Today’s guest article comes from Casey McCoy, an AFOL from the Chicago-land area, an active MOC builder, and current Brickworld Master for a few more days. You can find him online on Flickr and Instagram. Meet Simon Liu In the North American LEGO Community, you’re hard-pressed to find someone as prolific, impactful and engaged as Simon Liu. A man whose MOC output and community engagement over a short baker’s dozen years rivals what most dedicated AFOLs hope to accomplish in their lifetime. He’s one of the biggest influences in our modern AFOL landscape, whether you know it or not—from community organization, build challenge creation, iconic build inspiration, parts spamming, and more! Online, you may see him masked in anonymity—imbued in the image of a Ferrero Rocher or Benny. However, in person, there’s no mistaking him. Simon’s spiky hair and cheery personality, with a large troupe of AFOLs/TFOLs in tow, are hard...

I will admit it… when I was encouraged to join a LEGO minifigure habitat challenge early in my MOC-building journey as BrickBuiltJosh, I was not so sure about these small 8x8 square corner builds. They seemed small, constrictive, boxy, and like… everything had to be some corner of a room! Since then, I’ve built 35 habitats over the last few years, joined several habitat challenges, and found inspiration to break the mold and find new ways to get creative with the format. Part of that is finding creative ways of integrating multiple habitats into a “stack” in interesting ways. So let’s see how we can break the mold, get out of the corner, and be creative with the individual habitats themselves. Going back to my previous article on building skillful habitats, we delved into five key skills for building more captivating and dynamic builds when building small. Today, we’re completely re-envisioning...

Earlier this year, LEGO and a group of impressive global partners successfully lobbied the UN to recognize the importance of play in childhood development by recognizing June 11th as the International Day of Play. The concept of “Play” loosely means engaging in activities that use creative and imaginative skills, focusing on fun and process and less on an end result. As Niels B. Christiansen, CEO of the LEGO Group said, “For more than 90 years, we have championed children’s right to play, as we know that it can change lives. It strengthens family bonds and helps children develop essential skills and reach their full potential.” Whether you and the children in your life engage in play regularly or need some inspiration, LEGO can be a great starting point because it can meet the children in your life where they are in their development, as well as be completely open-ended. As a...

Welcome to the next exploration in our NPU series (Nice Parts Usage). This time on our quest we are exploring the least LEGO of LEGO themes, ZNAP! But what is ZNAP, you ask? Doesn’t look very ‘lEGO,’ does it??? ZNAP was a very short-lived theme, lasting from the fall of 1998 to the end of 1999. A total of 19 sets were released, mostly vehicle-based, with a few bizarre animals here and there. ZNAP elements sorta work like a combination of Technic and Bionicle (like K’nes), where you “znap” different pieces together. Instead of axle, pin, or stud connections, most ZNAP elements connect via a little nub that fits into a corresponding joint on the end of the beams. Our friends at Brickset took a little deep dive into the theme a few years ago that is worth reading if you want to know more. A bunch of znap connected to...

Playing with various water shapes results in many amazing possibilities to photograph with LEGO. In previous articles, I demonstrated how water provided the movement for my minifigure surfer action shot as well as the perfect backdrop for minifigures at the pool.  But those are minifigures… what about using water with LEGO bricks or MOCs? The combination of geometrically strict LEGO bricks and soft shapes of water seems impossible at first. However, by augmenting your LEGO creation with water, you can get an impressive and unexpected result! Here is a DIY water-and-plastic process that you can create for your LEGO photos. What You Need A white or colored paper background Plastic bag Adhesive tape Thread Mid-sized glass Plastic syringe/baster Several LEGO creations/models (preferably transparent) with one missing element, for example, a fish without a tail. Here we have a fish, a flower, a jellyfish and a whale. Preparing for the Show Let's...