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.

This micro Maul is a miniature masterpiece

Way back in 2001, LEGO released set 10018, a nearly 2000 piece bust of Star Wars baddie Darth Maul. While that set was definitely impressive, it was mostly just bricks and plates stacked together to sculpt an almost pixelated version of the Sith Lord. To demonstrate just how far LEGO construction has come since then, Byldan has constructed a microscale Maul that’s cleaner and smoother and made with about ten percent of the pieces. Maul’s trademark black and red visage is rendered here with a clever combination of minifigure body parts and utensils. Some of the construction may not be entirely legal, but no one expects the Sith to follow the rules.

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TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for August 23, 2025 [News]

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders worldwide, The Brothers Brick brings you the best LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the 3rd week of August 2025.

TBB NEWS AND REVIEWS Is it just me, or did the announcement of the new LEGO Ideas Willy Wonka set come out of nowhere this week? Not only did we get a news announcement, but the next day, a full review of this set, which seems to combine the original Gene Wilder movie with the Johnny Depp reboot from 2005 for inspiration. We also learned about the latest LEGO Batman game, which is set to release next year and covers a wide range of source material surrounding the Dark Knight. If you’re looking for more LEGO news and reviews, be sure to check out last week’s Brick Report.

[REVIEW] LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: Candy is dandy but plastic’s fantastic — Unwrap your golden ticket with our in-depth review of the latest LEGO Ideas set.
[NEWS] Adapting a sweet idea into LEGO 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory took more than pure imagination — You can almost hear the Oompa Loompas singing as they dance through the chocolate factory.
[NEWS] Traveler’s Tales LEGO Batman returns, goes hard — The latest LEGO Batman game journeys through the Christopher Nolan trilogy, as well as many other origin stories in this new video game due out next year.

One of the builds to be included in our TBB Collab at BrickCon 2025.

TBB FEATURES & INTERVIEWS

Announcing TBB’s Steampunk collaborative display at BrickCon 2025 [NEWS] Just a reminder of TBB’s Steampunk collaborative display at BrickCon 2025, Royal Exhibition 1898 — If you are planning to attend BrickCon 2025 in Bellevue, Wa, and you have a steampunk build, you can join in on the display just by sellecting the TBB collab when you register your MOC.
[FEATURE] Nature reclaims all as Vignette Week comes to a close — Our coverage of Vignette week comes to a close with the appropriate theme of nature reclaiming evidence of mankind’s existence.
[FEATURE] Creating a new castle faction with the Minifigure Factory — Our guest contributor Brennen checked out the new Minifig Factory service from LEGO to craft a poultry knight.
[FEATURE] Marvel at this Legion of Extraordinary Superhero Minfigs — Capturing that X-factor can be a challenge, but this week’s Minifig Monday builds did just that with Mutants from the X-Men universe.
[FEATURE] We’re head over heels for Vignweek’s day 5 upside down builds — Building on the theme upside down, creators of these entries for Vignette week were certainly topsy-turvy with creative interpretations.

A delicious take on LEGO landscapes

With the latest scenic build by The Creators Child, I think it’s time we establish some ground rules for just how appetizing a LEGO creation is allowed to be. Because just look at those layers! The blend of natural tones feels almost illegal in terms of the official LEGO color palette. And yet all the pieces are genuine. When it comes to composition, the scene benefits massively from the beautifully planned beach. Scaled-down debris and splashes are spot-on, and of course, no modern LEGO shoreline would be complete without a strip of wet sand. This coastal scene was built for the Summer Joust contest. Be sure to check out our round-up of the 2025 winners!

The Art of the LEGO Tableau – building in the “Ground-Based” style [Feature]

When setting a LEGO scene, how much of a world needs to be built to spark the viewer’s imagination?

There are two approaches to bringing a world to life in LEGO: 1) meticulously build out every aspect of the scene with bricks, or 2) provide just enough detail to suggest the bigger picture while letting the viewer’s imagination fill in the rest. While building it all can make for impressive displays, I am drawn to the latter approach.

Various styles can achieve this, each with its distinct charms. Immersive scenes transport us to new worlds, like a window into a picture, by filling the frame with LEGO. Vignettes, on the other hand, embrace the artifice of a model and give the impression that a slice of the world has been captured in bricks. Even if vignettes have their appeal, I have a preference for immersive scenes. They’re more fun, if more part-intensive.

But there’s a third style worth exploring, one that many in the community – including myself – have experimented with. It’s a style that I call “Ground-Based.” As you’ve probably already guessed, this is the topic I’ll be covering today
Learn how to create MOCs in the ground-based style

Orion Pax makes us fall in love with the Undersea World again with Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso in LEGO

From the 1960s to the early 80s, the aquatic expeditions of Jacques Cousteau brought the deep sea into millions of homes. I fell under the Frenchman’s ocean spell watching reruns on public television as a kid, and a big part of that enchantment was thanks to the aptly named Calypso, the British minesweeper boat adapted for scientific use. Fellow 80s kid turned LEGO legend Alex “Orion Pax” Jones also fell in love with Cousteau’s undersea world and decades after trying to build the Calypso as a child, he returns with a masterful LEGO rendition built at 1/50 scale.

Alex includes a functioning version of the crane used to lift the Denise mini-sub, as well as a midi-scale helicopter on the rear deck landing pad.

See more of the Calypso and Orion Pax’s other creations after the jump

LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: Candy is dandy but plastic’s fantastic [Review]

Brennen (Brickbot_Studio) here again, and today we’re taking a trip back to 1971 with one of the strangest, most whimsical LEGO Icons sets yet. 21360 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is based directly on Mel Stuart’s classic film and brings one of cinema’s most surreal settings to brick form. With a full cast of kids, a couple of Oompa Loompas, the eccentric chocolatier himself, and a gorgeous recreation of the Chocolate Room, this set is packed with nostalgia, clever features, and just enough weirdness to feel true to the movie. Let’s unwrap this baby and see if it contains a Golden Ticket.

LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory | 2025 Pieces | Available September 15 |US $219.99 | CAN $279.99 | UK £199.99

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

Click to read our scrumdiddlyumptious review!

Three little birds, but not the Bob Marley variety

They say good things come in threes. That’s certainly true in the gaming sphere; look closely and you’ll see things pop up in threes all the time, from boss phases to collectible trinkets. And, as Cecilie Fritzvold‘s LEGO birds remind us, the world of Pokémon is no different! There are plenty of legendary or mythical ‘mons that make up a trio. Heck, for a time, the games themselves came in sets of three: Diamond-Pearl-Platinum, Gold-Silver-Crystal, etc. Cecilie is taking us back to the Red-Blue-Yellow era, though, and indeed we’re starting with red!

The three legendary birds didn’t have any bearing on the names of the games they appeared in – it’s purely coincidence that they’re the same colour. (And anyway, pedants will be aware that the original Japanese releases were Red and Green, not Red and Blue.) Moltres, the fire bird, is of course red. It follows that the icy Articuno is therefore mostly blue. Check out that awesome use of a vintage LEGO watch strap for the tail!

I’m sure some of you will be shouting at the screen that the games weren’t originally a trio; Pokemon Yellow only came along two years later. But it completes the set nicely, and means I can keep the tenuous link going with the coolest of the three birds: Zapdos. According to Cecilie, you shouldn’t touch this one. Not because it has the Static hidden ability (as of the 6th Generation of games) – it’s quite fragile apparently. But no less pretty a build for it!

Adapting a sweet idea into LEGO 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory took more than pure imagination [News]

The LEGO Ideas program lets the community vote on which concepts might become official sets. Adapting fan designs into an official set always involves changes – both compromises and upgrades. The next fan-designed set, LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, announced today, introduced many unique challenges for the design team. You can read our review here or keep reading to see more official pics of this sweet set and learn some behind-the-scenes stories of how the design team arrived at the finished model.

LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory | 2025 Pieces | Available September 15 |US $219.99 | CAN $279.99 | UK £199.99

Learn more about LEGO’s delicious new Ideas set

Documenting LEGO Middle Earth with a photographer’s eye

Of all the partnerships in the LEGO library, none is more cinematic than the Lord of the Rings. While sets like Rivendell are rapturous enough just sitting on a shelf, with amazing lighting and post-production, LEGO Lord of the Rings MOCs can transport you right to Middle-earth. Valenque is a builder and photographer who blends official sets, custom landscaping, and VFX to create immersive scenes from Tolkien’s books and the films they inspired. The builder’s latest borrows a Hungarian Horntail to recreate an epic meeting from the posthumously published Children of Hurin. The minifig of Túrin is supplemented with a digital dragon crest on the helm to match Alan Lee’s illustration.

Valenque has previously captured scenes from the Hobbit and Rings trilogies, like this scene of Gandalf igniting pinecones to ward off goblins on the slopes of the Misty Mountains.

Click to see more of Valenque’s amazing scenes from Middle Earth

Look past the spook, and you’ll see some terrifyingly good LEGO techniques

The thing about finding great LEGO creations to share on the internet is that sometimes, you do see some really disturbing things. And no, I’m not talking about the price tags in stores. In this instance, it’s Oliver Barrell‘s entry into the Summer Joust building contest. It gives me, frankly, the heebiest of jeebies. I guess that’s rather the point, to be fair. But it does risk distracting me from some rather neat building techniques, be they the forced-perspective house in the back, or the ingenious use of a 1×2 current-carrying brick. Am I grateful I’ve seen this LEGO build? I suppose I have to be. I don’t want that… Thing coming after me if I admit I’m not!

A precarious castle high above the sea

When building microscale LEGO creations, you have to look at common parts a little differently to discover new and interesting uses, like this castle by Geneva Durand perched high above the sea on a rocky cliff. They use a small, rounded element with a hollow stud on one side as the perfect base for turrets mounted to the sides of the tall gray walls. Another part that caught my attention was the white minifigure forks inserted tine-down between grill elements. And several tooth parts attched sideways make perfect arched windows.

LEGO Pirates Imperial Armada sets sail again with a new MOC flagship, the Ocean’s Crown

LEGO’s Pirate theme may be dormant, but 2025 is shaping up to be the biggest pirate year ever, thanks to One Piece, minifigs, and more. It’s only fitting that we’re seeing some incredible pirate themed MOCs set sail of late, perhaps none so majestic as the Ocean’s Crown – the latest creation from Vietnamese AFOL and Masterpiece Gallery alum Khang Huynh in collaboration with Kỷ Duy Phong.

Inspired by Imperial Flagship 10210, Khang’s creation is fully a meter long and 80cm tall, making it properly minifig-scale without compromise.

The duo had previously made their mark on the lawless side of the age of piracy with the “Kraken Shadowy,” a highly-detailed spin on a Black Seas Barracuda’s foundation sailing across a breathtaking brick sea. You can read our coverage from 2023 here.

Batten down the hatches and brace for more pics of the majestic Ocean’s Crown after the jump