Picture this: You are from Canada and are on the last night of a cross-country road trip where you just spent several weeks attending LEGO Conventions and sightseeing across the United States. You are alone, your car is jam-packed full of your custom LEGO models, your best clothes, travel stuff, and the results of multiple shopping trips. You stop at a hotel for the night, exhausted after a long day of driving. You know there is no way you can unload the car alone into the hotel. Some MOCs are just too heavy… View fullsize View fullsize You think to yourself, “Well, it’s 10:30 pm and I’ll be up early to get on the road again. I will park as close to the hotel as possible, under the hotel security camera, by the front door… that’s the second safest thing you could do. Plus, the hotel will monitor the parking lot,...

Whether you call them Tokens of Appreciation, Fan Trophies, Trophy Tokens or some other variation of the name, these small LEGO-related items have become well-established at many of the major AFOL events across North America. Although often attributed to the late Arthur Gugick at Brickworld in 2012, there is some evidence of AFOLs leaving tokens as early as 2007 and 2008. The actual tokens vary greatly but can be mini-MOCs, printed tiles, stickers, cards or some other small item given to an AFOL or placed near their display to recognise that you really liked their MOC or some part of their build. This year, Tokens of Appreciation were introduced to the Brixpo LEGO Fan Event in Adelaide, South Australia. The Australian version of the Tokens of Appreciation first appeared at Brickvention 2023 in Melbourne. Aspen Arnold surprised a small number of builders by placing a token near their MOCs. As the...

LEGO builders should venture out of their comfort zones more. Often this will result in a neat surprise, just like this keep built by Taylor. You wouldn’t expect this to be built by someone who usually builds space MOCs—especially not on this scale. The name he chose for this keep is one that suits it very well, it’s truly a jewel! The different heights of towers and walls make it imposing, and the level of detail is pleasing to look at. For example, those Nexo Knights shields used for the crenelations are used perfectly. The walls have a good texture to avoid the so-called “grey wall syndrome.” And the use of several green tones makes it truly deserve the name “Emerald.” Of course, I was curious how this keep came to be, and Taylor was kind enough to answer questions I had about the MOC. View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published September 14, 2021. “To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before” is not only the well-known mission of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek but is also the way that Samuel Hatmaker lives their life. Sam has been “boldly going” new places for a long time now; from boldly building MOCs in kitschy themes like Golden Girls, Devine, and Jem and the Holograms, to boldly taking part in the first season of LEGO Masters US. (It is hard to believe the second season is ending today!) It is only fitting that the next place Sam would boldly go would be on a Star Trek voyage. However, before we teleport ourselves back to mid-August and the “Roddenberry Interactive Stage” of the recent Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, I’d first like to tell you about a “mission” of my own. Since we have written...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published September 22, 2021. You may be surprised by the number of pigs in the LEGO world; I certainly was! They cross several building systems, multiple decades, colours, and themes both licensed and non. When I was mostly finished my cataloguing, a friend asked me to pick an animal that I had more than 10 examples of and show them off. Well, sagh, I apologise for it taking so long, but I’ve finally got round to writing up ‘Pigs’. I know that you won’t mind me sharing it with the rest of the BrickNerd community! My happy piggery Before I Start, a Note on Moulds In this article I’ll refer to some items being the ‘same mould’. That may not be 100% accurate. There are others who know far more about different moulds than I, including our own Francesco Spreafico.  What I mean by the...