Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

A charming Charizard to tide over Pokéfans

Hot on the heels of LEGO’s Charizard reveal, a wild Loke (byggi_l) appears with a personal spin on Pokémon #0006. Loke is a phenomenal character builder who packs every build with personality drawn from surprising parts. Take, for example, the LEGO skateboard used for Charizard’s lower jaw, the wheel clip of which creates the appearance of teeth.

Loke was inspired by the stunning Charizard build from Mitch Builds, but whereas Mitch blends Tehcnic and Bionicle elements into the build, Loke sticks with system parts and those loveable Mixel eyeballs, comically crossed for added goofy charm.

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Viva New Vegas! LEGO Fallout builds escape the vault

The Last of Us may have garnered more acclaim with its prestige trappings, but Amazon’s Fallout is the most video-gamey show to grace screens, and it’s much better TV for it! Season 2 lets “plot” take a back seat to side quests and larger-than-life NPCs, which is very on brand and always a hoot. Just in time for the new season, Philip T (brick_head_nz) returns to the franchise with new slices of Wasteland life, like this immersive scene showcasing New Vegas.

The impressive sign utilizes some brilliant techniques, such as a star made from minifig hands clipped to a drone. Using feathers for the “S” is a trick borrowed from last year’s LEGO employee gift set.

Down on the ground, Philip brings back his excellent Deathclaw build. Tauntaun horns pair perfectly with a Ninjago dragon helmet.

See more of Philip’s Fallout builds and behind-the-scene pics below

Color and form and contrast in brick

In her LEGO creations, Kat (@klegofan3000) regularly switches between tiled mosaics and modernist architectural creations. For her latest work, Kat blends her skills into an evocative sculpture that contrasts busy zigzagging lines with negative space from round holes. I love the unusual color combination of pink, orange, and green, and how the mosaic pattern wraps down the sides while being gloriously asymmetrical on the top.

The build was created for the #letsbuild26x26 challenge running through the end of the month on Instagram. Click here to learn how to join in!

The little fox and the white reindeer

In Finland, where Thomas (thebrickdwarf) and his LEGO friends live, winter offers a chance to capture beautiful outdoor scenes in the snow. Here we see Fjallraven, the arctic fox, encountering the Ghost Reindeer of Greenland. It’s a haunting image, thanks to the creature design that takes inspiration from Salvador Dali for the reindeer’s spindly legs.

Thomas has a knack for using small builds in natural settings to make the tiny world of minifigures and LEGO animals feel epic. Fjallraven’s adventure continues with another spooky encounter, this time a face-to-face with the skeletal King of Greenland enthroned inside the remains of a whale. Wil we see more adventures of this little fox?

Rush hour in Makuria

In recent years, the LEGO castle building community has seen an explosion of mocs looking beyond Europe for inspiration. Andreas Leander researched the medieval Nubian kingdom of Makuria for this amazing immersive scene in which a merchant transports Nile-grown grain with an ox-drawn cart. Everything on camera is built from LEGO, including the equatorial sky and cloth headwrap. The earthen road is a beautiful effect created from a mosaic of brick yellow between sloped nougat bricks (with no connection points, I would be terrified of bumping the table!). I’m impressed by the wheel, created mostly from 2×1 round ties. The driver’s headwear includes a few fun elements, like a pool ring and tutu. But the highlight (appropriately, as this was made for Brickscalibur’s “Beasts of Burden” category) is the ox, whose looks both strong and soft with that textured broad back.

A fantastic fanged monster with sprinkles on top

Is there anything sweeter than a fantastical creature built out of bricks? The Frosted Valley Viper, a confectionary creation from BigBrickStan, bares the sweetest teeth this side of Candyland. The serpentine shaping is incredible, especially with the use of pink quarter-circle tiles with sprinkles that cover the body, giving the beast the look of a frosted donut when coiled. Speaking of donuts, those glazed eyes are quite menacing! Icing aside, Stan works in a few other cleverly employed elements, like a raptor’s jaw for the tip of the mouth and an array of capes for the menacing head frills. The result is a sugary build that temps one too take a bite, if only the viper wouldn’t bite back!

This LEGO Monkey’s Gone to Heaven

Sun Wukong, aka the Monkey King, or just plain Monkey, is the most enduring mythological hero in the world, inspiring so many retellings, including LEGO’s own Monkey Kid franchise. Chinese Builder Jin Chen took on the legendary character at the height of his power, armed with the
Ruyi Jingu Bang staff and standing atop a fallen demon. Monkey’s white face markings are based on the traditional depiction seen in Chinese Opera.

Jin’s makes excellent use of the range of elements in pearl gold to sculpt Monkey’s ornate armor, tightly packing every surface with horns and shuriken. The tattered cape is especially dramatic with its mix of rounded tail elements and angular plates.

Take a peek at the making of Monkey after the break

Celebrating Bionicle’s 25th Anniversary with Minifigures

“The tales tell of six great heroes who will come to aid us in our darkest hour. A powerful toa of fire. A wise toa of water. A strong toa of earth. A mighty toa of stone. A courageous toa of air, A brave toa of ice.” Has it really been 25 years since LEGO introduced us to the heroes of Mata Nui?

I created this series of minifigs for a collaboration with @majestyminifigs where we reboot a cancelled LEGO theme with custom minifigures. Of course I chose Bionicle. It took me a hot minute to figure out how I wanted to convert the toa mata into minifigure form, but I overall, I’m proud of the result!

Jacob’s figs and story follows

This purple pod racer is anything but poodoo

Pod racing is back! Last year, we rounded up a slew of new pod racing mocs from AFOLs and LEGO designers, but now a new competitor zooms in courtesy of Kyle Collard, aka Lord of Vador, and this one’s a stunner. (Of course, we wouldn’t expect anything less from Kyle, whose Mustafar moc was one of our favorite builds of 2025.) The engines roar with greeble detail thanks to the larger scale. I didn’t appreciate just how big this build is until I saw the cables connecting the cockpit. This racer is huge! The size also allows for beautiful color blocking and smooth curves in the fins.

Kyle based the design on a piece of concept art from Alexander “Minze” Thümler, but the LEGO version incorporates purple as the primary accent color. As the builder explains: “The color scheme stays dark and aggressive: dark purple, dark blue, and light gray, layered with pearl dark gray and flat silver to give the engines weight and metallic depth. The white accents are decals—kept clean to cut through the darkness.”

Kyle’s racer has me pushing Galactic Racer to the top of my most anticipated game releases:

These WALL-E x LEGO Space remixes are the nostalgia I need right now

WALL-E and LEGO Space will always share a special bond. After all, WALL-E’s lead animator Angus MacLane designed the winning Ideas set that became the first LEGO take on the character. There’s something about the big-eyed robot’s design that lends itself so well to bricks, and not just for screen-accurate interpretations. Curtis D Collins uses the basic WALL-E design as a springboard for a whole army of bots inspired by LEGO’s iconic space themes.

Of course, the series has to start with Classic Space colors. Curtis incorporates signature elements from each era into the WALL-E builds, like this fella’s positioning thrusters.

My favorite of the whole series is the M-Tron WALL-E, which might not incorporate actual magnet pieces, but does upgrade the bot’s hands with magnet-inspired manipulators. The design also incorporates theme-appropriate tires for retro authenticity.

The robot rollcall continues after the fold

Lumbering LEGO Sentinel mech is ready for action

While nimble humanoid mecha tend to steal the spotlight, I’ve always had a soft spot for clunky walkers, like this armored beast from Japanese LEGO builder Kattho. Built from a mix of sand green and gunmetal grey, the S05-A Sentinel is practically a one-vehicle army with its heavy complement of arms.

The builder makes great use of printed elements, like the forest design from last year’s Off Road Mountain Truck. Ingots, grilles, and turntable tops give the mostly studless build industrial texture.

While this mech is a quadruped for mobility, it also sports manipulator arms for precision jobs like defusing mines. The single stud lens also serves to give the mech a face so it’s not just a walking tank.

Kattho has shared many other equally impressive mecha of both the four and two-legged variety, that you can enjoy on their feed.

LEGO reveals first wave of Pokémon sets, eyeing adult collectors who’ve gotta build ’em all

Ever since LEGO first announced its multi-year partnership with The Pokémon Company, fans have been wondering how the beloved pocket monsters would stack up as official sets. Today we get a look at the first three sets debuting on February 27th.

While Pokémon is very much a kid-friendly brand, it’s also 30-years old with a massive adult fanbase, so this initial wave of sets is all branded for 18+ and priced accordingly. The smallest set, Eevee, contains 587 pieces and focuses on just the fan favorite Pokémon for $69.99. The 2050-piece Pikachu comes with a lightning bolt stand and Poké Ball for a dynamic display at $199.99. Clocking in at 6838 pieces, Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise celebrate the evolved form of the Kanto starters dramatically posed on a round base for a hefty $649.99.

During the first week of release, while supplies last, a 312-piece Kanto Region Badge Collection is included with purchase of the Kanto starters, letting fans show off their trainer mastery in brick form. While this free set looks wonderful, we’re a bit disappointed to see it locked behind such a hefty price threshold.

LEGO promises many more Pokémon sets to follow for a range of ages. As excited as we are to see this partnership come to life, the high prices of these first sets have tempered our enthusiasm. Much of Pokémon’s appeal is around collecting a broad range of monsters, and with over 1,000 to choose from in the franchise, one hopes that LEGO will make collecting accessible to kids and adults alike. What are your thoughts on the first wave of Pokémon sets? Will you be catching them all next month?

See the new sets below