Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published March 22, 2021. Throughout the past year, AFOLs around the world have been prevented from getting together physically and sharing the thing they love most. In my opinion, LEGO is best viewed and experienced up close and in person—and though virtual cons and meetups have filled the gap, nothing comes close to seeing a LEGO model’s minute details. It’s hard to convey the time, effort, size and even emotion that goes into a MOC through a few photos on a computer or phone screen. Some of the small details I miss seeing are from models made by the amazing Paul Hetherington. If you ever come across his work at a convention (which I’m sure a lot of you have) then you know his models can captivate and memorize you. I remember seeing his Tiki Madness MOC at Bricks Cascade last February and just standing...

April arrived in force with a bevy of interesting articles, fascinating features, insightful deep dives, and eye-catching videos from all across the LEGO community. We are lucky to have this many outlets and channels that keep creating incredible content, and these are the best of the month. Here at BrickNerd, we published the case for and against purism, posted instructions to build a ballerina and some art supplies, and teased a “Children Welcome” initiative along with revealing the work behind LEGO’s Majestic Horse April Fools joke. We explored the classic minifigure smile, forgotten minifigure packs, working LEGO clocks, and building trains with style. We’ve chatted with AFOLs with kids, autistic AFOLs, and charitable AFOLs. We’ve even analyzed the rise of big sets and the basics of a LUG. In fact, we’ve published so many interesting articles in April, that we’ve included an interactive calendar of them at the bottom of this...

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 all about crafts, we decided to create some art supplies including some paint, scissors and a canvas. Getting Crafty It’s time to get crafty! For the art theme, we designed three mini-builds of art supplies you’d find at a craft shop including scissors, a paintbrush and some paint, and an easel and canvas. The scissors feature back-to-back mudguards for the shape of the handles using a fun SNOT technique made possible with the new 1x1x2/3 brick with a hole in it. They also pivot like a real pair, though we don’t recommend using them to cut any paper. For the paint supplies, you can customize your paint colors and canvas with whatever you want using new 3x3 circle tiles. Also, see if you...

Amazon currently has the LEGO Botanical Collection Succulents (10309) on sale for 20% off. It is now listed at $39.99 which saves you $10 on it and this doesn’t really go on sale that often yet so any deal on it is good. It has 771 pieces and includes nine different succulent plants. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The post LEGO Botanical Collection Succulents (10309) Amazon Sale – April 2023 appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

LEGO has officially revealed the next LEGO Ideas set with Tales of the Space Age (21340). Releasing on May 5 for VIPs, the set has 688 pieces and retail for $49.99. The set features posters with visual style from the 80s that tells the stories of the space age in a minimalistic way. REACH FOR THE STARS WITH THE NEW LEGO TALES OF THE SPACE AGE 12th April 2023: The LEGO Group unveils a set bound to blast off the shelves – the LEGO Ideas Tales of the Space Age set. Based on minimalistic expression of the romance of the universe, alongside having the same visual style as the classic posters from the 80s, the set colourfully expresses the tales of the space age with a retro graphic made from LEGO bricks. The four-piece postcard sized set is vibrant and showcases an overarching story of a space shuttle, moon base, black...

In my last review of the 2023 LEGO Super Mario sets, we check out the Fliprus Snow Adventure (71417) which has 567 pieces and retails for $64.99. Build Starting on the largest area of the course, there’s a large platform where the Snowman stands and below is where Freezie is at. The object here is to jump on the branch on the left to knock over Freezie to get the fruit tag inside. Another feature here at the top is to turn the area and the Snowman’s head will roll off the icicle to knock over the Koopa below. The Snowman uses mostly round parts to get its shape. It has a printed round tile for its face. Freezie uses a lot of sloped pieces for its shape. It has a printed shield tile for the face and a tag on the back. For the lake area, there’s lots of room...

One of the new LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 sets is the Guardians of the Galaxy Headquarters (76253) and it is the first one out of the wave we’ll check out. It has only 67 pieces and retails for $9.99. Minifigures This set only contains Star-Lord and Groot as the minifigures. Star-Lord has on the new Guardians uniform which takes reference from the comics version. The color scheme is mostly dark blue with some red and gray highlights. His double-sided head shows him with a somewhat confused look on one side and a stern expression on the other. His accessories are his Quad Blasters. Groot looks to be the same teen version of the character from two other sets, The Guardians’s Ship (76193) and the 2022 Advent Calendar (76231). The only differences here is that he has a shoulder armor piece and he has a new...

Just in time for spring and summer, LEGO has released a new LEGO Logo Bucket Hat that you can redeem on the Rewards Center. It costs 2,850 VIP points which isn’t a small amount and the bucket hat reversible. Show your LEGO® love proudly wherever you go with this reversible bucket hat. Made with 100% polyester on one side and 100% cotton on the reverse. The head circumference is 59cm, so it’s perfect for adults and older kids. Redeem 2,850 points. While stocks last. You’ll get a promotional code for this item, which you can redeem with your next purchase on LEGO.com. The code is valid for 60 days and must be entered during checkout in the field labelled ‘Enter a Promo Code’. Delivery charges may apply. You can only use one promotional code per order. This VIP promotion is subject to availability and is only available while stocks last. The...

The Moon: Earth’s Companion by SharkyBricks is the latest project to achieve 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. The 2,360 piece build features a poster of the Moon as well as showing the different phases of it. 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...

In my last review of the 2023 LEGO Ninjago sets, we take a look at the Creative Ninja Brick Box (71787). It has 530 pieces and retails for $59.99. Minifigures There are six minifigures in the set, Nya, Kai, Master Wu, Male Apprentice, Female Apprentice, and Bone Hunter. Nya is in her blue and gray Core outfit which is the same one as in a few other sets in this wave. Her double-sided head shows her with a smile on one side and a stern expression on the other. Her accessory is a golden sword. Kai is also a reused minifigure but from the last year’s Ninjago sets. His Core outfit has some fire printing on both sides of the torso. His double-sided head shows him with a bandage on top of one eye and he has nervous and angry expressions. His accessory is also a golden sword. This version of...