Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Vivi explores Alexandria in the latest Final Fantasy LEGO JRPG tribute from Brick Ninja

July 7 marked the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy IX, and to celebrate, Kevin Wanner (Brick Ninja) recreates the game’s opening in Alexandria out of LEGO. After the sci-fi-infused Final Fantasies VII and VIII, the ninth installment returns to the franchise’s medieval roots and classic character designs, like the black mage Vivi, who Kevin adapts with ease into minifig form. It’s such a charming, immersive scene that feels like it’s lifted straight from a video game, with barely a stud in sight. There’s so much to love, from the dense wolverine-claw grass, to the oval tiled walls, to the curved wall slats on the rightmost building.

Of course, Kevin is no stranger to Final Fantasy-inspired builds. We’ve featured several of his FF7 tributes in the past, but there have been enough recent builds that we’ve missed, that this is the perfect time to play catch up, starting with this spot-on recreation of the expanded cast as minifigures.

Kevin’s Final Fantasy LEGO tributes continue…

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Paradisa pastels for a poolside gashapon party

While the new Castle factions and Space colors captured the most attention with the release of LEGO Ideas 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine, those aren’t the only themes to get fresh figs. Paradisa, the pastel-infused beach-heavy theme from the ’90s, also shows up in capsule prizes. Builder lego_m.art, whose models fuse nostalgia with a light touch of modern parts and techniques, reimagines the set as a full-on Paradisa tribute. Cherry red is replaced with pink accents on white stucco, with the machine’s top becoming a chill beach and capsule’s sliding out into a refreshing swimming pool. All the classic Paradisa crew turned out to party poolside with ice cream and definitely-not-pina-coladas served in mugs. It’s a chill-wave masterpiece that leaves you wondering what a modern Paradisa Icons set might look like if it got the royal treatment like Classic Space and Castle have in recent years.

See the turtle of renown, on his shell he holds a town!

Before Discworld and The Dark Tower, the concept of a world turtle was rooted in mythologies around the world. Sam (dewback_bricks) took inspiration from the Chinese world turtle myth for this evocative LEGO creation that is both an excellent brick-built creature design and a Roman-inspired microscale city. With SNOT modules angled off the grid, Sam achieves impressive curves on the turtle’s back. Hanging vines give the wizened wanderer a nice goatee. A tiny sailboat in the sea of 1×1 round studs really sells the scale of this impressive creature. Perhaps most impressive – Sam built this towering turtle in just two days!

Masked minifigures make for a majestic and mysterious royal wedding in LEGO

Royal weddings are always a grand affair filled with strange customs and ritutals, which is doubly true in the kingdom of Valmirion from the LEGO role-play world of Feodalis. Builder Tylar depicts a union between royal families, under the watchful eye of the sun god, where noble guests hide their identities behind animal masks (mostly borrowed from Chima minfigs). The figure designs, with copious ruffled collars, are uniformly wonderful, with some great custom accessories, like the bishop’s sun staff, but the background is wonderful as well. I appreciate the SNOT tile walls that allow for more texture and variety than stacked bricks. The excellent floor pattern looks wonderful adorned with a scattering of flower petals. Tylar continues to be a builder who can mix strong architectural skills with custom minifig designs to beautiful effect.

LEGO Star Wars 75434 K-2SO Security Droid – Good enough to parade before the Emperor [Review]

Hey folks! Brennan (aka Brickbot_Studio) here! Some of you might know me as the guy on Instagram who makes a lot of small-scale, part-dense LEGO robots, D&D minifigures, and LEGO Warhammer 40k figures & mechs. But today, I get to offer you my thoughts on LEGO’s latest addition to their buildable characters lineup: K-2SO! Ever since Alan Tudyk made his unforgettable debut as K-2SO in Rogue One back in 2016, the lanky black Imperial droid has been a fan favorite. LEGO first responded with a buildable action figure and a minifig-scale mold. Today we’ll find out if the upcoming LEGO Star Wars 75434 K-2SO Security Droid succeeds at capturing the beloved, snarky robotic turncoat as an intricate and highly detailed display model.

You can ~~reprogram~~ build your own 845 piece K-2SO for US $89.99 | CAN $119.99 | UK £79.99 when the droid comes home August 1, 2025.

Congratulations, K-2SO, you are being reviewed. Please do not resist.

Custom Minifig creations with Hollywood LEGO hero stuntmanbrick [Guest Feature]

Hi there! I’m Aidan, you may know me as @stuntmanbrick on Instagram, and I’m fortunate enough to be TBB’s guest writer today. A little about myself – I’m a screenwriter based in Los Angeles and I just graduated from USC with a master’s degree in writing. I write mostly family/adventure/sci-fi-type features, and I say all this because film is one of my two passions – the other, of course, being LEGO.

A lifelong fan of the plastic, I’ve been running my LEGO Instagram page for about six and a half years now, accruing over twenty-thousand followers in that time. My work mostly focuses on recreating pre-existing characters from movies and television, whether it’s 1902’s A Trip to the Moon, this year’s Sinners, or anything in between. With that, let’s talk LEGO customs.

The story continues…

Heroes of Fur and Feather Challenge 2: Monster Meyhem [Contest]

Over sixty heroes showed up for Delving Day with many sharing their adventures with amazing LEGO builds and juicy lore. Thanks to all who participated. This week we have a new challenge: “Monster Meyhem!” but first let’s check in on Olly, Liri, and Kitara, our three heroes created by guest collaborators Jacob Manahan, beyondb0nes, and Red Impala. And a special thanks to ASortaOkayBuilder for the critters in this week’s challenge.

Ready to delve into Dungeon Crossing? Let’s go!

This Week in LEGO Bricks: Convention collabs, contests, and creativity unleashed [Feature]

As much time as I spend following the LEGO hobby, there are always amazing builds and stories that I would have missed without ABrickDreamer’s weekly This Week in Bricks videos. Like this video tour of Ben Cossy’s incredibly LEGO collection that is sure to fill any AFOL with awe and envy. Or Harry Jo’s final epic build before joining LEGO next month as a set designer. Lots of amazing builds this week!

Seaside Cafe is the essence of old world cozy

There’s something hopelessly romantic about travelling through Mediterranean towns where medieval walls and ancient ruins mingle with modern life. Y.R. Bricks captures that contrast and charm with a slice of seaside life LEGO. The builder’s stonework is flawless, with a mix of profile bricks, SNOT and subtle offsets for a texture that looks like it’s endured for centuries without crumbling into rubble. The use of color is phenomenal, such as carrying the pink accent from the cherry blossom tree over to the flowers in pots and climbing vines.

As an extra challenge, the builder also fit in a cafe interior, which looks so specific and detailed, I feel like I’ve been there! Tips for any visiting American minifigs – coffee = espresso, asking for “half and half” will only get you confused looks, and why would you ask for your drink to go when you can grab a spot and savor it by the sea?

Silverpuke Collab redeems Metalheart Y2K aesthetic in LEGO

If you’re a fan of the post-Bionicle LEGO character scene, you might have noticed a spike in monochrome silver creations that look like liquid metal exiles from a Cyberspace graveyard vibing to Nine Inch Nails as they hack the planet.

They’re rad. I poked the building beast who started the trend, Djokson, to find out more about this collab called “Silverpuke.”

Originally, this started with a few of my builds: Psychopomp Alloy, Sinew and Silver Fog. In an attempt to revisit the aesthetic of metallic Y2K renders (metalheart stuff in particular) I used the often maligned palette of silver pieces from Bionicle to achieve that feeling.

The term silverpuke itself used to be a derogatory phrase thrown around on certain fan forums to refer to builds utilizing an overabundance of such parts. The aim with the collab title was to reclaim it. For the longest time, Bionicle builders bemoaned the excessive usage of silver blade pieces in sets, and many called them unusable outside of weapons. So it also serves as a fun challenge when building.

From there, some of my friends were inspired to make their own, and it sorta snowballed into a recurring collab. The builds tend to come together very quickly when inspiration strikes.

A selection of models from of the growing collab follows:

The Silverpuke MOCS go Halcyon and on and on

Skyrim gets remastered yet again, this time in LEGO

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim debuted in the era of the Xbox 360 but has remained an essential game across three console generations. With all those remasters and mods, of course Skyrim would inspire LEGO tributes as well. What I love about this version from Gabriel Midgley is how the builder distills everything about this epic open world into a compact LEGO scene. Not a small build, mind you – it’s quite epic, but also dense with details that fans of the game will appreciate.

From the dragon soaring above the peak to the Dwemer ruins that wind through the mountain’s roots, the scene yells “adventure” with the intensity of a Dragonborn’s shout. Even though the game is single-player, Gabriel packs in references to many player races and classes, like the Argonian lizard man chilling at the camp. This LEGO take is such a fun way to experience Skyrim again, it just might tide me over until Elder Scrolls VI finally arrives… in 2042, if we’re lucky.

A Monsters Inc. MOC guaranteed to make you scream (with delight)

It’s a travesty that Monsters, Inc. hasn’t appeared in an official LEGO set yet (outside of a sly little reference in the recent Luxo Jr. lamp). Thankfully we have fan builders like Ben Wick (Brickswick) to remind us how great these Pixar character designs are. I love Ben’s flat characters and the custom decals on Sulley and the door, which evoke the fun 2D art featured in the film’s credits. Boo’s mop head disguise is perfect. Does Mike Wazowski look a bit like a green Patapon? Yes, and I fully support this. It’s an excellent tribute that shows how you don’t need a huge collection of parts to make MOCs that can bring ~~screams~~ smiles to all.