PangeaSeed has a new art print from Teagan White. “Kelp Forest” is an 18″ x 24″ screenprint, has an edition of 75, and costs $65. Visit their shop.

The post “Kelp Forest” by Teagan White from PangeaSeed appeared first on OMG Posters!.

This past month we have seen a flurry of 2018 set announcements, including a new wave of LEGO Batman Movie sets with many more villains and Batman outfits. To add to the cavalcade of characters, LEGO has announced a second series of collectible minifigures from the movie.

The 20 unique figures will hit store shelves early next year for $3.99 each. Here they are below, with our initial impressions.

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Mermaid Batman

Starting with the new Batman variants, we see the Dark Knight has been playing a bit with Aquaman, and has sprouted a black mermaid tail, black trident and two tactfully placed seashells.

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Swimming Pool Batman

The second and last Batman sports a dolphin friend (which will be REALLY easy to feel for), a lifeguard’s rescue tube and a speedo. From the picture, we can’t tell if his shirtless torso includes his ninth ab, but we hope so!

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Tropical Joker

Joker is ready for a holiday after his exhausting brush with Batman, bringing along his camera, Ace Chemical popsicle and a sickly green floating duck for some fun at the beach. With a Hawaiian shirt, purple swim trunks and flip-flop sandals, Joker is ready for some fun in the sun. It looks like he has applied a GENEROUS amount of sunscreen too!

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Vacation Robin

Robin is coming along for the vacation too, bringing along an ice cream cone and a boom box to play his theme song of choice, “Fly, Robin Fly!” He is wearing a shirt with a bird pattern as well as green swimming trunks.

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Vacation Alfred

Alfred never leaves home without his collar, even to the beach. He is wearing a striped one-piece bathing suit and appears to have upgraded from his standard Pinot Grigio to a more tropical drink.

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Vacation Batgirl

Batgirl is coming along on vacation and is ready to catch some waves with a themed wet-suit and logo-emblazed surfboard. Surfs up!

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Soccer Mom Batgirl

Batgirl gets a second look, sporting a Batman Fan Club hoodie with pointed ears and sweat pants along with two Bat Bucks tiles. From how much she disliked this look from the Merch Gun in the movie, we are delightfully surprised that it is part of the new minifigure series.

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Friends are Family Alfred

Alfred has a second look in the series which we predict will be one of the most sought-after minifigures in the series. Wearing a white tux and tails with a gold vest and tie as well as electric guitar, this Alfred minifigure is straight out of the “Friends are Family” music number form the end of the movie. While we were disappointed that this figure was not included with the massive 70922 Joker Manor, we are happy to see that it will widely accessible.

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Friends are Family Harley Quinn

Rounding out the white-clad “Friends are Family” minifigures, we have Harley Quinn in a white jacket and tutu with gold and silver accessories. We hope there is an extra gold and silver roller skate element each in the bag, but we aren’t getting our hopes up.

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General Zod

As Superman’s biggest enemy, General Zod comes with a robe and a witty Gotham Gazette printed newspaper tile that reads, “Kneel Before Zod… in polls. Candidate Kneel wins on platform: Will Not Enslave Humanity.” Hopefully he won’t get tired of reading about his defeat as there is very little reading material in the Phantom Zone.

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Jor-el

The father of Superman is looking better than ever in his Fortress of Solitude memory crystal garb, including flowing robes, white hair with the traditional Superman curl and even a printed 1×1 round tile with a symbol that means hope…I mean Superman.

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Clock King

One of the most hilarious parts of the LEGO Batman Movie happened when the Joker listed off his gallery of rogue villains. None stood out more than perhaps Condiment King (available next year in 70920 Egghead Mech Food Fight) and Clock King. The villain comes with non-gingerbread man circular head with printed clock face (hehe) as well as an entire themed clock outfit, green cape and two spears.

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Killer Moth

The next villain in the series is Killer Moth who disappointingly is very similar to the Killer Moth minfigure in 76069 Mighty Micros: Batman vs. Killer Moth. Featuring the same green helmet with antennae, orange wings and slightly updated torso, the most exciting part of this minifigure is his golden gun, previously only available in light grey.

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Doctor Phosphorus

In the comics, Doctor Phosphorus is a radioactive super-villain whose body chemistry was changed in an accident to phosphorus, meaning that he burns and lights up continually. In minifgure form, he is a black skeletal form printed onto either a yellowish green or glow-in-the-dark body parts (we hope it is the latter) with two flame pieces in trans florescent green, a new color for that part.

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Professor Hugo Strange

One of the first villains to discover Batman’s true identity, Doctor Hugo Strange comes in minifigure form with spot-on face printing and grey neck beard as well as two flasks containing very Joker-like colors.

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Black Vulcan

Moving on from villains to Super Friends, Black Vulcan comes with a newly printed Flash helmet and black and yellow torso, The two electricity bolts generates are also a new coloring, never before being available in trans yellow.

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Black Canary

Another superhero included in the series is Black Canary, whose sonic scream attack looks to be augmented by a microphone She has a blonde hairpiece and is wearing a blue jacket and fishnet stockings.

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Apache Chief

Apache Chief looks incredibly like his Super Friends counterpart. A Native American superhero, he was infamously added to the Hanna-Barbera show along with Black Vulcan to increase the number of non-white heroes. He comes with a printed 1×4 tile featuring a photo booth sheet where apparently he was photobombed by a monkey.

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Wonder Twin Jayna

Straight from the Justice League anniversary party, the Wonder Twins are ready to rock. Jayna comes with a purple outfit and collar, with a vinyl record of the “Top 24 Part Songs.” Though powerless without her twin in the comics, when the two are in contact they can transform into nearly anything.

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Wonder Twin Zan

Finally we have the other Wonder twin, Zan. Thankfully Zan comes with a slightly different torso print, spot on with his animated Super Friends counterpart. He also has a purple color, and comes with a bucket of water because one of his abilities when touching his twin Jayna and shouting “Wonder Twin powers activate!” is to transform into water in any state.

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What do you think of the second LEGO Batman Movie Collectible Minifigure Series? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The post Second wave of LEGO Batman Movie collectible minifigures revealed [News] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

The second wave of The LEGO Ninjago Movie tie-in sets were released on the 1st Dec,  and now we are taking a look at of one of the larger sets, 70656 garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON!  Garmadon Shark Mech set was first seen back at SDCC and the movie version featured in the official trailer, safe to say that this set has been eagerly awaited.  garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON! has 830 pieces, six minifigures, rated ages 9-14 and is priced at £79.99 / $79.99 / 79.99€ (which equates to 9.6p / 9.6c / 9.6c per piece).

The Box and what’s inside

The front box art has already been revealed and shows Garmadon Shark Mech moving in on its prey of a hot dog stand with a side of innocent civilians.

The rear of the box shows the opposite of Garmadon Shark Mech about to munch on the hotdog stall or its vendor, with the play features detailed at the bottom.  In addition, the size of the final mech model is detailed just in case the model is smaller than expected after seeing The LEGO Ninjago Movie (more on that later).

The 830 pieces are split across six numbered bags with a small sticker sheet and one 147-page instruction booklet.

stickers Stickers STICKERS!

There are no special printed parts in this set but sadly we get a sticker sheet! I have to admit that I found the ‘hazard’ black and yellow stripes a challenge to place straight onto the round parts. Luckily the stickers do permit a quick strip off and try again if you are quick. I imagine the average 9-14 year old will also find the 6 hazard stripes stickers to be a bit of a pain to put on. I really wish the ‘HOT noodle DOG’ and the ‘HOT’ signs from the ‘hot noodle dog’ stand had been printed as I much prefer printed parts for aesthetic reasons and also for use in other builds.

Just over 100 out the the 830 pieces in this set are Sand Blue in colour. This is not a common colour by LEGO standards and there are a host of nice new parts used exclusively for Garmadon Shark Mech. I was happy to see that Garmadon chose Sand Blue as the uniform colour for his army and equipment, much better than choosing a bluish grey or a cheery, uplifting Azure. The full compliment of Sand Blue parts used in this set makes for a nice collection.

Minifigures.

There are six minifigures in this set; Garmadon, Lloyd, Hammer Head, Frank, Nomis and Nancy. As the two lead characters who face-off numerous times in the movie, it’s good to have both Lloyd and Garmadon in the set.

Garmadon is not wearing his dark blue cloth robe here as it would be a health and safety risk (not to mention a tight squeeze) inside his submarine mech.  He has the same single sided head with some nice armour printing and muscular lower torso at the back. I think it would be good to see some muscles on the upper torso to match as it looks a bit odd to only have one torso with back printing.

Lloyd has the same double sided head print as appears in other tie-in sets  e.g. 70612 Green Ninja Mech Dragon and 70618 Destiny’s Bounty. His torso is different however, as it is plain black with the green and gold highlights and Master Wu insignia on the back.

Garmadon’s hench man Hammerhead has the hammerhead shark headdress with electronic panel showing three bars.  His torso is the Sand Blue uniform of Garmadon’s army and his single-sided head print is an effective villainous face that also appeared in 70614 Lightning Jet.

Frank is Garmadon’s rear gunner in the Shark Mech with his Dark Orange knitted hat, this minifigure also came with two other tie-in sets; 70616 Ice Tank and 70611 Water Strider.

Nomis wears the same, cumberland cumbersome hotdog costume as appeared in CMF Series 13 along with the Medium Blue legs and Tan torso. He has a double-sided head that has a nice AAAAhhhhhh expression  on the reverse as well as his rather aggressive looking vendor face.

Nancy sports a great, exclusive torso that has a white tshirt underneath with the M-Tron logo.  Previous nods to past LEGO themes have appeared with a Galidor shirt worn by Mother Doomsday in 70620 Ninjago City and, if you cast your mind back to 70813 Rescue Reinforcements from The LEGO Movie, both Blacktron and Fabuland featured on minifigure torsos. Her head has two smiles that are mainly obscured by her large external dental braces – a  first for a minifigure.

Hotdog Stand

The first part fo the set to be built is actually my favourite part of this set overall.  The little mobile hotdog stand is a simple but cute little build. The comedy oversized hotdog and bun shaped roof will definitely appeal to adults and children alike. It has a grill, condiments and some marketing flags and signs to attract customers.

In terms of play features, obviously it can roll along on its wheels and has two little doors that open to reveal a hot dog and bun storage area. I like the noodle tile but it would have been much better printed rather than a sticker.

The only gripe I have with the hotdog stand is small thing, when the hotdog vendor is pushing his stall the marketing flag hits his head.  I think wearing a large hotdog costume must be uncomfortable enough,  but to add insult to injury, the flag is continually slapping him on the head.

The Main Build

Garmadon Shark Mech is clearly the main part of this set and the classic shark mouth and teeth are amongst the first thing to be built.  The hinged jaw becomes an important play feature later on in the build when Technic parts are added to power the movement.

There is a Black Double Conical Wheel Z36 (Design ID 32498) on either side of the mech that opens and closes the jaw when turned in either direction and this action forms the main play feature of the model.

Garmadon Shark Mech has two legs with feet that  are raptorial,  more like talons of a bird of prey rather than the legs and feet of a shark. The actual legs do not articulate, only the plates at the bottom which means that it is actually stable but not particularly pose-able. The shark mech has a tendency to ‘bounce’ a little when operating the play features but it does not fall over thanks to those feet.

The he two Technic  Competition Cannons are placed with the Technic arrows forming the Shark Mech’s main offensive weapon (other than its close combat jaws of course).

There are some nice features built into Garmadon Shark Mech that help to combine  the mech with the shark. The moveable gills on either side look great and the key shark components of dorsal fin, pectoral fins, caudal fin and massive mouth with jaws are all present.  I love the submarine effect of the front cockpit roof with the periscope, and the locking wheel on the hatch is a nice touch.

Garmadon Shark Mech features 2 opening minifigure cockpits.  The rear cockpit has a transparent bubble windscreen, namely the Transparent Dome Ø32 (Design ID 86500) which is a rare part that is only in two other sets 8037  Anakin’s Y Wing from 2009 and 70629 Piranha Attack.

Both Garmadon and Frank fit nicely into their cockpits although Garmadon is completely hidden once his hatch goes on top.  There’s an opening weapon compartment with space for two katanas inside and you can also slot a total of four katanas into the pectoral fins (you can see one slotted into position below).

Final Thoughts

It’s probably worth addressing scale at this point.  The shark model appeared in the very first The LEGO Ninjago Movie trailer and it is huge.  To release this version of Garmadon Shark Mech as a set would mean another entry into the top 5 largest sets released I imagine.

The Garmadon Shark Mech in the set is significantly smaller at 25cm (9.8 inches) tall and 38cm (14.9 inches) long.  While I wasn’t disappointed with the size of the shark mech, there’s really not much inside in terms of space or play other than fitting the minifigures inside.  This seems a to be a missed opportunity since it is a submarine mech and command centre.

In my view, the stand-out positive about the minifigures are the two civilian heads with some great features like the braces and the expressions.   I imagine the M-Tron torso will also make Nancy a popular character as these little nods to bygone LEGO themes are fantastic.

A top prize for a fun little build goes to the hot dog stand. So what if the flag twats the vendor on the head, I love the comedy aspect of the oversize hotdog and bun.

Finally, a moment to think about price.  As someone based in the UK, I think £79.99 seems a lot for this set but perhaps $79.99 seems more reasonable to US-based fans.  I have a feeling that The LEGO Ninjago Movie tie-in sets will be reduced in the future,  perhaps hold out for a sale price if you have the patience.

The post The LEGO NINJAGO Movie 70656 Garmadon, Garmadon, Garmadon [Review] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

After writing our review of the giant shark-mech 70656 garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON! from The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Elspeth De Montes was inspired to transform the shark into the most famous one of all. I mean, of course, the great white from Jaws, and Garmadon’s shark seems well suited to the role once the un-shark-like feet are removed. Add in the the back half of the Orca and some waves, and this vignette already has me humming duuuun dun…. duuuun dun…. duuuun dun….

The post We’re going to need a bigger boat appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

If you have never heard of Barthezz Brick before, I will not blame you. But after this recent creation of his, “A Cold Day in Hell,” there will be no excuse for that! We rarely feature custom minifigures, which seem to be Barthezz’s strongest point, so there is no surprise he has stayed under the radar for most LEGO fans, but now he has made a definite breakthrough into more widely popular themes.

Not a single stud of space is wasted on this diorama, with a busy crime scene at the ground level and details on every single building, on every level — including the roof.

There is a great atmosphere about this build, achieved by imperfect angles, dense textures, a muted colour scheme and further facilitated by the background and excellent photography. Not even the ground of the diorama is wasted, with wires running all the way through and the road spilling out of the borders.

There is no denying that there is a larger world to this, but it is also obvious that the depicted crime scene is probably the most interesting event going on in the vicinity. If cutting and gluing LEGO bricks is your worst nightmare, I suggest not looking too closely, but in any other instance, you probably should. The builder also hints that there may be a way of solving the mystery on the diorama…

The post Murder in Dead End alley appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

While most of these sold out at the show, we wanted to share a post collecting every new poster Mondo released at SDCC this month. We will keep you posted if anything goes online. Until then, enjoy!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Variant) by Ken Taylor:

Legion (Variant) by Marc Aspinall:

Guardians of the Galaxy by Matt Taylor:

Frankenstein (Variant) by Francesco Francavilla:

The Witch (Variant) by Becky Cloonan:

Samurai Jack (Variant) by Tom Whalen:

The Dark Knight by Rory Kurtz:

Beauty and the Beast (Variant) by Oliver Barrett:

Hot Fuzz (Variant) by Jock:

Jaws (Variant) by Phantom City Creative:

Garindan by Mike Mitchell:

2001: A Space Odyssey (Foil Variant) by Kevin Tong:

Labyrinth (Variant) by Richey Beckett:

The Flash by César Moreno:

Attack on Titan (Variant) by Matt Taylor:

Rakka by Matt Ryan Tobin:

Castlevania (Variant) by Sachin Teng:

Contra by Eric Powell:

Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai:

The post A Full Recap of Every Poster Mondo Released at SDCC appeared first on OMG Posters!.

As if the forthcoming NINJAGO Movie wasn’t already exciting enough, LEGO has been blowing us away with all the related sets and minifigs — none more so than the completely jaw-dropping 4867-piece 70620 NINJAGO City. Well now LEGO has released a video in which the set’s designers give us an in-depth, bottom-up, overview of this amazing modular set and its many, many, many, many cool little details!

The set is available September 1st and will retail for USD$299 / £259.99. And look out for a thorough review of it right here on The Brothers Brick in the very near future!

The post LEGO designers offer an in-depth look at 70620 NINJAGO City [News] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

Do you enjoy the soothing sounds of moving water? How about the clatter of LEGO crystals jostling together? If so, you’ll love Jarren Harkema‘s perpetual-motion style fountain. Jarren says his creation was inspired by M.C. Escher’s Waterfall lithograph, which depicts water flowing uphill .

The crystal fountain’s gravity-defying effect was achieved by using two Power Functions L-Motors and six ladders held together with 40 gears. To see the fountain in action, check out the video below.

The post A gravity-defying LEGO waterfall appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

flourish:

My best friend as a child has issues of Witchblade. Her parents bought it for her? Maybe. She has video games too, other things that I am allowed to engage with at other people’s houses but that I am not encouraged to bring home.

I love the sexy, powerful women in it. I don’t know that I want to be them, but I want to look at them forever. I don’t know how to get more issues. I know my mother wouldn’t approve.

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I’m in high school. My best online friend is involved in scans_daily, and I’ve seen how much she loves superhero comics. I want to get into comics so I can talk with her about them.

Keep reading

This is extremely great

Who’s the King of the Toybox? Well, I think we can answer that now. nobu-tary‘s latest LEGO mechanoid/hardsuit creation is a typically beefy beast, but tricked-out in an atypical colour scheme, accented with the use of Duplo bricks. I like the air of comic menace this thing is lugging around.

Don’t miss the rear view, with the Collectible Minifigure retro-style rocket put to excellent use as a jetpack — a perfect fit for the overall aesthetic.

Whilst I love the model, can we maybe see LEGO mechs adopting a different pose? That whole “chin down, hips forward” stance thing is becoming something of a trope — the cyberpunk equivalent of steampunk’s brown.

The post Super-Duper Duplo Mech appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

While LEGO Ninjago fans are still busy eyeing the freshly published pictures of the upcoming sets meticulously planning expenses for the rest of the year, it’s hard to imagine a better moment for one of the hugest announcements of the year: jaw-dropping 70620 NINJGAGO City. This newly revealed set contains 4,867 pieces; while price isn’t confirmed, we believe it will retail for somewhere near USD $299. The set contains 16 minifigures, including some of your favorite ninjas along with citizens of NINJAGO city. No release date is available yet, but we’ll be sure to let you know!

Update:
LEGO has now confirmed the set will retail for $299 in the USA, and £259.99 in the UK, and will be available beginning September 1. Early access to VIP members is likely mid-August.

The post LEGO Ninjago 70620 NINJAGO City set revealed [News] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

You may remember Alex Jones‘ amazing LEGO Transformers that we featured in action recently. Now Alex has teamed up with builder Joachim Klang to create a book called Tips for Kids: Transformers: Cool Projects for your LEGO Bricks. In this preview for the book, which is scheduled for release in July, we see a Medi-bot repairing one of the Autobots with help from Teletraan I, the semi-sentient computer that runs the Autobots’ spaceship and base of operations, the Ark.

Much like his other builds, the attention to detail here is magnificent. A fantastic creation enhanced with creative lighting and a little Photoshop editing around that pink holobrick. All these ingredients help to bring the robots in disguise to life in LEGO form. If you want to see more of these wonderful images, good news: the book will have over 200 pages, and is available for pre-order right now.

The post Transformer assembly line appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

Michael Hacker has two new prints in shop. His Descendents concert poster is a 35cm x 50cm screenprint, with an edition of 120, and will be available in his shop on June 9th. His “Creatures of the Night” for skin cancer awareness is a 50cm x 70cm glow in the dark screenprint, costs 75,00 € and is available from SpotTheDot.org. Those that back Hacker’s Kickstarter for his book “Pizzeria Disgusto” will receive an art print that won’t be available to non-backers. For more information visit his shop.

The post New Posters by Michael Hacker (Onsale Info) appeared first on OMG Posters!.

LEGO has just revealed full details and images of its latest addition to the LEGO Ideas range of fan-created sets: 21310 Old Fishing Store, based on a design by Dutch builder Robert Bontenbal. The set contains 2049 bricks and will be available from September 1st, 2017 for a recommended retail price of USD 149.99 / EURO 149.99 / GBP 139.99. Official set description and box shots are included below. Get your hooks and lines ready to reel in this beauty in the Fall!

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Find all the gear you need for a fantastic fishing trip at the Old Fishing Store! Walk up the steps from the beach into the shop selling fishing rods, hooks, harpoons, diving equipment, oxygen tanks and much more. Climb the ladder to the top of the watchtower and look through the telescope to enjoy the view. Then relax and read the newspaper in the office. Just make sure the cat or seagulls don’t eat the freshly caught fish hanging outside!

The Old Fishing Store is ideal for display and role-play, this model has 2 removable roofs, an opening back wall in the shop for easy access, 4 minifigures, cat and 3 seagull figures, as well as loads of other cool details and elements to fire up the imagination.

Don’t miss our interview with the LEGO Ideas design team behind this new set!

The post LEGO Ideas 21310 Old Fishing Store revealed [News] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

We are all born winners. Right from the start, we can say that we have won our first race. Kosmas Santosa has captured that first race in nature in LEGO using the Panel 4 x 4 x 13 Curved Tapered with Clip at Each End to shape the little swimmers’ heads. The grayscale palette and some nice lighting really help these fun little guys look their best on their big day.

The post A natural selection of LEGO parts appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

I have expressed in the past — oh, one, two, three, four, five, or perhaps 500 times — my adoration of cakes where the layers are thin and many and you have my word that one day, I will get to all of them so please tell me about your favorite here and now. For many years, I fiddled with ways to make cake layers thinner and thinner until I probably exasperated everyone, so it was just in the nick of time that I realized if I began with cookie-ish layers (say, soft macaroons or icebox cookies the size of cakes), and filled them with something fluffy that would soften them into “cakes” (whipped cream and its variants), it got easy enough that we could make them more often, which, after all, is the goal. Cookies aren’t limited by the number or size of your cake pans. Cookies can break and still stack into an excellent cake.

Read more »

Marc Aspinall teamed up with Black Dragon Press for his incredibly thoughtful poster for Dancer in the Dark. It is an 18″ x 24″ screenprint, an edition of 55, and costs £50. It goes up Friday, May 19th at 3pm BST. Visit Black Dragon Press.

The post Dancer in the Dark by Marc Aspinall for Black Dragon Press (Onsale Info) appeared first on OMG Posters!.

Dark Hall Mansion recently released this poster for King Kong by Chris Thornley (Raid71). It’s a 24″ x 36″ screenprint, has an edition of 280, and costs $65. The variant has an edition of 50 and costs $95. Visit DarkHallMansionStore.com.

The post King Kong Poster by Chris Thornley (Raid71) appeared first on OMG Posters!.

While most mechs stand on two feet and resemble a humanoid shape, builder David Liu explores a new subject with an unexpected mech in the form of a lobster! It’s more likeable than one might expect, especially because it has a tiny lobster as a pilot and a cannon mount to blast anything into smithereens. In this case, Batman and his plate full of lettuce and butter are the target!

The build looks great from all angles, and I must say that even the detailing on the underside looks exceptional.

Fun fact: Most lobsters are depicted as having eight legs (including the claws) just like the above mech, but to be anatomically accurate, they do actually have 10 legs.

The post Lobsters will finally have their revenge against Thermidor appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

We’ve recently featured a sci-fi diorama sporting some nice portals, but this diorama by I Scream Clone places portals in a very different theme indeed. Both of these were built for a loosely connected collaborative project named “Portals” presented during the Sydney Brick Show. The builder brings an oldschool castle diorama to the table, with some very good structures, but mostly simple landscaping that helps the portals stand out even better. I wonder, are these dioramas really connected…

The post I want to discover the secret path a bird delivered into my heart appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

One of my favorite custom LEGO kits of all time is Chris McVeigh’s Mac, but German programmer Jannis Hermanns has gone one step farther by building a tiny Apple Macintosh classic case from LEGO around a Rasperry Pi Zero with an e-paper display and Wi-Fi running Docker.

Jannis says in his blog post that he designed the case in LEGO Digital Designer, ordered the bricks (upon which he performed some rather shocking customizations to fit the display), and inserted the electronics he’d programmed himself.

The whole thing — LEGO, e-paper display, Rasperry Pi, power supply, and Apple stickers — cost barely over $100, and Jannis provides detailed instructions on his website if you want to build your own.

The post Tiny LEGO Mac built from Rasperry Pi with e-paper display appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

Malaysian builder Shirley Yoong brings us this amazing Modular-style LEGO store. Built with a yellow and black theme, it features an almost classical Art Deco grand facade. It feels as though it were a residence, such as an apartment building, now transformed into a modern store with steps leading up to the front entrance. Consisting of approximately 3,000 bricks, it’s sized to be placed amongst the official LEGO Modular series like Assembly Square, and the builder says it took roughly a month to design.

It’s not just a pretty facade, though. The interior is packed from top to bottom with details.

From the outside, the second and third levels feature unique display windows that protrude out from the main facade. At the top of the building is a representation of LEGO’s unofficial Brickley green dragon mascot.

Before we peek inside, the back of the store features a storeroom and loading dock, including some nice detailing of air conditioning compressors.

The inside of the store room contains brown cartons filled with LEGO stock. I love those simple, cute, custom LEGO stickers.

Stepping into the store of the ground level reveals a Pick-a-brick wall together with shelves of Modular theme sets. A cashier counter is also placed at the entrance.

The second floor features shelves of sets from various themes, each bearing a meticulously scaled-down version of the box art, applied as a custom sticker.

These tiny Creator buckets are just perfect since, of course, the real sets come in giant yellow brick-shaped containers.

The top floor consists of a play zone similar to ones found in many physical retail stores. Just in case you missed it, LEGO store staff dressed in black are positioned throughout the store manning the various sections, and each has a unique name on their chest, just like the official “minifigure business cards” that LEGO issues to many of their staff.

The post Custom Modular features amazingly detailed LEGO store sprawling across 3 floors appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

Mondo has added Colossal by Akiko Stehrenberger in their shop. It’s a 24″ x 36″ screenprint, has an edition of 175, and will cost $45. Visit Mondotees.com

The post Colossal by Akiko Stehrenberger from Mondo appeared first on OMG Posters!.

LEGO has revealed the first set for the upcoming Wonder Woman film (in theaters June 2): 76075 Wonder Woman Warrior Battle. The set gives us the first glimpse of Ares, one of Wonder Woman’s antagonists. This set will have 286 pieces, and will be available May 1. The price has not yet been confirmed.

The post LEGO reveals 76075 Wonder Woman Warrior Battle [News] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

Mondo will release Personal Shopper by Tula Lotay tomorrow. It’s a 16″ x 24″ screenprint, has an edition of 125, and will cost $40. These go up tomorrow (Tuesday, March 21st) at a random time. Visit Mondotees.com.

The post Personal Shopper by Tula Lotay from Mondo (Onsale Info) appeared first on OMG Posters!.

Last month, we went to New York Toy fair to bring you the first images of 71042 Silent Mary when LEGO unveiled their latest Pirates of the Caribbean tie-in set, 71042 Silent Mary, and now we’re pleased to bring you this exclusive early review of the set.  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and is due for release on 26 May, 2017. Although the official trailer for the movie features the Silent Mary, Armando Salazar’s ghost ship, there may be some very minor spoilers below.

LEGO 71042 Silent Mary has 2,294 parts and  is due for release to LEGO VIP members on 17 March, 2017 priced at $199.99/£179.99/199,99 € and is listed for ages 14+. The Silent Mary isn’t quite the largest ship LEGO has made, though she does impressively measure over 18” (48cm) high with the main mast in vertical position, and 26” (68cm) long and 8” (22cm) wide. She’s just over 14” (36cm) wide with the main mast collapsed. To give you a comparison, a largest LEGO ship is 10210 Imperial Flagship, which measures 29.5” (75 cm) long and 23.6” (60 cm) tall. 4184 The Black Pearl is a bit smaller, coming in at 21” (53cm) long, 20” (50cm) tall and 5” (12cm) wide.

Box & Instructions

Silent Mary comes in a suitably dark and intimidating box, with no bright colours visible on this packaging aside from the LEGO logo. The front box image shows the Silent Mary’s bow opening with poor Captain Jack Sparrow and crew looking rather anxious in their little row boat, surrounded by ghost sharks. It is worth noting the comedy annotation Ship does not float on the bottom right of the box.

The rear image show the Silent Mary and her crew, and highlights the hinged opening of the bottom of the ship, the collapsing main mast, and some of the minifigures in action.

Surprisingly, there are no stickers in this set. Admittedly, there are not many printed parts either, but I am very happy about the lack of stickers, which are always tedious to apply. In the box are 16 bags of parts numbered 1-13 (clearly some have the same number) including a bag containing the fabric sails, which are packed with a cardboard backing to keep them in pristine condition. The instructions are contained within a single thick 263-page booklet.

The 263-page instruction booklet contains a short bio for each of the minifigures  and an image of their respective characters from the movie.

There are a few small images at the back which demonstrate the play features in this ship; the hull splits open and the bow of the ship raises up. The main mast can also be rotated and placed into a collapsed position, while the two ghost sharks can be deployed from the underside of the opened hull.

The only other non-instructional page in the booklet is an image of what appears to be the concept art for the Silent Mary, and I imagine this is what the LEGO designers used when creating this model.

Minifigures

The Silent Mary contains eight minifigures: Captain Jack Sparrow, Henry, Carina, Lieutenant Lesaro, Captain Salazar, Officer Magda, Officer Santos and the Silent Mary Masthead.

The ghost pirates are without a doubt some of the coolest minifigures I have seen for a while. Both Captain Salazar and Officer Santos have transparent heads that have suitably scary printed faces and ghost-like features. Captain Salazar has an awesome printed outfit and wears black epaulettes to complete the look. I do have to own up to accidently putting his hair on the wrong way in the image above. However, I have made up for my mistake by correcting his hairdo for the rest of the images!

Officers Santos and Magda have the similar light grey torsos, which are similar in style to the dark tan one worn by Lieutenant Lesaro and Salazar’s dark grey one. In addition Officer Santos has a printed transparent right leg. Officer Magda uses the same ghostlike base as the spectre from the Collectible Minifigures Series 14. Lieutenant Lesaro has a printed hat whilst Captain Salazar has the best windblown hair LEGO has made to date. I love this hairpiece.

Captain Jack Sparrow, Carina, and Henry are our ghost pirate fighting trio. Captain Jack Sparrow is supplied with a transparent bottle with a black image of The Black Pearl printed on one side, which also appeared in a few sets from the previous Pirates of the Caribbean sets. While his torso is similar to the one that came with most of the 2011 POTC sets, the lower buckle is more decorative. In addition, his dark red bandana has a different pattern, although the beaded dreadlock remains the same. Oddly, the flesh colour of Jack Sparrow’s bare chest looks particular pale, especially when compared to Carina’s flesh chest. It remains to be seen if this is a common design/printing issue or a one-off mistake that we’ve have been unlucky enough to find in our review copy.

Carina has a light aqua dress with a corset printed on the front and back of the torso, as well as printed pleats at the front of her dress. Her arms are plain light aqua, which will excite those monochrome minifigure collectors, since I believe this is the first time light aqua arms have been featured in a minifigure. Carina also carries a book with front printing and some mathematical angles and sums printed inside—I believe she is a clever lass with an interest in astronomy, mathematics, and time. Finally we have young Henry with his Olive Green legs and a waistcoat with open-necked shirt. All three have double-sided head printing.

Finally, we have the Silent Mary Masthead, whom I imagine is Mary herself. She is a dark bluish grey minifigure with a hood, and she holds a sword and round shield. She also has double-sided head printing showing a snarl on one side and a frozen, emotionless look on the other. Her torso is also printed on both sides depicting tattered clothing.

Fabric Sails

The fabric sails are supplied in 2 sizes and are the same softer, slightly stretchy fabric as Batman’s cape in The LEGO Batman Movie sets. Silent Mary is a ghost ship so it makes sense that her sails are in suitably ragged order, and in truth they actually do look and feel fantastic. The three larger sails are 22 studs wide and the five smaller sails 13 studs wide.

Ghost Sharks

Two ghost sharks are included in the set, and they are obviously a new mould based on the 2008 large shark design. The sharks have removable upper jaws that are a hinged joint when attached, allowing some scary shark moments. Their teeth are dark tan, and they have a printed eye and some ‘degenerative scarring’ on each side of their heads. The sharks have a 2×3 attachment area on the bottom and 2 studs on the top of the head. They attach to the underside of the hull in an upside down position, via the third of the three Technic pin holes,  and can rotate in and out of the hull.

The First Boat

The first thing to be built in the instruction manual is the little row boat that provides a meagre transportation vessel for Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew consisting of Henry and Carina. A simple seat and lantern are added along with a couple of oars and voila—ships away.

The Main Build

The build starts with the main deck of the ship rather than the hull…well…because in this particular ghost ship, there is not really a hull in the truest sense. As with most large ships (including the starship variety), the main frame of the ship and its hinged hull are built from Technic beams.  The hinges used are 4 sets of the very strong Flex Joint 6M, Ø24, which can be seen on the front of this initial layout.

As a few additional steps are added, you can begin to see the construction of the main play feature—the hinged bow that can be raised along with the opening hull sides—and how this will allow the bow to be raised. Already, the dark tan wedges and olive green tiles are being placed, and this theme continues for the whole deck area. Worn wood, seaweed, and water damage are definitely going to be running themes.

The building of Silent Mary’s bell helps to orientate the whole build early on and is a nice little side step after the main Technic stage of the central deck is complete. At first I was concerned that I was building a Technic digger rather than a ship, so placing the bell helps to focus the mind once more.

All that glitters…

The decorative aspect of this build starts early on with the bow of the ship, so I will go ahead and mention the gold at this stage of the review.  There are 243 pearl gold parts in this set (not including spares) and 124 of these are 1×1 Round Plates. The 243 parts are spread across the 16 different elements shown in the image below. There are also 3 metallic gold parts – two 1×1 slopes and one 2×2 dish. All of these parts are used as decorative features and they really look fantastic when mixed with the darker, sea-worn structures as the build progresses.

As I mentioned, the pearl-gold-fest really starts in earnest at the bow, when the two hoses form the forepeak to define the shape of the bow. The circular decorative features with the 2×2 round dome atop are very nicely designed, especially the inverted lower portion, which includes the pearl gold triple slopes. If you notice the pearl gold ‘telescope’ pieces you will see that one in missing and has a 1×1 round plate in its stead. A key aspect of this model is decaying elements, so throughout the build there are numerous asymmetrical elements.

The central deck is next, where the main feature is the canons.  I love that these are brick-built and that each can be raised and lowered to aim. The inset in the image below shows the simple structure of each cannon.

The Silent Mary is a Ghost Ship that has clearly suffered a hard time after crashing into some rocks and sinking (according to the trailer I linked to in the introduction). Building a damaged ship is an interesting experience, since as I mentioned there are so many differences in the left and right sides of the structures, and even gaps with parts apparently missing.  For example, in the small structure that forms part of the outer wall of the quarterdeck, you can see that there are gaps, seemingly randomly placed plates, and even what appears to be a missing Pearl Gold 1×1 round plate on the top. I had to keep checking that I haven’t missed a step, while reminding myself that this is a decaying and damaged ghost ship, not a pirate ship.

Where is the Hull?

As any observer could note, the Silent Mary is not exactly watertight. The rather tenuous hull means that she requires a little help to keep her in a standing position. The main stand sits at the rear with another centered in the middle and a removable one under the bow. The bow stand is easily removed since in the raised position, a stand becomes redundant. The 10×10 transparent dishes of the two main stands easily bear the main weight of the ship to hold it steady (however, moving it is a different matter).

The rear stand is then built into the rest of the ship where the rudder is connected to the hull. The little flashes of Sand Green look great as some seaweed or algae attached to the ship. The rudder can freely move to each side.

There are six hull sections to build, and each follows a variation on the portion shown below. They all attach to the main frame of the ship via a Modified 1×2 Plate with bar (or two), which allows it to swing open. In addition, each black arch is also hinged and can swing open individually, like claws grabbing an incoming vessel. More canons poke through the gunports across the entire length of the ship through the damaged hull. The portions are incomplete if considered to be a hull in the usual sense but this is a decaying and damaged ghost ship, not a pirate ship.

The quarterdeck and the Captain’s cabin are impressive, with plenty of decoration and decay. The Captain’s cabin has a door, but it’s not really a play feature since literally the door opening is the only part that can be accessed and the interior is a decorative, structural frame.

Putting all of the sections together is very satisfying. The Silent Mary is a great-looking damaged, decaying ship. Once the hinged hull is in position and the quarterdeck placed on the the main frame, it is clear that this ship is a looker, and just needs sails. The first sail to be placed is the bonaventure sail upon the bonaventure-mast with its little top-castle in position.

At this stage, it’s easy to raise the bow and demonstrate the action of opening the hull at the front of the ship. The flex joints can be raised two clicks to about a 35 degree angle as shown.  There are quite a few parts that have the potential to be flicked off if the wrong part of a hinged portion is grabbed for leverage. The horizontal reddish brown plate is the sturdiest part to use, but it’s easy to catch one of the black arched ‘claws’ by accident.

The mizzen mast and main masts are then built and placed, with the mizzen mast having a ball and socket attachment, turning it into an unruly affair. LEGO call this mast the main mast, but my research leads me to believe that it’s actually a mizzen mast, since it sits closer to the stern. Regardless of its name, it really isn’t keen to stay in an upright position, so usually it’s best to let the Silent Mary to have her way and allow the mizzen mast to rotate into a collapsed position—very messy, but remember this is a damaged and decaying ghost ship, not a pirate ship.

The completed ship has the two large masts, a collapsed foremast and the bonaventure mast all in position. They all have a bit of a ‘mind-of-their-own’, and as you can see from the images, the top sails rotate in their horizontal position quite easily, while the ball & socket joint really wants to collapse in position. It was easier to just let the mast collapse that try to find the sweet spot where it would balance in an upright position. It may seem like it’s falling apart, but this is a decaying and damaged ghost ship, not a pirate ship.

I have included a few close-ups of the open and closed hull and the ghost sharks in position below, plus a view of the underside, as this is not a view you’ll see in official images. The main word that comes to mind when activating the play feature is messy. When the hull is closed, the ship looks so much better, but I understand that this is the main play feature, and indeed the whole concept behind the Silent Mary.

Summary

I understand there will be fans of ships and fans of pirates who will be very disappointed that this is a ghost ship and seems to be missing a hull. Have I mentioned that I think that it is really important to remember that this is a decaying and damaged ghost ship, not a pirate ship? The Silent Mary is also a tie-in set for a movie that has not actually been released yet. As with a lot of tie-in sets, an extra level of interest and enjoyment comes from actually relating the set to the movie, which we obviously can’t do yet. Admittedly, I have a good idea of the concept from the trailer, and this model seems to meet the main aspect of the Silent Mary in terms of being a ghost ship and having a hull with special abilities to open and ‘swallow’ other vessels.

The build itself was fun and satisfying mainly because there are lots of lovely decorative details and a definite lack of repetition. In fact, I was caught out a couple of times free-styling when I thought I was repeating a pattern of stud or telescope placements, only to realise that each side was unique.

The final model is certainly eye-catching and beautiful in a macabre way, but I do wonder about its ability to stand up to play. Moving it from one location to another meant careful hand placement due to the lack of suitable safe grab points. With the hull closed and the stand in place, this is certainly worthy of a position on display, but I imagine the average playful youngster could spend a lot of time putting parts back on after they ping off the hull.

But those ghost pirate minifigures! They are the best minifigures I have seen in quite a while and by far my favourite part of the set. And the raggedy sails will surely find a place in post apocalyptic fan builds in no time.

The Silent Mary will be available from the LEGO Shop Online beginning March 17 for $199.99/£179.99/199,99 €

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The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

[Update: the original version of the article incorrectly stated the set would release on March 16 to VIP members. Instead, it will be available March 17. We apologize for the error.]

The post LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales 71042 Silent Mary [Exclusive Review] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

Mondo will release this new Back to the Future poster by George Bletsis today. The info for the regular and variant edition is below. These go up today (Thursday, March 2nd) at a random time. Visit Mondotees.com.

Back to the Future by George Bletsis

18″ x 24″ Screenprint, Edition of 325, $45:

Back to the Future by George Bletsis (Variant)

18″ x 24″ Screenprint, Edition of 175, $65:

The post Back to the Future Poster by George Bletsis (Onsale Info) appeared first on OMG Posters!.

A few days ago we reviewed the first four LEGO BrickHeadz characters, all from The LEGO Batman Movie. Today we’re moving on to the second four characters in BrickHeadz Series 1, the Marvel characters. We get Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, and The Hulk. Like all the BrickHeadz, they will retail for $9.99 USD, and they’re available beginning Feb. 15 for LEGO VIP-card holders both in LEGO stores and from the LEGO Shop Online.

As we mentioned in our last review, each of the characters’ boxes are numbered for Series 1, with the DC characters being 1-4, the Marvel characters 5-8, and the Disney characters 11-12. The back of the Disney character boxes reveal what the missing two characters are, but LEGO has asked us not to show them yet, although images are available elsewhere.

The boxes

The brick-built figures adorn the fronts of these cubish boxes, and they won’t take up too much space on store shelves, which is good because we’ll be getting 12 at a time.

The blue boxes look nice, and show the characters from Captain America: Civil War. Poor Hulk didn’t get a contract for that film though, so he’s stuck with red box art from Avengers: Age of Ultron, meaning this particular piece of merchandising is appearing nearly two years after the film’s debut—an oddity in the Marvel cinematic universe’s toy sales.

All of the BrickHeadz come with a stand made of four elements, including a 2×4 black tile displaying the BrickHeadz logo and the series number.

41589 Captain America, 79 pieces, $9.99

This Captain America is dressed in dark blue, unlike the San Diego Comic Con exclusive Captain America BrickHead who wore a standard blue outfit of an older design with helmet wings.

Cap gets a few exclusive printed elements for the torso and giant A on his mask. The shield is the same one that appears in the minifigure versions. This character uses the fewest pieces of any of the Series 1 sets.

Cap’s right hand has the clip facing forward to hold the shield, and he also gets a clip built into the back for his shield. His skin is dark tan with tan tiles over top, and he has a 1×2 dark tan rail plate sticking out as a chin. I’m not sure why it’s not just a regular plate, and it makes the figure look a little bucktoothed from the side.

41590 Iron Man, 96 pieces, $9.99

Iron Man uses a nearly identical design the San Diego Comic Con exclusive version, but this new Iron Man is built with dark red and bright light orange instead of classic red and yellow. He’s also got square tiles on the sides of the head instead of 2×2 round plates.

Iron Man gets two unique tile prints for the armor suit, and a printed 4x2x2/3 curved slope for the helmet. He joins Batman as the only other character to not use the printed black 1×1 round tiles for eyes, instead going with trans-light blue 1×1 tiles with big white squares printed in the middle.

The body of Iron Man is a little different, using headlight bricks to inset the armor tiles. The back uses the same design (just without printing on the tiles) so you’ll get four bright light orange headlight bricks and eight dark red ones. The bright light orange ones only previously appeared in one Legends of Chima set in 2013, so chances are good you won’t have any already.

Lots of dark red tiles, in a variety of shapes from 1×1 to 2×4, and the ear tiles are held on with dark red jumper plates. I can’t help but think that the printed 1×2 tile on Iron Man’s torso looks like eyes staring back at me. My one complaint is that the SDCC version included Iron Man’s hand thrusters, made with 1×1 plates with a handle, and it’s a shame they’re not included here.

41591 Black Widow, 143 pieces, $9.99

With a utility belt buckle big enough to make a cowboy ashamed, Black Widow comes equipped with a pair of batons and extra pockets on her legs.

Apart from the standard BrickHeadz elements, Black Widow’s prints consist of a 1x2x2 dark grey brick for her suit, sporting a bright red belt buckle, and and two cuffs.

Black Widow has the second highest part count in Series 1, and a good chunk of that is dark orange elements for her hair. I was shocked when I realized that half the bag contents were dark orange, in quite a variety of elements.

Black Widow’s two batons are simple black bar 4Ls, though I mistakenly photographed her holding only one. Her utility belt wraps around, but the back is just a simple tile.

Here you can see just how voluminous Black Widow’s dark orange hair is, standing off the head by more than a brick in all directions.

Sadly, LEGO has some issues with color to work out, as not all of the dark orange elements are precisely the same shade. In my copy, this was particularly noticeable in 2×4 curved slopes on the top of her head, where the rear one is distinctly lighter.

41592 The Hulk, 93 pieces, $9.99

The only BrickHeadz character with arms extending away from their sides, Hulk looks like a cute green plushie doll.

Hulk’s only unique printed elements are his pecks and abs. They’re generic enough patterns on their own that I could see them being incorporated into a spaceship.

The Hulk’s think arms connect with a green 1×2 hinge brick (part 3937) and a green 2×2 top element (part 6134). The rare green hinge brick had only previously appeared in a few small sets in 2004 until its reappearance a few months ago in The Riddler’s Riddle Racer. The top half of the hinge has never appeared in green before.

Hulk’s green brow sticks out level with his eyes, giving him a slight Frankenstein’s monster look. His unruly hair is made with a mess of black cheese slopes and exposed studs.

Conclusion and recommendation

Although I’m generally a bigger Marvel fan, I think I prefer the ultra cute DC characters in this series. Nevertheless, these figures are great, and Hulk probably takes a close second to the Joker in adorableness. Even if you don’t like the characters or the art style, at $9.99 a pop these figures are loaded with great parts, including many exclusive and hard-to-find elements in great colors.

LEGO BrickHeadz will be available to LEGO VIP-card holders in LEGO stores and the LEGO Shop Online beginning Feb. 15, and available generally March 1.

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Don’t miss our review of the LEGO BrickHeadz DC characters from The LEGO Batman Movie.

The post LEGO BrickHeadz Marvel characters [Review] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

The LEGO Batman Movie opens today and we enjoyed it, though not without a few reservations (read our review). LEGO is naturally pulling out all the stops to advertise the film, and that includes giving away free Batman minifigures and now, revealing a brand new set. Today we get our first look at 70917 The Ultimate Batmobile, which is a huge vehicle that splits into four smaller vehicles: the Batmobile, Batwing, Bat-Tank, and Batcycle.

The Ultimate Batmobile will be available June 1 for $129.99 USD. It also includes a light-up Batsignal, and Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Polka-Dot Man on a flying disc, Alfred Pennyworth (in Batsuit), the Wicked Witch of the West, and two Flying Monkeys. We didn’t spot this vehicle in the movie, but let us know in the comments if you do!

Check out the rest of the summer wave of The LEGO Batman Movie sets we announced previously!

[via Market Watch]

The post LEGO reveals enormous Ultimate Batmobile set coming in June [News] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

James Jean will release his newest print next week and it is an absolute beauty. “Lapins d’Amour” is a 10″ x 15 15/16″ giclee for $125. It goes up Tuesday, February 14th at 8am Pacific Time. It will be sold as a timed edition for 24 hours. Visit JamesJean.com

The post “Lapins d’Amour” Art Print by James Jean (Timed Edition Onsale Info) appeared first on OMG Posters!.