Teal Squadron is a UK Star Wars collaboration for Space builders who love Star Wars and the color teal, featuring familiar builders like Mansur Soeleman and set designer Theo Bonner. The Collab is returning to Bricktastic in Manchester next week, and today we have a preview of a fun addition to the Teal Nebula: the Turtle Library! Built by Jake (jayfourke), the model continues the collab’s tradition of exploring the more whimsical side of the Star Wars universe, featuring a droid-manned library built atop an enormous space turtle. Paired with Tim Goddard‘s Lunt Snail caravan, I sense a theme for this year’s collab! The builder is no stranger to large-scale space creations, as Jake has participated in SHIPtember for many years. This model posed some interesting challenges, though: I’ll be honest, this was not the most fun build. The shell took several revisions to get right, and while the internal structure is SHIP-grade...

The Bricklink Designer Program features LEGO sets designed by fans, voted on by fans. Unlike LEGO Ideas, these sets aren’t reimagined by in-house LEGO staff, so when you build the set, you experience exactly what the designer dreamt up, professionally packaged by LEGO. Crowdfunding for Series 7 opens on February 16th. One set you can pre-order is the Alchemist’s Shop, a 2,319-piece Castle creation that’s a spiritual successor to the beloved Medieval Blacksmith set. I had the pleasure of building an early copy, and the set is a wonderful building experience packed with magical details,  clever techniques, and a great display presence. Even better, we had the chance to chat with the set’s designer, Sean Wallace, about how the set went from idea to reality.​ TBB: First of all, congratulations on the upcoming release of the Alchemist’s Shop. To have your creation produced and sold as a set must be a...

LEGO was going to send me the upcoming BrickLink Designer Program set, W.A.L.T., to take an early look at before preorders start next week on February 16th. But before we jump into our “review” and the mishaps/hijinks that followed, let’s take a step back and look at the history of the BrickLink Designer Program. AFOL Designer Program In 2019, LEGO celebrated its 60th anniversary. That same year, The LEGO Group acquired BrickLink, and to celebrate Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOLs), they introduced the AFOL Designer Program. Similar in spirit to LEGO Ideas, designers using BrickLink Studio were invited to submit original models for a chance to have them produced as official sets. The first round featured a range of models evaluated on originality, visual appeal, building experience, clever part usage, and other criteria. Sixteen finalists moved into a crowdfunding stage, allowing fans to preorder their favorites. Sets that met their funding...

Today’s guest article comes from Bethany Wright, a builder living in Ohio who makes MOCs move. You can find more of her work on Instagram and Tips&Bricks. Back to the Hundred Acre Wood When the LEGO Ideas 21326 Winnie the Pooh set came out in 2021, its release was perfectly timed with my entry into the LEGO hobby. The set was whimsical and harkened back to my childhood memories of Winnie the Pooh. I even made my first large MOC inspired by the set. View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize LEGO Ideas 21326 Winnie the Pooh. Images via LEGO. Alas, the set retired in 2023, and I assumed that was the last we would see of the Hundred Acre Wood. But not so fast! Fast-forward to 2026 and LEGO has released not one but TWO new Pooh sets: 43300 Winnie the Pooh and 44305 Piglet’s Birthday Fun. BrickNerd sent me an...

I texted Dave the other day, wondering if we needed any articles for this month. After he finally remembered who I was, he said, “Sure, I guess?… What do you have in mind?” Of course, I had no clue. But I had been thinking, earlier that day, that it’s been as cold as a Tauntaun’s butt around here for the past couple of weeks, you know, like Hoth cold. Then it hit me: a Tauntaun round-up! Tauntaun Action Figure Tauntaun with bridal and alive expression The Tauntaun, according to Wookieepedia, are a reptomammal native to the planet Hoth, where the Rebel Alliance set up its super secret base to hide from the dreaded Galactic Empire in the movie The Empire Strikes Back. In spite of all the advanced technology, the Rebels preferred to ride these beasts around the icy, snowball of a planet, patrolling for various things… that needed patrolling, I...