love.
Therefore there will be a big party to celebrate the occasion at Billund’s LEGO House where all LEGO fans are invited to join the festivities. Even better, LEGO’s in such a generous mood that visitors booking tickets to the Home of the Brick on the official website will receive a 60 Danish Krone price discount.
Check out their official schedule for the 60th Anniversary Party at LEGO House on January 28:
10:00: LEGO House opens.
10:00: Build your own LEGO anniversary model using 60 LEGO 2×4 bricks.
13:45: Preparation for the countdown.
13:58 – 16:00: Congratulations – the LEGO brick turns 60 – enjoy the live music and get some delicious cake.
14:10: Inauguration of the exhibition of LEGO models from each decade, built by skilled AFOLs (adult fans of LEGO). Psst: Notice the clocks…
16:00: LEGO House Experience Zones stays open until 16:00, with all our Play Agents on hand to give you and your family a memorable experience.
If all those special LEGO sets coming out for the 60th year milestone aren’t enough to whet your appetite for the company’s anniversary spirit, then a trip to Billund near the end of January might be the pinnacle of the experience. LEGO House will be waiting for you.
We’re less than 4 months away before the theatrical release of the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Infinity War, and just before this galaxy spanning MCU event takes place on May 4, the official trailer has already become the number 1 trending video over on YouTube in just a matter of days, proving how much fans have patiently waited to see our Marvel heroes face off against their ultimate nemesis. LEGO has already covered much of Avengers: Infinity War, with six sets and four LEGO BrickHeadz specifically built for the film. Check out what we know so far about these sets right here.
Very much the same as that from the comic books, MCU’s Avengers: Infinity War follows the trail of destruction led by the film’s main antagonist, the Mad Titan himself, Thanos, as he seeks to gather the Infinity Stones for his bid of subjugating the entire universe under his command. Such power under his control can only mean the imminent destruction of the universe as we know it – well thankfully, it’s just in the comics.
In honor of this iconic Marvel villain, Tyler and Sean decided to have their next LEGO custom character bust dedicated to the purple-skinned Mad Titan. This newest model in their series of character bust features the classic Thanos as he is seen from the comic books. Check out this video from Build Better Bricks as Tyler explains the details of their latest creation. Just forgive Tyler for the Barnie jokes afterwards.
Tyler and Sean’s use of bright light orange and blue pieces really stood out in this custom LEGO Thanos bust. The way they managed to replicate the Mad Titan’s facial expression, with his trademark oversized chin with all its vertical lines is really spot on. At 5.5 inches tall and 3 inches wide, this custom LEGO character bust managed to capture Thanos’ proportions without sacrificing how he actually looks. As always, I like how Tyler and Sean managed to proportionally shape Thanos’ head in such miniature scale, using only 297 LEGO pieces.
If you wish to add this unique rendition of the ultimate cosmic warlord to your LEGO creations, then be sure to check Build Better Bricks on how to download the instructions for making this custom LEGO Thanos character bust – and then perhaps, you can put a smile on the face of this Mad Titan.
