Posts by Jacob Cottrell

Building Beauty and Decay in LEGO: An Interview with Dark Dreamlands

The word “fantasy” often brings to mind pristine castles, shining armour, and impossibly lush flowerbeds. Today’s guest, however, is a builder who prefers to find beauty in the shadows. Alexander, aka dark_dreamlands, is the mind behind “Plague Town”, an 18th-century city of crumbling cathedrals, grisly guillotines, and an all-consuming deadly plague.

Alexander’s regular updates to the architecture and inhabitants of Plague Town has helped inspire a rising trend of dark fantasy creations in corners of LEGO fandom. We are thrilled to take the grand tour with him and find out how to craft melancholy in a hobby so commonly associated with glee.

Our interview with Dark Dreamlands follows

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Looks like meat’s back on the menu: 19 custom LEGO orcs [Minifig Monday]

From Tolkien to Warhammer and everything in between, orcs are the biggest, baddest, and often funniest fantasy baddies of any setting they appear in. This week we’ve put together a horrendous horde of LEGO orcs from the custom community. You’ll find more than a few surprises in this one!

A king of cohesion, capt.dark.shark unleashes Commander Kragg the Cleaver. There’s so much to love here, the new(ish) Viking helmet fits so flush with the CMF Orc jaw, while pushing the ears out to make a unique head shape. The oversized olive green arm is actually from Jabba the Hutt, and sticking an axe on the end of a prosthetic is delightfully impractical as it is fiendishly orcish.

Lessor in the orc kingdoms but certainly not in the minifig world, these night goblins from Karp_brick have some excellent black cape layering and subtle diversity in the heads and headwear. We’ve spotted faces from the CMF Goblin, Star Wars Niamoidian and a Ninjago orc.

Older bigfigs are famous for lack of customisation options, but dwalinforkbeard has expertly used black capes to cover a more scifi torso to create something that is right at home in a medieval fantasy setting. Add that to the whimsical mushroom picking vibe and you’ve got a great looking orc dude.

Where there’s a click, there’s a way… to see more orcs! Zug zug.

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No Theme? No Problem! A Wild Card Showcase of Minifig Excellence [Minifig Monday]

This week, we’re throwing out the rulebook and smashing the (injection) mould. Welcome to a Wild Card edition on Minifig Monday — a glorious grab-bag of minifigure madness where demons rub shoulders with space police, and chicken hags party with cake golems. You read that right. This week’s featured builders are a masterclass in thinking outside the LEGO box. Expect surprises, odd pairings, and a whole lot of imagination.

Our first pick is this incredible shark samurai from bricksnbeasts, featuring a vintage shark head from the early 2000s Harry Potter line, but also some fantastic dynamic posing achieved with some brick-built arms. Surrounded by an impressive shiver of almost every LEGO Shark to date. Aura off the charts!

Can you smell what synthbugfigs is cooking? It is a jaw-dropping cake golem. With dripping frosting and an impressively organic-looking build, this fig certainly defies categorisation… and makes us hungry.

What other wild cards do we have up our sleeve? Click to find out!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Wake up samurai, these Cyberpunk minifigures have the coolest upgrades around [Minifig Monday]

In the neon-lit world of cyberpunk, storytelling thrives on the fusion of humanity and machine. Despite never having an official LEGO theme, this aesthetic has inspired a gritty niche within the minifigure community. Creators replace standard arms, legs, and accessories with intricate, high-tech upgrades that evoke a dystopian future, popularized by video games, movies and TV. In this post, we’ll explore the impressive craftsmanship of LEGO ripper doctors and celebrate the possibilities of LEGO’s increasingly intricate part selection.

Devid_vii delivers some top notch tactical troopers & a K Walker Unit in a sleek tiled-off design, creatively using four black microphones as missile pods. We love the articulation of this warbeast achieved using black pneumatic ‘T’s on its hips and feet.

Perhaps the most prolific Cyberpunk minifigure creator, Bam.bricks.customs has created an array of brick-built legs using Exo-force and minifigure hands that really pack a punch. Coupled with dual hazard-strip cyber swords and a rare Overwatch gasmask, “Codename: Savage” is right at home in 2077 cityscape.

Jack in for more cyber minifigs

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.