You might be wondering what this “year of [so and so]” business is about. I’ve written only one article like this before in 2020, and it’s not something I am often driven to do. In fact, it’s one of those things that only comes about because someone special in the LEGO community crossed my path. A “year of” honoree needs to stand out enough that I’m like, “Wowsa, I need to shout this out over the rooftops!” (well, over the internet anyway)! This year, that person is Casey McCoy. Just WHo is This Casey McCoy? Read on and Find out! I think we all know when we’ve met a true maestro of the bricks at the pinnacle of MOCcing, and let me tell you, Casey fits the bill with the incredible creativity and design aesthetic of his 2023 builds. What’s more, he’s been prolific this year, crossing into multiple genres and effortlessly mastering them all. Plus…...

Merry Christmas from BrickNerd! Now, let’s give away some shiny gold. Last month for Nerdvember, we asked you to get nerdy with us and reimagine our mascot Nerdly along the lines of survival—and we got almost 40 entries! To recap, to celebrate the survival of Mega-Nerdly, we were looking for survivor-themed Nerdlies for whatever survival meant to you. Judging this contest was difficult! There were so many fantastic interpretations of the theme and so many praiseworthy builds. Each BrickNerd contributor had an equal vote, and the results were very close. Three key criteria were considered by the judges: Concept - Is the idea clever, tell a story, and could be classified as survival? Quality & Presentation - Is the creation built well, feature any NPU, and composed/photographed in a way that enhances the overall creation? Nerdiness - Does the creation have a balance of Nerdly features that clearly convey the BrickNerd...

Best of BrickNerd — Article originally published December 25, 2021. Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a merry holiday no matter how you celebrate it—or even if you celebrate it at all. We at BrickNerd are from many faiths and traditions. We speak dozens of languages and represent even more countries. It is that diversity that really brings the richness of culture and breadth of LEGO knowledge that has made BrickNerd such a community the past year. To me and for many Christians, Christmas is more than just a day of gift-giving and family get-togethers. It is the day we celebrate the feast of the birth of Jesus Christ—one of our most sacred Holy Days. Throughout the ages, many people have celebrated this holiday through expressions of art, music, and literature—religious art is part of the human experience as it is a lasting chronicle of history. As such, many artists throughout the...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published December 20, 2022 with updates from this year’s gift. There is no way to measure how much joy LEGO gifts bring to those that receive them for the holidays. But what about the LEGO elves (aka employees) that work year-round creating wonderful LEGO products? Join BrickNerd as we take a look at each and every exclusive LEGO employee holiday gift. Humble Holiday Beginnings 2009: Heart via brickset LEGO employees have received sets for the holidays for the past fourteen years. This tradition got off to a very modest start in 2009 with a boxed heart model (following a year of the same set in polybag form). Perhaps it was a way of The LEGO Group (TLG) saying “We Original linkOriginal author: John Cooper

A time to reflect and give back, the holidays offer a perfect opportunity to take a closer look at what might just be my favourite part of the holiday season each and every year. Nine years ago, I had the silly idea to start a LEGO Christmas bauble gift exchange – and 220+ custom-built MOCs later, our annual Secret Santa is still my LUG’s favourite activity. Let’s find out what’s behind this tradition that’s slowly depleting the world’s supply of LEGO Christmas baubles, shall we? History of a Holiday Tradition Back in 2015, I found myself in the role of LUG Ambassador for the German online community Imperium der Steine. We had a small team of dedicated members that would organise activities and contests. Clearly, we had too much free time on our hands and many a silly idea got brought to life, be it elaborate MOC-Olympics or even our own printed...