Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

2025 LEGO Advent Calendar Spoilers: Day 16 [Feature]

Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.

We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!

Click here for spoilers of today’s builds!

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.

Building a LEGO countryside to soothe the soul [Guest Feature]

This landscape is an homage to my grandmother, as I’ve always seen her surrounded by nature, living in a house between two mountains with a large garden and forests. As you can imagine, this moc has a special place in my heart.

Countryside

The idea for this moc came, as usual, from wandering on Pinterest to seek inspiration. Pinterest is packed with fantastic arts of all kinds, making it really easy to gather inspiration, even if AI art is spreading there like crazy nowadays. One day, I came across a series of pixelated microscale landscapes such as valleys with villages, hills and fields that caught my attention. At first I thought it was yet another AI image, but I was informed it came from a human  – Franek pixel art. The person behind it even made a game, so beautiful.

Every time I hike or just wander in mountains, plains, or forests, I’m always getting inspired by nature like this. Just the sound of birds singing repairs the soul. Seeing a waterfall, a nice path through trees or a rock partially covered with green moss, it just makes me want to build something – that’s why I love doing terraforming. Unfortunately, these are the hardest to recreate for various practical reasons such as space, parts, or even time. Yet, on microscale though, those issues are kind of solved because those landscapes can be represented without having to turn a living room into a modelling convention.

Learn how the build came together after the break

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.

From Bullet-Spongebob to Bluey 40k, these LEGO mech mashups are are a demented delight

Scrolling through the creations of Thorben (tee_baum_bricks) is like a glimpse into a nerdy LEGO fan’s fever dreams. It’s a place where Saturday morning cartoons and eldritch horror meet over a slice of pizza. This year, Thorben has created a series of mechs and super soldiers based on family-friendly game and cartoon characters. This SpongeBob mech first grabbed my attention (with those sick clawed arms). In Thorben’s world, the absorbent power of sponges aid pirates in their undersea invasion. Poor SpongeBob, trapped inside this infernal machine.

Meanwhile, in the Mushroom Kingdom T.O.A.D.E.T.T.E. in AI-enhanced power armor leads the charge. Thorben credits Brickbot Studio for the power armor frame fundamentals.

See more mash-up mechs after the fold

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.

2025 LEGO Advent Calendar Spoilers: Day 15 [Feature]

Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.

We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!

Click here for spoilers of today’s builds!

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.

Minifigs go big in this jumbo-sized Minifig Monday

Minifig Monday is back after a few weeks away, and since it’s been a few weeks, we thought we’d bring you a jumbo-sized lineup of “large” characters. All of the featured figures incorporate minifig elements but are assembled from dozens of elements to create ornate designs and dynamic poses.

Bricksnbeasts leads the pack with Anubis, Keeper of Forgotten Souls in black and gold. The Egyptian god’s weapons are especially epic, like the sword that uses dual axe blades for the hilt. A gold sprue works perfectly for a scarab detail on the chest.

brickbot_studio diverges from his signature bot style to pay tribute to one of the great 90s sci-fi films: The Fifth Element. This all-gold Mondoshawan is instantly recognizable. The ray gun element seems like it was made for that alien face.

Our jumbo-sized tribute to not-so-mini figs continue after the break

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.

The joy of Happy Plants keeps growing with Tim Goddard’s potted pals

LEGO’s Happy Plants is one of our favorite sets of the year. Not only does it offer joy right out of the box, but the set has inspired so much creativity in the community as folks remix the concept with a personal touch. Tim Goddard, a legend in these parts, is the latest builder to get the green thumb bug. As end-of-year appreciation gifts for colleagues, Tim assembled a greenhouse worth of potted pals with bright colors and even brighter expressions. It’s evidence of just how rich the soil is for cute LEGO planters.

More happy plants

You’re probably wondering how Tim came up with all of these brilliant flowerpot builds. As talented as Tim is, I suspect he had a little help from a Trandoshan botanist and droids.

Botanists

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.

2025 LEGO Advent Calendar Spoilers: Day 14 [Feature]

Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.

We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!

Click here for spoilers of today’s builds!

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.

2025 LEGO Advent Calendar Spoilers: Day 13 [Feature]

Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.

We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!

Click here for spoilers of today’s builds!

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.

2025 LEGO Advent Calendar Spoilers: Day 12 [Feature]

Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.

We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!

Click here for spoilers of today’s builds!

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.

Exo-Force Mobile Defense Tank redux brings the nostalgia big guns

Exo-Force, LEGO’s anime-inspired precursor to Ninjago, is turning 20 and nostalgia for the mech-centric theme has never been higher. Andrew Somers is the latest builder to return to Sentai Mountain. Taking a break from his usual grounded military builds, Andrew reimagines the bright orange Mobile Defense Tank, LEGO’s tachikoma-esque with quad treads and heavy armament to take on enemy drones. Andrew reuses the classic printed orange elements while rebuilding the legs with Technic treads and applies his skill with modern weaponry in redoing the tank’s cannons. The accompanying decor and fleeing drones bring the setting to life. It’s a very modern build that stays very true to its classic inspiration.

Andrew also contributed to the Medina Al Musawrah collab earlier this year.

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.

2025 LEGO Advent Calendar Spoilers: Day 11 [Feature]

Our favorite holiday tradition is opening all six LEGO Advent Calendars, one day at a time, with you, our readers! Along with spoiler pics of the daily gifts, we include commentary and alternate builds to celebrate the season and creativity.

We have an all-star cast of custom minifig creators leading our Advent adventure this year. Fool’s Figures is wizarding his way through Harry Potter and Frozen calendars. ExpansionBricks is launching Star Wars and Friends. And beyondb0nes is digging into Minecraft and City. Now let’s open some doors and see what gifts are in store for today!

Click here for spoilers of today’s builds!

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.

Creating cozy Christmas memories in LEGO

Lucy1021lego is a Japanese builder who reconnected with the hobby, like so many adults, during the pandemic, when lockdown had us nostalgic for cozier times. Since then, Lucy has been photographing scenes of everyday life filled with amazing brick-built decor and the occasional non-brick detail, most starring her freckled Paradisa sigfig. Christmas scenes have been a staple of every year’s creations, so with the holidays approaching, what better time to cozy up with Lucy’s many holiday memories?

The weather outside is frightful. Come on in, won’t you?

See all of Lucy’s holiday memories after the jump

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.