Posts by Zakar.ion

Talking mechs, music, and LEGO fashion with Mexican creator Tenkyuu.mocs

LEGO fandom is global and here at The Brothers Brick, we strive to feature creators from every corner of the world. Access to bricks and local support isn’t evenly distributed, though, as the recent changes to Bricklink’s service reminded us all. For Mexican builder Zazil Yakín Xipé, who shares LEGO creations as @tenkyuu.mocs, not amassing a huge collection of bricks hasn’t stopped her from creating a string of impressive and innovative mechs. Today we’re excited to share an interview between Tenkyuu and Zakar.ion that covers LEGO-inspired fashions, Exo-Force, and that one time a worker at a Mexican LEGO factory went rogue and made black market Vaders with the official molds!

Our interview with Tenkyuu.mocs begins here

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“And I thought they smelled bad before the race!”

Everyone knows Tauntauns are the Star Wars universe’s most adorable arctic ride/sleeping bag. But did you know they make great racing beasts, too? Will (@montivalbricks) leaves icy Hoth to assemble a sorrel Tauntaun gelding, tacked up and ready for the derby. The builder does a phenomenal job capturing the tauntaun’s features from small elements. A roller skate nose offers perfect nostrils, and minifig hands kick off as toes.

Will created this impressive racing beast for the Star Wars Factions RPG, a LEGO storytelling universe where builders can compete in challenges tied to a shared story world. That means we get plenty of lore to accompany the build, so we know that the mount is named Dicastery and that the jockey is Tur C’otte, a NeuroSaav employee. Will’s excellent build won first prize in the Canto-Key Derby. Congratulations to Dicastery and his builder both!

These wearable builds are a crowning achievement in LEGO

It’s easy for minifigures to get dressed in their LEGO finest, but for humans looking to wear their hobby on their sleeves, one has to get creative, as outside of rings and wristbands (and Nike collabs), LEGO hasn’t provided many official offerings for the brick-built wardrobe. Finnish artist Heidi Aulikki Puumalainen is one of a small but growing number of builders focused on wearable builds, like this jewel-encrusted crown that is both elegant and sturdy enough to wear dancing.

Heidi’s headwear first shone on LEGO Masters Finland where she partnered with Satu Aaltonen, whose work is currently on display in LEGO House’s Masterpiece Gallery. For this bridal-themed headpiece, Heidi led the build while Satu wore it down the runway. I love how elegant the trans-yellow chains become when draping from a floral crown.

See more of Heidi’s wearable creations below

This Ghibli minifigs are more than they’re stacked up to be

LEGO Masters Germany winner Alex (Brix Tales) has quickly become one of my favorite habitat builders. This quartet of tributes to Miyazaki films epitomizes why, with their dynamic shapes that eschew convention and a bold use of color.

Princess Mononoke (newly restored in 4K – go see it!) is uses only foliage to house minifig hero San, who makes perfect use of this Ninjago headpiece to evoke the character’s forest mask. Using ghost faces as Kodoma is a brilliant choice, and I always appreciate a green sprue used for a vine.

See close-ups of the other scenes after the break

Talmudic Academy in LEGO celebrates stained glass and tradition

With the exception of Notre Dame, LEGO has shied away from depicting places of worship in official sets, leaving AFOLs to provide religious buildings for minifig believers. Church mocs are quite common, as evidenced by our extensive archive, and lately we’ve been seeing a lot more mosques as well, but synagogues are rarely seen in brick. Builder Matthew Sklar provides a rare look inside a LEGO synagogue from the medieval era, based on the Talmudic Academies of circa 10th Century Babylonia. The Torah ark, framed in blue tiles, is beautifully constructed, but it’s the stained glass windows that shine brightest – fitting as Matthew created this model for the Colossal Castle competition’s stained glass category, as well as Brickscalibur’s Arabian Knights theme.

LEGO unveils Smart Play system – LEGO bricks and minifigs that play back [News]

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) isn’t the usual venue for LEGO to break big news – techies love displaying LEGO, but the bricks themselves aren’t your typical cutting-edge gadgets. That’s about to change with the announcement of the Smart Play system. Smart Bricks communicate with Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags that integrate sensors and spatial awareness into your builds, thanks to microchips smaller than a single stud. You can read about LEGO’s design process for the Smart Brick here.

As rumored, the new system debuts with the Star Wars theme with three all-in-one sets coming this March. Each of these will include a Smart Brick, charger, and at least one Smart Minifigure and Yag. The all-in-one sets include: 75421 Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (69,99 EUR / 69,99 USD / 59,99 GBP), 75423 Luke’s Red Five X-wing (89,99 EUR / 99,99 USD / 79,99 GBP), and 75427 Throne Room Duel & A-wing (159,99 EUR / 159,99 USD / 139,99 GBP). Presumably other sets will expand the Minifigure and Tag range but wouldn’t include a charging station.

LEGO has, of course, experimented with ways for bricks and circuits to talk to each other before. Mindstorms empowered curious builders to experiment with robotics and programming as early as 1998. The Dimensions toys-to-life video game platform let gamers scan physical toys to activate the models in-game. Vidyo and Hidden World sets played with augmented reality apps. Most recently, the Super Mario line uses a smart figure and sensors to let players assemble courses, collect coins, and playback sounds and expressions.

As the sensors in Smart Play are smaller and more powerful, they seem primed to make it easier for kids to integrate sound effects, music, lights, and game behaviors into physical sets that are much closer to your typical LEGO models. Just how robust those behaviors are, we’ll have to see. Right now it looks like the primary focus here is on imaginative, physical play rather than the more STEM focused initiatives like Mindstorms and Spike. I’m very curious to see how adult LEGO fans integrate these new functions into creations.

LEGO’s press release follows

Shinto tradition, Swedish horses, and Danish bricks to celebrate the New Year

Japanese builder umemaruko uses LEGO to charming effect as part of seasonal decor and holiday traditions (we previously covered her beautiful fall collection). To usher in the Year of the Horse, the builder presents a trio of models. Hanging on the wall is a Nehiki Matsu, a pine sprig charm that is a precursor to the kadomatsu traditional display, where the items symbolize wishes for the new year. Umemaruko’s wishes for the year: to stay grounded and to keep growing! Also in the display, a pair of horses inspired by Swedish Dala horse wood carvings and a kagami mochi – mochi with stacked with dried persimmon. Traditionally, the branch would be burned and the mochi eaten, but I hope umemaruko still has good fortune even if these bricks don’t meet that fate.

Tranquility in teal

Noah (H2brick) has created so many incredible vignettes over the years, from sunny villas to snowy planets. After a prolific 2024 with series dedicated to Darth Vader and Adventure Time, Noah was strangely quiet during 2025, without a single build until the last day of the year. Thankfully, Noah hasn’t lost the spark for crafting beautiful scenes like this freeform vignette set in the magical Teal Valley, where the diminutive acorn folk dwell. I’m a big fan of innovative tree techniques, and Noah doesn’t disappoint. Large teal trees with stocky trunks and bushy white foliage of flowers on their sprues are undeniably majestic, but the smaller tree with angular dark blue branches is also a winner. Welcome back, Noah – we’re excited to see where your miniature worlds will take us next!

Eero Okkonen shows how its done with this golden Huntr/x tribute to K-Pop Demon Hunters

Over the past sixteen years, Eero Okkonen has created hundreds of incredible brick-built characters that utilize the full range of LEGO elements in bold and surprising ways. (If you’re not following Eero’s review+moc features on New Elementary, you’re missing out!) The Finnish superstar’s latest is a tribute to 2025’s breakout music and movie sensation, K-Pop Demon Hunters, as Rumi, Mira, and Zoey all get the Eero treatment. The ladies of Huntr/x have never looked better!

The trio of figures are built from a combined ~1,600 pieces. The characters also mark the first time that Eero is bringing his signature style of poseable character to the LEGO Ideas platform (you can vote for it here). As a constraint to improve the chances of a successful Ideas review, Eero limits the build almost entirely to elements currently in production.

As usual with the builder’s characters, the models look great from every angle and are highly poseable. Remarkably, Eero sticks to all “legal” connection techniques, with the possible exception of the eyes, which use minifig hands – a trick found in many of his character designs.

Click to see each character in close-up with building insights

Camels and cobblestones at the Eastern Gate

Ids de Jong had an incredible sci-fi heavy 2025 with daily rovers in February and a showstopping New Hashima topper, but with Brickscalibur calling, the builder rings out the year medieval style. The Eastern Gate is a masterful composition, melding architecture and landscaping in a compact footprint. A hexagonal tower makes good use of 1×2 round plates to break from the grid, while snot bricks and tiles add recessed color striping around the gate. As strong as the brickwork is, my favorite elements are the pebbly ground. From just this small slice of a wall, it’s easy to imagine the bustling Middle Eastern town on the other side, thanks to the abundant figures and trees jutting from the frame.

Miscellanabuilds and CRCT Productions talk Iron Builder as the latest round comes to an end [Interview]

Season 7, Round 8 of the prestigious Iron Builder competition with the seed part of flower bell in light blue has come to a close. In the building battle between defending champion Eann “Miscellanabuilds” McCurdy and challenger Drew “CRCT Productions” Cazenave-Tapie, the judges were split 2-1 in favor of Eann. Even though only one builder can claim the Iron Builder title this round, both participants shared incredible creations. In addition to sharing all of the entries from this round, we spoke with both builders about their experience.

Our full coverage of the Iron Builder round follows

The last starfighter post of 2025 is a swooshable David Roberts delight

Over the years, David Roberts has created a vast fleet of small LEGO spacecraft featuring bright colors and designs that evoke the sci-fi future of decades past. The builder’s latest is the Y Cranc starfighter, and it’s one of my favorites. The sturdy hull is all SNOT in primary blue and yellow with Technic struts giving the ship a crab-like silhouette. David was inspired by an illustration from @thisnorthernboy, with the colors swapped to work from the parts in his collection. As David says in his description, building within constraints can make LEGO fun, whatever the size of your collection, and I admire how much David continues to innovate without the need to keep up with the latest elements.