It’s high time to do some trick or treating, but while it might be Halloween today, it’s also high time for our monthly LEGO community round-up! So sit back in that cozy chair of yours, take a sip of your pumpkin-spiced latte (or your preferred choice of warm drink), and enjoy this month’s potpourri of interesting articles, deep drives and insightful features 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 traveled to Seattle and Kuwait, stopped by elementary school and college, and explored sorting and SortLUG. We learned about LEGO smoke techniques, turtles and floating islands. We looked at figure building and minifigures of real people. And we took a look at how element molds change, how creativity evolves, what kids think of instruction symbols, and...

Last Halloween, we shared instructions for two small builds: a witch on her broomstick, and a grave with a crow. In that article, I wrote that the grave was actually a one-bedroom zombie apartment. And for this year's Halloween edition of our Quick Builds, I feel that I have to reveal the apartment’s owner. He's a cool guy and goes by the name of Mr. Braaaainss. When I asked, he said only “Braaaainss” but he does look like a Mister to me. Instructions to Build a Halloween Zombie I really wanted to build a LEGO zombie with a dislocated jaw and the hinge parts (hinge base + hinge top) were perfect for the task. This is where the build started. Then I had to figure out the eyes, and I came up with the minifig hands inserted into headlight bricks. And because this was the coolest part of the zombie, I...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published March 14, 2021. If you have ever watched one of those “ghost hunting” television shows, you may have noticed that they never seem to actually detect any ghosts, let alone capture any credible evidence of them. Many LEGO “MOC hunting” blogs seem to have those same issues with detecting ghost MOCs, as this build of Slimer by Taiwanese builder ZiO Chao has gone largely unnoticed... until now! We recently featured ZiO Chao’s bonsai tree, and while we were going through the depths of their photostream on Flickr we got slimed. Slimer (also known as Onionhead, Little Spud or The Green Ghost) was the first ghost successfully captured by the Ghostbusters in the original Ghostbusters movie (1984). Made up of pure Ectoplasm, he leaves behind a trail of slime whenever he passes through solid objects, and is also known for his ravenous appetite. Scientifically speaking,...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published November 4, 2021. We’ve been featuring some mecha/robot building here at BrickNerd for Mechtober, but given the immense popularity of the theme in the AFOL community, we’ve barely scratched the surface of this particular topic. This is why we are always happy to chat with mech builders and discover more about mechs and building them. Today we chat with Lu Sim, better known as Messymaru. Lu’s builds have been featured in various LEGO media throughout the years and slots for his classes at the Japan Brick Festival always get filled up so quickly. Since BrickNerd has featured several of his models in the past (see his Aras, Aztech Deity, and Titoy’s Magical Chair) we figured it’s about time we sat down with him for a closer look at the builder behind the builds. Inez: Hi Lu! Thanks for talking with us! Can you tell...

A few months back, I was cursed by the AFOL community because of everything I did to poor old Benny. With Halloween just around the corner, one of the old skeletons hiding in my closet, er, desk inspired me again. Spooky Scary Skeletons will be harmed… Introduced back in 1995, the Skeleton quickly became a staple in many a LEGO theme, ranging from Castle, Adventurers, Pirates, and everything in between. The introduction of the skeleton was actually quite the controversial moment for LEGO, because outside of play, it represented the idea that a minifigure could die! Arms seem a little floppy floppy, huh? about that… Unlike standard poseable minifigure arms, LEGO skeleton arms used to end in a small ball socket that connected loosely to the torso. (Modern versions have a standard bar and clip connection like Battl eDroids). But the wiggly arms of the old skeleton have an awfully floppy...