From Febrovery to Frogust, the LEGO world is rich with events that challenge AFOLs to build under constraints to spark creativity and build community. Some of these, like the newly minted NovHENber, casually invite a single build during a month. The most rigorous challenges are those with a daily creation. Few have the time and stamina for that breakneck pace of building, and every builder who achieves this is an inspiration. Ivybrickss is one such builder who recently completed her second Mechtober – a month of LEGO mechs with mind-blowing variety in theme and function. We sat down with Ivy to talk about her amazing month.
TBB: 31 days, 31 mechs. That’s quite a run! How do you prepare for a marathon challenge like this?
Ivy: It’s a lot of prep and planning! This year, I wanted to increase my production value just a bit by building some bespoke minifigure stands, custom die faces, and even a brick-built mechtober logo! I will pull back the curtain a little bit and admit that they’re not ALL built in October, I do give myself a couple weeks of leading time for photography/editing/video/building/daylight to all line up with each other, as well as to allow for a tiny bit of a social life. However, to keep in the spirit of the challenge, I never give myself more than a day to build any one mech!
TBB: This wasn’t your first Mechtober. What brought you back?
Ivy: No, this was my second time putting myself through this gauntlet, and I think there are two main reasons I did so. First, I’ve gained an extremely passionate fanbase across several platforms at this point, and they would be incredibly disappointed if I let them down. But I think more importantly, I found that the daily challenge was great for getting me to think light on my feet and come up with some of my favorite builds I’ve done!
TBB: For the uninitiated, how does Mechtober work? Is there an organizing body? How many participate?
Ivy: Mechtober has been around for a while, living as one of the many themed months (Frogust, SHIPtember, NoVVember, etc) that the Lego community loves to do! There’s no official organizer, it’s just an open prompt to make some cool mechs! I’ve turned it into my own roll-for-mech daily challenge, but there’s no right or wrong way to participate! I’ve seen multiple people directly inspired by me to build their own mechs, that really feels special.
TBB: Your builds hit on so many wildly different themes. How did you decide what sort of mech to build?
Ivy: Mechs themselves can kind of be anything, so my guide was a custom die I made (using the piece from the Lego Board Game line) that determined my general category like Adjective, Minifigure, Function, etc. I then randomly selected a specific part/minifig/word, and used that prompt to get my gears turning on fun character designs!
TBB: Over the month, did you ever worry that your creative batteries were running low? Were you tempted to throw in the towel? What kept you going?
Ivy: I never found that I felt out of ideas creatively, but I definitely noticed a slump about three quarters of the way through energy-wise. I think the accountability I had to my followers (as well as a couple energy drink-fueled nights) gave me the motivation to keep going.
TBB: With so many amazing mechs, it’s hard to pick a favorite, but the two featuring Duplo – the fire truck and meat head – definitely rank high. Had you played with Duplo in your MOCs before?
Ivy: Oh yes! I absolutely love utilizing wacky, weird, and out-there pieces in my builds, and Duplo is a source for many wacky statement pieces. It can be tricky to find good connection points, but if you can, it adds such a unique element to any build.
TBB: It was also crazy the range of pop culture that showed up. The Muppets and Berserk? Two great things I never expected to see side by side! How did you approach bringing in IP like this?
Ivy: Those were both super fun builds! I found that quite a few people in 2024 requested some famous mechs, and so I included some IP-based minifigs that I thought would make for interesting mech pilots.
Of course, I lean towards original characters for the most part, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a darn good character design when I see one.
TBB: On a technical level, which mech proved the most challenging?
Ivy: The ones with a mechanical gimmick were the most challenging from a technical building standpoint. Day 9’s mech, a transforming racing speeder mech, had to look cool and believable in both mech and speeder mode. Day 23’s Catapult mech features a working catapult, which brought a few momentum and balance issues I had to solve!
TBB: Do you have a favorite build of the month on a personal level?
Ivy: Despite its technical difficulty, I think I’d have to pick the catapult mech! It was a blast to design, and it’s so much fun to play with.
I will also give an honorable mention to day 1, the classic primary color minifig, I love the shapes on that one.
TBB: Thanks so much for speaking with us today, and congratulations on an incredible month!
Ivy: Thanks so much for having me!