Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published September 14, 2021. “To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before” is not only the well-known mission of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek but is also the way that Samuel Hatmaker lives their life. Sam has been “boldly going” new places for a long time now; from boldly building MOCs in kitschy themes like Golden Girls, Devine, and Jem and the Holograms, to boldly taking part in the first season of LEGO Masters US. (It is hard to believe the second season is ending today!) It is only fitting that the next place Sam would boldly go would be on a Star Trek voyage. However, before we teleport ourselves back to mid-August and the “Roddenberry Interactive Stage” of the recent Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, I’d first like to tell you about a “mission” of my own. Since we have written...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published September 22, 2021. You may be surprised by the number of pigs in the LEGO world; I certainly was! They cross several building systems, multiple decades, colours, and themes both licensed and non. When I was mostly finished my cataloguing, a friend asked me to pick an animal that I had more than 10 examples of and show them off. Well, sagh, I apologise for it taking so long, but I’ve finally got round to writing up ‘Pigs’. I know that you won’t mind me sharing it with the rest of the BrickNerd community! My happy piggery Before I Start, a Note on Moulds In this article I’ll refer to some items being the ‘same mould’. That may not be 100% accurate. There are others who know far more about different moulds than I, including our own Francesco Spreafico.  What I mean by the...

Today’s guest article comes from Brian Saviano, a LEGO Super Mario super-AFOL who shares how the Twitch community came together to help raise funds to fight cancer. Standing Up For Change We all have the ability to do good, regardless of our reach. Small acts of generosity, kindness, and empathy change how the world turns. It’s from the combined efforts of an outstanding collection of people uniting for the greater good. These ideals were exemplified as the LEGO BrickBuilding Community on Twitch (a live-streaming video platform) came together to support Stand Up To Cancer. We raised over $40,000 in the name of eradicating cancer. With the help of people new to the hobby, established creators, and a network of amazing friends, we took massive leaps forward in funding life-changing cancer research. Let me guide you through our beginnings, process, and intentions with this grueling fight against cancer. Fueling the Fight Against...

In my quest for SNOT building techniques, I have come across some ways of building that might be considered somewhat controversial. You might have heard of so-called “illegal LEGO techniques” that cause stress on elements. Well, in this article I will highlight illegal techniques that have the best potential when it comes to SNOT. Don’t worry… we won’t be breaking any laws here (but we might break some LEGO elements!). This is the sixth article in our LEGO SNOT series. I suggest reading the previous articles about SNOT (Studs Not on Top) and sideways building first to get the most out of this article: Hinged SNOT Modern SNOT History of SNOT SNOT Basics Advanced SNOT So let’s take a look at some illegal techniques with the SNOT-iest potential… What Are Illegal Techniques? The term “illegal” was first used by LEGO designer Jamie Berard in a presentation about LEGO building techniques in...

LEGO has released the full trailer for Season 1, Part 2 of LEGO Ninjago: Dragons Rising. If my memory serves me correct, this is the same trailer that was shown during San Diego Comic Con 2023. It seems that Ninjago fans couldn’t wait for the trailer to come out as it has over 100k views in just over 10 hours. The end of Season 1 will air on October 12. The post LEGO Ninjago: Dragons Rising Season 1 Part 2 Full Trailer appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

LEGO has revealed the LEGO Ideas x Pick a Brick sets that will be available on the LEGO Shop in the near future. These sets are from the Round 2 challenge back in April and will be small, customizable builds. The designs are currently undergoing internal development and there will be updates when they are available. Which one(s) are your favorite? Back to the Middle Ages by Damzosbricks LEGO Store Display by Martin_Studio Let’s Make a Green Day Display! by Ganpat the Celt Modular Minifigure Crossing by ThatOneGuy_Steve Police Lineup by Bricklingtonville RC Car Mini-racing by Mitsu-san78 The Stage by Benlouisa The post LEGO Ideas x Pick a Brick Selected Designs Revealed appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

LEGO has revealed the new LEGO Disney Wish sets which will be coming on October 1. The movie focuses on a 17-year-old girl named Asha who makes a passionate plea to the stars in a moment of need when she senses a darkness in the Kingdom of Rosas that no one else does. Asha in the City of Rosas (43223) 154 pieces/$19.99 King Magnifico’s Castle (43224) – 613 pieces/$99.99 Asha’s Cottage (43231) – 509 pieces/$49.99 The post LEGO Disney Wish Sets Revealed appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

A new month is upon us which means more competitive building! Are you ready? Here’s the latest batch of LEGO contests and challenges from all around the AFOL community for September 2023 to help you find some inspiration and motivation to build! There’s nothing quite like a theme or a prompt to take you out of your comfort zone and give you something new to try. Besides, contests are the perfect place to interact with other contestants and judges and get to know your fellow builders. And if you’re like me, a deadline helps make sure you actually finish! We’ve listed them in order of deadline so you can plan your building time to the best advantage. Make sure to check the LEGO activity calendar for local challenges and events near you. Here at BrickNerd, some of our fondest memories, greatest building achievements, coolest trophies, and best friendships came from LEGO...

The Modular Heritage Museum by Anon22 is the latest project to achieve 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. The build consists of 3,000 pieces and stands at 13 inches tall. It does have removable floors to get to the interior details. This is the first project to reach the Third 2023 Review Stage The post LEGO Ideas Modular Heritage Museum Achieves 10,000 Supporters appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

Today’s release of LEGO’s new iconic Concorde set got me all excited about model airplanes in LEGO sets, so I went down into the archives to look at what’s come before. Just like in my previous article about model ships, I won't cover minifig sets with airplanes (there are a LOT of them!). Instead, I will focus on models of real-life airplanes. I'll also limit myself to airplanes with wings, leaving helicopters for another day. So, how far do we need to go back in time to find the first airplane set? The answer may surprise you... The Early Days Basic airplane designs in set 311 from 1962 - Image from Peeron As far back as 1950, a set with just 2x4 bricks shows an image that vaguely resembles an airplane. This is in the days before tubes and clutch power! You can’t call this a model of an airplane, though....