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...

Imagine, for a moment, that it’s 2012… I have been collecting and building LEGO my whole life. However, I've been doing this mostly on my own. My friends still think it’s a bit silly, so I spend my time online to meet like-minded people. Brickshelf is the place to browse through all the wonderful creations that people have built, and Eurobricks is the place to interact with people who were just as silly as I. Opening my browser, I looked at the Eurobricks front page and saw a mention of the Eurobricks Event 2012. This would be a great opportunity to meet people behind the avatars and finally see LEGOLAND in all its glory. So, I signed up and magic ensued. Billund 2012 Let’s fast forrward to 2025. The AFOL community has changed a lot since 2012. I’m not considered silly anymore. LEGO even considers the adult market a priority. The...