Brickvention 2024, an AFOL Networking Event, was recently held at the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, Australia. It’s now in its 18th year and continues to attract some of the best builders and most enthusiastic AFOLs from around Australia and other countries. This year, around 280 exhibitors displayed their creations, with an additional 250 non-exhibitors attending the convention day. Around 15,000 members of the public visited the exhibit over the weekend of January 20th and 21st. So let’s take a tour of Brickvention 2024! Brickvention 2024 exhibitors State library of victoria by Brickman Even though the public event is held over two days, Brickvention is really a four-day convention. Everything starts on Thursday morning as the exhibit is set up and the AFOLs greet their new, old, and soon-to-be friends. Friday is the convention day. The day is devoted to guest speakers, games, and workshops and with the added...

Getting hooked into vintage LEGO 12V trains is a descent into madness not unlike the world of classic cars. Both hobbies consume unreasonable amounts of time, money, and nerdy street cred! Luckily, my addiction is not the “collector” flavour, but rather the restoration artist. I am happy to find 12V train sets or element specimens in any condition and restore them to showcase condition (as described in my previous article on 12V track restoration). This also involves “remixing” classic 12V era train models—that is, rebuilding them using a very restrained combination of both old and modern LEGO elements to a contemporary re-interpretation. It would be too easy to blame my exploration of vintage LEGO 12V trains on my friend Holger Matthes since the release of his incredible book LEGO Eisenbahnwelt (shown below). No, this passion for 12V trains started with my exploration into the 12V electrical accessory system (shown below). I...

2024 is flying by – we’re already in February! A new month does mean new LEGO sets, though. And one of the headline releases for February is LEGO Ideas 21347 Red London Telephone Box, which is available starting today for LEGO Insiders. You’ll find it on the LEGO website where it retails for US $114.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £99.99. We already talked about the set back when it first debuted. But since then, The Brothers Brick was afforded an opportunity to sit down with the team behind the set and ask some questions. We’ve got a summary below. Alongside John Cramp, we were speaking with Creative Lead of LEGO Ideas Jordan Scott and LEGO Designer Marina Stampoli as a part of a roundtable opportunity organized for LEGO fan media. Marina is a relatively new member of the design team, and this was her first assignment as a LEGO designer....

Coming next month, a quintet of LEGO sets – most from the world of Formula 1 – will be racing onto store shelves. Stretching over the themes of Speed Champions, Technic, and LEGO Icons, these racers represent cars from the brands of BMW, McLaren Racing, and the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 Team. The biggest of the bunch is 42171 LEGO Technic Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance, clocking in at 1,642 pieces. It’s accompanied by a smaller pull-back version of the same car in 42165 LEGO Technic Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance Pull-Back. The LEGO Icons model has fans of F1 history in mind, as it’s a version of one of the most successful cars ever seen in the sport: the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 as driven by Ayrton Senna. This set, 10330 LEGO Icons McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna, is the only one of the five new cars currently available for preorder...

This month on the LEGO website, there aren’t too many new sets hitting the virtual store shelves. But the ones that have just been released are some real heavy hitters. With a pair of offerings from both the LEGO Icons and LEGO Ideas themes, adult fans are definitely going to be making some space on their shelves. If that describes you, then head on over to the LEGO website (US | CAN | UK) and check them out! LEGO Icons 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter | 1,369 Pieces | Available Now | US $164.99 | CAN $214.99 | UK £149.99 We previously covered the release of 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter when it became available for pre-order back in October. Check out the news post here. 10331 Kingfisher Bird | 834 Pieces | Available Now | US $49.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £44.99 Despite getting caught in an ice storm...