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.

Celebrate Halloween the Not-So-Scary way with legonano’s Disney tributes

Japanese builder legonano specializes in tiny LEGO tributes to all things Disney. With Halloween fast approaching, legonano has curated a selection of iconic villains for a Not-So-Scary display. The builder has created 164 mosaic tiles in her Disney series, establishing her own visual language for adapting beloved characters.

Also featured in her Halloween tableau is legonano’s miniature take on the Haunted Mansion, the latest in the builder’s series of Disneyland ride vignettes. The front of the facade captures the New Orleans Square landmark, while the back features some hitchhiking ghosts and a heart-stopping rendition of the bride.

A selection of legonano’s creations were previously featured in LEGO House’s Masterpiece Gallery, delighting kids and Disney Adults in Billund last year.

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The Scottish Highlands distilled in LEGO

The beauty of the Scottish Highlands has been marvelously captured in this build by 11drgnsMOC. Every sight imaginable, from a cottage covered in snow to a castle atop a sunny green hillside, has been nestled side-by-side in this delightful vignette. There’s even a brick-built bagpipe! We can almost smell the peat in the air.

This rendering was one of several models that the builder submitted to Bricklink Designer Program Series 9. Voting for this round is closed, with the winning entries to be announced on November 19th.

Vancouver library recreated in brick by local LEGO legend Paul Hetherington

Paul Hetherington has a knack for building real-world locations in LEGO, and he’s at it again with this rendition of the West Vancouver Memorial Library, built to celebrate its 75th anniversary. You can tell what a grand place for the community this must be, with the ample greenery and curated outdoor space. Those umbrellas? Hub caps from the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine! But cutaway sections also let us get a good look inside at the library’s main hall and children’s sections. And, if you want an even better look at this 17,850-piece model, you can see it on display inside the actual library.

Paul is a LEGO institution in the Pacific Northwest, whose large-scale architecture and pop culture models have delighted the community for over 20 years. This model is particularly special for the builder as it’s the same library he visited as a child where he discovered the comics that would go on to inspire his LEGO building.

LEGO Blastoise and Venusaur join the fray!

Following his incredible Charizard build last month, MitchBuilds has rounded out his party of Gen 1 starter final forms with Blastoise and Venusaur. Both of these builds feature just as many neat building techniques, and all appear to be nicely at scale with each other.

Blastoise is an imposing build, and positioned just like we’d see him in the game or anime. I’m particularly fond of the face shaping, where Mitch has managed to perfectly capture his eyes and give him quite a bit of personality with his open mouth. You may notice that his nose is made out of one of the old stiff minifig capes, which is an excellent touch. The shell frame technique that we’ve seen recently with The Mighty Bowser and Spiny Shell works really well for Blastoise, though it’s been highly customized for this build to make sure everything fits perfectly.

Venusaur’s up next, as well as Mitch’s behind-the-scenes videos!

SHIPtember 2025 Finale: Reflections from the fleet [Feature]

As we celebrate the end of another exciting and inspirational SHIPtember, while the fleet is assembling for the 2025 SHIPtember armada poster, it seems only fitting to take a moment to reflect on the history behind this LEGO building challenge. We sat down for a short interview with Simon Liu, the grand admiral of all things SHIPtember. Simon started it all with an idea to challenge himself, to push beyond his comfort zone, and as a result created a community of builders around the world who come together every year (and sometimes in between) to build the best SHIP they can, and to share their struggles and triumphs with others. As a bonus, I also reached out to the SHIP building community to get their thoughts on the event.

TBB: Hi Simon. It’s great to chat with you again after another amazing SHIPtember! Before we get to the greebles, an icebreaker. What is your earliest LEGO memory?

Simon Liu: In our old house, we used to have this enclosed balcony area that was sort of the LEGO playroom, and had this wooden plank that I built a little LEGO city on. Some official sets, some of my own creations, and some set mods. I would play for hours in my own little city.

TBB: Can you tell us about the history behind SHIPtember and your role in it?

Simon: I started SHIPtember and came up with the idea. It was simple; I had never built a SHIP and didn’t know how to. So why not make it a group exercise? At the time, building a SHIP was seen as a huge investment in time and effort, and now it’s pretty routine to see some people build multiple SHIPs in a month.

SHIPtmeber was actually going to be SHIPril. But after no SHIPs at BrickCon (which historically was the first weekend of October), I decided to move it, ensuring that BrickCon would always have fresh SHIPs.

Our interview with SHIPtember founder Simon Liu and final thoughts from 2025 builders follow

A LEGO castle legend returns to the Guilds of Historica

Since 2013, over in the Eurobricks forums, Castle fans have been building out a shared fantasy world with story arcs and challenges called Guilds of Historica. Peter Ilmrud is a longtime member of the community who hasn’t added to the world in a while, but returned last month with a beautiful piece of forced perspective featuring his sigfig Parzival approaching a desert metropolis.

With just the microscale model in focus, we can better appreciate the wonderful technique, like one boat made with chocolate frogs and another from a hotdog bun, an upturned butterfly net as a dome, and a book cover for a tent.

Peter promises that the microscale model above is just an appetizer for a larger return to Guilds of Historica next year. Based on the builder’s previous creations in the setting, we’re in for a treat. Here is Peter’s creation from the GoH 10th anniversary contest two years ago – the Port of Zamorah. (Visit Peter’s Flickr to appreciate it close up.)

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How three builders celebrate travel with LEGO [Feature]

LEGO sets can make excellent souvenirs to take home from vacations, but how can LEGO prepare you for a trip and make that journey even more special?

Australian AFOL Kristel Whitaker recently wrapped a European vacation where she documented her trip with Polaroids built from LEGO. Rather than visit first, build later, Kristel prepped her “photographs” before leaving Australia based on iconic locations, then took an on-location photograph to match. The results are so much fun!

I love the use of monochrome for the LEGO versions, which makes them feel timeless but could also simplify the need to color-match exactly, like with this snapshot from Copenhagen’s Nyhavn.

Kristel’s compositions also help keep scope manageable when the subject is enormous, like with this shot of the Colosseum that she managed to perfectly match on location.

See the world with more AFOL adventurers after the fold!

LEGO Icons 10366 Tropical Aquarium: deep-dive into the world of re-colours [Review]

Four years ago, LEGO released an intriguing Creator set that stood out for its uniqueness: 31122 Fish Tank. What a great idea! A way of bringing some aquatic LEGO into your home without all the yellow of their traditional underwater themes. Clearly, some bright spark at LEGO saw that set, and went: OK, but what if we made it bigger? That’s clearly just speculation on my part – but the end result is the same: 10366 Tropical Aquarium, which releases this November 13 for US $479.99 | CAN $599.99 | UK £399.99. Among its 4,151 pieces, it counts a large number in new or rare colours, and in good quantities at that. But there’s more to this set than just new re-colours! Take a dive into the tropical waters, and let’s check it out together.

LEGO Icons 10366 Tropical Aquarium | 4,154 Pieces | Available November 13 | US $479.99 | CAN $599.99 | UK £399.99

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All aboard the itty-bitty choo-choo!

When LEGO dropped this season’s winter village addition, 10361 Holiday Express Train, we were shocked to find a 3D-printed engine inside. Builder Owen (_brickbytes) used that one funny element as the seed for a full microscale scene. The little engine is followed by cars that mirror the scale and detail of the printed piece using system elements. The extra-thin quality of LEGO hinges works brilliantly both as tiny wheels and to give the coal hopper interesting shaping. Owen’s microscale chops extend beyond the centerpiece train. Using book covers as thatched rooftops is clever indeed, and of course, I’m always happy to see green antlers used for microscale foliage!

Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil

Italian Certified LEGO professional Riccardo Zangelmi is living the dream and has built a detailed oil rig for VALLAND SPA. They don’t make hot tubs as I initially thought but rather oil and gas valves. An oil platform makes perfect sense, then. Riccardo tells us that most oil platforms are gray (can confirm) but he took some artistic license and made it a bright white and a happy yellow. With the happy colors on there, this seems like a fun place to work- or at least a super fun playset. Get the boat and fishing gear! Is that not what they do on oil rigs? Even if it’s all serious business, I imagine a hard day working on an oil rig would warrant a trip to the spa to be pampered like a god. But not VALLAND SPA, as we’ve already established, they make oil and gas valves.

Gearheads unite- Building on motorcycle MOCs of the past

I’m the first to admit, I’m no gearhead – I can barely tell the difference between a Buick and a Bentley – but that doesn’t keep me from having the deepest respect for LEGO builders who are as passionate about their cars as I am castles. The precision and innovation that go into making recognizable vehicles in miniature is its own kind of magic. Sam Andreas, aka Sseven Bricks, is one of my favorite automotive builders, thanks to his sharp lines, crisp photography, and clever parts use that never skimp on detail, even at 6-7 studs wide. Like this Chevy P20 step van. Now the builder is first to admit that this vehicle is just “a big grey box on wheels,” but it’s what’s in the back that caught my eye.

What a beautiful chopper! So much detail at minifig scale with tricks like using minifig hands for handlebars and kickstand. I love builds like this. Now, as talented as Sam is, he’s also building on a the innovation of those who came before and it’s wonderful to see him credit those inspirations.

The motorcycle above was inspired by the work of Sanel Lukovic from back in 2018. Sanel hasn’t been as active in recent years, but his legacy is massive. It’s always great to be reminded when legendary builders past works are still inspiring new builds.

Read on for another example of Andreas iterating on iconic builds for his incredible vehicles

“You will always be my greatest adventure”

I don’t know who needs to see this today, but if you need your spirits lifted, Xiheng Xu, a new LEGO builder on Instagram, has turned the lovable Children’s Teddy Bear set into the equally lovable Grandpa from UP. Carl Fredricksen is his name and he’s responsible for probably the most emotional movie intro since Saving Private Ryan. You’d think I wouldn’t correlate the two movies together but yet here we are.

You can’t help but loving Carl, and by extension the work of Xiheng. Modding official sets seems to totally be his jam. Hare’s an example from earlier last month featuring Baobaolong, a creature who hates carrots built from a creature that positively loves carrots.