Tag Archives: Collaboration

Poké-builders celebrate the release of Pokémon Z-A with Mega Evolutions in LEGO

If you want to be the very best trainer, it’s not enough to collect ’em all anymore. It’s not even enough to evolve your Pocket Monsters. These days, to be the best there ever was, you have to MEGA Evolve those Pokémon. In celebration of last week’s release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A on the Nintendo Switch, nine LEGO building Poké-fans teamed up for the #megabrickevolution collaboration, rendering the new upgrade forms of some of their favorite monsters.

First up, from Matt Goldberg, we have the Mega Charizard X, an evolution of Charmander so smoldering with power that he burns blue. The head is wonderfully sculpted and the body has the right mix of cute and fierce. My favorite technique is the use of Ben 10 scales on the underside of the tail, a part I couldn’t recognize without reading Matt’s description of the build on his blog.

@margits_mocs dares to build the Mega Evolution of Pokémon 303, Mawile. This deceptive critter uses its cute face to catch foes off guard, then chomps them with the steel horns on the back of its head that form a fearsome maw. Margit’s model reallly captures the nightmare potential of that second mouth.

Meet more Mega Evolution MOCs after the break

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It’s Wolfpack vs Lion Knights in this incredible LEGO Castle collab

German AFOLs Andreas Pettau (Feanor) and Larsvader have each created impressive medieval builds on their own, but past builds could hardly prepare you for the epic collaboration they debuted at Berlin SteineWAHN! event last month. Spread across 24 32×32 baseplates, “The Wolfhunt” pits two Classic Castle factions against each other in a detailed landscape enhanced by lights and motion. Andreas built the fantastic Wolfpack Tower and the surrounding swamps, while Larsvader constructed a castle, palisades, and forest for the noble Lion Knights. The collab won the popular vote for best-in-show as well as the judges’ vote for best collab.

A collaboration like this is best enjoyed in video, and thankfully, Feanor documents the build for those who couldn’t see it in person. Watch till the end to see the incredible dark mode.

Brace yourself for more pics of this epic castle collab

Epic interstellar collab builds on LEGO’s City-Space aesthetic with Mission to Thalora Prime

LEGO might not have released a stand-alone Space theme since 2013’s Galaxy Squad, but the spirit of space exploration lives on as a sub-theme of City. Two years of great sets have introduced new uniforms, personal mechs, and swooshable ships with an aesthetic closer to Interstellar than retro sci-fi. At last month’s IDS Brickworld, long-time collaborators and Rogue Bricks membrers Michael Diermann and Sascha Brüning debuted a sprawling tribute to the City Space called “Mission on Thalora Prime.”

The builders adhere to the aesthetics of the line, from the nougat earth to the modular building style to the alien shrubbery, while expanding in scope and variety. The arid alien landscape is wonderfully done and provides a fun foundation for an aerial walkway to the radar module. LEGO 60430 Interstellar Spaceship has never looked better than here, with hangars to hold a squadron.

Michael, aka Boba-1980, shares a video from the event on his feed.

Undertale turns 10: Let’s celebrate with LEGO tributes

Ten years ago this week, Toby Fox’s pixel adventure Undertale released, creating a stir in the gaming world with its beloved characters, haunting music, inversions of video game tropes, and a profound sense of empathy. A trio of fans expressed their appreciation for the game in LEGO in a charming collab.

gcbricks creates Frisk, Papyrus, and Sans as minifigs. The characters use all LEGO parts, but this custom minifig creator uses knife, glue, and eraser as part of their craft.

lego_brickey assembles Mettaton, the robot with a SOUL. Minifig arms make great cartoony fingers for this entertainment bot turned anti-human boss.

Lastly, snom_nom sculpts a beautiful render for a custom Asriel head. Undertale, and its follow-up Deltarune, made a profound impact on the builder’s life. Her tribute to Deltarune on the Ideas platform is currently under review.

For more tributes to Toby Fox’s game, check out our Undertale archives.

Returning to Medina Al Musawrah – the massive Middle Eastern city collab from LEGO legends

Last year, 10 builders came together to build a fictional city inspired by cities of the Middle East and North Africa called “Medina Al Musawrah.” It was one of TBB’s favorite LEGO projects of last year, and you can read our interview with the organizers of this remarkable collaboration here. At last month’s BrickFair NoVa, a year of planning with triple the number of collaborators came to fruition as Medina Al Musawrah made its return, bigger and more spectacular than ever.

While the collaborators based elements of the build on different specific locations from personal travel or research, the city like a Pakastani transport truck and La Pyramid hotel from Ivory Coast. As Michael said in our interview, “It’s Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Casablanca, Beirut, Istanbul. It’s anywhere at any time.”

Our tour of the Medinah continues

Engineering for excellence – the Star Wars builds of Jürgen Wittner [Interview]

Today we’re joined by fan designer Jürgen Wittner, whose incredible Star Wars vehicles, built at 1:16 scale, are masterworks of LEGO engineering. We talk about his latest project, the Fall of Hoth, creative collaboration, and the process for designing and sharing these premium builds.

TBB: Hi, Jürgen. It’s been some time since the Brothers Brick checked in with you, but you’ve been quite busy. Maybe we can start by talking a bit about your latest build, the Fall of Hoth. I saw the illustration by Laurie Greasley and the 3D model by Jeff Lu. What inspired you to continue adapting this image into LEGO? Did you coordinate with either of the other artists?

Our interview with master fan designer Jürgen Wittner follows…

Summoning a friend to take down Elden Ring bosses for a LEGO Collab

From Software has fully embraced co-op with their latest release, Elden Ring Nightreign, all but requiring players to team up with a couple of friends in order to take down waves of bosses. So it’s only fitting that to bring down some of Elden Ring’s most iconic enemies in LEGO form, a team-up is in order. Joe (jnj_bricks) leads the charge against Godrick the Grafted, the first big mandatory boss in your journey through the Lands Between. Joe perfectly captures the decaying Stormveil Castle, especially the shattered road that subtly undulates off the LEGO grid. While he doesn’t often build characters, Joe nails Godrick’s grafted form with his monstrous arm. I’m having flashbacks to the first (and second, and tenth…) time I battled the boss.

Joe’s friend and collaborator Brickelangelo travels beneath Caelid to Mohgwyn Palace for a face off with Mohg, Lord of Blood. Mohg looks imposing atop the brick stairs, but also quite dashing courtesy of robes borrowed from Queer Eye’s Fab 5 Loft.

This collab has me itching to get back to Shadow of the Erdtree, but I’m not sure I’m ready to die again and again. Maybe I’ll just stick to bricks and enjoy this Elden Ring classic boss.

Sleeps With LEGO dreams of telling stories with friends and LEGO sigfigs, one stitch at a time [Interview]

LEGO may have started as a toy – one that fostered creativity and problem solving – but today LEGO fills so many roles in people’s lives. It’s a medium of artistic expression, a forum for collaboration, a key to peace and self-confidence during trying times, and of course, it’s to collect and display. But for many, one of LEGO’s greatest gifts is providing a foundation for community. When Andrew founded The Brothers Brick 20 years ago, it was an extension of the brickshelf community in an era when MySpace was the dominant social platform and LEGO news for adults was rare. These days, it’s much easier to connect with other AFOLs on Instagram, Discord, TikTok (even good old Flickr), but as the number of LEGO creators grows, it can be hard, if not impossible, to follow all the amazing ways people are using LEGO to create and share, especially if your biases and algorithms are trained to serve up space ships and dark fantasy.

I first discovered Barbara, better known as @sleepswithlego or just “Sleeps,” after seeing minifigs wearing crocheted coats across a range of accounts. Following the trail back to Sleeps, I fell into a rabbit hole of creativity and friendship as elaborate and joyful as any massive convention constructions and had to know more. Thankfully, Sleeps awoke long enough to talk with us about her unique LEGO community.

Our interview with Sleeps With LEGO follows

“Top 5 LEGO record stores in the modular style, go.”

Dana (virginia_bricks) is best known as the co-host of #MosaicsOnMondays on Instagram, but for this build, she breaks free from the frame with a charming record shop modular. Built as a corner unit for her LUG’s collaboration at the upcoming Brickfair Virginia, the building captures American Main Street charm with an exposed brick apartment over a brightly painted storefront. The shop could just as easily be a beloved institution going back decades or a part of a modern downtown revival. My favorite details are the awning, which cleverly evokes a keyboard, and the subtle facade texture under the window. And of course, any old brick building becomes infinitely more cozy with dense flowering vines climbing up the side!

The music shop windows look even more inviting at night with custom lighting setting it aglow.

Swapping MOCs for a double dose of creative styles

When it comes to LEGO mechs and brick-built characters, Zakar.ion is one of the most prolific and distinctive builders in the scene. They’re also one of the most collaborative and generous builders around, joining and starting collabs every week. One of my favorite traditions is the “swap collab” where zakar and another builder each pick a model from the other’s catalog of creations, then remake it in their own style. For zakar’s latest swap, the builder teams with neo_mocs. Here we see zakar’s take on neo’s Luna and Misty characters.

Below, you can see the inspiration and the remake side by side. Some of the elements, like the cat face elements from 11034 Creative Pets, carry across builds, while the body construction is a total re-engineering. Constraction pieces out, macaroni tubes in!

the other half of the collab follows

DeRa celebrates Kitano Ijinkan-gai landmark Weathercock House with LEGO modular masterpiece

Japanese builder DeRa has created some of the most spectacular MOCs of recent years, such as this entrancing LEGO tiger and brick-built Godzilla. But while mecha and monsters have been the builder’s calling card, DeRa’s academic focus as a university student is architecture. For their latest build, DeRa brings an AFOL’s perspective to the iconic Weathercock House from Kobe Japan’s Kitano Ijinkan-gai, a neighborhood where foreign residents created magnificent manors of Western design in the early 20th century.

Sticking to LEGO modular conventions, DeRa builds atop a 32×32 and 16×32 stud plate while allowing between 4-6 studs for sidewalk space. This pushes the build into stylized space, with both exterior and interior designed around minifig scale. But DeRa’s design holds another secret.

Like an ornate puzzle box, this modular slides apart into 12 separate modules!

Read on for details on the build process and pictures of the interior

Bones-to-Brick collaboration celebrates prehistoric life in LEGO

From Johnny Thunder to Jurassic World, LEGO has a long history of sets featuring dinosaurs and other prehistoric life, but as much fun as it can be to pose a mighty molded Spinosaurus, we’re partial to brick-built dinos, like a Creator 3-in-1 T.Rex or the recent Mosasaurus Boat Mission. Of course, our favorite creatures of all are original creations from the LEGO building community, like those that were just unearthed as part of the Bones to Brick collaboration. Seven talented builders contributed an ancient creature in their own style, and we’re excited to share the full collaboration. These builders are also all veterans of the BioCup, the annual competition that also kicks off this month, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing more from this crew very soon!

J6Crash presents Ankylosaurus magniventris, an armored dinosaur of the late Cretaceous. Sand blue and black bricks make a pleasing combo, and the technique of laying claw elements flat to create ridges along the back is brilliant.

Benjamin Anderson is next up with Dimetrodon limbatus, a creature of the Cisuralian period, some 40 million years before dinosaurs showed up. There’s a lot to love about Benjamin’s creation, but I’m smitten by the spine sail with a colorful gradient created from alternating teeth.

The paleontology tour continues after the break