Calling all LEGO dinosaur lovers! The newest summer wave of LEGO Jurassic World sets is now available in the US and Canada. Several retailers have had these on the shelves already, but they are now directly available from LEGO and include dinos like an Ankylosaurus, Gallimimus, Pteranodon, Velociraptor and Indominus Rex as well as an adorable baby Triceratops and Ankylosaurus. The sets have been available in the UK for a month, but are now available in the US and Canada. Of note, the huge buildable dino of 75936 Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage and 21320 Dinosaur Fossils are also now back in stock. Take a look at each new Jurassic World set now available after the jump. 75941 Indominus Rex vs. Ankylosaurus | 537 piecesUS $99.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £89.99 75940 Gallimimus and Pteranodon Breakout | 391 piecesUS $49.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £54.99 75939 Dr. Wu’s Lab:...

I love a LEGO build with details that make my eyes wander, trying to look for every amazing element and how it’s placed just where it needs to be to give that maximum effect and wow factor. Let’s pick a few of my favourites here from Anthony Wilson’s eye feast of a kitchen creation. First things first, that angled tessellation of the flooring gives it a more natural, less of an “anyone can do that with LEGO” feeling, which sets apart a regular builder from an experienced one. While that fridge and the air-conditioning unit don’t necessarily look like the units I have at home, I immediately knew it was meant to represent Mitsubishi-branded appliances. Not everything needs to replicate real life, but clever ways of bringing out details delight the visual senses. Last but not least, creative uses of elements are not about difficult builds but also about placement instead....

Builder Bart De Dobbelaer gives me the vibe of an artist similar to H.R. Giger, with imaginative creations that are out of this world — alien forms that raise the hair on the back of your neck. This scene seems to be the breeding ground of a mother alien, spawning her offspring and preparing to infest and attack in search of their next meal. I’m not sure who’s actually going to be the next meal though, the hunter or the hunted? It seems so awkward, because the tables have been turned and now the egg-filled mother alien is a delicacy on her own. The post If you can’t beat ’em, maybe just eat ’em? appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Edwinder

Despite a lifelong fascination with archaeology and ancient history — and even a trip through Sinai, Cairo, and Karnak at age 19 — I must admit that Egyptology has never been particularly interesting to me, obsessed as its public portrayal is with glittering treasures and kingship. Nevertheless, I’m reading the excellent The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson right now, in which I find the chaotic Intermediate periods especially fascinating. Koen Zwanenburg is also fascinated with ancient history, and has built this amazing life-sized version of the boy king Tutankhamun’s mask from 16,000 LEGO bricks. The son of the radical Akhenaten, Tutankhamun reigned briefly (ca. 1334 – 1325 BCE) at the end of the 18th Dynasty, and his tomb likely only survived ancient looting because of its modesty, to be discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Koen’s LEGO version is 54 cm tall, 39 cm wide, and 49...

I love racing. Not that I do it myself, but there is something enthralling about watching vehicles (or even just persons or animals) moving at high speeds in a winner-take-all contest. From track meets to Formula 1, NASCAR to podracing, I love watching races (n.b. I don’t actually watch car races, typically, but scenes in movies, like Cars, get me excited). And what goes faster than a car? A spaceship, of course! This small LEGO craft by Tim Goddard looks highly maneuverable, barely fitting a minifigure so that it can squeeze into the small gates that mark the course. The transparent 4×4 dish perfectly complements the windscreen to form a lovely canopy, and the color blocking is superb. Perhaps even better than the raceship is the triangular teal gate, with just the right amount of greebling to balance the smooth curves. And the stickers enhance it all the more. Gentlemen, start...

The next time you are building a warehouse scene, home improvement store, or automobile repair shop, and you want a neat looking forklift, consider taking inspiration from de-marco, who has shared video instructions for this three-wheeled lifter of heavy things. The black protective cage and a transparent orange cone provide great details. The post Build your own plucky little forklift [Instructions] appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Daniel

The summer 2020 Ninjago line contains a lot of big sets, but what if you’re on a budget? Coming in at 401 pieces, 71717 Journey to the Skull Dungeons is currently available, and pretty affordable at US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99. Can it keep up with the excitement present in the rest this wave? Read on and see! Set Contents The box for this set fits in with the over-saturated and busy images shown on the rest of the main 2020 Ninjago line. Inside are three numbered part bags, a 92-page instruction booklet, and a sticker sheet. This set is part of the “Game Experience” group, so there’s also a flier to get you started playing. (For a more in-depth discussion of the game, check out our Skull Sorcerer’s Dungeons review.) The set itself consists of four minifigures and two pieces of “adventure path”. Each section of the...

No, this isn’t a product shot out of an IKEA catalog. This is a LEGO creation by Heikki M. If you’re like me, though, you had to look twice to be sure. The construction may be straight forward, but there are lots of details that really sell this as a human-scale object. The variation on the heights of the candlesticks, the well-chosen seams on the metal shelving, and even the hand-hold of the storage crate match what the eye expects to see. My particular favorite is the potted plant. Those are nested Technic wheels and 3-leaf plants. Recognizing those elements made me realize the smaller-than-actual-size scale of this build, which was a moment of mental adjustment. And let’s not neglect that abstract-art print. Ribbed 1×2 bricks create interesting textures, but still “read” as a flat image thanks to that tiled frame. It’s really clever building all around. This isn’t the first...

The nautilus is one of those amazing creatures both strange and beautiful. With a spiral shell that seems to be a natural manifestation of the golden mean. And when interpreted by Mitsuru Nikaido, this cephalopod takes on an even more usual form, as Mitsuru builds mechanical versions of living creatures. Aside from the many curved sections, and the sprouting tentacles, my favorite detail would have to be the Hero Factory chest piece for eyes. The post A most mysterious mechanical mollusc appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Daniel

Master of brick-built characters Eero Okkonen has shaped this fanciful LEGO samurai, and true to his typical style, has kitted it out with splendid parts usages from top to bottom. While there are many clever building techniques that are worth highlighting, such as the lever bases around the flag on his chest, or the offset cascade of car slopes for the front of the red kusazuri (or skirt armor), in my opinion, the best technique is a very simple one that serves both form and function. The front of the Samurai’s feet are made with two red cheese slopes around a black lamp holder, and the color different would be a problem in most applications. But here it perfectly mimics the split-toed tabi (or socks) of traditional Japanese garb. You can read more about the samurai and how Eero designed it on his website, Cyclopic Bricks. The post The blood moon...