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.

A cracking build of Wallace & Gromit’s Austin A35

Wallace and Gromit have tried many business ventures over their storied career. Whether the job calls for trapping rabbits, doling out dough, or wrangling smart gnomes, their trusty Austin A35 van always delivers. Isaac Wilder is something of a madcap genius in his own right, only instead of cracking inventions, Isaac’s specialty is uncannily-accurate vintage cars in LEGO. Here Isaac recreates Wallace’s iconic ride, decked out with decals from the ~~evil~~ inventor’s latest venture from Vengeance Most Foul. Isaac’s attention to detail is admirable, going so far as to offset the wings by half a stud to match the subtle bulge of the original. Isaac pairs the car with a brick-built take on Norbot, the chipper AI-powered garden gnome who definitely couldn’t be hacked for nefarious purposes.

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Invading goblins get a lesson in Dwarven hospitality

Builder Mihał Ch regularly wows us with epic scenes from fantasy and folklore. Inspired by the “Dwarf Tales” category of this year’s Brickscalibur contest, Mihał crafts a massive 64-stud square slice of a Dwarven fortress under siege from a colorful crew of goblins. While short in statue, these Dwarves put up a mighty fight with cannons and spell blasts echoing through the hall.

Delve deeper for more pics of this epic Dwarven hall under siege

“Arch” rival builds vie in Iron Forge [Feature]

The Iron Builder competition pits a veteran building champion against a challenger in a LEGO twist on the Iron Chef cooking show. But how does one become a challenger? One path is the Iron Forge competition, where everyone is invited to build and share models using the “seed part,” with the pool becoming a bracketed competition until one is chosen. The free-for-all phase just wrapped up, featuring the seed part of “any mudguard with only one wheel arch.” Here are a few that caught our eye.

“Fun at the Fair” by Dominique Boeynaems – 21 mudguards

“Mud-Guarded” by Bousker – 33 mudguards (each of those traps on the wall uses 4!)

Keep on rolling to more creative mudguard builds

Music box bear causes cuteness overload in LEGO

Builder Jeunet came to LEGO as an adult in Japan shopping for their child, and in the years since they’ve found ongoing delight through the sharing of builds that combine music, cuteness, and everyday objects. Like this adorable bear playing a music box from a carousel unicorn!

The builder has a knack for finding joy in the mundane, with miniature MOCs that share the spirit of specificity you find from Gashapon machines in Japan. In addition to building, Jeunet also performs the violin music on their channel. Cozy kawaii comfort viewing.

A dragon GBC among the clouds

So what’s a GBC, then? It stands for Great Ball Contraption and, despite the cringe-worthy connotations that name implies, GBC is often a crowd pleaser at LEGO conventions. It’s a mechanical means of moving one or many balls from one location to another. This particular GBC by Andreas Lenander is a feat of engineering with an artful approach. The charming dragon makes a wave pattern as orange balls move through the clouds.

It truly is a captivating work of art to behold. I wish there was some kind of way you can see it in motion. It turns out you can with this short video! Stay toward the end to see the inner workings that give this dragon its hypnotic wave motion.

Nothing but praise for this LEGO church

Capturing the spirit of the subject, conveying detail at scale, and cleverly using parts are the holy trinity of a LEGO microscale builder’s goals. Builder Christian Rau scores the trifecta with this remarkably faithful LEGO model of the Jesuit Church in Lucerne, Switzerland. While the actual church took over a decade to construct, Christian finished much quicker, using parts from across many decades of LEGO history – notably the 1x1x2 windows introduced in 1956, and the versatile 1×2 inverted arch which are less than three years old. Offset building techniques throughout the model are especially effective in illuminating the towers’ shapely onion-tops (which are also square in real life!) and spot-on color choices harken the building’s characteristic façade.

The building I work in started life as a Romanesque Revival style church, and I frequently imagine modeling it in LEGO. Perhaps I will take a page or two from the book of Christian’s techniques…

LEGO all-stars bring Edo-era Japan to life in LEGO in epic collab

Each year the RogueBricks community, home to many of Europe’s most accomplished LEGO builders, comes together for a collaborative build. This year’s endeavor is an immersive recreation of the Japanese city of Kumamoto during the Edo Period built atop a whopping 170 base plates (that’s 2.5 x 4.3 meters!). The massive diorama depicts the coastal city in autumn and is packed with details of life during the Tokugawa shogunate, including scenes telling the story of the famous samurai Miyamoto Musashi.

Attendees were treated to motorized elements and integrated lighting, as well as informative plaques describing the history captured in bricks. As a bonus easter egg for young visitors, 10 Ninjago charaters were hidden in the build. Like 2023’s Rogue Odyssey collaboration, the project took home first prize for collaborations from both jury and audience. We’ve highlighted several contributions in recent weeks, but only now can we share the complete build thanks to Hannes Tscharner. Extended highlights and builder credits follow.

Read on for a full tour of this tour de force!

Plucky Patapons emerge from Playstation Portable past in LEGO

If you were lucky enough to have a PlayStation Portable, then there’s a good chance you remember Patapon, the music and tactics mash-up that’s up there with Space Channel 5 and PaRappa the Rapper in the rhythm game Hall of Fame. Builder Vlad V boots up the little fellas for this pixel-perfect LEGO tribute. Vlad nails the personality of the silhouetted soldiers as they march to the beat. It’s a simple mix of parts, but it couldn’t be more faithful. And you don’t have to know the game to appreciate the lovely sunset mosaic. Already the “pat-a-pat-a-pat-a-pon” earworm is back in my head. If you’re also feeling nostalgic for Patapon, the spiritual successor Ratatan is on its way with more great character designs to inspire LEGO builds.

How to build a LEGO archway [Building Technique]

We spend a lot of time here at TBB talking about finished LEGO works, but rarely do we get into the work-in-progress techniques that go into those pieces. For instance, builder Monty Matte shows us how to properly portal our palisades with this LEGO archway technique over on his Instagram. A frequent feature of many of Monty’s builds, this image gives us just a peek into how the architectural detail comes together.

Rock solid colossal castle

When we checked in with Louis of Nutwood last week, the builder took to the seas on itty bitty sailing ships. This time Louis puts those ace LEGO skills to work at colossal scale with the impressive Fortress of Hyrrefur. The castle features distinctive brickwork that incorporates SNOT techniques, profile bricks, and sloped corners for an impressive chiseled look. That intricacy extends to the rocky base with nary a foothold for would-be invaders.

The fortress is even more impressive up close.

Click to explore Hyrrefur Fortress from every angle

Iron Forging ahead with another This Week in LEGO Bricks! [Feature]

A lot happens every week in the world of LEGO builders. Thankfully, we can always count on ABrickDreamer to highlight the best MOCs, videos, and builder news. This week’s big story is the Iron Forge competition, currently in the free-for-all phase. We try not to choose favorites here at TBB, but best of luck ABrickDreamer! Now, on with the news…

NikiFilik spells out how to build your own LEGO wizard [Instructions]

Blue is a great color for wizards. Majisto, Disney’s Merlin, Gauntlet‘s best hero… Tolkien fancied the idea of a blue wizard so much, he made two of them! But the prize for the cutest blue wizard around goes to NikiFilik, whose LEGO mini-mage is about 90% beard, which is the ideal proportion. This build is a remake of an earlier character design from last August that NikiFilik created for the Vignweek competition. Small changes, like the new hat, cuffed sleeves, a curlier staff, and smoother boots, show how even a small build can benefit from iteration. And now you too can have a li’l wizard buddy for your desk as NikiFilik has generously made free instructions available to all.