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.

Frogust: the bridge between Summer Joust and SHIPtember [Feature]

The LEGO Gods, the powers that be has declared this time to be Frogust. The Grand Frog, Simon Liu has been doing frog-related stuff for years now and it has definitely been noticed. It’s now a thing officially that falls conveniently between Summer Joust and SHIPtember and they invite you to join in on all the fun. You may have noticed this regal entry lately as well as this one. Even the local frogs in my neighborhood seem to be into it. Now that we’re at the dog days of summer- or should I say frog days of summer- let’s check out what others have done. Trevor Pearson-Jones starts out strong with, not quite a frog but it’s warty cousin Chief Toad Gambunta. There might be a little something extra in that pipe he’s smoking. Just sayin’.

Not to be outdone by his first entry, Trevor comes back with a tree frog that takes its name literally. This demonstrates Trevor’s ability to to not only develop great character in LEGO bricks, but also demonstrates a mastery of of building natural elements.

Hop along to see the other frogtastic entries

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Happy Plant Madness takes cuteness to strange new places

LEGO Botanicals 10349 Happy Plants is a truly delightful set, and one that invites creative builders to remix in their own way. Our reviewer swapped out the shrubs with custom bonsai, for example. But why stop there? Why not replace your plants with toast? Or… tentacles? For the #happyplantmadness collab some AFOL friends decided to push the set’s cuteness to its limits with custom creations. Keep your green thumbs inside the vehicle as we tour these madcap flowerpots!

Thundrabuilds turns the blue planter into an adorable toaster. The little fella is ready for his bath. I’m sure this will go swimmingly.

The prolific and wickedly funny Trevor Pearson-Jones shares a version of the blue planter who never skips leg day. Yellow planter is still smiling even as it’s reduced to its buff buddy’s loincoth.

The happy plants keep smiling after the fold

Get ready to showdown with these LEGO samurai, ninja, and cyber-ronin [Minifig Monday]

When LEGO moved the Castle theme from Europe to Japan in 1998 with sets like Flying Ninja Fortress (one of my top 5 all time favorite sets!), the theme brought with it a slew of new minifig elements, like katanas, golden antlers, and samurai armor. In the years since, Ninjago has tapped Asian history and pop culture for even more accessories from Edo era and beyond. This week we bring you a roundup of custom samurai-inspired figs showcasing parts old and new.

Michał Dziadosz gets us started with Master Hirotaka…

Once a general feared on the battlefield, Hirotaka now walks the path of the lone swordsman, bound not by loyalty to lords, but to his own code. His golden katana, earned through a lifetime of victory, gleams like the setting sun before a storm. Behind him follows the whisper of silk a reminder of the life he left behind, and the woman who still watches from the shadows

Michał’s fig was a collaboration with Expansion Bricks, who presents the kensei, literally “sword saint,” an honorary title for master swordsmen and followers of bushido. Note the fig’s wide stance, a technique borrowed from 2p_figs for giving a minifig a more imposing presence.

The Bushido code requires that you continue appreciating these amazing minifig samurai

The Art of the LEGO Tableau – building in the “Ground-Based” style [Feature]

When setting a LEGO scene, how much of a world needs to be built to spark the viewer’s imagination?

There are two approaches to bringing a world to life in LEGO: 1) meticulously build out every aspect of the scene with bricks, or 2) provide just enough detail to suggest the bigger picture while letting the viewer’s imagination fill in the rest. While building it all can make for impressive displays, I am drawn to the latter approach.

Various styles can achieve this, each with its distinct charms. Immersive scenes transport us to new worlds, like a window into a picture, by filling the frame with LEGO. Vignettes, on the other hand, embrace the artifice of a model and give the impression that a slice of the world has been captured in bricks. Even if vignettes have their appeal, I have a preference for immersive scenes. They’re more fun, if more part-intensive.

But there’s a third style worth exploring, one that many in the community – including myself – have experimented with. It’s a style that I call “Ground-Based.” As you’ve probably already guessed, this is the topic I’ll be covering today
Learn how to create MOCs in the ground-based style

Nature reclaims all as Vignette Week comes to a close [Feature]

Bricks down! After seven grueling days of non-stop building, RebelLUG’s Vignweek 2025 has come to an end. The first five challenges gave builders just 24 hours to create a LEGO vignette around the daily theme, but for the final challenge, builders could take 48 hours. This time the theme was “Reclaimed by Nature,” which is the perfect excuse to pull out those bins of leaf parts and create something beautiful. As the Vignette builders break out their brick separators, let’s take a stroll through an overgrown LEGO world with some of our favorites of the day.

FS Leinad participated in all six builds, but his final creation is my favorite. The orangutan is a great design (per the builder, “RIP 3-in-1 Forest Animals) but it’s those vultures that have stolen my heart… and pick it apart with those brilliant hook beaks.

ILB Creations completed 5 challenges and also ends on a high note. I love the larger scale and the light blue mortar between crumbling bricks.

Forage for more vignettes that nature has reclaimed

Creating a new castle faction with the Minifigure Factory [Feature]

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick a free trial of this service for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Most of the time, the thought of non-official custom minifigs makes me twitchy… But then I was invited to try out the new Minifigure Factory Designer on Lego.com, and I was surprised by how much fun it was. I could even use it to create a new Castle faction! Of course, any new faction is also an excuse to create a new custom design, but first, let’s take the Minifigure Factory for a spin.

Read on to find out what Castle faction Brennen created, and see how the factory model gets a glow up

Marvel at this Legion of Extraordinary Superhero Minfigs [Minifig Monday]

Summer movie season is coming to an end, having reinvigorated the superhero genre with great entries for both Marvel and DC. While it will be some time before the next super-powered crossover hits screens, the genre is still popping in the LEGO minifig community. Today on Minifig Monday, we bring you a mix of headlining heroes and deep cut villains from a legion of incredible LEGO fig fans. Be sure to add the creators to your pull list and give them a like. Now, dear readers, without further ado – Excelsior!

When it comes to adapting Marvel for the screen, 2024’s X-Men ’97 is as good as it gets. LEGO’s X-Mansion introduced a few more mutants to minifig form, with some big omissions. Boderson Bricks steps up with Xavier’s gifted team of mutants, bringing Jubilee and Morph into the fold.

Boderson also recreates the larger supporting cast of allies and villains, most of whom never appeared in LEGO, using official LEGO parts. Mr. Sinister and Emma Frost are especially nice.

There are so many more spectactular superheroes to marvel at after the jump

We’re head over heels for Vignweek’s day 5 upside down builds [Feature]

Do not adjust your screen. Today’s round-up of Vignweek builds features topsy-turvy creations around the theme “upside down.” This is also the last set of builds created with a 24-hour limit. Some builds are photographed upside down, others are constructed from the ceiling down, and others split the difference with mirror worlds. These are just a selection of the incredible upside-down vignettes from both familiar builders and some new faces.

You can always count on NikiFilik for bright and playful builds, and today is no exception. What a fun twist on perspective as this stunt plane flips in the sky.

Someone had to do it, and that someone was buillding_after_dark. Spider-man’s upside-down kiss remains one of the most iconic scenes in all of superhero cinema and the builder recreates it perfectly.

You’ll flip for the rest of these upside-down vignettes

Life is a LEGO highway as Vignweek day 4 goes road tripping [Feature]

Vignweek 2025 crosses the halfway point with the fourth daily challenge prompt: “Road trip!” Once again, incredible builders heeded the call and quickly assembled LEGO vignettes interpreting the theme in a myriad of ways. Let’s have a look at some of our favorite builds of the day.

Fresh off judging the Summer Joust, LEGO legend CheesyStudios drops by Vignweek with this incredible tribute to Badlands National Park. The forced perspective works brilliantly, and the striated rocks with the bands of sand red are stunning.

_BrickBytes hits the road with cozy VW camper van. The metallic fists as a grille is a brilliant use of a specialized part.

Hitch a ride and for more amazing road trip vignettes

Huzzah, LEGO Castle fans! Your Summer Joust 2025 winners have been crowned [Feature]

For fans of LEGO castles and medieval life, the Summer Joust is one of the biggest events of the year as dozens of incredible builders construct incredible models on the year’s themes. The judges have made their decisions, and this year’s Summer Joust champions have been named. We’re excited to present the list of winners. Many of the models we’ve spotlighted on the site before, but some come from talented builders we’ve yet to feature. Check out the amazing models and be sure to follow and congratulate the winners on their amazing builds. For the full list of runners up, visit the Summer Joust flickr page. A big thank you to -soccerkid6 for organizing the event and prizes.

See the amazing winning entries after the fold

Fishing up some amazing nautical LEGO scenes from Vignweek Day 3 [Feature]

Day 3 of Vignweek has closed, bringing with it a bounty of brick-build vignettes with the theme of “nautical.” Participants had plenty of leeway to interpret the theme and offer up watercraft ranging from ancient to futuristic, structures both cozy and apocalyptic, and sea creatures big and small. And every build here was constructed in just a few hours! Thanks to @RebelLUG for hosting this creative contest. Now on to some of the Day 3 highlights…

CRCT Productions plunges beneath the waves for this evocative scene of submarine exploring a deep sea reef. The submersible is great, but I especially love the fish made from quarter round tiles.

Joël Jurg sticks to the ocean theme with a Roman Emperor’s pleasure barge. I love that w not only get an incredible miniature model, but a history lesson about how insanely luxurious the Emperors lived.

Brownbricks brings us to minifig scale with a seasteader living in a makeshift container house. It must be a lonely life – good thing he has a cat to keep him company!

Voyage on for more aquatic vignettes

Returning to Medina Al Musawrah – the massive Middle Eastern city collab from LEGO legends

Last year, 10 builders came together to build a fictional city inspired by cities of the Middle East and North Africa called “Medina Al Musawrah.” It was one of TBB’s favorite LEGO projects of last year, and you can read our interview with the organizers of this remarkable collaboration here. At last month’s BrickFair NoVa, a year of planning with triple the number of collaborators came to fruition as Medina Al Musawrah made its return, bigger and more spectacular than ever.

While the collaborators based elements of the build on different specific locations from personal travel or research, the city like a Pakastani transport truck and La Pyramid hotel from Ivory Coast. As Michael said in our interview, “It’s Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Casablanca, Beirut, Istanbul. It’s anywhere at any time.”

Our tour of the Medinah continues