Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Mooncakes and tea under a fish lantern’s glow – Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in LEGO

While in much of the world, October is spent getting in the Halloween spirit, in much of Asia, the month aligns with the Mid-Autumn Festival (it fell on October 6th this year), when mooncakes and tea are enjoyed to honor ancestors. Khang Huynh celebrates the festival with traditional cakes and tea alongside a Vietnamese-style fish lantern. The builder photographs with his usual care, lending a soft glow to the tableau that makes it easy to overlook as LEGO.

The sand green and turquoise teapot is a beautiful sub build. Dinosaur tails are used to create the ornate handle and spout, while leaves lend subtle texture to the sides.

While the pot and lamp are new builds, the cake comes from a Mid-Autumn festival tribute that Khang created three years ago. That year’s tableau featured an equally elegant teapot design.

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Bricknap’s LEGO spacecraft paint a colorful, cyberpunk-cool future

LEGO Spaceships don’t need to be 100+ studs long to amaze. Oftentimes, it’s the crazy angles, color blocking, and creative use of parts at a smaller starfighter scale that hit like a supernova. Take the KLR-420 starfighter from French builder Fabien (bricknap), a craft so dense with fun detail it’s dizzying. Fabian first started designing the ship a year ago and completed it back in 2024 as an addition to his sprawling sci-fi universe of Fantapolis – which is a bit like New Hashima with a heavy dose of the Friends color palette.

There is so much to love about this ship design, from the cockpit module for a pilot to lay down between clear windshields, to the arms from the Mobile Construction Crane used for the wings, to the pair of Nexo Knight hubs/grinders wrapped with a Dots bracelet.

The S-foil wing formation and engines are clearly X-Wing inspired, but the aesthetic brings in so much more whimsy. The color combination of blue and bright light orange is gorgeous (and also a favorite combo of Simon Liu!)

Click for a quick tour of some of Fabien’s other spacecraft

LEGO Trogdor comes in the night to burninate your peasants

In the pantheon of great dragons, you have Smaug, Falcor, King Gidorah, Toothless, and of course, Puff the Magic, but all of these legendary beasts pale in comparison to the greatest dragon~~-man~~ of all: Trogdor, the Burninator. Trogdor was introduced to the world back in 2001 with Strongbad Email #58, one of the greatest memes to arise from the pre-social media internet. Builder Grant Holyoak recreates Trogdor with all of the dragon’s essential features – smoke, fire, wing-a-lings, spinedies, and angry eyebrows. He even includes peasants mid-burninating. My only nitpick is that there aren’t enough consummate Vs!

Minifigs of spooky season – Return of the living bricks [Minifig Monday]

We’re back for a second roundup of Halloween minifigs, ranging from slightly spooky to downright terrifying. Warning – some of these get pretty dark!

Our cover image goes to 2brickmonsters who breaks out the trans neon green for an oozy splatterfest. There’s so much creative parts usage on display, but I think the green crowns as popping pustules takes the creepy cake. Excellent use of the Blacktron mutant CMF legs.

Zakar.ion gets into the Halloween spirit with The Grove’s Curse. Apparently the pumpkin patch got tired of getting carved up and decided to uproot and do some carving of its own!

_motherofcatdragons_ gets medieval with a perfect plague doctor. The Kubaz mask is a little bit creepy no matter what galaxy you’re from.

It’s a nightmare on minifig street after the jump!

Six years in the making, this massive 25,000+ brick haunted house is spookily spectacular [Feature]

From Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion to the clanking metal doors of the midway ghost ride, haunted houses are the best part of any theme park. Tomáš Kašpařík reminds us why, with this incredible 25,000+ piece tribute to spooky amusements. The model debuted at Skærbæk Fan Weekend last month, where we had a chance to explore the display in person.
To make it easier to transport, the model is divided into two sections – the spooky ride queue, with winding lines and a few interior set pieces – and the ride itself, a two-story motorized build. While the physical build is new, the design itself started six years ago as a collab with Jason Pyett of Playwell Bricks. We asked Tomáš about how this project came together and he was gracious enough to share his story:

It all started in March 2019 when I decided I want to build a LEGO Haunted house just like the real thing in theme parks, with carts where people (in this case minifigures) can sit in and enjoy the ride. As you can see from my other builds I am a big theme park fan :-)

Tomáš continues the story of this haunted collab after the break

Celebrate Halloween the Not-So-Scary way with legonano’s Disney tributes

Japanese builder legonano specializes in tiny LEGO tributes to all things Disney. With Halloween fast approaching, legonano has curated a selection of iconic villains for a Not-So-Scary display. The builder has created 164 mosaic tiles in her Disney series, establishing her own visual language for adapting beloved characters.

Also featured in her Halloween tableau is legonano’s miniature take on the Haunted Mansion, the latest in the builder’s series of Disneyland ride vignettes. The front of the facade captures the New Orleans Square landmark, while the back features some hitchhiking ghosts and a heart-stopping rendition of the bride.

A selection of legonano’s creations were previously featured in LEGO House’s Masterpiece Gallery, delighting kids and Disney Adults in Billund last year.

A LEGO castle legend returns to the Guilds of Historica

Since 2013, over in the Eurobricks forums, Castle fans have been building out a shared fantasy world with story arcs and challenges called Guilds of Historica. Peter Ilmrud is a longtime member of the community who hasn’t added to the world in a while, but returned last month with a beautiful piece of forced perspective featuring his sigfig Parzival approaching a desert metropolis.

With just the microscale model in focus, we can better appreciate the wonderful technique, like one boat made with chocolate frogs and another from a hotdog bun, an upturned butterfly net as a dome, and a book cover for a tent.

Peter promises that the microscale model above is just an appetizer for a larger return to Guilds of Historica next year. Based on the builder’s previous creations in the setting, we’re in for a treat. Here is Peter’s creation from the GoH 10th anniversary contest two years ago – the Port of Zamorah. (Visit Peter’s Flickr to appreciate it close up.)

Continue reading →

How three builders celebrate travel with LEGO [Feature]

LEGO sets can make excellent souvenirs to take home from vacations, but how can LEGO prepare you for a trip and make that journey even more special?

Australian AFOL Kristel Whitaker recently wrapped a European vacation where she documented her trip with Polaroids built from LEGO. Rather than visit first, build later, Kristel prepped her “photographs” before leaving Australia based on iconic locations, then took an on-location photograph to match. The results are so much fun!

I love the use of monochrome for the LEGO versions, which makes them feel timeless but could also simplify the need to color-match exactly, like with this snapshot from Copenhagen’s Nyhavn.

Kristel’s compositions also help keep scope manageable when the subject is enormous, like with this shot of the Colosseum that she managed to perfectly match on location.

See the world with more AFOL adventurers after the fold!

All aboard the itty-bitty choo-choo!

When LEGO dropped this season’s winter village addition, 10361 Holiday Express Train, we were shocked to find a 3D-printed engine inside. Builder Owen (_brickbytes) used that one funny element as the seed for a full microscale scene. The little engine is followed by cars that mirror the scale and detail of the printed piece using system elements. The extra-thin quality of LEGO hinges works brilliantly both as tiny wheels and to give the coal hopper interesting shaping. Owen’s microscale chops extend beyond the centerpiece train. Using book covers as thatched rooftops is clever indeed, and of course, I’m always happy to see green antlers used for microscale foliage!

Gearheads unite- Building on motorcycle MOCs of the past

I’m the first to admit, I’m no gearhead – I can barely tell the difference between a Buick and a Bentley – but that doesn’t keep me from having the deepest respect for LEGO builders who are as passionate about their cars as I am castles. The precision and innovation that go into making recognizable vehicles in miniature is its own kind of magic. Sam Andreas, aka Sseven Bricks, is one of my favorite automotive builders, thanks to his sharp lines, crisp photography, and clever parts use that never skimp on detail, even at 6-7 studs wide. Like this Chevy P20 step van. Now the builder is first to admit that this vehicle is just “a big grey box on wheels,” but it’s what’s in the back that caught my eye.

What a beautiful chopper! So much detail at minifig scale with tricks like using minifig hands for handlebars and kickstand. I love builds like this. Now, as talented as Sam is, he’s also building on a the innovation of those who came before and it’s wonderful to see him credit those inspirations.

The motorcycle above was inspired by the work of Sanel Lukovic from back in 2018. Sanel hasn’t been as active in recent years, but his legacy is massive. It’s always great to be reminded when legendary builders past works are still inspiring new builds.

Read on for another example of Andreas iterating on iconic builds for his incredible vehicles

LEGO goes Back to the Future with sleek and affordable Speed Champions set [News]

Great Scott! LEGO is bringing Doc Brown’s DeLorean, and not only is it an awesome-looking set, but it’s also priced like sets from the ’80s? This is heavy. Arriving on January 1, 2026, LEGO Speed Champions 77256 Time Machine from Back to the Future has everything going for it except for that clunker name. 357 pieces for $27? Yes please. New minifigs for Doc and Marty? Don’t mind if I do. Excellent shaping and details on the DeLorean on two alternate builds? If my calculations are correct, this set delivers. The only things not included are roads, but where this car’s going, you don’t need ’em. Coming off an onslaught of massive and expensive IP-based sets, it’s refreshing to have an affordable way to indulge in nostalgia or share a classic with a new generation. More of this please, LEGO! What do you think? Will you be picking up the new DeLorean when it flies in next year?

LEGO Speed Champions 77256 Time Machine from Back to the Future | 357 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 | US $27.99 | CAN $34.99 | UK £22.99

If you don’t click to see more of this heavy set, Darth Vader will come down from Planet Vulcan to melt your brain.

Minifigs of spooky season – the first omen [Minifig Monday]

Throughout October, spooky builds take over LEGO feeds like a Spirit Halloween store. With so many eerily good costumes and creepy characters this month, we thought it would be a treat to summon the specters early for a month of monstrous madness!

ASortaOkayBuilder kicks things off with Manny, the skeletal bard. Equipped with Héctor’s guitar from Coco and a trans neon green ectoplasmic flourish, this swashbuckling is the perfect minifig to lead us to the lands of the dead.

Captain Dark Shark captures footage of paranormal activity in medieval times. Created for the newly launched Graymane Guild Role-Play community, this haunting is sure to kick of an epic quest when the villager enlists magical help to solve the Ahsenhollow curse.

Anotherlegoaccount has been going through the decades capturing obscure horror films you’ve probably never heard of, like the obscure 1979 Soviet sci-fi thriller “In Space” with its hideous Extroform. The scene with the mandroid was terrifying. I’m just glad the dog survives.

Trick or treat? Spooky Halloween and horror minifigs continue after the fold