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.

Prepare to launch into SHIPtember, week 3 [Feature]

Week three of SHIPtember is behind us, and that means many SHIP builders have wrapped on their epic builds. Some have even started a second SHIP. Many have taken their pics to post-production to produce that epic hero shot, along with a side-view pic that will be featured in 2025’s armada fleet poster, like the one I used for my hero image from 2024. My 2024 SHIP is the slim, dark blue ship just to the right of the Supramacy shown on the far left of the poster.

For many builders, the third week is a time for final details, engines, landing gear, or other greebly details that add the finishing touches to their space-bound masterpieces. But let’s not waste any more time as we take a look at a few completed SHIPs, and check out a few builders that flew under my radar in previous weeks, like a stealth ship with ventral optical camouflage.

Read on for our week 3 coverage of SHIPtember 2025

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No Theme? No Problem! A Wild Card Showcase of Minifig Excellence [Minifig Monday]

This week, we’re throwing out the rulebook and smashing the (injection) mould. Welcome to a Wild Card edition on Minifig Monday — a glorious grab-bag of minifigure madness where demons rub shoulders with space police, and chicken hags party with cake golems. You read that right. This week’s featured builders are a masterclass in thinking outside the LEGO box. Expect surprises, odd pairings, and a whole lot of imagination.

Our first pick is this incredible shark samurai from bricksnbeasts, featuring a vintage shark head from the early 2000s Harry Potter line, but also some fantastic dynamic posing achieved with some brick-built arms. Surrounded by an impressive shiver of almost every LEGO Shark to date. Aura off the charts!

Can you smell what synthbugfigs is cooking? It is a jaw-dropping cake golem. With dripping frosting and an impressively organic-looking build, this fig certainly defies categorisation… and makes us hungry.

What other wild cards do we have up our sleeve? Click to find out!

Celebrate National Public Lands Day with the LEGO Park Ranger

In the United States, the fourth Saturday in September is National Public Lands Day – a day of service and celebration for the stewardship of public lands, from community gardens to national parks. It’s a day to give back as well as a chance to visit any of the county’s national parks for free. If you’re in the US, consider visiting a park this Saturday or reflecting on how to steward nature and resources for tomorrow.

Let’s also celebrate the amazing LEGO Park Ranger account, celebrating 10 years of sharing daily builds inspired by America’s parks and history.

Enjoy more highlights from the LEGO Park Ranger below

Blast off into SHIPtember – week 2 [Feature]

Wow, is the month half gone already? As we head further into SHIPtember, the SHIPs are shaping up, and the parts are really adding up. Digital builds begin their journey to IRL, or continue to grow in bytes, while their physical counterparts take on a more finished look. Some SHIPS are even done already. Builders wonder if they have taken on too big a challenge. They persevere, they re-work and re-work that one detail they are not 100% happy with. Some SHIPS may suffer a drop, or a shoulder bump, or a wayward cat, which gives the builder a chance to reinforce a more fragile section. Now, let’s check up on the builds of SHIPtember 2025…

Read on for our coverage of SHIPtember week 2

Celebrating 10 Years of MOCs with LEGO Mecha Maestro Marco De Bon [Interview]

Ten years ago, Italian builder Marco De Bon emerged from his “dark age” and began sharing incredible LEGO creations of giant robots inspired by the anime of his childhood. In the years since, Marco has continued to hone his craft, building mecha that are both highly articulated and exceptionally clean. Here at The Brothers Brick, we’ve long been fans of Marco’s mecha, hardsuits, and sci-fi crafts, so in celebration of this milestone, we sat down with Marco to look back on a decade of building MOCs.

Our interview with Marco and pictures of his 10 years of amazing mecha follow…

An Ode to the Goatherd: designing a pastoral LEGO diorama [Guest Feature]

LEGO diorama expert Anu Pehrson is back as a guest contributor to give a behind-the-scenes look at her latest creation, a large scene that highlights LEGO fans’ favorite farm animal, the goat, as well as the minifigure who tends it. If you’ve ever wondered how some of the big builds we feature go from concept to completion, Anu has documented her process for us from first bricks to final touches.

You may recognize Anu from some of her previous builds we’ve covered, including a giant minifigure-scale recreation of The Wall from A Game of Thrones. Check out our articles about Anu’s previous LEGO builds here. Continue reading →

Wake up samurai, these Cyberpunk minifigures have the coolest upgrades around [Minifig Monday]

In the neon-lit world of cyberpunk, storytelling thrives on the fusion of humanity and machine. Despite never having an official LEGO theme, this aesthetic has inspired a gritty niche within the minifigure community. Creators replace standard arms, legs, and accessories with intricate, high-tech upgrades that evoke a dystopian future, popularized by video games, movies and TV. In this post, we’ll explore the impressive craftsmanship of LEGO ripper doctors and celebrate the possibilities of LEGO’s increasingly intricate part selection.

Devid_vii delivers some top notch tactical troopers & a K Walker Unit in a sleek tiled-off design, creatively using four black microphones as missile pods. We love the articulation of this warbeast achieved using black pneumatic ‘T’s on its hips and feet.

Perhaps the most prolific Cyberpunk minifigure creator, Bam.bricks.customs has created an array of brick-built legs using Exo-force and minifigure hands that really pack a punch. Coupled with dual hazard-strip cyber swords and a rare Overwatch gasmask, “Codename: Savage” is right at home in 2077 cityscape.

Jack in for more cyber minifigs

SHIPtember 2025 – Builders boldly go [Feature]

September is one of my favorite times of year… not just as the start to cooler weather, leading to the best season of all, Fall; but also for the month-long LEGO building challenge known as SHIPtember. The goal is to build a spaceship that measures at least 100 studs in any dimension: length, width, or height. Or even diagonally (like a Borg cube). The only other constraint is that you must complete your ship within one month. The SHIP in SHIPtember stands for Seriously Huge Investment in Parts, and it shows in the final ships, which can stretch beyond the minimum into the 200-300 stud range. Having participated in SHIPtember for the last 10+ years, I can personally attest to both the challenge and the satisfaction in pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone as a LEGO builder, not to mention the incredibly supportive and collaborative community of SHIP builders around the world.

This year, the Brothers Brick will be taking a closer look at SHIPtember in the coming weeks, checking in with builders and sharing starships in progress before rounding up the SHIPs that launch for the stars at the end of the month.

Before we start our week one coverage, I should mention that some SHIPs are already done, as some builders, like college students, may not have full access to their collections during September, and start their SHIPs in August. As long as the builds stick to the 1-month requirement, they are every bit as eligible as those under construction now. I will also be sharing my own SHIPtember progress each week, at the end of each feature. With that out of the way, let’s jump into SHIPtember 2025 week 1!

Launch into our week 1 coverage

For Victory, For Glory, For Power- For the Honor of LEGO Bionicle Glatorians!

From reimagined Classic Space sets to a prize machine full of retro tributes, LEGO offers no shortage of nostalgic tributes and easter eggs to minifig-scale themes from the past. Bionicle, despite being the line that saved LEGO from bankruptcy, only received an odd GWP. Among AFOLs, however, Bionicle inspires a growing wave of creativity as the generation that collected those capsules, mastered the flash web games, and pored over the lore of Spherus Magna and beyond come into their own. One of the builders at the forefront of the Bionicle MOC renaissance is Dan V, whose latest project is a reimagining of 2009’s Glatorian line of characters. Dan blends System bricks, modern Constraction elements, classic Bionicle parts to update the figures with an adult fan’s eye for detail.

The Skrall are a warrior species who battled the Glatorians and later sets would give names to some of the faction, but this guy was just “Skrall.” He introduced the maze-patterned shield that is easily one of my favorite elements in any Bionicle set. Dan expends on the shield’s saw-blades and adds an extra pair of Skrull sword arms, evoking an evil spin on Marvel’s Iron-Spider suit.

Strakk is a Prime Glatorian of the Ice Tribe. Dan gives his axe an upgrade and replaces the Thornax launcher with a freezing cannon.

See the rest of Dan’s Glatorian warriors, reimagined with modern parts and technqiues

Tiny builds, big imagination. Talking bricks with Dan Ko [Interview]

Longtime readers of The Brothers Brick will definitely be familiar with the builds of Jordan Jivkov, better known as Dan Ko, one of the most prolific builders of recent years, who specializes in small models that are packed with personality and wit. He honed his skills as an Iron Builder and continues to show up in LEGO challenges like Brickscalibur and the Rogue Olympics. It’s no surprise he’s been featured here dozens of times since 2020. In addition to sharing his models, Dan has also been generous with sharing ad-hoc instructions for his most popular builds. This month Dan is starting a new venture: a website where Dan can release free digital instructions every week for delightful builds that can be made from a modest collection of parts. We thought this would be the perfect time to catch up with Dan on his site, his journey as a builder, and the state of LEGO fandom.

Click for our interview with Dan and some of our favorites of his tiny builds

Let’s crash the castle with these mighty LEGO minifigs and their custom gear [Minifig Monday]

For minifig fans, there are few themes as enduring as the medieval knight. Classic castle themes brought the age of chivalry to LEGO back in 1978, and the factions introduced since then continue to grow to this day (you can even invent your own, like the chicken knights, with the Minifigure Factory). Today we’re taking another look at knights with a special focus on customized weapons and armor made from 100% LEGO parts.

Many minifig creators these days are inspired by the dark gothic settings of FromSoftware’s games. Natashia (motherofcatdragons) pays tribute to Elden Ring’s Night’s Cavalry, armed with a perfect flail.

Sandman_BrickStudio is a new face on the custom minifig scene but already creating some incredible characters. This helmet crest technique is brilliant, as is the truly epic two-handed sword design.

Red Impala repurposes a fencing helmet to equip this holy crusader. The ayers of cloth on the armor are so clean and effective. It would be a pity if this knight got blood on them.

Our celebration of medieval weapons and armor continues…

From the Caribbean to the Grand Line, these fantastic LEGO pirates are ready to plunder [Minifig Monday]

2025 is turning out to be the best year for LEGO pirates since Barracuda Bay opened for business. Fun One Piece playsets, a gorgeous new Black Pearl, collectible minifigs, and let’s not forget that One-Eyed Willy’s pirate ship is currently in design. September is also a big month for pirate minifigs with two contests running that fans of Minifig Monday will want to take note of, including one that The Brothers Brick is sponsoring. But first, let’s have a look at some amazing pirate-themed minifig creations that have come on our radar lately, as well as a few classic creations.

This week’s cover image comes courtesy of Garret (2p_figs), who created the post-apocalyptic pirate crew above with some inspiration from Waterworld. Garret also created this cursed clown pirate that incorporates some incredible parts usage at minifig scale. The Illithid head from D&D is perfectly employed as an octopus, and the pony tail looks great as a sash.

Click to follow the map to more incredible pirate figures from the community