Have you ever come home from a convention and felt like you’ve been hit by a ton of bricks? (Pun very much intended.) I don’t mean the post-con blues… I mean sick-sick. If so, you may have experienced the infamous con crud. Con crud is the umbrella term for the cold, flu, or other non-life-threatening illnesses that somehow sneak into your immune system during or after a convention. (Does COVID count as con crud now? Probably, yes.) These bugs can hit faster than you can empty your swag bag onto the living room floor. Other names include “nerd flu” or “festival plague,” but whatever you call it, it’s never fun. So how can con crud be avoided? How is it contracted? And what can you do to ensure that the next time you attend a LEGO convention, you remain happy and healthy? Being sick during or after a convention sucks. Staring...

Today’s BrickNerd article comes from guest contributor Becky Needham, an AFOL from Dickinson, North Dakota. Her favorite themes are Star Wars, SPACE!!, Batman, City... actually, she just loves all of them! From North Dakota to Washington The LEGO convention season is an exciting time, with the anticipation of getting to see old LEGO friends again and making new connections. As I think about possible convention plans for this summer, I find myself reflecting back on my first LEGO convention: BrickCon 2016 in Seattle. The theme for BrickCon that year was “Madness,” which feels like a fitting description for someone starting out on their very first AFOL community LEGO adventure! This is especially true for someone who lives in North Dakota (USA), which isn’t exactly known for having any connections to LEGO or LEGO conventions. Dickinson, ND, where my friend Renee and I both live, is in the rural southwest corner of...

From time to time, I like to take a break from the Adult in AFOL and connect with a different core audience of my kids to see what LEGO means to them. My in-depth, multi-faceted, impartial discussion panel (my three sons aged 4, 8, and 9) has previously weighed in with their interpretations of the symbols found in LEGO instructions, LEGO colors, and LEGO part nicknames. This time, I’m asking them to take a look at a few different Castle theme factions over the years and see what their symbols mean to them.. It’s a grand time for Castle factions fans, with one confirmed new faction on the way via a fan vote and possibly another on the way. Revival sets of classic themes like 2002’s The Lion Knights’ Castle have breathed life into long-dormant factions. Will these factions, new and old, battle it out like an episode of Game of...

Today’s guest article comes from BrickNerd patron Wayne Tyler. We’ve featured Wayne’s work numerous times and always marvel at how he improves photography from LEGO conventions. Today he shares the secrets behind his editing process. From So-So to Stunning I spent many years working as a videographer in broadcast television and commercial video. "We'll fix it in post." was often remarked by directors when they didn't get exactly what they wanted or were running out of time on a production shoot. Have you ever returned from a LEGO event where you took scads of pictures of the amazing MOCs but when you look at them on your computer monitors, they just don't look as impressive as when you saw them? I'm going to take you through my process of taking those so-so photos and making them look stunning. I'll show you how I got from this: to this: All you will need...

When I heard that there would be a Gift with Purchase released at the same time as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, I was very excited for the possibilities. I knew it was highly unlikely, but I hoped for a NASA themed F-104 Chase Plane, or perhaps the Shuttle Training Aircraft, or maybe a LEGO-ized patch like what was done for the Lunar Lander. I was not, however, prepared for the assault of cuteness that I received. It was so cute, it might have just won our Adorabuild last year! Upon opening the shipping box the cuteness of a brick-built baby LEGO spaceman was staring back at me! The build is essentially BrickHeadz-like, but bigger and more in scale with the upscaled figures that have been popular as of late. (You might remember we took a deep dive into all things baby-scale two years ago.) Major Assemblies I really want one in every...