I paid more for the figure on the right than the one on the left… Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all you people out there who are Irish, or have Irish ancestors… or just feel like celebrating Saint Patrick! The closest I’ve personally come to celebrating Saint Patrick is visiting his namesake cathedral in Dublin because this is a holiday that isn’t commonly celebrated in Norway. Oh, and many years ago I did climb Croagh Patrick, the holy mountain in Ireland where the saint is said to have fasted for forty days back in the year 441. The mountain of Croagh Patrick and its namesake, the saint. Incidentally, there is gold in the mountain, potentially over €360 million in worth according to Wikipedia, but the county council decided not to allow mining. What’s all this got to do with LEGO and Mr. Gold? Well, it’s said that the leprechauns had gold...

Today’s guest article comes from Chris Castagnetto, who shares his experience visiting LEGOLAND California’s new LEGO Galaxy area. Welcome to LEGO Galaxy LEGOLAND parks are known for having LEGO bricks everywhere, cool sculptures, kid-friendly rides, and plenty of places to sit down while your children burn off their energy. What they haven’t traditionally been known for is large-scale, story-driven thrill attractions. That changes with LEGO Galaxy, a new land at both LEGOLAND California and LEGOLAND Florida that pushes the park further into more immersive territory than we’ve seen before. Instead of a simple ride or two dropped into a themed area, LEGO Galaxy is designed as a full experience: part coaster, part interactive game, part nostalgic celebration of classic LEGO Space. For longtime LEGO fans, stepping into the land feels a little like opening a time capsule. The designers clearly drew inspiration from the deep history of LEGO Space. If you...

Every now and then, a set comes along that makes you remember the past and makes you realise how many things have changed in the world of LEGO sets. The new 40955 Maersk Dual-Fuel Container Vessel is one of those sets, so let’s take a closer look at where it all started and how the new set shapes up. Container ship “Ane Maersk”, the first ship of the new dual-fuel class. A History of Blue The partnership between two of Denmark’s biggest companies dates back to 1974. The year before LEGO had started a line of floating ships (that I’ve written about before), and a Maersk container ship was a perfect fit for the next one. Set 1650 was produced as a promotional set for employees and partners of Maersk. The company has its own trademarked shade of blue, and ABS pellets were produced in that specific colour (read all about...

Today’s guest article comes from Rylie Howerter, one of the LEGO fan community’s foremost color and materials enthusiasts. Her color guide is one of our go-to LEGO references here at BrickNerd, and you can follow her on Flickr, Instagram and Patreon. A Plethora of Plastics Back in 2022, I wrote an overview of the materials that LEGO uses in their products. Though I’m not a materials expert by any means, I do enjoy researching and discussing LEGO minutiae, and in the years since that article was published, I have found a few more historic sources for materials used, made some corrections, and been pointed towards other resources by like-minded fans. What follows is an expanded/revised version of that original article, with additional materials and the same disclaimers: this will never be an all-encompassing list; it is simplified; and I’m sure there are still things I’ve gotten wrong. But like my color...

There’s something special about original LEGO themes and the way they can build a shared narrative while still roaming freely through the vast potential of the LEGO brick. You never know what’s coming next for an in-house theme. Over the years, LEGO Friends has established itself as a perennial and increasingly polished original theme, and arguably the most versatile of all. City and Ninjago, to cite the other prime examples, generally tie each wave cohesively to one single subtheme, with maybe a couple of outliers, but the variety in this year’s wave of Friends sets is off the charts. We’ve got everything from mobile pet vans to indoor playgrounds to residential housing. Another way Friends stands out is its innovative use of color. Many colors have debuted in the Friends theme, and Friends sets consistently prefer newer shades to the basic red, blue, yellow, and green that were (with white) LEGO’s...