Category Archives: LEGO

You’d probably expect a lot of the posts on a LEGO website like The Brothers Brick to be about LEGO, and you’d be right. If you’re browsing this page, you might want to consider narrowing what you’re looking for by checking out categories like “Space” and “Castle.” We’re sure there’s something here that’ll fascinate and amaze you.

Dressed to Quest: Hands-on with the capes, cloaks, sheaths, and scabbards of Minifig Realms [Review]

Today, we take a look at a newcomer in the world of custom capes and cloth accessories: Minifig Realms. In addition to the capes and skirts found in official LEGO offerings, Minifig Realms adds sheaths and straps to the minifig wardrobe, as well as new materials, like faux-leather. While unofficial accessories aren’t for all LEGO fans, Minifig Realms has been making waves since their debut this July, so we brought in an expert in custom minifigs, beyondb0nes, to see how these new products measure up.

Join us for a fantasy fashion show of the Minifig Realms accessories

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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

From Sunnydale to Belville, Bricktoria’s LEGO library slays

If you’ve been lucky enough to visit LEGO House over the past year, then you probably saw the incredible Belville-scale dioramas of Victoria Worsley on display at the Masterpiece Gallery. Victoria’s latest doll-scale creation is a bustling library where young readers busy themselves among the stacks.

As much as I love minifgs, there’s something charming about LEGO’s larger family of Belville figures that were produced between 1994 and 2009. These days, the accessories and textiles from the line show up in MOCs from builders looking to push the envelope with creative parts use, but very few builders base their creations around the dolls themselves. It’s magical to see the dolls transported into immersive LEGO scenes the way that “Bricktoria” does.

The library is such a cozy, innocent place. And yet there’s something familiar about the U-shaped design, the crimson stairs… and that print of a counting… vampire?

Guitar lick. It’s Buffy time, after the jump!

LEGO Icons 10361 Holiday Express Train: all I want for Christmas is... 3D printed LEGO? [Review]

Isn’t it weird how trains and Christmas seem to have such a close association? Whether that’s down to unwrapping a train set on the big day, or Santa Claus becoming a railway magnate to help distribute presents, we couldn’t say. Either way – festive trains have also been a regular feature of LEGO’s product lineup over the years, including two at minifigure scale. This October 4th, you’ll be able to add a third engine to the Winter Village train shed, for the princely sum of US $129.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £109.99. In some ways, it’s the same old story – but at the same time, there are big changes afoot among this set’s 956 pieces. Got your tickets ready? We’re travelling first class on the TBB Review Special of 10361 Holiday Express Train!

LEGO Icons 10361 Holiday Express Train | 956 Pieces | Available October 4 | US $129.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £109.99

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

All aboard to read our full review!

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

Scaling the castle wall, brick by LEGO brick

Castle has been on a wonderful resurgence of late, and Goran Maksimovic adds some great personality to the mix. A wonderful little tower is being scaled as one of the culprits falls. Each of the four faces seen on the minifigs tells a great story of the action scene. It can take some effort going through minifig face designs, but Goran shows us the effort pays off in the enjoyment of the scene.

LEGO 41843 Family Christmas Tree – A holiday tradition in the making [Review]

Designed with collaboration in mind, the festive LEGO 41843 Family Christmas Tree invites families and friends to build together. With split instruction booklets, modular sub-builds, and clever engineering, the set allows for simultaneous progress, turning construction into a shared experience. In our house, that meant an all-hands-on-deck build session with both kids and grown-ups chipping in for a bricktacular afternoon of holiday fun. Packed with whimsical minifigures, hidden play features, and a finished design that’s perfect for display or imaginative play, this is a set that brings holiday magic to the table in more ways than one.

LEGO Family 41843| 3172 Pieces | Available October 1 to Insiders, Oct 4 to all |US $329.99 | CAN $379.99 | UK £269.99

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Come along as we unwrap LEGO’s biggest holiday set together

The supersonic Valkyrie takes flight in LEGO Studio

When I first glanced at this design, I thought it was a retake on the 2023 Concorde set (10318). But Kurt’s MOCs has done better than that with the North American XB-70 Valkyrie, a supersonic bomber from the Cold War era. Only two Valkyries were produced as it was only a prototype from the arms race for faster and higher flight. Kurt displays a strong skill with digital LEGO work on this minifig-scale design.

Kurt’s renders of military jets come highly researched and immaculately detailed and are always accompanied by in-depth facts and history that make his digital LEGO creations an excellent resource for aviation buffs.

LEGO Death Star’s Tie Fighter with Hanger Rack – how does the GWP measure up? [Review]

It would be an understatement to say that LEGO Star Wars 75419 Death Star has been a Force Lightning rod for controversy since it was formally revealed last week. As you can tell from our review, the hands-on experience left us feeling as fried as Luke after his encounter with the Emperor. Surprisingly, the accompanying gift with purchase 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack, has generated almost as much attention, mostly negative. A lot of this stems from LEGO’s publicity photos showing the TIE Fighter with the set, despite it being a limited-time exclusive, garnering the label “DLC” after video games that seemingly lock off part of a complete game under a paywall. Even if that wasn’t the intent, it’s not a good look, especially when this “missing piece” is part of LEGO’s most expensive set yet. Questionable marketing aside, how does the bonus set hold up? And how does it compare with past Gifts with Purchase from past premium releases?

LEGO Star Wars 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack | 236 Pieces | Available October 1 as a free GWP with the Death Star, while supplies last | US $999.99 | CAN $1299.99 | UK £899.99

Our thoughts on the Tie Fighter GWP follow

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

Cafe and pizza, Mediterranean-style, in a towering LEGO modular

Mediterranean architecture — like Mediterranean living — has a unique flavor to it, sun-kissed and rooted in tradition. Andrew Tate has captured a beautiful slice of it with his latest modular-style creation. While Andrew mentioned some of the really difficult connections (the SNOT shutters offset ever so slightly), so much of this building is very “normal” LEGO. Relax and take in those pleasing right angles! Even with new LEGO elements that come out every season, never underestimate the beautiful work that can be done with a standard LEGO brick. For an extra old-world touch, rather than use tiles for the sidewalk, Andrew uses the brick-embossed brick for the entire base…or as we call it in our house, the “brick-brick.”

Classic Castle or Classic Space? Wolftron LEGO theme dares to ask, why not both?

Which is the best retro LEGO theme – Classic Space or Classic Castle? Richard Young (IamKritch on Flickr) dares to suggest, “why not both?” with the amazing Wolftron theme. Created for the Eurobricks Summer Faction Festival, Richard starts with a reimagining of the icond 6075 Wolfpack Tower, sticking with the retro colors to imagine a bold new future for the notorious scoundrels. (For those familiar with unreleased LEGO themes, you may see a resemblance to the “Greytron” designs.)

Of course, no LEGO space faction is complete without a roster of minfigs. The Wolftrons sport a mix of classic space accessories as well as some thematically-appropriate helmets. In addition to the brick-built robot, the faction includes an actual wolf. (What wouldn’t we have given for that wolf mold back when the Wolf Pack first debuted!)

Click to sink your fangs in more of the Wolftron faction