Tag Archives: Interviews

The people behind the fascinating LEGO models we feature here are just as interesting! Read interviews with notable LEGO builders, LEGO book authors, LEGO set designers, and many others right here on The Brothers Brick.

The Playable LEGO Game Boy: An Interview with the team behind BrickBoy [Interview]

From the moment that LEGO announced the official LEGO Game Boy set (72046), the online community was abuzz with questions around whether or not it could be converted into an actual functioning handheld gaming system. We had a chance to talk to the team behind BrickBoy, a electronic kit that aims to do just that, currently raising funding on Kickstarter. While other savvy makers have hacked a working emulator into the LEGO model, this team promises a 5-minute conversion that anyone can do at home. We’ll be back soon with a hands-on review of the kit, but first, we sit down with the team to learn more about how the BrickBoy project came together.

Read on to learn more about BrickBoy!

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HereticCreations discusses Halo, play features, rebuilds and more [Interview]

If there are two things I love spending my time doing, it’s building LEGO and playing Halo. And despite a long-standing line of Mega sets, it’s the LEGO Halo builders online that I find myself in awe of. And none more so than HereticCreations! In case you couldn’t guess, this builder specialises in Halo creations, and in prolific fashion too. With a Flickr gallery containing over 800 photos, they’ve built everything from Flood-infested Covenant to enormous UNSC juggernauts, and plenty big and small in between. We chatted with Heretic about their journey into LEGO and the process behind their many builds. But first, we have to ask the most important question of all…

The Brothers Brick: So let’s start with an icebreaker: best Halo game, in your opinion?

HereticCreations: I think Halo 2 has the best story and music, but for the gameplay and art direction, I’d have to go with Halo 3. My answer for overall favorite could really be interchanged with any of the Bungie games, depending on my mood. I appreciate all of them each for different reasons.

ODST is my pick, personally. Click here to hear more from HereticCreations!

The Making of The Fellowship – Catching up with Cathedral of Bricks [Interview]

When we first encountered the LEGO castle creations from Luke, who posts on Instagram as cathedralofbricks, we were immediately struck by the builder’s skill with medieval architecture and dramatic landscaping. Since we last spoke with Luke, he has gone on to win two top awards in the Summer Joust competition and sailed from castle territory into pirate-infested seas with a stunning tall ship. This month, Luke debuted his biggest model yet, a tribute to Tolkien called “The Fellowship.” It’s such a magnificent build, we had to follow up with Luke about its creation.

our Interview with Luke and illustrations of his work and inspirations follow

One does not simply make LEGO models of Barad-Dûr this big

Barad-Dûr, seat of Sauron’s power, is known more by reputation than by first-hand accounts in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien describes it as “wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black, immeasurably strong, mountain of iron, gate of steel, tower of adamant.” Peter Jackson’s films made Barad-Dûr an iconic on-screen presence with the fiery eye watching all from atop the tallest tower. It was that version that LEGO adapted for last year’s massive Icons set. For Jae Min Lee, a Korean fantasty builder who goes by the handle Saint, the official set didn’t match the picture of Barad-Dûr in his imagination. For over a year, Saint iterated on his vision of Sauron’s stronghold with the latest version debuting just in time for Korea Brick Party 2025. Saint was kind enough to talk with us about his LEGO journey into Mordor.

Our Interview with Saint follows

Celebrating 10 Years of MOCs with LEGO Mecha Maestro Marco De Bon [Interview]

Ten years ago, Italian builder Marco De Bon emerged from his “dark age” and began sharing incredible LEGO creations of giant robots inspired by the anime of his childhood. In the years since, Marco has continued to hone his craft, building mecha that are both highly articulated and exceptionally clean. Here at The Brothers Brick, we’ve long been fans of Marco’s mecha, hardsuits, and sci-fi crafts, so in celebration of this milestone, we sat down with Marco to look back on a decade of building MOCs.

Our interview with Marco and pictures of his 10 years of amazing mecha follow…

Tiny builds, big imagination. Talking bricks with Dan Ko [Interview]

Longtime readers of The Brothers Brick will definitely be familiar with the builds of Jordan Jivkov, better known as Dan Ko, one of the most prolific builders of recent years, who specializes in small models that are packed with personality and wit. He honed his skills as an Iron Builder and continues to show up in LEGO challenges like Brickscalibur and the Rogue Olympics. It’s no surprise he’s been featured here dozens of times since 2020. In addition to sharing his models, Dan has also been generous with sharing ad-hoc instructions for his most popular builds. This month Dan is starting a new venture: a website where Dan can release free digital instructions every week for delightful builds that can be made from a modest collection of parts. We thought this would be the perfect time to catch up with Dan on his site, his journey as a builder, and the state of LEGO fandom.

Click for our interview with Dan and some of our favorites of his tiny builds

Zen and the art of building LEGO Castles with Cathedral of Bricks [Interview]

There’s no time like the present to find your creative voice with LEGO. Today’s guest is another builder who only recently began sharing their works online and already they are making quite a splash with fellow AFOLs. Luke, aka cathedralofbricks, creates castles and vignettes that blend gothic architecture and fantasy through a romantic lens.

Over just a few months, Luke has created an impressive body of MOCs. We’re excited to sit down with Luke to learn more about how he found his creative voice in LEGO as someone coming to the hobby later in life.

Our interview with cathedralofbricks follows, along with a gallery of the builder’s incredible castle creations

Building on the wild side with rising MOC star Hodgepodge Builds [Interview]

Every so often, a builder shows up, seemingly out of nowhere, with a creative style so distinctive, complex, and cool that you feel shook – like walking barefoot on a pile of bricks, but in a good way. C, who posts as @hodgepodgebuilds, only started posting LEGO models three months ago, is such a builder. Of course, talent doesn’t come from nowhere. Today we sit down with C to learn more about his LEGO journey and unique style.

TBB: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. Maybe you could talk about your LEGO journey. What was the first set or theme that really excited you?

C: The first theme that really excited me was definitely the 2009 Pirates line, which came out when I was about 5 (and insanely obsessed with pirates). I still think that line is remarkably well-designed. My interest in nautical aesthetics and ships has morphed since then, but is still rooted in my love of it back then. A recent build that speaks to that would be the research vessel ketch sailboat that I built this past winter. It was a full circle moment for me, finally being able to build a ship I was completely satisfied with from a technical and visual standpoint.

TBB: Have you stuck with LEGO continuously or did you go through a dark age before coming back to the hobby? What inspired you to start sharing your models?

C: I’ve never had a true dark age when it comes to LEGO, but it’s always ebbed and flowed for me. It’s always functioned as a sort of calming process in times of stress, especially during the last year as a college English major. It helps me relax and express my creative ideas in a visual sense. Honestly, what inspired me to share my models was the community, I had made the account a few months earlier to follow builders I liked and got very excited by the work I was seeing. I had been building consistently for about 8 months by the time I first posted, so I was also very excited to finally get my work out there (and thank you to my dear friends who encouraged me to post!)

Our interview with rising star HodgepodgeBuilds continues

Building The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim’s open world in LEGO with BDD Builds [Interview]

Some LEGO fans gravitate to greebled fleets of spaceships, others to cunningly engineered trains and trucks, but it’s epic castle creations that will forever have my heart. Brett, who builds under the moniker BDD Builds, has been creating massive medieval scenes to share online and at conventions for several years now. After Brett revealed his most ambitious work to date, a recreation of Fort Dawnguard from The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, we reached out to learn more about the builder’s epic LEGO journey.

Our interview with BDD Builds and pics of Skyrim’s Fort Dawnguard follow

What in tarnation? Timofey Tkachev is back with a rootin’ tootin’ varmint shootin’ Yosemite Sam in LEGO

Back in the halcyon pre-COVID days, Timofey Tkachev was one of TBB’s most featured builders. With a catalog of works that includes massive spacecraft, modulars, props, cartoon characters, and mind-bending artistic sculptures, Timofey defies categorization. Back in 2023, Timofey’s prolific run seemed to come to an end as the builder stopped posting for a couple of years. Now he’s back with a rootin’ tootin’ take on Yosemite Sam the third Looney Tunes tribute from the builder. It’s a spot-on likeness of the trigger-happy toon, making good use of orange tiles in that magnificent moustache. The canted cacti are quite impressive too.

In honor of Timofey’s return, we’re reposting our interview with Timofey from 2017, which you can read below.

Continue to our interview with Timofey from 2017

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

Talking Love, LEGO, and Building with Pride with Two Gay AFOLs [Interview]

Simon and Dan, better known as Two Gay AFOLs, are vibrant voices in LEGO fan media, sharing their love for the hobby on social media and at fan events. The pair are also pillars of the Minifig Habitat community and sigfig scenes, helping build community and ensuring that everyone feels welcome. We sat down with Dan (the talkative one!) about the pair’s rise and the importance of GayFOL visibility (Gay fan of LEGO) in the hobby.

our interview with Two Gay AFOLs follows