When I think of LEGO builders in the 6 to 8 stud-wide “Speed Champions” scale, one always immediately comes to mind: Jonathan Elliott. He’s an extremely talented builder whose vehicles make constant appearances on various community blogs such as The LEGO Car Blog and The Brothers Brick. A great many LEGO car builders, myself included, cite his work as an inspiration. Jon Elliott’s “2022 Highlights.” I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to speak with Jon on behalf of BrickNerd and pick his brain about real cars, his building style, his earlier work, and his constant drive to push the envelope of what a LEGO car can be. Tom: Why don’t you start by telling me just a little bit about yourself? Jon: Ha! The classic opener. Yeah, wow, that’s a difficult way to start, I suppose. I’ve been around quite a long time, so there’s quite a lot to...

Series 27 of the LEGO Collectible Minifigure (CMF) line has delivered some very cool new prints and molds that will most assuredly appear in future sets and other products down the line. Included in this series is a redesign of a minifigure familiar to AFOLs who grew up with the Classic Castle theme in the late 80s and early 90s: The Wolfpack Beastmaster. The Wolfpack Beastmaster is just one of many minifigures in the last several years to revive classic themes and designs of what many consider to be the golden age of LEGO—and as such it is already demanding top prices on the secondary market. The M-Tron powerloader is definitely a contender for one of the best minifigure remakes This trend of revamps and redesigns is not reserved for just the CMF line. While Basil the Batlord, the Falconer, and M-Tron spaceman are just a few examples of classic minifigures...

Today’s guest article comes from Blake Foster (Instagram/Flickr), a sci-fi builder and member of ILUGNY from Brooklyn. Primarily a spacecraft builder, he has taken more than a year off to build his tower for the New Hashima collab. Building Big I am not a fast builder. As such, when I joined the New Hashima collab about ten months in advance of Brickworld, I did not sign on to build one of the towers—as much as I would have liked to—as I doubted that I would finish on time. Instead, I built the Cybertrain. After Brickworld, without a deadline hanging over my head, I had barely finished sorting the debris from my final New Hashima builds before I was working on the beginnings of a topper for some to-be-determined future iteration (a topper is New Hashima speak for the tower on the very top of a stack of cubes). This would be...

Castles – in some way, shape or form – are probably one of the most common sights in the LEGO fan community. I can still remember being a young kid sitting in my room playing with, in my opinion, one of the best sets ever (Kings Castle 6080). Given how many talented castle-builders there are in the AFOL community, there is a good chance I’m not the only one with fond memories like that! Regardless if someone is talking about LEGO conventions or just browsing through their Flickr or Instagram feed, chances are more than a few great castle builds are going to show up. Castles have been crucial to the development of the LEGO fan community over time, starting with the original Yellow Castle (6075) to the iconic Classic Castle community and beyond. When seeing some of those amazing builds, I often feel it would be interesting to have a...

Have you noticed a change in clear LEGO bricks recently? More and more LEGO fans have commented on perceived changes in the clear materials used for certain parts, and they have called attention to it through forum posts and social media conversations that I’ve seen. Most noticeably, the comments center around three changes compared to older transparent elements: a slight color shift, slight cloudiness, and easier scratching (in the case of the windshield for the Ecto-1, set 10274). Far Right: Cellulose Acetate. Others: variations of PC (Image via Istokg on the Brickset Forum) So let’s talk about this recent shift in transparent LEGO—from the perspective of plastics! This article is not meant to be a deep dive into the history of clear plastics used at The LEGO Group (TLG), though I will briefly touch upon that now. The Clues for a New Clear For context, TLG has been making clear parts...

Joints—a topic that I’m sure can stir up some controversy. There are a variety of ways to make them, they are useful in a lot of situations and let’s face it, some of them are just mindblowing. I’m talking, of course, about LEGO joints (you know, as in elbows and knees, etc.)! If you’ve ever tried to make a brick-built figure, you are no stranger to the fact that making joints (again, elbows and knees and those types of things…not sure what else people might associate with that word…) can be quite a challenge. LEGO, of course, has made quite a few pieces for this purpose over the years (hello ball joints!), but when constructing a character on your own, they aren’t always the smoothest solutions. Plus it is a lot of fun coming up with new ways to simulate natural joints. But for those of you who may not enjoy...

In our newest dive into the world of NPU (Nice Parts Usage), we will explore some interesting uses for minifigure accessories! From guitars to firehoses, pom poms to paint rollers, these small but mighty pieces unlock endless creative potential. Doesn’t that balloon animal look like a piece of candy? is it just me? Humble Beginnings A minifigure accessory needs a minifig, right? Well, our favorite little plastic people hit the consumer market in 1978, and with them came our first taste of what was to come: an axe, a broom, a shovel, a pickaxe, a hairbrush, and a signal paddle. Fun fact: That signal paddle? I always thought it was for taking pizza out of the oven. (Am I the only one?) These tools were groundbreaking at the time, but little did we know the explosion of variety that awaited. Nowadays, it seems there’s a new accessory in every few sets....

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 already spend on LEGO. You can support BrickNerd at the same time you get your Tudor Corner Modular, midi-scale Star Wars ships, the return of Blacktron, new Botanicals, buildable panda and dragon, new minifigures, and even a microscale Diagon Alley! Even if you just get a keychain using our link, we appreciate the help. You can see all the new sets available at LEGO using the following links: US | CAN | UK |...

Happy New Year! There are over a hundred new LEGO sets that are now available on the LEGO Shop for various themes. Some of the more highly anticipated sets include the LEGO Icons Tudor Corner (10350) modular building and the return of Classic Space with the Blacktron Renegade (10355). For the gift with purchase sets, there will be three of them that have started and they will be available, while supplies last. • Lucky Knots (40756) – $150 purchase/January 1-7• Corner Kiosk (40757) – January 1-7 with purchase of Corner Tudor (10350)• Creator 3-in-1 Tropical Toucan (30688) – January 1-13 with purchases of $40 in City, Creator, DREAMZzz, and/or Friends. Animal Crossing • Stargazing with Celeste (77053) – $9.99• Leif’s Caravan & Garden Shop (77054) – $29.99• Able Sisters Clothing Shop (77055) – $39.99 Art • LOVE (31214) – $79.99 BrickHeadz • Tom & Jerry (40793) – $14.99 City • F1...

Coming very soon, LEGO will be releasing a new LEGO Spring Festival gift with purchase set with the Lucky Knots (40756). The set has 317 pieces and should be available from January 1-7, while supplies last. The US pricing requirements is still unknown at the time of this writing. The build features the red knot decorations that you’ll usually find in homes and restaurants and they symbolizes good fortune and health. One of the knots says 春 which translates to spring while the other says 福 which means fortune. Both builds are exactly the same minus a color difference one particular piece at the beginning of the builds. They are separated into two bags so two people can build them at the same time. The builds consist of layering parts to get the design. There are 30 of the bright red life preservers in this set and they are still pretty...