Tag Archives: Collaboration

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

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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

DORA and friends explore the post-apocalyptic wastelands

At last year’s Bricks Cascade expo, Martin Hulth shared a post-apoc behemoth on treads cheekily named D.O.R.A. the Explorer (DORA as in Deep Outpost Research and Armament.) This year, with encouragement and collaboration from Mark Cruickshank, Martin returned to Cascade with two new vehicles that expand on this emerging world that rests somewhere between Mad Max and the Mortal Engines. Leading the new pack is BIG BERTHA here. It’s a kid’s dream of a mobile base fused with a monster truck, backed with sophisticated techniques. You might call it a spiritual successor to the Rock Raiders theme. And the use of color, with bold yellow and red paired with muted sand green and blue, is striking.

Explore the wasteland with us and see more of Martin’s epic builds

Building and growing together: An AFOL mother’s journey [Feature]

In celebration of Mothers Day and the many AFOLs who became mothers or mothers who discovered LEGO through their children, we present this guest post from our own Kimberly Giffen.

The day arrives when the oldest child receives her first LEGO set, and the time for endless hours of building with your children has come. As a family with an AFOL mother and four kids, so many hours have been spent on building. We build together, they move on to something else, and I continue building.

Kimberly’s story continues

LEGO Art 31216 Keith Haring – Dancing Figures – Brick up and dance with me [Review]

LEGO’s Art line has proven a popular way to engage with iconic artwork, with sets that translate brushstrokes into bricks that you can hang on your wall. The newest addition to the line, LEGO Art 31216 Keith Haring – Dancing Figures, shakes up the formula with a playful interpretation of the pop artist’s work that invites sharing the build experience with others. And instead of one finished work, you get 5 pieces that you can display your own way. For this review, I’ll be taking LEGO’s suggestion and inviting my family to join in for a social build experience. If you have others to share the build with, I recommend that you try this as well. As Keith Haring famously said, “art is for everybody.” But is this set for you? Let’s dig in!

Keith Haring – Dancing Figures will hit shelves and walls this May 15th for US $119.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £104.99.

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.

Read the full review

Holy Week collaboration is a testament to creativity and faith

From Byzantine icons to Michelangelo murals to swords-and-sandals epics, the New Testament gospels have been a source of artistic inspiration for nearly 2000 years. During the lead up to Easter, RebelLUG members Kevin Wanner, Eli Willsea, Chris Roberts, and James Libby collaborated on a series of 8 builds corresponding with Holy Week. Regardless of one’s faith, the series is an inspiring use of LEGO as a storytelling medium and a showcase of amazing talent in the community.

Kevin contributes the first entry, an immersive scene that depicts Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, the origins of Palm Sunday.

Read on for the full holy week collaboration