Today’s guest article comes from BrickNerd patron Wayne Tyler. We’ve featured Wayne’s work many times, especially his thoughtful architectural builds. Today, he shares the story behind a microscale challenge that reshaped his approach to design. A Warm Welcome to the LEGO World Most builders start their LEGO journey in childhood. I started mine at 50. That late beginning changed the way I entered the LEGO community, wandering into it completely unprepared for how welcoming it would be. The LEGO community is a special place for me. I did not have LEGO as a kid. I first encountered LEGO as an adult in 2016. I built my first MOC in 2017. Though an extreme noob, I was openly welcomed into the community everywhere… from LEGO brand store employees who helped me with advice on where to find sets which were no longer in the store, to the local LUG whose members answered newbie...

The LEGO Insiders Weekend is over, we can now preview this week’s Black Friday 2025 shopping event. The flagship set for this year is the LEGO Icons Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D (10356). The set has 3,600 pieces and will retail for $399.99. It marks the first time that LEGO has made a set for the Star Trek franchise. When you purchase the set from November 28 – December 1, you can also get the Type-15 Shuttlepod (40768) gift with purchase set. If you were saving to get the Enterprise, you will be glad to know that LEGO will be bringing back some of the promo sets from the LEGO Insiders Weekend including the Mini Knight’s Castle (40775) and the Hot Chocolate Stand (40776). The price requirements for both are the same, $250 and $170, respectively. There is also a LEGO Card Game Set (5010018) with a purchase of $65 in...

Today is the last day to get your orders in for the LEGO Insiders Weekend 2025. As of this post for the US, both the Mini Knight’s Castle and Hot Chocolate Stand GWPs are still available and you can get them both with a $250 purchase. There are also a few of the sets left for the LEGO Insiders member offers but the larger sets have officially sold out. There are also a few sets that you can earn 4x Insiders points on. Lastly, all purchases can earn you 2x Insiders points so now is also a great time to check out the sets on the Retiring Soon list to see if there’s anything you still want to pick up. • Mini Knight’s Castle (40775) – $250 purchase• Hot Chocolate Stand (40776) – $170 purchase• LEGO City Baby Gorilla Encounter (30665) – $40 purchase in City, DREAMZzz, Friends, and/or Ninjago• LEGO...

Target has started their Black Friday deals and there one where you can save 30% off select LEGO sets. The list is okay but the main highlight is for the LEGO Ideas Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (21360). The set is now priced at $153.99 which saves you $66 on it. The LEGO Shop also has a deal on the set where you can earn 4x Insiders points on it which equates to 5,720 points. There are options depending on if you want to save money on it or earn some extra points. As a Mavely Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The post LEGO Ideas Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (21360) Target 30% Off Deal appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

Today’s guest article comes from Juan Rodriguez Lopez, a builder living in the Seattle area who has mixed his passion for architecture with his love of LEGO bricks. He shares a follow-up article about designing custom castles, this time focusing on the Emerald City from the film, Wicked. My Most Ambitious LEGO Castle Yet My love for castles is still going strong, and designing LEGO castle models has pretty much become my number one hobby… and obsession. (Read all about my former castles in my first guest article.) I’m always thinking about what the next build could be and how to make it feel special—something uniquely its own, something that adds a new spark to the collection. So when it came time to choose my next MOC, I landed on the Emerald City from the film Wicked for a few reasons. First, I’ll admit it: I was disappointed with the official...

LEGO Insiders Weekend 2025 kicked off last night and it was full of frenzy with a lot of the discounted sets selling out. The main one was the LEGO Icons Lion Knights’ Castle (10305) which sold out within minutes and if you got hit with the queue, it was game over. A number of other sets were on the Retiring Soon list and they eventually sold out as well. Since some of these sets are LEGO exclusives, they’re only sold on the LEGO Shop and in LEGO Brand Stores so if you missed out, you may want to hit up your local store to see if they have it. There are still plenty of offers going around including all the GWPs and a few discounted sets left. You can also earn 4x points on select sets as well. Were you able to pick up what you wanted before things sold out?...

The ISS in all it’s glory! Ok, I’ll come clean: I didn’t build the International Space Station (ISS) out of LEGO to get my barber to come to BrickCon. Sorry all, clickbait totally debunked. But the fact is, he did come to the con to see the build, and I think it’s fantastic that my MOC engaged people outside my typical LEGO circle! Jeff is one example of many awesome friends and family who came by to support me. Jeff the barber - Shows up to support his client, what a Stand up fella! So, what this article is really about is sharing the process to get from a mere twinkle of an idea in my eye to a real-life motorized and lit-up 8.5-foot-wide minifigure scale model of the International Space Station, in an… ahem… “crisp” 1.5 years. I’ll walk you through the major elements of the build and my process in this article,...

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 a recent issue about Classic Space, we created a Mini Vic Viper. What is NoVVember? NoVVember is a LEGO MOC theme month centered around the ‘Vic Viper’ style of spaceship. Based on a sprite from the Gradius game series and popularized by the late Nate “nnenn” Nielson, the Vic Viper style is distinct with a specific alignment of wings and fins. Here are a few examples built by BrickNerd superfan Scott Wilhelm, currently on sale to raise funds for Creations for Charity. Now allow us to tell you a bit about this charity before we get back to spaceships. View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize Creations for Charity raises funds to give LEGO to kids in need around the world, so go buy a...

Today we’re thrilled to showcase a special interview with Azurekingfisher, a talented LEGO artist from Japan whose creations blend geometry, color, and motion into a distinctive aesthetic. Many of these works were recently featured in the Masterpiece Gallery at LEGO House, so prepare for a journey through creativity, form, and artistic philosophy. Color Choice Ann: Hello and welcome to BrickNerd! It’s wonderful to explore these remarkable creations with you. Azurekingfisher: I am very honored to be asked to participate in this interview. Thank you. Ann: First of all, your sense of color is exceptional. Your “LEGO Flower” piece, for example, practically lets us smell spring in the air. Is your color selection a long, deliberate process, or is it more of an intuitive habit? Azurekingfisher: I’ve been familiar with LEGO bricks since I was a child, but I began building in 2013. The “LEGO Flower” that BrickNerd noticed was made in...

Amazon has started some early LEGO Black Friday 2026 deals going on where you can save up to 50% off select sets. • LEGO Botanicals Mini Bonsai Tree (10373) – $44.99/31% off• LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Wild Animals: Majestic Rhino (31171) – $41.99/30% off• LEGO Disney Simba the Lion King Cub (43243) – $13.99/30% off• LEGO DUPLO Caring for Animals at the Farm (10416) – $34.99/30%• LEGO DUPLO Train Bridge and Tracks (10426) – $27.99/30% off• LEGO Fortnite Peely Bone (77072) – $84.99/15% off• LEGO Friends Space Research Rover (42602) – $34.99/27% off• LEGO Friends Stargazing Camping Vehicle (42603) – $20.99/30% off• LEGO Friends Andrea’s Modern Mansion (42639) – $139.99/30% off• LEGO Harry Potter Thestral Family (76458) – $48.99/30% off• LEGO Icons Fountain Garden (10359) – $69.99/30% off• LEGO Ninjago Wolf Mask Shadow Dojo (71813) – $95.95/20% off• LEGO Star Wars Grogu with Hover Pram (75403) – $49.99/50% off• LEGO Technic Ford...