Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Minifigs of Spooky Season: The Final Nightmare [Minifig Monday]

Halloween is over, so it’s time to retire the jack-o-lanterns and put away the ghosts and plastic spiders (unless you’re in Australia, in which case it’s just spiders all the time). But before we close the book on spooky season, let’s take one last look back at the chilling minifig creations with costumes and creatures!

Let’s jolt things to life with this incredible take on Frankenstein and the Monster from Garret (2p_figs). These are characters that have been recreated so many times in LEGO, but Garret makes them his own with some brilliant choices, like using Nute Gunray’s head for the monster’s face and Tasha’s buckle-heavy torso for the doctor. Incredible staging too!

frankytea_lego creates a grizzly scene from the dark corners of Fleet Street. I hear the pies there are delicious!

Love The Addams Family and Wednesday but aren’t a fan of minidolls? gcbricks recreates the altogether ooky family as minifigs. My favorites are Cousin Itt and the uncannily perfect Fester made from Gru minifig with the eyebrows erased. Of course Wendsday brings her friend Thing…

Our Spooky Season roundup concludes after the break

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Quoth the raven, MORE GREEBLES!

LEGO might be more commonly associated with three-dimensional models, but in recent years, the medium has seen an explosion of creativity around mosaics. While mosaics can be flat and tile-based, many builders play with texture and layering in ways that add depth. Greeble Mosaics take that to the extreme, adding large vertical elements, or even whole scenes, that dissolve into a painterly texture when seen from a distance. GothGirlBricks, a frequent mosaic builder, created her first greeble mosaic this Halloween and the results are spectacular.

The builder started the project four weeks ago with a flat base layer of the raven and skull. While ravens may be “black,” there’s an iridescence to the feathers that she brings out with color highlights in the pink and blue spectrum.

Up close you can see so many parts that GothGirlBricks brings into the model – especially the animals! I see spiders, kittens, owls, butterflies, and even an octopus in the mix!

For builders who would like to try making a greeble mosaic but with instructions and parts, LEGO’s Milky Way set is a good way to try your hand at this immersive style. You can also check out the breathtaking work of Gerardo Pontierr, an artist whose work is currently on display in LEGO House in Billund.

Hark, Castle fans! Build your way to the Round Table – Brickscalibur 2025 begins now! [News]

Brickscalibur, the annual winter contest for Castle builders, is now open and builders have until January 15th, 2026, to complete their models for a chance at prizes. Organizer and chief trophy maker Markus Rollbühler reveals this year’s categories:

Beasts of Burden
Arabian Knights
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Faction Action
Cotton Candy Kingdom
The Heist of the Century (Team of 2)

Individual Prizes

Additional layers to the entries above that can score an extra prize!

Cerulean Count
Elemental Sorcerer
Royal Poet

While the above categories require physical builds to win, there is one “Digitalibur” prize for the top digital entry.

You can read the full details on each category here or join the community on Discord.

Participants don’t just have a chance at prizes – each entry also earns points that carry over into the Eternal Hall of Fame.

Iron Man Mark 3 Collectors’ Edition Headlines January wave of LEGO Marvel sets [News]

Today, LEGO revealed the next wave of Marvel sets arriving on January 1, 2026. Five minifig-scale let builders of all ages recreate epic superhero battles for play or display, while adult collectors can assemble the 1297-piece Iron Man Mark 3 Collectors’ Edition. Spider-Man continues to get an outsized starring role in the Marvel theme. Full details and comments follow.

See the full list of Marvel Sets coming on January 1

LEGO Ideas greenlights biggest batch of fan ideas yet, including Megazord, Downton Abbey, and La Catrina

Today, the LEGO Ideas team revealed which of the 57 Ideas sets that qualified for design review back in May will go on to become official sets, including the beloved Megazord from the Power Rangers. We’re thrilled to see La Catrina approved, just in time for Dia de los Muertos too! The list skews IP-heavy, with 4 of the 6 approved sets and all 3 parking lot sets being based on IP (although 20th-century literature is a novel source for LEGO).

Keep in mind that these fan designs are not the versions that you’ll eventually see on shelves, as first they have to go through an internal design process. Which sets are you most excited to see come to life?

GO GO POWER RANGERS! LEGO MEGAZORD by TrumanBricks

LA CATRINA by yop1172

Click to see the rest of the fan concepts that will be coming as official sets

Scarily good DUPLO celebrations of Halloween

LEGO’s big bricks for small hands, DUPLO, doesn’t often feature in AFOL builds unless it’s as filler under the terrain of a giant diorama, a challenging seed part for Iron Builders, or you’re Djokson and there are no rules. For Japanese builder Haru Takatsugu, DUPLO has become the medium of choice for 5 years of MOCs, with the builder recreating everything from lifelike sushi to a recreation of the Spirited Away bathhouse. Halloween builds are especially challenging, given how few DUPLO sets feature black bricks, but Haru has managed to amass enough to make spooky black creations an annual tradition.

Most impressive is the builder’s haunted house from two years back which features a full interior for a poltergeist party.

Some of these DUPLO figures and accessories are exceedingly rare, like the skeleton that appeared in a single set back in 2006 and is almost impossible to find on the secondary market. If you’re wondering who that strange onion-headed figure is, it’s Spud from Bob the Builder, a living scarecrow who is truly the stuff of nightmares.

Building the Horde: The Clans of Orctober

Every October, LEGO builders around the world turn their attention to the brutal and boisterous denizens of fantasy lore: the orcs. For Orctober, I wanted to explore what makes these creatures tick: not just their monstrous brawn, but the different archetypes that define their place in the horde. We have a lot of noble heroes in LEGO, but now it’s the villains’ time to shine!

My goal was to create four distinct characters: each representing one of the RPG classics: Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Guile – showcasing the diversity and ferocity that defines the Greenskin horde.

Zug zug. Click to read learn how Nick mustered his horde of orcs!

Poland’s haunted history in LEGO

Over the past three years, Polish AFOL Mihał Ch has been documenting his nation’s history in a series of LEGO vignettes. The minifig-scale scenes celebrate the heroes of art and culture, as well as recognizing atrocities, uprisings, and statecraft, with builds paired with a history lesson. Just in time for Halloween, as part of the third series of vignettes, Mihał remembers some of the darker chapters in Polish history. For example, dissidents being exiled to Siberia during the Russian occupation.

Here, Mihał pays tribute to the January Uprising of 1963-1964, when the escalation of “russification” and repression sparked a guerrilla war for independence that, despite early successes, was ultimately quashed.

Here we see Mihał’s depiction of the Galician slaughter when, in order to avert a Polish uprising for independence, the Austrian military incited the local serfdom against the Polish aristocracy in bloody revolt with promises of a better life, only to sweep in after the fact punish the peasants with more oppression.

Not all of Mihał’s scenes are quite so grim. Here he pays tribute to the composer Chopin and here to the writing of the Polish Constitution.

#Cyberpink2025 puts cancer in the crosshairs as LEGO fans build for breast cancer awareness

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when concerned humans raise awareness, promote earlier diagnosis, and support people affected by a disease that affects over 10% of women globally. The campaign is signified by wearing a pink ribbon, but many advocates find other ways to show support, like a group of LEGO fans who are using their bricks and voice to spread awareness under the #Cyberpink2025 hashtag. What started as a six-builder collab has been growing as all are invited to participate with the hashtag. The participants promise to return bigger and more organized next year.

Leading the charge for a cause is zakar.ion with this rabbit-themed Jū Gaito mech. The mech’s eyes come from this year’s Lucky Cat set while the stickered pink elements are sourced from the 2 Fast 2 Furious Honda. My favorite element is the matching minifig.

part_parakeet fights back with this Killer Cupcake, a sweet ally in the fight against cancer.

More pink mecha and cyberpunk heroes follow

Little Shop of Horrors meets LEGO Belville as Audrey II turns over a new leaf

LEGO’s Belville dolls are such strange and wonderful creations – a product of the late ’90s that looks like they came from a much earlier decade – which is probably why the dolls work so well in the amazing nostalgia-steeped dioramas of Victoria Worsley. They’re especially perfect in Victoria’s homage to ’60s set Little Shop of Horrors where she depicts the climactic confrontation as Seymore suddenly stands up to the alien plant. The larger scale allows ample space for potted plants, and of course, the diva plant herself, Audrey II. Hero Factory cocoon shells work perfectly for the petals around Audrey II’s mouth.

Flip the scene around and you can see what happened to demented dentist Orin Scrivello. His ride is the conveniently scaled Creator 3-in-1 Vintage Motorcycle. It’s great to see the Fabuland garbage bin is capable of holding severed limbs.

Victoria’s model is currently on display in the lobby of the LEGO Campus in Billund, along with her darkly delightful Belville tribute to the wives of Henry VIII.

The Making of The Fellowship – Catching up with Cathedral of Bricks [Interview]

When we first encountered the LEGO castle creations from Luke, who posts on Instagram as cathedralofbricks, we were immediately struck by the builder’s skill with medieval architecture and dramatic landscaping. Since we last spoke with Luke, he has gone on to win two top awards in the Summer Joust competition and sailed from castle territory into pirate-infested seas with a stunning tall ship. This month, Luke debuted his biggest model yet, a tribute to Tolkien called “The Fellowship.” It’s such a magnificent build, we had to follow up with Luke about its creation.

our Interview with Luke and illustrations of his work and inspirations follow

Moko’s latest CUBE-ROBO squares off against Halloween

Mecha master Moko gets into the Halloween spirit with the 14th entry into the builder’s CUBE-ROBO series. At first glance, it’s a cute cubic Jack-O’-Lantern, but like the 13 bots that precede it, the model holds a secret. With a few deft tugs and swivels, it transforms into an impressive and articulated mech!

As Moko explains in their blog, the model began with the cube form, so the robot’s humanoid frame inherited the triangular “head,” which lends the mech an insectoid appearance. Moko leans into the bug-quality with pincher claws.

Fourteen transforming cubes is impressive, but it’s just the start of what Moko dreams of being a set of 100. Although the builder notes that at the current rate, getting to that ambitious target will take more than one lifetime. Here’s hoping Moko is able to square that dream!

You can see Moko tranform the model in real time here: