It’s been a few years since we’ve posted a LEGO holiday gift guide, so we’re a bit overdue for a refresh. While the LEGO builder in your life will always appreciate more brick to add to their infinitely expanding collection, thoughtful gift-givers might want to consider these other LEGO-related options, including many under $20. Custom LEGO minifigs & custom building kits We’re big fans of Citizen Brick, Brickmania, BrickArms, and Chris McVeigh here at TBB. Each of these companies and individuals creates unique, innovative LEGO-themed products that LEGO is unlikely to ever produce themselves but that fit seamlessly with our existing LEGO collections. Case in point, LEGO will probably never make The X-Files or Breaking Bad minifigures, but our friends at Citizen Brick have produced “Eks Files” and “Lab Partners” minifigs that match the quality of official LEGO minifigs. With custom pad printing on nearly every element, CB minifigs generally run...

This isn’t the first time that Flickr user de-marco has built a really nifty LEGO garbage truck. Hopefully, this time won’t be the last time either. In the builder’s latest exploration of the genre, there’s a push towards a more avant-garde garbage truck. From the curved sides to the grab rail on the back, this type of vehicle is certainly familiar to any city dweller. What’s that you said? You want instructions for this build so you can make your own? Look no further… The post A gem of a garbage truck [Instructions] appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Matthew Kay

The final battle on the beach of Scarif as seen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a delightful mix of soft sand, blue ocean waves and giant walking AT-ATs stamping palm trees and rebels. German builder speedyhead recreates a small fragment of the scene, however, with a little twist: the diorama was displayed for kids, so the builder included a number of small easter eggs for young audience members to spy. Stormtroopers faced some serious troubles while deploying at the beach – like a wild cougar or Batman on vacation inviting soldiers to have a swim. However, my favourite cameo is a giant Scarif shark, which doesn’t look happy with some Imperial forces invading its home planet! The post Any epic battle looks better on a beach, including Star Wars appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Alexander

Microscale is an interesting LEGO building style for a few reasons. It lets a builder recreate ideas they could not otherwise due to the constraints of their collection or time. It also presents a unique challenge of capturing shapes and textures with only a few pieces, which would be easier (but perhaps less rewarding?) at larger scales. With this water mill by Robert4168/Garmadon, the grass and the front face of the house have the characteristic simple microscale charm, but the house’s left wall, the hill with the cute fence, and especially the thatched roof have a texture to them that even larger scale creations would envy sometimes. The post For milling your tiny grain you need a tiny water mill appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Luka

Welcome to Day 5 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team. If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump and posted in the evening every day, so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. Let’s take a dive into Day 5! For Day 5, we have a mini gingerbread house from City, a Resistance Officer minifigure from Star Wars, and a pink-nosed pug from Friends. Chris: A man, a pug, and a plan to get the gingerbread house he deserves. Starring Liam Neeson. Honestly though, for being made of 12 pieces, that’s a pretty clever little gingerbread house. I think if I opened my Friends calendar on...