For the grand opening of a new LEGO Store in Tainan City, two of our favorite Taiwanese builders celebrated with delectable brick-built versions of local dishes. Hsinwei Chi, fan designer of the LEGO Ideas Jazz Quartet, created a trio of dishes. Starting from the top, we have shrimp rolls, a fried snack of shrimp, fish paste, and vegetables wrapped in tofu skin. Next, shrimp rice is an iconic bit of home cooking with shrimp, shallots, and white rice stir-fried with soy sauce and rice wine. Last is a mouth-watering bowl of danzai noodles, with roasted pork, mashed garlic, and shrimp sitting atop chewy wheat noodles in a deep, savory broth. In case you’re curious where those noodles come from, they’re yellow flex tubes exclusive to the DC Heroes Bumblebee Helicopter set. James Zhan showed up with two dishes. First we have a pair of guan cai ban – Taiwanese “coffin bread” –...

With thousands of different elements in dozens of colors, some with prints, most retired, and new parts appearing every month, how best to categorize LEGO bricks in a way that is useful? For Pinar,  who runs the Buka Bricks blog (in both Turkish and English!), the answer is to approach bricks less like an engineer and more like a naturalist. For years, Pinar has written about and categorized LEGO animals with the drive of a modern-day Linnaeus, creating a taxonomy and history that is as fun to browse as it is exhaustive in its coverage. Last week Pinar updated the Brick Bestiary with a new index and updated listings through 2025 sets. Pinar’s efforts not only make it convenient to browse through all of LEGO’s cat or insect variations in a single scroll, but her scholarship and passion make the Bestiary an engaging and enlightening read. Where else will you find...

Where I live in Sweden, we’re in that time of year when day never ends, which has me craving night  Knights! For this week’s Minifig Monday, we’re rounding up enough white knights, royal champions, and bullish bruisers to surround a round table, and a strong dose of NEXO Knights! We start with Sir Candrel, the Luminous Flameknight, from Linus (minifigurebuilds). He may equip NEXO pauldrons and shield, but this knight works with wax, not wires. I love the use of Shakespeare’s neck frill atop the helmet and the fur collar on the axe for dripping wax detail. Sobek Bricks is back with Calanthia the Dragon Slayer, a half-elf knight with flower maidens to hold up her flowing cape. I don’t know what I like better about Calanthia’s combo – the curved horns on the helmet, or the winged goat by her side. Hailing from Italy, Lorenzo brings us Sir Eldran, Keeper of...

We often see collaborative projects in the LEGO community where different builders will all build within a similar theme. But it’s not often that said collab is themed around a specific builder! Steven Howad (Ghalad) and co have undertaken a “special secret collab” (his words) to celebrate LEGO designer and AFOL community stalwart Markus Rollbühler. Steven was handed five mice to get him started, but he has taken them and really ran with it – there is so much NPU here! The mice are in the beard, but we also have: octopuses and tyres for the hair; Dots wristbands for the sash and headband; lifejackets for the jacket buttons; long-haired dogs in the cheeks; and plenty more besides. But my favourite – and the most meta – are the boat hulls used for the hat and epaulettes! The post Putting the ‘rat’ into pirate – with clever parts use to boot...

Ah, LEGO – the building toy that lets you explore deep space, medieval castles, and… the set of Seinfeld. From Stranger Things to Queer Eye, LEGO has made comfort viewing a staple of its catalogue. Since LEGO’s current product offerings are a bit light on adult TV fare (unless you count Bluey) we’re dedicating this week’s Minifig Monday to stars of the small screen Kimberly Faul takes us back to Staten Island where What We Do in the Shadows was faithfully recorded for 6 seasons. Sadly the camera crew is gone, but we can get some satisfaction knowing that Nandor and crew are still tending to hedges. Kim does a great job of capturing the cast in minifig form, staged in their lovingly decrepit home (plus a few bonus cats, courtesy the builder!). For a post-apoc minifig challenge on Instagram, Expansion Bricks revisits three of the stars of The Walking Dead,...

Flying cars and hoverbikes need even more TLC to keep them running smoothly, and drivers need a place to grab an energy drink and a day old hotdog while they’re far from solid ground. That’s where this whymsical floating service station by Brickleas comes in. With something for everyone, and the most skilled robot mechanic in the sector, the only downside is keeping track of where it is when you need it, as the owner likes to move where the wind takes them. The post LEGO floating service station keeps the locals in the air appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Daniel

Have you ever dreamed of flying? Me, too. And Matt Goldberg wants to remind us that’s a dream we share with some birds. Matt has done an amazing job of imbuing this brick-built penguin with plenty of personality. You can practically hear it squealing with delight. And I appreciate the little details in this build, like the tiny brown straps going just under the wing to indicate how the rocket pack stays on. Make sure to check out more of Matt’s creative creature work in our archives. The post An aquatic bird breaks new ground by flying high appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Norm Harper

As excited as we are for the newly revealed One Piece sets, we still hold out hope that LEGO will return to the Age of Sails with sets that aren’t infused with clowns and talking reindeer. For minifig-scale ships, there are few LEGO shipwrights as skilled as Saran (MocYourBricks) who for years has been upgrading designs from LEGO’s past with an AFOL’s eye for detail and custom sails and rigging. This photo comes from bee.brick, who recreated the Black Pearl and Queen Anne’s Revenge from Saran’s instructions. with extra flourishes, like brick-built canon blasts. Built from 4,000 pieces, the Queen Anne’s Revenge is a thing of beauty, and even if the roughly $1000 cost of sourcing the parts and instructions is out of your price range, you can vicariously experience the joy of building it in this one-hour “speed build.” The post One Piece pirate ship? How about 4,000 Piece? appeared...

Well, if we can’t have flying cars and personal jetpacks like we were promised in turn of the century visions of the future, maybe we can get something like this stylish exosuit by Wynd to make our morning commute to the office a bit more fun. With hands big enough to hold on to our giant Stanley cups and legs sturdy enough to leap over cars and busses on the long drive to work. The post Grab a coffee and hop in your upgraded exosuit appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Daniel

Back in the 80s, I remember the older kids always showed a certain disdain for Ewoks. But I was just young enough when The Return of the Jedi came out that a giant alien treehouse manned by warrior teddy bears seemed like the coolest thing ever. And Simulterious has made my inner child beam with delight at the sight of this amazing Ewok village build. Star Wars has been serving as inspiration for LEGO models for decades now, even long before LEGO officially obtained the license in the late 90s. And I always love checking out the countless spaceships and droids that fans and LEGO designers alike have crafted. But I’m always more excited to see the less common builds that focus less on the tech and more on the environments in the Star Wars Universe. The trunks of those red wood trees are perfectly shaped – neither too round nor...