Category Archives: Feature

The Brothers Brick is not just about showcasing the best fan builds and bringing you the latest LEGO News, we also love to investigate, interview and discuss! These featured articles are all interesting articles that you can look back and enjoy reading.

Living the Highland Life: Creating A Scottish Castle in LEGO [Feature]

When I volunteered to help run the new Tales of Old game (it’s a medieval LEGO RPG!) on EuroBricks in September 2025, I had no idea I’d have a massive castle keep sitting in the middle of my build area a month later!

In the game, I created a character named Duncan, who is loosely based on real-world medieval Celtic and Gaelic cultures. Duncan has a Scottish tam hat from the bagpiper CMF, and kilted-torso from the Highland Warrior CMF, plus he sports a large black mustache and BrickArms claymore.

Pour yourself a wee dram and join us for the rest of this Highland building adventure

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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

A roundup of the most frightening LEGO Lovecraftian horrors on the internet [Feature]

If you are not into Lovecraftian horrors beyond description, then congratulations, you are likely a fine, well-adjusted, upstanding individual. Here’s a puppy for you! Seriously, you’re probably better off for it. But, if you’re like me (and you know who you are), you are attuned to an entirely different wavelength. One that resides in the shadows. So, for you, with it being spooky season and all, I took it upon myself to bring the mood down and showcase some of the creepiest LEGO Lovecraftian horrors we’ve had the displeasure of summoning. So dim the lights, pour yourself a Moscow Ghoul, and settle in for some existential dread and unspeakable terrors.

We’ll let Shannon Sproule set the mood here with a rather atmospheric piece he calls Meeting by the statue, slurp, slurp, slurp. Already we have more questions than answers and we’ve just gotten started. Esoteric cultists, weird monsters and cosmic horror is going to be a recurring theme here. Shannon surely embodies all of the above with this creation.

Lovecraftian mythos is chock full of hideous malevolent deities called Outer Gods; later renamed as The Great Old Ones by August Derleth and other literary scholars after Lovecraft’s death in 1937. They are generally located in deep space outside of our solar system or even from beyond our known dimensions. Some are specific to the Cthulhu Mythos but others, such as this offering by one of our favorite monster builders Nathan Don sort of fits the description for what an Outer God should be. With four arms, four eyes not necessarily on the face and the ubiquitous tentacles, you have yourselves the makings of true Outer God nightmare fuel.

You know I’ve saved the biggest and scariest for last so be sure to click if you dare!

Building Beauty and Decay in LEGO: An Interview with Dark Dreamlands

The word “fantasy” often brings to mind pristine castles, shining armour, and impossibly lush flowerbeds. Today’s guest, however, is a builder who prefers to find beauty in the shadows. Alexander, aka dark_dreamlands, is the mind behind “Plague Town”, an 18th-century city of crumbling cathedrals, grisly guillotines, and an all-consuming deadly plague.

Alexander’s regular updates to the architecture and inhabitants of Plague Town has helped inspire a rising trend of dark fantasy creations in corners of LEGO fandom. We are thrilled to take the grand tour with him and find out how to craft melancholy in a hobby so commonly associated with glee.

Our interview with Dark Dreamlands follows

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!

#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

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

Poké-builders celebrate the release of Pokémon Z-A with Mega Evolutions in LEGO

If you want to be the very best trainer, it’s not enough to collect ’em all anymore. It’s not even enough to evolve your Pocket Monsters. These days, to be the best there ever was, you have to MEGA Evolve those Pokémon. In celebration of last week’s release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A on the Nintendo Switch, nine LEGO building Poké-fans teamed up for the #megabrickevolution collaboration, rendering the new upgrade forms of some of their favorite monsters.

First up, from Matt Goldberg, we have the Mega Charizard X, an evolution of Charmander so smoldering with power that he burns blue. The head is wonderfully sculpted and the body has the right mix of cute and fierce. My favorite technique is the use of Ben 10 scales on the underside of the tail, a part I couldn’t recognize without reading Matt’s description of the build on his blog.

@margits_mocs dares to build the Mega Evolution of Pokémon 303, Mawile. This deceptive critter uses its cute face to catch foes off guard, then chomps them with the steel horns on the back of its head that form a fearsome maw. Margit’s model reallly captures the nightmare potential of that second mouth.

Meet more Mega Evolution MOCs after the break

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

SHIPtember 2025 Finale: Reflections from the fleet [Feature]

As we celebrate the end of another exciting and inspirational SHIPtember, while the fleet is assembling for the 2025 SHIPtember armada poster, it seems only fitting to take a moment to reflect on the history behind this LEGO building challenge. We sat down for a short interview with Simon Liu, the grand admiral of all things SHIPtember. Simon started it all with an idea to challenge himself, to push beyond his comfort zone, and as a result created a community of builders around the world who come together every year (and sometimes in between) to build the best SHIP they can, and to share their struggles and triumphs with others. As a bonus, I also reached out to the SHIP building community to get their thoughts on the event.

TBB: Hi Simon. It’s great to chat with you again after another amazing SHIPtember! Before we get to the greebles, an icebreaker. What is your earliest LEGO memory?

Simon Liu: In our old house, we used to have this enclosed balcony area that was sort of the LEGO playroom, and had this wooden plank that I built a little LEGO city on. Some official sets, some of my own creations, and some set mods. I would play for hours in my own little city.

TBB: Can you tell us about the history behind SHIPtember and your role in it?

Simon: I started SHIPtember and came up with the idea. It was simple; I had never built a SHIP and didn’t know how to. So why not make it a group exercise? At the time, building a SHIP was seen as a huge investment in time and effort, and now it’s pretty routine to see some people build multiple SHIPs in a month.

SHIPtmeber was actually going to be SHIPril. But after no SHIPs at BrickCon (which historically was the first weekend of October), I decided to move it, ensuring that BrickCon would always have fresh SHIPs.

Our interview with SHIPtember founder Simon Liu and final thoughts from 2025 builders follow

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!