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.

TBB Asks: does LEGO feature in your travels? [Feature]

Life is full of questions. Why is the sky blue? Why did the dinosaurs die out? And why do green LEGO bricks taste the best*? OK, admittedly, that last one was a suggested question by our mascot, A. Lemur. Needless to say, it didn’t make the cut for our weekly icebreaker segment: TBB Asks! And this week, we’re asking: do you travel with LEGO? Perhaps you have a minifigure mascot that goes where you go, or you got a bit too tap-happy with your credit card while on holiday and now you need to buy a new suitcase. Let’s see what our team has to say – and be sure to tell us your long-haul LEGO lore in the comments!

*Disclaimer: please don’t eat your LEGO. It wrecks your teeth, doesn’t taste very good, and unless you have the digestive system of a lemur, you’ll get all blocked up. Don’t ask me how I know.

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Capturing Nolan’s Batman in Bricks: Behind the Scenes with RebelLUG’s Dark Knight collaboration

What happens when seven outstanding builders bring their LEGO skills to bear on one of the most beloved films of the modern era? You get a LEGO collaboration that is nothing short of cinematic. Now screening on The Brothers Brick: RebelLUG’s Dark Knight collaboration, with behind-the-scenes commentary from organizer Tom Studs and builder Eli Willsea!

But before we jump to the interview, let’s review the series of images, starting with the film’s iconic poster, recreated by collab organizer Tom Studs. At a glance, you might think the only thing LEGO about this pic is the minifigure, but every building and the fiery bat logo are all brick-built.

Why so serious? Relax and enjoy the rest of the Dark Knight tributes and making-of insights

Dieselpunk Mechs and Military Hard Suits – [Minifig Monday]

Mechs and minifigs have been near and dear to the Brothers Brick for as long as we’ve been covering LEGO fandom. It’s always a thrill when builders bring a specific and fresh aesthetic to a favorite genre, and that’s definitely been the case with Brickbot Studios, Red Impala, and Zakar.ion – three builders who are absolutely crushing it with military mechs at an intimate perspective. The trio collaborated last week on trench warfare dieselpunk mechs inspired by the 1920 setting of mr_werewolf, with each builder bringing a personal spin to the theme. This week on Minifig Monday, we’re spotlighting this collab, but also some mortar blasts from the dieselpunk past from some top builders of yesteryear playing in a similar sandbox.

Leading this week’s charge is the PZM-7 Śmiały from Red Impala. Swift, merciless, and armed with an anti-mech rifle, this unit looks ready to leap over trenches like a Winged Hussar. (The lore that these builders share alongside their brilliant builds is half the fun!).

Brickbot Studios responds with theStahlschreiter 44 “Trench Reaper.” My favorite flourish is the moustache on the mech. The builder brings a touch of Warhammer sensibilities to this Death Korp diesel demon.

The minifigs and mecha continue after the break!

Building and growing together: An AFOL mother’s journey [Feature]

In celebration of Mothers Day and the many AFOLs who became mothers or mothers who discovered LEGO through their children, we present this guest post from our own Kimberly Giffen.

The day arrives when the oldest child receives her first LEGO set, and the time for endless hours of building with your children has come. As a family with an AFOL mother and four kids, so many hours have been spent on building. We build together, they move on to something else, and I continue building.

Kimberly’s story continues

Colors, competition, and cookies! A packed This Week in LEGO Bricks! [Feature]

It’s been an exceptionally busy week in the LEGOverse with dozens of new sets getting announced, May the Fourth blasting off, and a new batch of Bricklink Designer kits moving to the voting round. Not to mention the Rogue Olympics and Iron Builder competitions, and all the usual MOCs and articles about our beloved bricks. Thankfully, ABrickDreamer has rounded up the essentials for easy viewing. My favorite stories this week: in the Conversation Piece column, there’s a must-read roundtable discussion of color theory and LEGO, and over on New Elementary, one of our favorite builders, Tom Loftus, brings an expert’s eye to new parts and recolors on the new Jango Fett’s Starship.

TBB Asks: What was your first LEGO set? [Feature]

The LEGO community is full of stories, anecdotes, and tales both tall and heartwarming. Sometimes, all you need is a prompt to get them out! So we’re starting a weekly feature here on the Brothers Brick: TBB Asks. It does what it says on the tin: quite simply, we ask a different LEGO-related question every week, and invite contributors and readers alike to share their stories and answers! These may vary from what your favourite set is, to what minifigure tool would be best suited to a zombie apocalypse. (I think it’s a lightsaber, incidentally.) This week, we’re asking: What was your first LEGO set?

Make sure to leave your answer in the comments – and if you have an idea for a question, feel free to leave that there, too!

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My (not so short) journey into LEGO Trains [Feature]

At first, the locomotive on my train transport truck would be just an interesting load for the truck. As I was building it, though, it became something a little more. I wanted to turn it into a working and running locomotive.

As a child, I loved my LEGO train. For Christmas 1981, my parents and grandparents conspired to buy me a train set, some more rails, an additional wagon and a 4.5V motor and battery box. This was everything that I, aged six at the time, could have wanted. I played with it for years, modifying it to my heart’s content. As an adult Lego builder, however, I drifted away from building trains.

A fair few adult LEGO builders may be on the spectrum. And in the stereotype, LEGO train builders even more so. (They are like Texas compared to the rest of the US: very similar, but the trucks, steaks and hairdos are even bigger). I am a physicist, though, if this were true, it would be nothing I could not handle. Furthermore, some of the friendliest and most talented builders I know are “train heads”, but I am not one of them.

Choo-choo-choose to read the rest of Ralph’s LEGO train journey!

From Sand Elves to Frank Herbert’s DUNE, these desert dwelling minifigs are an oasis of creativity [Minifig Monday]

Believe it or not, Tatooine is not the only desert world to inspire amazing minifigures. There’s also Jakku. And Jedha. And Geonosis. And Pasaana. And… You know what? We’re not looking at any desert worls where Jedi have set foot today. Instead, for this week’s Minifig Monday we’re looking at original designs from the worlds of fantasy, literature, history, and military sci-fi.

Leading us into the desert today is Jacob Manahan, whose Akhanii desert elves are an imagined ancient kingdom from which civilization flowed. Jacob selects a nice assortment of printed body parts with folds of cloth and timeless jewelry (and I see Horizon‘s Aloy split across two different figures). Those blue eyes suggest the presnce of a certain spice on this world…

Speaking of Spice, builders Parker (lego.frenzy) and Woudt (_standaartwoudt_) recently collaborated on a series of fig builds based interpreting the characters of Frank Herbert’s Dune, without leaning the official figures from the excellent Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter. Parker’s series leads with this ensemble. I love the choice of the Haunted Mansion employee for Paul’s sullen face. The Sardukar soldier is epic and menacing. Parker even slips in a brilliant mini-build with that innovative Sandworm maw made from light nougat shields clipped in a ring.

Quench your thirst for hot desert minifigures after the break

May the 4th – TBB’s Top Ten LEGO X-Wing MOCs [Feature]

In celebration of May the 4th, we’ve scoured our ~~Jedi~~ archives to appreciate the hundreds of Star Wars fan models featured on this site over the years. On the cusp of our 20th anniversary, those archives run deep. (You heard that right. If the Battle of Yavin was happening right now, The Brothers Brick would have been founded right around the time Senator Palpatine was kidnapped by General Grievous!) There is one Star Wars vehicle that has been recreated and shared by adult fans of LEGO more than any other – the X-Wing Fighter. Just as each Jedi must construct their own lightsaber, creating an original X-Wing design is almost like a rite of passage for builders. Here are 10 of our favorite designs from builders who regular readers of the site will definitely recognize. We even have free instructions for the model featured in the cover.

Cut the chatter, Red two. Let’s see those X-Wings!

Brothers Brick picks – Our favorite sets for May the Fourth

May the 4th has exploded (like Yavin 4) into the second biggest shopping event of the year for LEGO fans with a dozen new sets and a multi-day event offering perks like double Insider points, set discounts, and exclusive gifts with purchase. This year’s LEGO Star Wars 40765 Kamino Training Facility (free with LEGO Star Wars purchases totalling US $160 | CAN $210 | UK £145) will be a big draw for many fans thanks to three exclusive Clone Cadet minifigures. We’ve scoured the sale and selected our ten favorite Star Wars sets that are available now.

See our top ten Star Wars sets for celebrating May the Fourth

Alternative builds, Iron Builders, and international buildings in this Week in Bricks! [Feature]

This week LEGO news is a blur with all the summer set announcements, but there are a lot of other great stories by and for LEGO builders to seek out. Thankfully, ABrickDreamer has gathered them into the latest This Week in Bricks. My favorite feature this week? In honor of May the Fourth, I have to go with this incredible Bespin diorama from Hypolite Bricks! I also found Jesse Gros’ story of rediscovering LEGO to be relatable and inspiring. What is your highlight of the week?

Spreading joy and crossing cultures with LEGO legend Dicken Liu [Interview]

TBB: Your LEGO creations first came to our attention after your appearance on LEGO Masters China, when you started a Flickr gallery. From the start, you were building at a very high level. I’m sure there was a long journey between when you first discovered LEGO to where you are today. When did you first discover LEGO?

Dicken Liu: Lego hasn’t been in the Chinese market for very long, and the price was a big reason why it wasn’t a toy for the average person when they first appeared in China. I first saw Lego in a shopping mall in the 90s. But it was more than a decade later that I actually bought my first Lego set.

TBB: How did you discover that LEGO was more than just a toy? When did you become “serious” about making your own creations?

DL: It was probably from 2016 that I started to try my hand at making small pieces. (Before that my interests were more focused on models, drones, and film.) I started to look around for information and learn techniques to enrich my MOC knowledge, but at that time the actual LEGO MOC pieces I saw were quite limited. Here are a few pieces I’ve kept. They’re pretty rough to look at now, but it was really the start of my MOC journey.

Our interview with Dicken Liu continues