In my last review of the initial wave of the LEGO DREAMZzz sets, we check out the largest set in the wave with the Nightmare Shark Ship (71469). It comes in at 1,389 pieces and retails for $139.99. Minifigures The set comes with minifigures of Nova, Mateo, Izzie, and the Nightmare King. Nova is in her blue and purple pajamas with the sloth printing. Her double-sided head shows her with a smile on one side and sleeping on the other. Mateo is in his usual blue and green outfit that we’ve seen many times before. His double-sided head shows him with a smile on one side and a smirk on the other. His accessory is he pencil spear. This version of Z-Blob doesn’t have a body but just a translucent green bulb piece with printing of its eyes. It still has the green rope piece that it can attach to. Izzie...

After a few days of downtime, BrickLink is now back up and running with operations seemingly back to normal. As confirmed, they did get a ransom letter and from their investigations and they’ve been looking into some suspicious activity on the site since October. At this point, they suggested that it was a credential stuffing event in which cybercriminals use stolen usernames and passwords from another site to access BrickLink. As a result, you’ll have to change your passwords when you access the site and suggest not using the same ones as for other sites. Welcome back and thank you for your patience. We were down for longer than anyone would have wanted. Now that we’re back up and running, we can share with you what’s happened. As many of you will know, we received a threat and ransom demand on Friday, November 3rd. We’d been aware of and actively managing...

Upon seeing the name of this article, you might be asking yourself, “Hey BrickNerd, haven’t you already published multiple articles on custom lighting for both sets and MOCs?” And the answer is yes! You should absolutely check out our past lighting articles, peruse our LEGO Lighting Compendium and explore our other lighting experiments. But where this article is going, we don’t need vendors. That’s right, we are going to dive into completely DIY lighting, from the hardware itself to using code to drive it. Now, if soldering and writing code sounds terrifying but you aren’t satisfied with the pre-made lighting solutions currently available from vendors, then I highly recommend sticking around! You might find that custom lighting for LEGO is not as scary as it seems. I’ll be using a recent MOC of mine as a demo project, showing the electronics I used and the code I used to drive it...

In the Rewards Center, LEGO is giving you a chance to win a signed copy of the new LEGO Marvel Avengers Tower (76269). The set is signed by designers Mark Stafford and Justin Ramsden. If you’re not the winner, you’re also in the running for one of thirty $100 gift cards. The sweepstakes is free and it closes on November 29. The featured image is from the livestream and shown off is the exact box that you are entering for. The post LEGO Marvel Avengers Tower (76269) Signed Set Sweepstakes appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

The Tesla Center by Airbricks95 is the latest project to achieve 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. The build is based on the Tesla service centers and includes some superchargers in the front of the building. It also includes four Tesla vehicles such as the Model Y, two Model S, and the Cybertruck. The project joins Modular Heritage Museum, Great Temple of Abu Simbel – With Secret Treasure, Rolls-Royce Phantom 1 “Phantom of Love”, Moon Palace, NASA’s SLS Block 1 & 1B Rockets – Artemis Missions, LEGO Anatomy, WTC Twin Towers & Vista International Hotel 1979, Coraline: The Pink Palace, Good Ogel’s Garden, Happier Than Ever, City Burger, Phineas and Ferb!, JWST, Harry Styles Love on Tour 2023, LEGO Microscope, and Sequoia Tree as the ones to reach the Third 2023 Review Stage. The post LEGO Ideas Tesla Center Achieves 10,000 Supporters appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen...

For each issue of BrickJournal Magazine, the BrickNerd team creates instructions for a LEGO mini-model to go with the theme of the cover story. For their recent issue about Disney’s 100th anniversary, BrickNerd contributor Miro Dudas created a life-size Tinkerbell—the largest “mini-model” we’ve ever published. A Fantastic Floating Fairy To celebrate the magical theme of this BrickJournal issue, we decided to create a life-size LEGO Tinkerbell. The core design repurposes my previous Surfing Girls creation from a few years ago. The arms and legs were already positioned perfectly so adjusting them for Tink was a breeze. All I had to do was make her fly. I gave her a pedestal and a clear support to anchor her in mid-air. (Building tip: use an older clear support rod since they are more rigid. The newer ones are made with a newer plastic that has a bit more bend and can’t quite support...

Today’s article comes from guest contributor Jesse Gros who discusses how AI-generated “LEGO” sets are sparking a debate between inspiration and imitation within the AFOL community. From Pixels to Plastic Is the world of MOC building on the brink of a transformation? This past week, high-quality IA-generated “LEGO” sets started popping up on Instagram on pages like @brick4world. At first glance, these images looked like real sets. When I saw the first one, my heart skipped a beat: “Oh, I’m buying that set for sure!” Seconds later, I read the post and realized it was an AI mockup made up of digital “pieces” that approximate LEGO. This sent my mind whirling. AI creation by brick4world. One of the first comments in the thread below the image expressed anger: “Can we not post that AI crap here?” Responses included comments about the images being used for “inspiration.” Another pointed out that translating...

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 November 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...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published November 2, 2022. I first read The Lord of the Rings when I was nine, and since then I’ve been hooked on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional world of Arda and Middle Earth. One of the things that’s always appealed to me about Middle Earth is the incredibly dense worldbuilding that Tolkien imbued it with and the wealth of amazing locations featured within its stories. (That’s one of the characteristics of High Fantasy which was the theme for BrickNerd’s Nerdvember contest in 2022. This year’s contest theme is “survival” which could also work.) When LEGO started releasing sets based on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies back in 2012, they captured many of these stunning locations in brick form to the delight of many LOTR-obsessed LEGO fans. However, while the sets we got were incredible, the theme ended far too quickly and we were...

A few weeks ago, I received a mystery box provided to BrickNerd by LEGO. The only thing I knew was that the set was part of the Botanical Collection. My girlfriend already has the original Flower and Wildflower Bouquets, along with the Bonsai Tree (those sets are “hers” and I’m allowed to “steal” parts from them only for a couple of days but then I have to return them to their places), so she was very excited to add another botanical set to her collection. We were both delighted with 10329 Tiny Plants when it arrived, and I asked her to build them so we could take pictures of the set. But after that, I wanted to play with the parts and build something out of it. A Few Words About Tiny Plants… From Chrissy (The Current Owner of The Set) “The box is the typical representation of the Icons sets:...