In a cautionary tale on the dangers of button-mashing, Trevor Pearson-Jones (moptoptrev) presents a stunning Kaepora Gaebora build that is sure to implant his theme song directly into your skull. Trevor took no shortcuts here (we’d expect nothing less), as our favorite owl’s head is able to rotate completely upside down in his trademark pose. Will the dialogue options remain the same in the remake so that future generations can suffer as we have? We’ll find out soon.

Matticus Bricks showed off two wildly impressive builds (both based on the Forest Temple from OoT) that you may have crossed paths with at a convention or event this year. The framing on both is elegant and reminiscent of LEGO’s black base display sets, and the temple entryway is as lush and eery as we remember it. A purist Saria minifigure alongside some timeline-bending Koroks? Sign us up.

Phantom Ganon and his art gallery await Link at the end of this temple, and Matt’s captured it beautifully. Both the floor and the side of the build appear to leverage the Triforce display build technique utilized in 77093 Ocarina of Time – The Final Battle in alternate colors – why mess with perfection? With integrated lighting and functions to simulate Link’s volleyball match with Phantom Ganon, this is one we can’t wait to see in person.

I spent much of my youth trying to recreate The Legend of Zelda characters in minifig form using parts from Forestmen, Christmas elves, and any Gordon Tunic-esque part I could get my hands on. While I absolutely love having official minifigures, there’s such a charm to that vintage aesthetic and using classic LEGO parts to achieve a custom result. Tyler (gipsy_danger25) does just that here, with an endearing look at Link from a simpler time. The modern accessories add another layer of depth that feels all too appropriate as we prepare to journey into the past through a modern lens this weekend.

Though The Legend of Zelda is dripping with nostalgia, recent franchise entries have proven to just as addictive as the early games (please don’t check my Breath of the Wild playtime). Mounir Khoury‘s take on the terrifying Gloom Hands from Tears of the Kingdom is sure to get your heart racing as the beautiful lush overworld begins to grow dark. There’s another version of Phantom Ganon waiting on the other side of the Gloom Hands, as ghoulish as the first but without the affinity for the arts.

Tears of the Kingdom also introduced the Sky Islands and new Shrines of Light, both of which are among our favorite Zelda aesthetics and color palettes. rebelnili captures both beautifully here with a delightfully round and smooth stone shrine. I’ve attempted my own brick-built TotK shrine before (you can check it out here), but absolutely love the shaping and presentation of this build with the transparent parts used to represent green Zonai energy.

Do you remember stumbling upon your first Battle Talus? I sure do – across a bridge to the east of the upheaved Hyrule Castle on the way to Eldin. This was one of my favorite updated enemies for Tears of the Kingdom, and one of the most fun to mess around with (especially if you have a Muddle Bud on hand). This stone behemoth from ivybrickss is minifig-scale and just as we remember it, with some cute custom Bokoblins to boot!

Zelda building extraordinaire Joss Ivanwood returned to the Hylian scene with a model of The Lord of the Mountain itself: a Satori. I’ll never stop mentioning Joss’s Majora’s Mask Skull Kid build as one of my all-time favorites, and he’s continued to deliver here. The yellow minifigure hand usage for the leafy antlers work so well that you can almost imagine they were designed purely for that purpose. Bubble Gems, anyone?

Ganondorf is back on the scene as a main villain in 2026, and Caleb Ricks did the King of the Gerudo (or Demon King, or Evil King….) justice with this massive character build. In the aforementioned review of 77093 Ocarina of Time – The Final Battle, we specifically called out the cape design of the new Ganondorf minfigure as being one of the highlights of an already incredible minifigure. Even more impressively, Caleb has incorporated that same wildly detailed design to the interior of a cloth and brick-built cape – a stunning achievement. We hope you’ve got a spare empty bottle on hand.

I’ve put together a few The Legend of Zelda builds so far this year, but most recently decided to take a spin on an alt-build of sorts. I had the opportunity to review LEGO Ideas 21373 Downton Abbey (you can read our review here), and kept imagining what it would look like as The Temple of Time while building it. I first attempted an alt-build, shortening the width of the castle 10-12 studs and removing some windows, but eventually ended up pulling from my spare parts to complete the upper portion of the temple. I fleshed out a little exterior (fully exhausting my transparent blue tiles, mind you), and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Be sure to pour some Lon Lon Milk and check out our The Legend of Zelda archives to see even more incredible builds and keep the Zelda vibes going!

The post Rounding up a year of The Legend of Zelda builds in preparation for Ocarina of Time appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

The model recreates that poster: Godzilla firing his heat ray straight up at the sky. It’s more than a monster in brick form, too. It’s a display piece that tries to capture a sense of scale and one single, overwhelming moment of drama. But can 5,000-plus bricks really deliver all that scaly menace and big-screen spectacle? Let’s stomp in with guest reviewer and Godzilla connoisseur DeRa and find out!

LEGO Ideas 21375 Godzilla | 5,363 Pieces | Available November 27 | US $449.99 | CAN $629.99 | UK £349.99

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.

The box and contents

The front of the box shows Godzilla in strict profile. The blue-white backlight suits the black background typical of LEGO’s adult-oriented sets rather well. (Deep-cut alert: it’s very reminiscent of the closing scene of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Nobody asked, but here we are.) It’s also rare to see a model pictured so flatly side-on. It looks less like a product shot than a blueprint.

Around the back, Godzilla is letting rip with his heat ray beside the poster from Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), offered up as a side-by-side comparison. A small diagram also explains that the ray swaps in by removing his tongue.

Inside are two further boxes, holding 41 paper bags and three instruction manuals between them. These inner boxes are absurdly cool: place them side by side and they form a single Godzilla silhouette. There’s no way these are getting thrown out.

The manuals come with generous front matter: notes from Matthew Esposito and the LEGO design team, an introduction to Godzilla and his films, and even a MonsterVerse timeline. The design team’s notes reveal that the model is almost twice the size of Esposito’s original and that a full month went into working out the angles of the tail alone. They also describe the back spikes as “a masterclass of LEGO maths,” easily the scariest phrase in the entire set.

The build

As with any self-respecting city-flattener, construction begins with the feet. Flip one over and you’ll find some wonderfully unusual building and very tidy gap management. One small gripe: the base of the Pneumatic Hose Connector with Axle Connector flares out ever so slightly, so the claws never quite close up against one another.

The ankles rotate on turntables. The lower legs are angled using two Mixel joints, with both side panels attached via SNOT.

Next come the thighs. The knee uses an A-shaped wedge plate to lock in a 45-degree bend, then Technic liftarms form an equilateral triangle with seven-stud sides.

Built into the hip, that triangle fixes the torso at a 105-degree angle and holds the slight forward lean seen in the poster.

The pelvis comes next, and the finished legs plug into it with just two Technic pins. On their own those would pop out at the first sideways tug, so a Harpoon element is driven in from another direction to hold everything together. Why a Harpoon? Probably because a regular bar, once inserted here, would never come back out.

That completes the lower body. The surface is mainly wedges, wedge/round plates, and curved slopes, stacked in staggered layers to give Godzilla his texture and depth.

Now for the base of the tail, and another intriguing angled connection. It attaches with Wither Skeleton legs, which is entertaining enough in itself, but this part can also be reinforced with a sideways clip connection.

This internal framework then receives left and right skin panels, each split in two, plus the three tail units that follow on from them.

The result is one of the most beautiful shapes in the entire model. The gaps created by all that angling are filled with a 4×8×1 windscreen, a very effective trick.

Then come the dorsal fins, running from the rump to the base of the tail. They’re modular, and Earth Blue, Dark Azure, and Medium Azure combine beautifully to recreate Godzilla’s blue-white glow.

All of them appear to attach with locking hinges.

Look closely and you’ll see that the glow reflecting off the hide around the fins is rendered in Sand Blue. I love this kind of obsessive little detail.

On to the tip of the tail. It uses 1×2 plates with bar arm up and 1×4 offset plates as hinges, a combination that turns out to play very nicely with 2×4 wedge plates.

The surface panels go on using brackets.

The very end section slots in on an axle and is then locked down completely by the overlapping locking hinges of the fins.

And with that, the tail tip is finished. My personal favorite detail here is the folded-in design along the inside of the curve.

Here’s a nice touch: you get to choose whether the tail curls to the right or to the left. The instructions branch at this point, Choose Your Own Adventure style, so just skip to the pages for your preferred direction.

Now we reach the torso. The inner structure is almost entirely arches plus window and door frames, parts that have been cropping up throughout the build and a clear sign the designers have been thinking hard about both strength and weight. Despite doing without Technic parts here, it’s sturdy and, above all, light. It is also the most structurally sound building Godzilla has ever been anywhere near.

Godzilla’s dorsal fins usually run in three rows, and these are the two outer ones.

The fins on the back are built as one with sections of the back itself, and they attach via two locking hinges.

The shoulder joints use a multi-directional articulated part that you may know from Ninjago. Here, though, one of its axes exists only to hold the axle at an angle, and a 3×3 Corner Round is added to take away its freedom entirely, leaving rotation in the vertical direction only.

The shoulders feature a particularly large number of connections coming in on the diagonal. Here, the neck and chest are tied together with four hinge connections.

The torso and shoulders then join using just two Mixel joints. That’s by design, so the model can be separated easily.

Next up: the head. Build the base and you’ll discover a tiny brick-built Matthew Esposito sitting inside. It’s a lovely tribute. It’s also, when you think about it, a man who has been swallowed by his own idea, which is the fan designer’s dream. Probably.

The eyes are Bar 1L with 1×1 Round Plate, and Medium Azure is a new color for this part.

In my opinion, the teeth are the make-or-break detail of any Godzilla: essential to get right and very hard to do. They need to look craggy, but existing fang, horn, and claw elements are simply too big unless your model stands over a meter tall. The solution here is clever: it uses the stud-clearance notches cut into round parts.

The cheeks are built separately.

The lower jaw then gets sandwiched between the left and right cheeks.

That’s the head done. To my mind, the face is one of the most important parts of the whole creature, and this is easily the most accomplished section so far. It holds up from every angle. The one drawback is that the jaw doesn’t move, leaving him stuck mid-roar for all eternity.

Next is the neck joint, starting with a unit of two sockets linked together using Technic parts.

It connects to the Tan ball inside the head.

Then the whole thing goes onto the torso built earlier. The circular neck lets it move without clashes or gaps, and the otherwise conspicuous round tiles are hidden by SNOT panels from the left and right.

Now the fins on the back can go on.

The arms are brilliantly designed, concealing their rotation joints with the bare minimum of cover.

What really surprised me is the way a hinge top covers the connection at the base of each half arch.

The hands use a part that first appeared as the halo on Formula 1-style cars to splay the fingers. The technique debuted in 76334 Iron Man Mark 3 Collectors’ Edition and has been lending a hand to large figures ever since.

Add the back of the hand and they’re complete. The fingers have a working first joint as well, so there’s a relatively generous range of movement.

The upper arm, its roll joint, the elbow, and the hand are all built separately and then joined up.

Time for the largest fins. Leave even the slightest empty space and, as you can see, window frames come rushing in to shave off a little more weight. Watching the diagonally mounted SNOT parts set the Medium Azure plates in place with pinpoint precision is a thing of beauty. This is the part that earns the title “a masterclass of LEGO maths.” These fins also connect to the back via two Mixel joints, but this time on the diagonal. It really is beautifully built.

Last of all, the heat ray. It’s about 10 cm long and deepens from White through Light Aqua and Medium Azure to Dark Azure.

To fit the ray to Godzilla’s mouth, you first have to yank out his tongue. Finally, the upper and lower halves are joined with two Mixel joints, and we’re done.

The finished model

At about 50 cm tall, this is one of the largest character models in LEGO Ideas history, and it looks every centimeter of it.

Articulation is limited to the ankles, shoulders, elbows, hands, and neck. Any ambition of being an action figure has been abandoned in favor of sheer size and accuracy, leaving a dedicated display model. I couldn’t spot a single printed part, either.

Presumably because it’s based on the poster, side-on is where the model looks most accurate.

The coloring along the back is hugely effective, and the way the fins fan out from behind is really gorgeous.

From the front, he looks a little ungainly. Display him side-on.

I put him on the scales and he came in at a hefty 3.7 kg. (The shutter speed has scrambled the readout on the scale in this photo.)

Because the angle of the head can be changed, he can direct his roar at the heavens, a rival kaiju, or the office block of your choosing.

So how does the finished set compare with the fan-made original?

Matthew Esposito’s original LEGO Ideas design

Past Ideas sets have ranged from minor cosmetic tweaks to wholesale changes in minifigures or overall composition. To my eye, this one has traveled a long way from its source.

The biggest change is that the fins now glow. It’s a superb decision, transforming the model into something far more vivid and beautiful.

The silhouette has changed a lot too, prioritizing fidelity to the movies. Godzilla’s design varies slightly from film to film even within the MonsterVerse, and while the fan design is recognizably a MonsterVerse Godzilla, it’s hard to say exactly which one. The official set clears that right up by drawing on the unforgettable roaring scene from Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).

The surface is very different as well. The fan design uses slopes and wedge plates for a rugged, reptilian hide. The production model is mostly curved slopes and wedges, which gives it a much sleeker look, in keeping with LEGO’s recent enthusiasm for using those parts on its creatures.

LEGO Ideas 40888 Godzilla Logo & Footprint | 5,363 Pieces | Available November 27 | Gift with Purchases of 21375 Godzilla

And there’s a second set: a gift with purchase in the shape of a Godzilla footprint. Alongside the footprint is a 3D rendition of the blue logo from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, all designed to sit next to 21375. Behind the logo are wrecked buildings and a tiny printed Mothra.

Inside are the instructions, three poly bags, and a separate bag of large plates.

First up is the base-slash-footprint. The outline is made of wedge plates and triangular tiles, while the strata deepen through Medium Stone Gray, Dark Stone Gray, and Black. Four 3×3 round tiles sit in the center.

Next, the logo. The brown buildings are built sideways, with 1×2 round elements with bars sandwiched partway through. These come into play for the reversed connection on the Z.

The A is the other special case, attached symmetrically to a building with clips. The Tan building also gets a small fire.

And just like that, the logo is finished. It’s an astonishingly faithful take on the movie title, and it’s hard to imagine it being any better. The back, though, clearly isn’t meant for public viewing.

Last of all comes Mothra, the only printed part in the entire package. Who knew that a butterfly element used at minifigure scale would one day be cast as Mothra? It’s gloriously surreal, and it made me laugh. Queen of the Monsters, everybody.

Attach the logo to the footprint and you’re done.

You can also put the logo in front with the footprint behind it.

Displayed beside Godzilla, the two sets really do complete each other as one big display. This GWP is essential for getting the most out of the main model.

Godzilla vs. My Godzilla

Before wrapping up, a word from the self-proclaimed LEGO Godzilla expert writing this review. I’ve built plenty of Godzilla MOCs, so here’s my take, along with a comparison against one of my earlier models.

The biggest headache in building any Godzilla is the weight of the lower body. The load concentrates around the rump and the base of the tail, so if you build him as an action figure, he gets dragged backwards and topples over, which isn’t the display of dominance you were going for. This set solves the problem by fixing the whole lower body in place and giving the tail a definite point of contact with the ground. If the tail were articulated like those on earlier sets, he couldn’t stand up on his own. A forward lean might balance, but in a nearly vertical stance like this one it’s close to impossible. Giving up poseability in favor of volume and accuracy was exactly the right call.

My first impression of this set was 21349 Tuxedo Cat. It has the same ornamental presence and the same SNOT-built skin of curved slopes and wedges. The interior likewise uses almost no Technic and is similarly fond of window frames. Both are Ideas sets, so my guess is that the same design team is behind them.

That’s my MOC on the right. It stands 25 cm tall, which should give you an idea of just how enormous and imposing this set is.

If I’m forced to nitpick, and as a self-proclaimed expert I feel contractually obliged, I’d change the thickness of the back and tail and the roundness of the surface. To truly recreate the moment Godzilla fires his ray into the sky, the back should bulge, whereas here the line drops straight from the back of the head to the lower body. The area around the rump and the base of the tail also looks a little small overall. As I mentioned, that’s where the most weight sits, precisely because it’s the largest part of Godzilla.

And because the surface is made up of curved slopes and wedges, the overall roundness doesn’t quite suit him. For Godzilla’s reptilian, dinosaur-like hide, the slopes and wedges of the fan design feel closer to the mark.

Final thoughts

So is this the perfect LEGO Godzilla? Not quite. I’d like a bigger back, a heftier rump, and a rougher hide, and I’ll happily keep saying so to anyone who stands still long enough. But those are the quibbles of someone who has spent far too long thinking about this particular lizard. What matters is how much this set gets right: a stance that solves the problem that has toppled so many brick-built Godzillas, glowing fins you can’t take your eyes off, and the sheer presence of a display model. And inside that head rides a tiny Matthew Esposito, quietly reminding you where this monster came from.

As a large-scale model, it’s not going to be a casual purchase. But see it in person and I guarantee it has more presence and beauty than even the box suggests. The GWP in particular is an ideal add-on, so if you’re planning to bring a Godzilla home, I strongly recommend doing it while the GWP is still available. And because he stands nearly upright with his tail curled in, you don’t have to worry too much about where to put him.

Back in 1998, a rather different Godzilla movie promised us that size does matter. It took LEGO 5,363 pieces to properly prove it. Long live the king.

LEGO Ideas 21375 Godzilla | 5,363 Pieces | Available November 27 | US $449.99 | CAN $629.99 | UK £349.99

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.

The post LEGO Ideas 21375 Godzilla: Size does matter [Review] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

LEGO Ideas 21375 Godzilla | 5,363 Pieces | Available November 27 | US $449.99 | CAN $629.99 | UK £349.99

LEGO Ideas 40888 Godzilla Logo & Footprint | 5,363 Pieces | Available November 27 | Gift with Purchases of 21375 Godzilla

The post The return of the King (of the Lizards): LEGO reveals 5,000-piece Godzilla set [News] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

What’s not immediately obvious from the front view of this craft is that it’s a portable greenhouse! The rear of the flying machine hosts a remarkably large room filled with all manner of flora. Be sure to check out the rest of the pics on Vince’s flickr, as there are loads of other great details to pore over as well, and check out our archives to see more of Vince’s work we’ve highlighted!

The post This lean, mean, green LEGO machine will have you looking twice appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

LEGO Icons 11388 Venetian Neighbourhood | 5,682 Pieces | Available November 4 | US $549.99 | CAN $779.99 | UK £449.99

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.

The box and contents

This box is an absolute unit. Both sides show different configurations, and the rear shows off this set’s party trick: a 3D-printed piano. Interestingly, it’s not as conspicuous as the train from last year’s winter village set, although it is still highlighted as being a print.

It contains no fewer than 40 bags, the first 20-ish of which are in a cardboard box of their own. There are also two spine-bound instruction booklets, but I realised while writing this I forgot take photos of these. Whoops. You’ll just have to trust me. At least there’s no sticker sheet!

The build

The two booklets each handle one building, so you could build them concurrently if you wanted to. We’ll start with the bigger of the two. Venice is built on a swamp, and much of the foundation of the buildings consists of thousands of wooden posts driven into the ground, represented by several round 2×2 bricks.

The swamp itself is depicted by similarly large amounts of trans-light-blue tiles and plates – there are 79 of the 1×4 tiles alone. Something else we’ll be seeing a good amount of is unusual geometry. The ladder used as a grate is a nice little teaser for connections like the right-hand portion of this platform. Tow-ball joints allow for both sets of wedges to line up nicely, before we start to tile it off with paving slabs.

With the paving done it’s straight to work on the interior. There’s a nice carpet and a neat spiral staircase too. Our first clue to this building’s purpose is a ghostly blue cat in front of the checkout desk. What is this, a spirit shop?

No! It’s a nod to Venice’s long history as a centre of excellence for glass making. Priceless bits of glassware are depicted by LEGO parts in weird and wonderful colours. The highlight is a re-colour of the balloon dog element in translucent green. It bears more than a passing resemblance to Jeff Koons’ famous work – perhaps he came to visit Venice for a glass-blowing workshop.

The other side of one of these walls is decorated too; I wasn’t initially sure what with, but the addition of a trans-clear ‘fish fin’ makes it clear that it’s a water fountain. The front window also gets some embellishments.

The dark orange antenna bars allow for some arches to surround the fountain, making it satisfyingly flush with the wall around it. With the addition of some new teal ramps for canopies, the ground floor is nearly done.

The last thing to do before moving up a floor is adding some pillars to the outside. I like the addition of a back door with access to the water; this must be where the glass shop gets its wares and other supplies delivered.

We change wall colours as we move up a floor, and start building what looks like some sort of reception or living room. There’s a lot more furniture to make as a result, including a sofa with some rather nifty stud inversions.

Other accoutrements in the reception room include a clock and a small plate of what looks like LEGO tiramisu. Man, I want some tiramisu now.

The second floor is fairly light on interesting techniques until about two-thirds of the way through. A chandelier using transparent broom heads makes use of Pythagorean triples to sit at an angle to the rest of the room. Outside, ski poles and tail pieces add some classical flair to the balcony and pillars.

So we have a sales room for the glassware shop, and a reception room for discerning guests. All we need now is somewhere to make what they sell! We’re making a glass blowers’ workshop next. There’s a funky-looking satin purple part here, which either depicts a work of art or discarded glass blobs – I’m not sure. Well, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure…

As if to show off their glass-making skills even further, this workshop features stained-glass windows. These consist of more transparent 2×4 plates – this time in orange – attached to these lattice parts. They’re framed by white broomstick arches on the outside.

Both parts of the second floor are independent of each other (at least for now), and can be easily removed for access to the one below.

What city would be complete without pigeons? The first (and, spoiler, certainly not the last) in this set has made their nest in the bell tower, which is what we’re making next. There is a mighty interesting clip arrangement sitting next to it…

All of which is to allow us to connect the roof at an angle. The two corners are built using SNOT bricks and 1×1 arches to get that archetypal southern-European terracotta roof look. The ridge sits in using some more clips and bars, and it all fits together very nicely.

I’m not sure what use a glass shop would have for a bell tower; perhaps they ring it whenever they have a sale on? Anyway, that’s what we’re building next. Plenty more SNOT work here, both to attach the shutters and for the dark tan arches at the top.

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a conspicuous black clip sticking out of the reception room. Its purpose becomes clear when we place the workshop roof: it connects to a click hinge on the latter to give it a bit more support. The downside is it does make it a little tricky to seat it properly, as you’re basically flying blind when trying to do so.

The main roof of the building follows a similar formula with the clips and bars to make the tiles and ridges, just on a larger scale.

Now then! Bag 21 finally gives us a look at the second 3D printed piece in a wide-release LEGO set. It’s quite different to the train last year; for one thing, it’s not packaged in its own little box. But like the train, there are no studded connections, only bars. And like the train, there’s a built-in play feature!

It’s a bit difficult to show off the moving parts inside, but essentially, it’s a miniature music box. Once we assemble it, we can turn the spindle on the right, which will actuate the pegs to make a note ring out. LEGO’s own notes say that it should “play a recognisable tune”; I did find it a bit tricky to turn the spindle at a consistent speed, but even then, I couldn’t even take a guess at what that tune is. One of the pegs also sounded a little off-key to me. Still, it’s a fascinating application of 3D printing.

As mentioned, there are no studded connections, so we rely on a couple of 1×1 clips to attach the piano to the rest of the model. The remaining parts in this and the next bag go towards some finishing touches around the outside of the shop.

Phew! That’s a lot of building already, and we’re barely more than halfway through. It’s a case of same-same but different for the base of the second building. We have two separate banks this time, and some of the watery real estate is taken up by 6×8 plates in trans-light-blue – a new recolour, I believe.

Whereas before the angled parts were used solely for extra pavement space , here we’ll actually be building across this angular divide. There’s some clever geometry underlying this to make sure it’s linked on both sides. It’s framed by some SNOT building too, to give an extra strong foundation. Shades of green imply algae build-up from centuries of rising and falling water levels.

The first-floor walls use a similar technique to the fountain behind the glass shop. Slotting those arches in is still just as satisfying the second time round.

Before we build the tower up any further, we take a small detour around the rest of the base. First up is a nicely-designed tree. I love the click-hinge tail technique used for some gnarly roots!

The whole thing slots in next to the canal.

The technique for the old street lights appeared earlier, but I’ll highlight its repeated use here: upside-down lanterns using a 2L bar to connect a dish to the other side. They look great. The bridge doesn’t look too bad either – this uses a flex axle to emphasize the curve of the arch.

Now we can start on the upper floor of the clock tower. There is a simple mechanism to enable the hand to be turned from the outside.

Hand, singular? Yes – this is not your average everyday clock that tells the time! This is an astronomical clock. These popped up in numbers across Europe from about the 15th century onwards. These often show things like the season, the phase of the moon or even the position of planets. The printed dish here appears to be loosely based on St Mark’s Clock in Venice; all it shows us is the zodiac symbolds, however.

It’s definitely a tower with an astronomical bent, though, as we have  telescope inside. Two of the walls feature windows for it to look out of, featuring panel tiles to allow for the use of the jumper arch bricks.

The remaining wall has a far more complex inner structure. This is to allow for a frieze of the Venetian mascot: a winged lion. Or, er, cat. It actually looks quite good when the feather piece used for the wings is in place, but getting it to go together is a bit fiddly.

Those arch jumper bricks used on the windowsill get more use in the cap of the clock tower. No nesting pigeons this time around.

The onion dome created by the four sand green arches doesn’t look very Italian, I must say. That said, Venice did have a close association with the Byzantine Empire for a large part of its history, so perhaps we can put it down to Byzantine influence.

With the clock tower assembled, there is one last thing missing to make this unmistakeably Venice. A gondola, of course! It’s a relatively simple construction, but the use of cleavers for detailing at either end and those gold rail pieces are neat.

Here’s what our finished portion looks like with the gondola in place. We’ll look at the whole thing in a minute.

The minifigures

For now, though, let’s meet the 17-strong minifigure contingent. Venice as a municipality has a population of around 250,000, but only a fifth of those live on the historic island centre. Many will have jobs centred around the tourist trade, such as our two gondoliers, but we’ve also got a glass-blower to keep the city’s glass traditions alive. I’m getting some serious Jeff Lebowski vibes from that guy holding the coffee cup.

The gondoliers’ straw hats are rather splendid. None of these heads are reversible, but everyone has back printing.

Far outnumbering the residents of Venice proper are the tourists. Every day, as many as 60,000 – more than the permanent population! – come to visit the city. The seven here should be fairly easy to deal with then!

Many of these figures do have two-sided heads. One has a hearing aid, too, which is cool. There are some fun printed tiles here, including a ticket, an airline boarding pass, and a page about flowers in the book.

Finally, we have our musicians and carnival goers. The piano and violin player are both lovely – I especially like the latter’s suit. But there’s no looking past the spectacular carnival-goers, dressed as the sun and moon!

Both feature printed masks on their head, and some clever re-colours. The moon’s plague doctor-esque mask originally appeared in Monkie Kid sets, while the sun’s headpiece comes from the Dreamzzz theme. The latter also feature an ingenious re-print of a video game controller tile as a festival mask!

The completed model

Right, it’s about time we took a look at the fully assembled square. The two halves are already quite big on their own, but brought together, they take up some serious real estate!

There are a few different configurations for the buildings, but you’ll want to make sure you get them all facing the front. The top floor of the tower can be rotated, but the back of the glass shop isn’t much to look at.

It’s when it’s populated by minifigures that this set really comes to life. There are loads of opportunities to create little stories with the range of figures we’ve got!

Although the piano is one of the most unique parts in the set, it’s rather inconspicuous parked outside the glass shop. I say that as a compliment – it doesn’t stick out despite being printed.

The bridge is a real focal point of the set, and it’s one of the easiest places to position figures too. Whether that’s tourists admiring the carnival costumes…

… or someone unwittingly getting carried away feeding the pigeons.

The clock tower is clearly popular with the tourists queueing up outside. I guess the guy in the cap is trying to impress the flower seller, but I think she can see through it. Something about his expression screams performative reader to me.

And of course, what would a holiday in Venice be without a trip on a gondola? You can seat two in there fairly comfortably, although I’m not sure they go all the way to the airport!

Gondolas aren’t necessarily the quickest way to get around Venice’s canals, though…

We’ll conclude our thoughts on the main set in a minute. Before we do, let’s talk about this set’s exclusive Gift with Purchase, which you will get as long as you order the Venetian Neighbourhood before November 8 (yep, you only have four days to get it!).

LEGO Icons 40898 Venetian Water Taxi | 322 Pieces | Available with purchases of 11388 Venetian Neighbourhood between November 4 and November 8

This box has the same teal band along the bottom, with four bags inside. This set, too, has no stickers.

The first two bags go towards the titular water taxi. It features a largely SNOT core, making nice use of the so-called Porsche slopes for the bow of the boat.

The accompanying pontoon carries the design language over from the main set. The stairs down to the water do use an interesting technique, though, with an A-frame plate setting them at an angle to the rest of the build.

Other elements feel familiar too, such as the lantern and the click-hinge coloured poles. There are even a couple more pigeons included.

A boat captain and passenger with SLR camera bring our total figure count up to 19. I like the fact that the tourist has an alternate winking expression for taking photos!

It’s a nice little set in its own right.  The pontoon is a good distillation of the bigger set.

Although it looks like a two-seater, attempting to close the roof of the water taxi results in the roof resting on the passengers’ heads, which doesn’t sound particularly comfortable. The last picture shows the way the roof should sit with only one passenger.

In a similar fashion to the Death Star and its TIE Fighter GWP, this one is designed to link up to the wider set. This is accomplished by removing some of the fence posts next to the clock tower, and appending the pontoon into the resulting gap. Despite the change of railing colour, it blends in seamlessly.

Whereas the gondola just about fits in the canal, the wider water taxi is a much tighter squeeze. Perhaps this one will be restricted to the wider thoroughfares outside the historic city centre.

Conclusions and recommendation

After building some big LEGO sets, you’re sometimes left with a feeling of ‘was that really that amount of money in LEGO bricks’? In this case, I don’t think that applies. It’s so big and takes such a long time to build that, for the amount of stuff you get, the value feels about right – at least in a vacuum. I do like how the GWP is incorporated; it doesn’t feel necessary to the wider set, but it does add an extra dimension. Should you decide to drop some serious cash on this LEGO set, it’s worth picking up the GWP to go with it; but equally, if you want to wait for a sale, you won’t be missing out either.

The trouble is, this set doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s very similar conceptually to 21359 Italian Riviera, which is still available and half the price. The difference is that it is built more in line with the standards set by the Modular Buildings series. But for the price of the Venetian Neighbourhood, you could buy two of the three modulars still available and still have change left over. You can get a similar off-grid building experience from 11371 Shopping Street (in fact, I had Jake’s title in mind while building this set); and modern modular all-timer 10350 Tudor Corner is still on shelves at the time of writing too. So whether you want a slice of Italian LEGO life or a fun architectural building experience, there are much more affordable options out there.

LEGO Icons 11388 Venetian Neighbourhood | 5,682 Pieces | Available November 4 | US $549.99 | CAN $779.99 | UK £449.99

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.

Check out our full gallery of pictures:

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The bones of the working parts are the two 9V train controllers on the left, and a Technic control center from a 1990 set of the same name on the right. And while LEGO now has quite the diverse range of electronic products, they don’t make record styluses, so an Audio Technica cartridge with a small microcontroller helps the whole thing come together. Olle says he hasn’t had a chance to learn to DJ properly yet; nevertheless, watching the whole thing work is seriously impressive!

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At first glance, the beautifully tiled roof and lush autumn foliage make the cottage look almost welcoming. But don’t let its neat appearance fool you. The hostess — a particularly sinister witch — is easily one of the creepiest LEGO minifigures I’ve ever seen online. Forget those comically evil villains from Castle sets. Alexander has a knack for creating genuinely unsettling characters, and this one looks like she stepped straight out of a particularly grim fairy tale. Something tells me this story doesn’t have a happy ending…

Don’t miss our in-depth interview with Dark Dreamlands, published last Halloween, where we explore the inspirations, techniques, and sinister stories behind his haunting LEGO creations.

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Each photo is worth poring over to see what details can be spotted hiding in plain sight. For instance, can you spot what piece is used for the large rectangular flowerpot? Hint: watering it has got to be a drain!

New or old, however, the techniques stitch together to create a beautifully rendered piece of architecture, atop an equally lovely stand based on traditional Chinese woodworking.

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Creating an animal with opaque skin that looks this good is already quite the challenge, so for Alexis to make it strong enough to stand up while also showing off the internals shows just how talented a builder he is. I’m no expert in big cat anatomy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re all in the right place, too. What gives me that impression? Well, let’s just say it’s not just the internal organs that have been rendered in LEGO…

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LEGO Ideas 40889 Build, Paint and Play! | 149 Pieces | Available October 28 | Gift with Purchases exceeding US $130 | CAN $160 | UK £115

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.

The box and contents

I’m a big advocate for LEGO’s teal colour, so the teal band around the bottom of the box – matching the classic space fig within – gets a big thumbs-up from me. Everyone is allowed their own opinion, of course, but teal is the best colour.

The 149 parts are spread across two bags, and there’s a small sticker sheet to contend with too.

We get some comments from Topi Kari, who turned his other hobby of miniature model-making into a contest-winning design. He’s certainly not the only LEGO fan who also dabbles in miniatures!

The build

The first thing to build is the diminutive cutting mat. It’s a touch smaller than a piece of A5 paper. Pleasingly, the increments on the stickers do actually measure in centimetres, so you can make your own 14-and-a-bit-cm LEGO ruler. Just bear in mind there might be some errors over the join between tiles, depending on how well you lined them up.

Every studded surface will be used to connect something to the mat. There is a figure base, a splodge of black paint, and the tubes from which they came. 3.18mm bars are used to act as stoppers.

Our last couple of stickers are some fun ones. The glue bottle brand is a fun way of getting Topi’s name into the set he designed. As for the other one, this must be the first sticker of a sticker sheet that I’ve taken off a LEGO sticker sheet.

While this is only the second teal classic space minifigure we’ve seen, it’s not what many space fans were most excited about when this set first broke cover! That honour goes to the light bluish grey air tank and helmet pieces. We’ll talk more about these later – for now, we have a sprue frame to build.

It’s all well and good having a model kit – but we need something to paint it with! Not to mention a tool to cut it out of the sprues we’ve just built. So a paintbrush and modelling knife are our last acts.

The minifigure(s)

I’m not sure whether this set counts as having one or two minifigures. Technically, the instructions only make us assemble one, complete with classic metal detector piece. But we have enough parts to build another, entirely in gray. You can even display it on a base, as if freshly glued and awaiting a touch of paint.

This is the second appearance of a teal classic space figure in a LEGO Ideas set, having first popped up in 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine. And as much as I love it, it’s rather overshadowed by the first appearance of the classic space helmet in light bley!

Unlike the helmet, the tanks have appeared in grey before, but it was LEGO’s old light gray which was discontinued in 2004. Therefore, these are also a new recolour, making it possible to construct a light bley spaceman for the first time.

The finished model

Back in their rightful place, the figures form an important part of nice little model. It’s very compact; I don’t think you could make it any smaller without missing parts out. Heck, the sprue frame is already hanging off the edge as it is!

Despite that small footprint, it captures just about everything a miniature modeller starting out would need, with the possible exception of pliers or a file. The best way to show that is to remove everything from the cutting mat and go through the model-making process. First we cut the necessary parts out from the sprue. Although we have the option to provide our space explorer with a head of hair, I think I’ll stick with that nice new helmet.

Using glue is normally panacea to LEGO modellers, but since we’re dealing with Topi glue here rather than the dreaded Kragle, I think we can make an exception. The best part is we don’t even need to let it set!

Once our figure is assembled, all we need to do is apply a lick of paint. I don’t have the steadiest hands, so I’m going to enlist the help of one of the little guys I made earlier.

They’ve also given me a hand with the decals. I wish they hadn’t misplaced that classic space logo sticker though. While it is possible to make a light bley space minifig, you’ll need the torso from a Series 17 Collectible Minifigure. I don’t, and getting one will set you back something like 20 bucks on Bricklink!

Conclusion and recommendation

This may not be the first time we’ve seen the world of miniature modelling recreated in LEGO – not even the first in more or less 1:1 scale. But that doesn’t make this interpretation any less creative, and it’s a lot of fun to see LEGO pay homage to it with their own spin! It’s a perfect distillation of the hobby in brick form. The space figures ensure it will appeal to space fans too, particularly classic space colour completionists. It’s pretty easy to hit the required price threshold too, so if you’d been saving up for some decent-sized LEGO sets, getting them now to bag this creative GWP is a great time to do so!

And if nothing else, you get an icon of LEGO space in the best colour in their palette. You can’t lose, really.

LEGO Ideas 40889 Build, Paint and Play! | 149 Pieces | Available October 28 | Gift with Purchase for purchases exceeding US $130 | CAN $160 | UK £115

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.

Check out our full gallery of pictures:

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