Today is March 10, an annual celebration of the entire Super Mario video game franchise (because you can write the day as MAR10). To mark the occasion, I'm going to introduce you to Bricktendo (also known as Eliès) who made a beautiful diorama featuring the Mario franchise that seemingly magically moves without explanation. I had the opportunity to see it in person and discuss all the details of this creation at the Legsplay exhibition in Angouleme last month. Sam: Hi Eliès, welcome to BrickNerd! Can you introduce yourself a little? How long have you been building LEGO? Eliès: Hi Pistash! I'm Eliès, aka Bricktendo on social networks. I'm 22 years old and I'm originally from Nîmes, France. I have been building LEGO for 14 years now without interruption since I was seven years old. I have to say that I have a classic background—as a Star Wars fan, collecting sets was...

The process of photographing your LEGO creations has so many intriguing aspects, but one for me stands out the most: choosing the correct background. There are so many options when it comes to “setting the stage” to present your MOCs or minifigures. There are a few classic options like craft paper or fabric, but setting the scene for your MOC can make all the difference. "Roll along covered wagon, roll along, To the turn of your wheels I sing a song, City ladies may be fine, but give me that girl of mine, Roll along covered wagon, roll along". Today we are going to look at all the different types of backgrounds you can use to take your LEGO projects to the next level, give the scene more character, and explore which options are best for specific occasions. Brick Built Dioramas Perhaps the most common background is the one you don’t...

The AFOL world is a great, global community united by our love of LEGO. Within that greater community, there are many smaller interest groups, from local LUGs to people interested in specific themes like Castle, Space, Mosaics or Microscale. For International Women’s Day, we wanted to take a look at some of those groups through the lens of representation, but as I looked, one of the themes stood out to me the most… a theme where I searched high and low for female builders: trains. After searching around the globe through my network of AFOLs, I could still only count female LEGO train builders on the fingers of my two hands! (I hope to be proven wrong that there are more!) So let me introduce you to two women from this very select group: Sarah Brennan-Dunn and Ingrid Broeders-Bos, who have very different stories to tell. Meet Ingrid & Sarah Ingrid...

We don’t talk about new LEGO sets much at BrickNerd—there are a plethora of other great sites that do that. However to help us keep the quality up and ads down, we need your help. If you are going to purchase any new LEGO sets and want to help out BrickNerd simultaneously, we ask that you use our affiliate link for LEGO.com. It is a great way to support community-focused journalism without costing you more than you are already spending on LEGO. You support BrickNerd at the same time you get your new Rivendell display piece, BTS tribute, Captain Rex helmet, new parts intensive-Speed Champions, some amazing Classic 3-in-1 sets, a new botanical puzzle or even Disney BrickHeadz. Even if you just get a keychain using our link, we appreciate the help. See all the new sets at LEGO using the following links: US | CAN | UK | AU. (For...

If you’re a LEGO VIP member, the highly anticipated LEGO Icons Lord of the Rings Rivendell (10316) is now available for purchase on the LEGO Shop. It costs $499.99 and if you purchase it between now and March 7, you can get the LEGO BrickHeadz Frodo & Gollum (40603) as a free gift ($14.99 retail). You’ll also double up with the Houses of the World 1 (40583) GWP, while supplies last. Everything will be added to your cart automatically. Remember to use Rakuten to earn some cash back on your purchases. Make sure to activate the extension before you complete your purchase to get credit for it. As a Rakuten/Linkshare Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The post LEGO Icons Lord of the Rings Rivendell (10316) Now Available on LEGO Shop for VIPs appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

A few days ago, LEGO revealed a new LEGO House exclusive set with A Minifigure Tribute (40504) and it is now available for purchase at Billund. It has 1,041 pieces and this set is the fourth LEGO House exclusive set which features Captain Redbeard, one of the more iconic pirate minifigures. We were fortunate enough to get sent a review copy to check out. Instructions The first few pages of the instruction booklet gives you a brief history of the LEGO minifigure which is actually a pretty interesting read. Build The first part of the build is for the minifigure stand. It’sand there are two knobs on top for Redbeard to stand on. In front of that are some printed tiles of A Minifigure Tribute and LEGO House. Bag 2 is solely for Redbeard’s torso build. The first quarter is for the torso frame but the most interesting thing here is...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published March 3, 2021. Illuminating work by Wayne Tyler You ask: L’Enfant, qu'est-ce que c'est? (or maybe you put it more like I would: L’Enfant, what is that?). Why, it’s not a what, it’s a who! He was the Frenchman who designed Washington DC. Pierre Charles L’Enfant to be precise. In what became known as the L’Enfant Plan, this notable fellow laid out the basics of the city that we all recognize today including a roughly mile-long park that eventually became the National Mall. I can’t think of anything that better evokes for me “the best of America” so completely. The Mall encapsulates fantastic treasures of architecture, natural beauty, history, art, science, and more into one walkable beautiful park containing a seemingly endless string of top-notch museums! For builder Wayne Tyler, as our DC correspondent El Barto first covered here in 2018, the National Mall...

It’s a new day on the LEGO Shop and that means new promotions are now live, sort of. From now until March 12, they have brought back the Houses of the World (40583) and like before, you can get it with purchases of $250. If you missed out on it the first time, you now have a second chance at it. Also fro now until March 12, you can get double VIP points on all LEGO Super Mario products. This is to celebrate MAR10 Day which happens next week. Lastly, you can get the LEGO Friends Best Friend Notebook (5007789) with $65 purchases of Classic, Creator 3-in-1, Disney Princess, DOTS, and Friends. Remember to use Rakuten to earn some cash back on your purchases. Make sure to activate the extension before you complete your purchase to get credit for it. As a Rakuten/Linkshare Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The post...

The Amethyst Geode by gman13579 is the latest project to achieve 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. The 2,854 piece build features a cracked open geode of an amethyst quartz as well as a pick. The project joins Dr. Seuss and LEGO, Sweet Honey, The Botanical Garden, The Crown – A Piece of History, Stargate SG1: Embarkation Room, Roscosmos Soyuz MS Spacecraft, Motorized Howl’s Moving Castle, The Stargate, Medieval Seaside Market, Brick Boulevard, Retro Comic Store, Shrek’s Swamp – 20th Anniversary, Baby Green Sea Turtle – Kinetic, Humpback Whale, Shrek’s Swamp, Brooklyn Nine-Nine: 99th Precinct, LED Lamp, Bricks Coffee, Ogel Creek Saw Mill, Hollow Knight: Forgotten Crossroad, LEGO Godzilla, Claus Toys, Twilight: Cullen House, Where’s Wally/Waldo?, V.&T.R.R. #12, Genoa, River Side Lodge, Catan – The Game, Daft Punk – The Robots, Monsters Inc: The Door to Monstropolis, Iljinai Family House, Multi-Tool, Portal 2 Quantum Tunnelling Device. The “Portal Gun”, LEGOLAND Central Station,...

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 March 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...