Tales From The Brick

In Episode 27 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Nannan Zhang, founder of Creations for Charity, the longest-running fan-organized LEGO charity. Since 2009, the organization has united builders from around the world to sell one-of-a-kind custom LEGO creations, using every dollar raised to put LEGO sets into the hands of children in need during the holiday season. Nenad shares...

In Episode 26 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Bruce Heller, LEGO artist, founder of Gayfols, and longtime advocate for building a more welcoming LEGO community. Bruce shares his lifelong connection to LEGO, how The LEGO Movie pulled him out of his dark ages, and how a passion for architecture led him to become a full-time LEGO artist creating award-winning microscale repli...

In Episode 25 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by LEGO collector, creator, and chrome-plating expert Eli, better known online as ChromeDaddyBricks. What begins as a lifelong love of LEGO castles evolves into a unique niche within the hobby: transforming ordinary LEGO elements into stunning chrome creations using the same industrial processes found in the automotive industry. E...

In Episode 24 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by LEGO artist, convention builder, and cancer survivor Meredith, better known in the LEGO community as Pink Wheels. What starts as a conversation about growing up with Paradisa and returning to LEGO as a parent quickly becomes a story about creativity, community, and perseverance. Meredith shares how building alongside her daught...

In Episode 23 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by STEM educator, LEGO Masters Season 3 contestant, Zumba instructor, and community advocate Tacos for a conversation about creativity, education, and finding your place in the LEGO hobby. Tacos shares her unique journey into LEGO, from growing up without the bricks as a child to discovering them through engineering education and...

In Episode 22 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by longtime LEGO fan, convention organizer, collaborator, and community builder Simon Liu for a deep dive into the evolution of the AFOL community over the last two decades. Simon shares how a chance return to LEGO during a university exam break led him from building a single Star Wars set to becoming one of the most recognizable...

In Episode 21 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Jeddi Tso, Product Development Manager at Bricker Builds , to explore the world of life-sized LEGO creations, creative careers, and turning passion projects into reality. Jeddi shares how a childhood spent digging through bins of loose LEGO bricks and building Exo-Force sets eventually led him into the wider AFOL community, wor...

In Episode 20 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Rob Klingberg, founder of Brickstuff, to explore the world of LEGO lighting, electronics, and the evolution of customization within the LEGO hobby. Rob shares how a lifelong fascination with electronics, model trains, and tinkering eventually led to creating Brickstuff after rediscovering LEGO through building modular sets with...

In Episode 19 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Dave Schefcik, the Nerd-in-Chief behind BrickNerd and a longtime voice in the LEGO fan community. Dave shares his journey from building imaginative worlds as a kid to rediscovering LEGO later in life through an unexpected office project that turned his workspace into a full blown “LEGOLAND Microsoft.” What started as a creative...

In Episode 18 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Jeff Sanders aka  Brick Bending, the mastermind behind some of the most mind-bending LEGO geometry on the internet. Jeff shares how a simple moment building with his kids led to a lifelong obsession with pushing LEGO beyond its intended limits, discovering that even basic bricks can curve, flex, and create stunning geometric ar...

On Episode 17 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Chris Giddens aka Fazoom, one of the original AFOL pioneers. Chris is the co-creator of Old Grey Bricks and a LEGO Factory designer. He joins Jon for a deep dive into the early days of the LEGO fan community. Chris shares what it was like building in an era before social media, helping shape one of the first online LEGO communi...

In Episode 16 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Cody Ottley, the driving force behind the Bearded Builders Guild, BBG Forge, and the ever-growing BrickSlopes LEGO Fan Convention. Cody shares how a simple road trip conversation turned into launching one of North America’s fastest-growing LEGO conventions—expanding from a small group of ~80 AFOLs to a massive multi-day event w...

In Episode 15 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) sits down with Ryan Wood, Model Shop Manager at LEGOLAND Florida Resort, for a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and maintain entire worlds out of LEGO. Ryan shares his journey from AFOL to Master Model Builder - starting with conventions and community, to landing a spot in a competitive build challenge that launched a...

In Episode 14 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) sits down with acclaimed comic artist Paul Lee, whose work spans giants like DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and LEGO’s own storytelling universe. From illustrating iconic characters to becoming one of the go-to artists for LEGO comics, Paul shares his unexpected journey—from chasing a career in traditional comics to finding a new creative path t...

In Episode 13 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) sits down with Daniel Siskind, the visionary founder of Brickmania, a company that transformed a passion for building into one of the most recognizable brands in the custom LEGO space. From receiving one of the earliest LEGO sets as a child to building an empire of high-end, military-inspired kits, Daniel shares how his obsession with parts...

In Episode 12 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) sits down with Corey Samuels - LEGO Masters champion, STEM educator, and the most dapper LEGO Masters contestant. He shares his journey from a kid in New Jersey building freestyle creations to becoming a standout contestant on LEGO Masters, and eventually taking home the trophy. Along the way, he dives into how LEGO became more than just a...

In Episode 11 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Liz Puleo, LEGO Masters Season 3 contestant, teacher, and creative force behind @lizpbuilds. Liz shares her unconventional journey into LEGO - from being banned from her brother’s basement LEGO city as a kid to rediscovering the hobby through her children and diving headfirst into the AFOL community during COVID. They talk abou...

In Episode 10 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by TJ Bricky, LEGO Ambassador, content creator, and licensed therapist. TJ shares how LEGO has been part of his life since childhood, from early ‘90s sets to rediscovering the hobby through the Las Vegas Architecture skyline and diving back in fully with massive builds like the Titanic and Eiffel Tower. They talk about LEGO as bot...

In Episode 9 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Maddie (BrickenMad), a LEGO builder and BrickFair staff member who shares her journey into the hobby and her perspective as an LGBTQ+ member of the LEGO community. Maddie talks about growing up around LEGO with four brothers, rediscovering the bricks during the pandemic, and how that rediscovery led to building travel-inspired M...

In Episode 8 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) sits down with John Sosis—host of the Building Friendships podcast/web series and LEGO Ideas creator behind the Full House submission with Jodie Sweetin. John shares the unexpectedly intense story of how LEGO re-entered his life in 2014 during recovery from major surgeries, when he stumbled into a Toys “R” Us, grabbed the Palace Cinema modul...

In Episode 7 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Andrew Bulthaupt, owner and administrator of BZPower, one of the longest-running Bionicle fan communities on the internet. Andrew shares how Bionicle’s rich mythology and transmedia storytelling pulled him in at just the right moment in the early 2000s - and how BZPower grew from a merger of early fan sites into a 25-year-old co...

In Episode 6 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Erin Landry, Season 3 LEGO Masters contestant and owner of Bottomless Bricks in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Erin shares how she found LEGO as an adult through family life, garage-sale brick hunts, and pop-culture favorites like the LEGO Ideas Yellow Submarine—eventually turning that passion into a community-focused LEGO business....

In Episode 5 of Tales From The Brick, Jon (8 Bit Bricks) is joined by Ridwan, better known as Ridzbricks, a professional creative director, filmmaker, and LEGO content creator who breaks down what actually makes great LEGO content online. Ridzbricks shares his LEGO journey—from childhood hand-me-down bricks and classic sets like Blacktron, through his dark ages, and back into the hobby via buildin...

In Episode 4 of Tales From The Brick, Jon is joined by Victor and Maggie from EclipseGrafx, one of the longest-running and most respected custom LEGO printers in the community. The conversation traces Victor’s journey back into LEGO through a chance visit to a LEGO Store at Downtown Disney, his frustration with expensive “display-only” custom minifigures, and how that led him to start making his o...

In Episode 3 of Tales From The Brick, Jon, aka 8 Bit Bricks, sits down with Manny Garcia, Season 1 contestant on LEGO Masters, who competed alongside his father, Nestor, as the show’s first father–son team. Manny shares his lifelong relationship with LEGO—from being rewarded with bricks as a kid, through his “dark ages,” and back into the hobby as a parent looking to connect with his children. The...