Posts by Jake Forbes (TBB Managing Editor)

Tiny Badlands dragon has a four-foot high belly

How can an 8-inch dragon also be four feet high? When those feet are LEGO versions of Donkey Kong feet, cleverly worked into the dragon’s scaly belly. Nathan Don (Woomy Worlddesigned this fellow at the Skærbæk Fan Weekend as part of New Elementary’s New Parts Workshop. As guest builder, Nathan guided fans in unlocking the creative potential of new elements. The seed part for the dragon, Donkey Kong’s foot, doesn’t feature easy connection points for such a small build, so the row of feet are rubber banded together, reducing the number of connections needed. Very clever! (Learn more about Nathan’s process at New Elementary).

Badlands Dragon

Nathan has had an incredible year, both winning the Bio-Cup competition and being invited to contribute to the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery. After so many epic creations, it’s a delight to see what a builder can do with just a few weird parts to spark the imagination!

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.

2024 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 11 [Feature]

It’s day 11 of the most wonderful time of the year when we at the Brother Brick take you on a guided tour of the winter wonderland that is LEGO advent calendars! It truly is the best time of year. We love it so much that other holidays, birthdays, and celebrations feel a bit limp in comparison. And with six calendars to reveal, this is without a doubt the most wonderful iteration of the most wonderful time of the year. What a time to be alive! What will Friends, Disney, City, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Spider-man have for us today?

As ever, our intrepid TBB team is on hand with witty comments, insightful observations, and bad jokes for each day’s builds. And of course, you can add your own thoughts in the comments section each day! So without further ado, let’s crack open the build for day 11…

Click here to see 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.

Pumpkin spice lattes are the only things steaming in this town

It may be winter where you are, but in the Imperial City of Ids de Jong‘s imagination, fall is still in the air. Ids LEGO scene captures a slice of steampunk life as the leaves turn. The steam-powered mulcher is a nice touch, showing how newfangled technologies are good for more than airships and gyrocars! I’m a huge fan of the steampunk accents on the brick buildings, like those rickety drainpipes, the corrugated metal bay window, and the chunky metal tubes for piping in steam.

Autumn in the Imperial City

Ids built this service station for the annual Wandering Skies competition in the Seasonal Bliss category.

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.

Magnificent Moorish tower with a modern twist

Blake Foster has been wowing us with epic builds for over a decade. His M-Tron Magnet Factory remains the most epic tribute to that retro LEGO Space theme I’ve ever seen, and just last month we highlighted his towering contribution to the New Hashima collaboration. Blake is back with another tower for an upcoming near-future Middle Eastern city collab with the Mehmet Agha Mosque, named for the tower that inspired it on Rhodes. In modular fashion, Blake situates the mosque next to a multilevel urban structure containing a street-level carpet shop and a rooftop hookah bar.

Mehmet Agha Mosque

The model is a big departure from the SHIPs and sci-fi works we’ve come to expect from Blake, with a focus here on Moorish architecture and urban decay. The cracked plaster is brilliantly done, and the exposed brickwork strikes the perfect balance between fragility and permanence. I really appreciate how Blake combines at least three architectural styles here, capturing the nature of old cities to develop in layers, while also making the model exciting to study (much like the upcoming Tudor Corner modular!).

Mehmet Agha Mosque

As an easter egg, the rug seen hanging through the ground floor doorway is a custom printed sticker modeled on a rug Blake owns, and that’s his sigfig tending the shop!

Blake’s tower will be joining the epic Medina al Musawrah collab that we highlighted earlier this year. You can see the work in person at BrickFair NoVa 2025.

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.

2024 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 10 [Feature]

Yesterday we passed 50 advent gifts from the calendars. Today we’re looking to hit an even 60 LEGO surprises. Will minifigs or micro builds earn the kudos of our wise and fair panel of experts? Join us as we open one more set of doors from Friends, Disney, City, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Spider-Man!

As ever, our intrepid TBB team is on hand with witty comments, insightful observations, and bad jokes for each day’s builds. And of course, you can add your own thoughts in the comments section each day! So without further ado, let’s crack open the build for day 10…

Click here to see 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.

2024 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 9 [Feature]

Nine days of calendar doors were gifted to the race of men who above all else crave small plastic toys. Nine days of commentary from our fellowship of Brothers Brick writers. And on this ninth day, what secrets are in store from Friends, Disney, City, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Spider-man? Will one gift emerge to rule them all?

As ever, our intrepid TBB team is on hand with witty comments, insightful observations, and bad jokes for each day’s builds. And of course, you can add your own thoughts in the comments section each day! So without further ado, let’s crack open the build for day 9…

Click here to see 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.

2024 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 8 [Feature]

It’s time to put on music. It’s time to light the lights! It’s time to open up avents with your Brothers Brick friend tonight. We have six calendar gifts to reveal from Friends, Disney, City, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Spider-Man. So join us for this most sensational, inspirational, adventational, calendarial show!

As ever, our intrepid TBB team is on hand with witty comments, insightful observations, and bad jokes for each day’s builds. And of course, you can add your own thoughts in the comments section each day! So without further ado, let’s crack open the build for day 8…

Click here to see 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.

2024 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 7 [Feature]

Ho-ho-howdy, building friends! Time to reveal six more LEGO advent calendar gifts from Friends, Disney, City, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Spider-Man. Our seventh set of doors… Has it only been a week since we started this journey? Like a holiday mall worker, I feel like I live in Christmas now. There is no way out except through.

As ever, our intrepid TBB team is on hand with witty comments, insightful observations, and bad jokes for each day’s builds. And of course, you can add your own thoughts in the comments section each day! So without further ado, let’s crack open the build for day 7…

Click here to see 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.

Crash Bandicoot goes bananas for LEGO!

Sonic and Mario have shown that LEGO and video game mascots are a perfect match. While Sony Playstation doesn’t have a definitive mascot, there was a time when Crash Bandicoot nearly took the honors. DW_Builds pays tribute to the dashing hero with a model so apeeling it could only have been created for the New Elementary “Mind that Banana” contest. The builder takes advantage of the new banana colors found in the Botanicals Chrysanthemum set for Crash’s wild hair and comically gaping mouth. Jumbo macaroni tubes make up Crash’s curved torso and loping legs, while minifig arms serve as expressive eyebrows. These days Crash is more of a retro mascot than a vital part of gaming culture. Still, given the success of gaming IP in cinemas lately, maybe Sony will try and bring him into the live-action world with actor Timothée Chalamet providing mocap and Jack Black phoning it in as Dr. Neo Cortex.

Crash Bandicoot

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.

2024 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 6 [Feature]

Happy holidays, fellow LEGO builders, on day 6 of our epic advent calendar extravaganza. We’re replenished our supply of gingerbread and are ready to get building. So many doors to open this year: Friends and Disney, City and Harry Potter, Star Wars and Spider-man! Does everyone have their humbugs and hurrahs ready?

As ever, our intrepid TBB team is on hand with witty comments, insightful observations, and bad jokes for each day’s builds. And of course, you can add your own thoughts in the comments section each day! So without further ado, let’s crack open the build for day 6…

Click here to see 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.

Hoo-HOO wants a wise winter friend?

This year, when not expanding on the epic Middle Eastern fantasy land of Mophet or setting sail with the Black Falcons, Andreas Lenander has had birds on the brain. Just in time for winter, the Swedish builder shares his third whimsically designed LEGO bird: this snowy owl. Like Andreas’ fall owl, this one incorporates foliage and tail elements into the plumage, but this time it’s the eyes that fascinate from a ring of Unikitty tails. In a year that’s seen so many amazing owl builds, Andreas still finds ways to innovate!

Winter owl

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.

2024 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 5 [Feature]

It’s only day five of the annual TBB LEGO Advent Calendar marathon and Kyle has eaten the last of the cookies. With six calendars to open each day – Friends and Disney, City and Harry Potter, Star Wars and Spider-Man – our jolly engines are running on overdrive. We’ll need new strategies to make it to the South Pole in time for Christmas. Wait, that’s a different Endurance challenge… Focus, team. We have gifts to assemble!

As ever, our intrepid TBB team is on hand with witty comments, insightful observations, and bad jokes for each day’s builds. And of course, you can add your own thoughts in the comments section each day! So without further ado, let’s crack open the build for day 5…

Click here to see 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.