“The tales tell of six great heroes who will come to aid us in our darkest hour. A powerful toa of fire. A wise toa of water. A strong toa of earth. A mighty toa of stone. A courageous toa of air, A brave toa of ice.” Has it really been 25 years since LEGO introduced us to the heroes of Mata Nui? I created this series of minifigs for a collaboration with @majestyminifigs  where we reboot a cancelled LEGO theme with custom minifigures. Of course I chose Bionicle. It took me a hot minute to figure out how I wanted to convert the toa mata into minifigure form, but I overall, I’m proud of the result! Amidst Lego’s catalogue of various retired themes, Bionicle has always stood out to me in a really special and nostalgic way. I fondly remember seeing the six Toa Mata Canisters on shelves back in...

Pod racing is back! Last year, we rounded up a slew of new pod racing mocs from AFOLs and LEGO designers, but now a new competitor zooms in courtesy of Kyle Collard, aka Lord of Vador, and this one’s a stunner. (Of course, we wouldn’t expect anything less from Kyle, whose Mustafar moc was one of our favorite builds of 2025.) The engines roar with greeble detail thanks to the larger scale. I didn’t appreciate just how big this build is until I saw the cables connecting the cockpit. This racer is huge! The size also allows for beautiful color blocking and smooth curves in the fins. Kyle based the design on a piece of concept art from Alexander “Minze” Thümler, but the LEGO version incorporates purple as the primary accent color. As the builder explains: “The color scheme stays dark and aggressive: dark purple, dark blue, and light gray, layered with...

Resident Pokémon fan Jarrett (wilderland.builds) here to offer some early thoughts on the long-awaited official LEGO Pokémon sets! This week marked the reveal of the first wave, and like everyone else, I’ve already begun dissecting the promotional images to get a feel for what to expect from this release. Pokémon has long been a well-represented theme in the MOC community (you can view some highlights in The Brothers Brick Pokémon archive), but for the first time, we have official collaboration sets from these two industry titans. While I’m looking forward to seeing each of them in person before making any final judgements (which is something I always recommend), I’ll take a closer look at each set below and offer my Poké-fan take. LEGO Pokémon  72151 Eevee Eevee is a personal favorite and a good way to kick off this wave. As the smallest and most affordable of the revealed sets, this...

I saw this sweet LEGO TIE /sk X1 Striker by Auto’s Builds and somehow the chorus to a cheesy provocative tune popped into my head, hence the title. Now I’m making it your problem. But now that you’re hearing it too, you have to admit this Coruscant Air Guard checks all the right boxes: Star Wars, cool-ass spaceship, and striking design aesthetics. Auto tells us the TIE Striker is ideal for navigating Coruscant’s dense architecture and crowded skylanes. The Air Guard fitted their variant with precision weapons and under-wing guided missiles to minimize collateral damage. What’s the Earthly equivalent to this? An Apache helicopter maybe? I can’t speak for the Apache’s maneuverability within a city but seeing any of these gunships in your rear view means your days of doing that afternoon delight stuff are numbered. The post TIE Striker in flight, afternoon delight appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original...

WALL-E and LEGO Space will always share a special bond. After all, WALL-E’s lead animator Angus MacLane designed the winning Ideas set that became the first LEGO take on the character. There’s something about the big-eyed robot’s design that lends itself so well to bricks, and not just for screen-accurate interpretations. Curtis D Collins uses the basic WALL-E design as a springboard for a whole army of bots inspired by LEGO’s iconic space themes. Of course, the series has to start with Classic Space colors. Curtis incorporates signature elements from each era into the WALL-E builds, like this fella’s positioning thrusters. My favorite of the whole series is the M-Tron WALL-E, which might not incorporate actual magnet pieces, but does upgrade the bot’s hands with magnet-inspired manipulators. The design also incorporates theme-appropriate tires for retro authenticity. Can we trust a Blacktron WALL-E? The faction might have suspicious intentions, but I would follow...

I’m sure every one of us has an unusual LEGO part that they remember from their childhood. Perhaps it’s some of the original buildable LEGO figures, or something from the barely-LEGO Scala theme. What really activates my nostalgia is these fold-out racetracks from LEGO Racers sets. A racetrack that doubles as a box?! How cool is that! The flip-side of such unusual parts is that they can be difficult to incorporate into MOCs. Such trivialities don’t scare Mattia Careddu, though. Even then, of all the things to turn it into, I never would’ve thought of a rectangular knight! But wait! It’s not just a knight and its minions. Mattia has stayed true to the unfolding nature of the racetrack, and this knight turns into a base of operations for the smaller ones! Weapons storage, siege lessons, tools and repairs – it’s all here. It harkens back to a different style of...

While nimble humanoid mecha tend to steal the spotlight, I’ve always had a soft spot for clunky walkers, like this armored beast from Japanese LEGO builder Kattho. Built from a mix of sand green and gunmetal grey, the S05-A Sentinel is practically a one-vehicle army with its heavy complement of arms. The builder makes great use of printed elements, like the forest design from last year’s Off Road Mountain Truck. Ingots, grilles, and turntable tops give the mostly studless build industrial texture. While this mech is a quadruped for mobility, it also sports manipulator arms for precision jobs like defusing mines. The single stud lens also serves to give the mech a face so it’s not just a walking tank. Kattho has shared many other equally impressive mecha of both the four and two-legged variety, that you can enjoy on their feed. The post Lumbering LEGO Sentinel mech is ready for...

Ever since LEGO first announced its multi-year partnership with The Pokémon Company, fans have been wondering how the beloved pocket monsters would stack up as official sets. Today we get a look at the first three sets debuting on February 27th. While Pokémon is very much a kid-friendly brand, it’s also 30-years old with a massive adult fanbase, so this initial wave of sets is all branded for 18+ and priced accordingly. The smallest set, Eevee, contains 587 pieces and focuses on just the fan favorite Pokémon for $69.99. The 2050-piece Pikachu comes with a lightning bolt stand and Poké Ball for a dynamic display at $199.99. Clocking in at 6838 pieces, Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise celebrate the evolved form of the Kanto starters dramatically posed on a round base for a hefty $649.99. During the first week of release, while supplies last, a 312-piece Kanto Region Badge Collection is included...

If you follow TBB regularly, you’ve no doubt encountered many articles spotlighting the Iron Builder competition, like our interview last month with the participants in the most recent battle. You might be wondering, how does one get to challenge Iron Builder? One path is to prove your skills in the Iron Forge, a January tradition now in its 7th year. As with the Iron Builder contests, a seed part is chosen that must be used in multiple builds. Only for the Forge, builders only have one week per part before a new seed element is chosen. There is no prize for winning beyond the chance to compete against an Iron Builder, but several Iron Forge champions went on to become LEGO set designers, including Maxx Davidson and last year’s winner Dominique Boeynaems. Glory aside, it’s an amazing showcase of creativity and inspired parts use. The first round, open to all, just...

At the risk of sounding excessively British: there is no problem that can’t be solved over a good cup of tea. My preference is for English Breakfast (strong, milk, two sugars), but that maxim doesn’t need to be restricted to certain types of tea! For Taj: Brick Minstrel‘s slice of Arabian life, chai is the drink of choice. And now we know what the tea is, we need to know what the tea is. (I gather that’s what the kids are calling gossip these days.) Are these three discussing matters of science, or economics, or politics, or philosophy? Or are they discussing more serious matters, such as how far you could walk barefoot on LEGO bricks?i The post Nothing beats a good cup of tea... Except maybe a great LEGO build appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Theo Spencer