Yesterday we did our list for our Top 5 LEGO sets of 2025 and now we’re doing our list of best gift with purchase sets. It didn’t seem like it but LEGO released 77 GWPs this year ranging from polybags to small-to-medium sized sets, although a small number of them were for new LEGO Brand Store openings. Some of the more “premium” GWPs were locked into certain sets that you had to buy when they initially released which has gotten some backlash in recent times. This factor did go into my rankings as well as the price requirements to get them. 5. Tribute to Jane Austen’s Books (40766) – June 2025/$150 purchase I really love the GWPs that LEGO releases that pay tribute to various people with historical significance. The Jane Austen tribute set does a decent job showing her living room in the style of a book and a minifigure...

Today I have the great pleasure of shining the spotlight on one of the—at least in my humble opinion—best Bionicle builders out there, Patrick Biggs. I have to admit that when I first got back into LEGO, I had no idea what Bionicle was or that it was even made by the LEGO company. I am a bit embarrassed about that now, but back then (around six years ago) I was just coming out of my dark age and as Bionicle first came out around 2000-2001, I initially missed the first wave by about half a decade. And the (short-lived) re-launch ended just before I got back into LEGO. Fortunately, the internet is a marvellous thing and I quickly started noticing some very cool MOCs showing up in my Flickr feed every now and then. I also had a fellow LUG-member (o0ger) that was always using cool pieces that I couldn’t...

2025 was a pretty big year for LEGO as there were 800 different products released. I haven’t done it in a few years but these are my top 5 sets for 2025 and my reasoning for it. The original list was about 10 sets and it was extremely hard to get it down to only 5. Some of the factors that went into my personal rankings are fandom, nostalgia, and pricing. Note that none of these sets were given by LEGO for review. I’ll also probably do a top 5 gift with purchase set list as well so stay tuned for that. 5. LEGO Marvel Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock Subway Train Scene (76321) – $54.99 It’s been 21 years since we’ve gotten a Spider-Man 2 set and the LEGO Marvel Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock Subway Train Scene (76321) was a no-brainer for me. Although it’s small, it captures one of the...

Earlier we took you on a tour of all the LEGO-related lighting products we could find. We called it our “LEGO Lighting Compendium” because it covers hundreds of options at a high level. With many people across the world having just opened presents of LEGO or lighting kits, I wanted to dive in for a bit more of a hands-on look at lighting as a late Christmas present from me to you, our legion of avid readers! Lighting up the Bugle! To be fair, I won’t be able to cover all lighting products by most companies as the breadth of offerings is so great. So what I’ll do is give you a hands-on overview of what it is like to install a lighting kit for a LEGO set. The ones I am looking at today were provided by Lightailing/Briksmax which I believe are representative of a large percentage of the products out there...

I guess LEGO isn’t done with the promotions for 2025 as they have brought back a few from the past including 2x Insiders points on select sets, all of which end at the end of the year. First is the LEGO Star Wars TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack (40771) when you purchase the Ultimate Collector Series Death Star (75419). When you purchase the LEGO Harry Potter Hogsmeade Village – Collectors’ Edition (76457), you can get the Hogwarts Castle: Room of Requirement (40770). For the general purchase GWPs, you can get the LEGO Creation Celebration: Ferris Wheel with Fireworks (40758) when you make a purchase of $85 or more and the LEGO Spring Festival Lucky Knots (40756) when you make a $150 purchase. This would work great on some of the End-of-Year Sales or any sets that are retiring at the end of the year. For the double Insiders points sets,...

Merry Christmas, BrickNerd readers! What follows isn’t a traditional set review but more of a holiday experience and story. If it starts to feel familiar, like a certain Dickens story you’ve heard once or twice before, it might be because this author experienced a bit of a “bah humbug” seasonal reckoning along the way. Ghost of Christmas Past: A UCS Christmas Tree BrickNerd has a complicated relationship with Christmas trees. A few years ago—before LEGO ever decided this was a thing—we built our own “UCS Christmas Tree.” It wasn’t a tree in any official sense. It was the 10307 Eiffel Tower, repurposed with lights and ornaments, and it actually served as our family Christmas tree for several years. What began as a joke turned into a tradition, and nothing cements a tradition faster than doing something slightly ridiculous and committing to it publicly. (Foreshadowing?) So when LEGO offered us the actual...

All aboard for a trip down memory lane! As a kid, my days were filled with Duplo, LEGO, and the occasional BRIO train adventure. Sometimes, I’d even line up minifigs on the tracks and let my brother’s Thomas the Tank Engine barrel through—but that’s another story! So when we at BrickNerd learned that BrickJournal was doing an issue with a giant train on the cover, I knew I had to build something small but mighty. With some expert trackside assistance from our Nerd-in-Chief Dave, I designed this delightful little locomotive. Pretty cool, eh? Thanks to the newer 1×1 round plate with a clip on the bottom, each car couples together just like the real thing, allowing the train to pivot smoothly as it rolls along. Even better? You can make this train as long—or as short—as you like by adding more passenger cars, box cars, or inventing your own custom rolling...

LEGO has started some new end-of-year Offers & Sales where you can save up to 50% on select LEGO items. The sets are mostly smaller sets and a wide selection of miscellaneous products such as keychains, books, and storage items. As a Rakuten/Linkshare Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The post LEGO End-of-Year Sales – December 2025 appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

It’s been a few days since our last LEGO Ideas update and it’s been the most lively in a while as 5 more projects have reached the Third 2025 Review Stage. There’s only about a week and a half left to qualify for this review stage as the next one starts on January 5, 2026. We’ll see if there’s a final push for those that are pretty close to the 10,000 goal. Shrimp-Fried Rice – RockRaiderMiner Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Day of Black Sun – BuiltByCalvin Scooby-Doo! And the Carnival of Nightmare – Tobnac Full House Living Room & Kitchen – BuildingFriendships City Skyline Bookends – Farmfarm The post LEGO Ideas December 23 Update appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

Thorsten Bonsch, known to many as Xenomurphy, is no stranger to Spider-Man. Over the years, he’s built numerous and incredible Spider-themed creations, but like many AFOLs, his LEGO activity had slowed as new interests took hold. View fullsize View fullsize Curious whether that spark was still there, we sent Thorsten the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Collectible Minifigure Series as a bit of creative fuel, with no firm expectations attached. What followed was not a quick vignette or a straightforward CMF review, but a deeply personal, months-long digital build that blends LEGO, film, memory, and experimentation across multiple creative tools. This interview documents that journey, from initial hesitation to a sprawling rooftop scene that captures the spirit of the Spider-Verse: We chatted with Thorsten to hear all about his journey and the project. Returning to Spider-Man BrickNerd: What first sparked this project, and what drew you back to Spider-Man (and LEGO) at...