And with that the first month of the year is over! A flurry of reviews and set announcement is behind us – time to take a look at what else this lovely community had to offer! We have a smorgasbord of insightful articles, interesting features and deep dives from all across the LEGO community on offer – care to join us? 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 visited Brickvention, went back to Vic Viper school, topped by Gringotts and broke into its vaults. We put our winter village back into storage, sent the new DreamZzz sets to talented French builders while we also remixed a Friends mansion. And we learned all about forced perspective (in two parts, no less!), unleashed Orctober and glinched with Galidor. We even published instructions for a broody...

Brickvention 2024, an AFOL Networking Event, was recently held at the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, Australia. It’s now in its 18th year and continues to attract some of the best builders and most enthusiastic AFOLs from around Australia and other countries. This year, around 280 exhibitors displayed their creations, with an additional 250 non-exhibitors attending the convention day. Around 15,000 members of the public visited the exhibit over the weekend of January 20th and 21st. So let’s take a tour of Brickvention 2024! Brickvention 2024 exhibitors State library of victoria by Brickman Even though the public event is held over two days, Brickvention is really a four-day convention. Everything starts on Thursday morning as the exhibit is set up and the AFOLs greet their new, old, and soon-to-be friends. Friday is the convention day. The day is devoted to guest speakers, games, and workshops and with the added...

Getting hooked into vintage LEGO 12V trains is a descent into madness not unlike the world of classic cars. Both hobbies consume unreasonable amounts of time, money, and nerdy street cred! Luckily, my addiction is not the “collector” flavour, but rather the restoration artist. I am happy to find 12V train sets or element specimens in any condition and restore them to showcase condition (as described in my previous article on 12V track restoration). This also involves “remixing” classic 12V era train models—that is, rebuilding them using a very restrained combination of both old and modern LEGO elements to a contemporary re-interpretation. It would be too easy to blame my exploration of vintage LEGO 12V trains on my friend Holger Matthes since the release of his incredible book LEGO Eisenbahnwelt (shown below). No, this passion for 12V trains started with my exploration into the 12V electrical accessory system (shown below). I...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published January 28, 2021. Happy International LEGO Day from BrickNerd! Today we celebrate our love of LEGO bricks from all around the globe—but why today specifically? Looking at history, I believe there are three important events that led to the AFOL community celebrating today’s holiday. These events changed the game in such a remarkable way that we wouldn’t be AFOLs today if they hadn’t happened. The System Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, courtesy of LEGO Let’s start chronologically. In 1954, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, then junior managing director of the company, was traveling to the United Kingdom for a business trip. Along the way, he talked with a manager of a toy department in a Copenhagen store named Troels Petersen. During their conversation, Petersen lamented that there was no “system” in the toy industry. This idea really made an impression on Godtfred who started thinking of solutions. Back...

It seems that Amazon Mexico is the place today for new reveals as they have shown off the new LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Forest Animals: Red Fox (31154). The set has 667 pieces and features builds of a red fox along with a squirrel and an owl which are all poseable. Like with all the other 2024 Creator sets, LEGO has done an amazing job in capturing animals and objects in a more realistic manner and is rumored to be priced at $49.99. It’ll most likely be a March 2024 release as well since it’s one of the bigger months for LEGO releases. The post LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Forest Animals: Red Fox (31154) Revealed appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

Amazon Mexico has revealed two of the new LEGO Star Wars 25th Anniversary sets. First is the Boarding the Tantive IV (75387) which we saw earlier today but with more clearer images and we now know that it’ll have 502 pieces and retail for $54.99. The other set is R2-D2 (75379) which has 1,050 pieces and will cost $99.99. This set will have the exclusive Darth Malak as the 25th anniversary minifigure. Both sets are expected to be released in March. The post LEGO Star Wars 25th Anniversary Sets Revealed appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

Earlier today before the page got taken down, The Entertainer posted a product page for the upcoming LEGO Star Wars Boarding the Tantive IV (75387). The set features the first scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope where the Galactic Empire invades the Tantive IV and has a similar build style as the Dark Trooper Attack (75324) for the Mandalorian. It includes minifigures of Darth Vader, two Stormtroopers, Captain Antilles, and two Rebel Fleet Troopers. This year, LEGO is celebrating the 25th anniversary of LEGO Star Wars so they’ll be including exclusive minifigures similar to Harry Potter and Ninjago and this set will also include ARC Trooper Fives from Clone Wars. There’s no mentioning of the release date so I’m guessing it’ll be with the March releases. Update: Clearer images can be found here along with a 25th anniversary R2-D2. The post LEGO Star Wars Boarding the Tantive IV...

Best of BrickNerd — Article originally published January 26, 2023. Welcome back beautiful people, it’s time for another LEGO technique spotlight! The last time I did a waterfall technique spotlight I believe I promised you all a look at rockwork. It´s been a bit of a wait (sorry, I blame LEGO Masters…) but the time has finally come. So let´s have a look at some beautiful and creative ways to build… well… rocks. (And cliffs I guess, but that didn´t really have the same punchline-feel to it!) Below I´ve gathered some different types of techniques you can use when building rockwork with LEGO. Because let´s be honest, a lot of things look a lot cooler when they are standing on a big cliff. Slippery Slopes Let´s start off with the basics: slopes. Slopes come in a variety of angles and colours and are the most common way to build rockwork. There...

LEGO has officially announced a brand new movie called Piece by Piece which will be in theaters on October 11 telling the story of Pharrell Williams’ creative genius one LEGO brick at a time. The movie partners LEGO with producers Pharrell Williams, Mimi Valdés, and Shani Saxon (i am OTHER) and directed by Morgan Neville. Focus Features Partners with Pharrell Williams’ i am OTHER and the LEGO Group on ‘Piece by Piece’ a Groundbreaking New Film From Academy Award® Winning Director Morgan Neville Studio Sets October 11, 2024 Theatrical Release Date PIECE BY PIECE is an unparalleled motion picture experience that captures the magic and brilliance of Pharrell Williams’ creative genius, one LEGO® brick at a time. Uninterested in making a traditional film about his life, Pharrell set out to tell his story in a way that would set audience’s imaginations free. Developed from his singular vision, PIECE BY PIECE defies...

There is now a product page for the upcoming LEGO Love Gift Box (40679) gift with purchase set. The 159 piece set features a Shiba Inu dog with a heart shaped chocolate box that also has a heart balloon. There’s also two different sticker messages you can use on the flag. There’s no word yet on when it will be released or the price requirements to get it at this time. Valentine’s Day gifts show a loved one how much you care, and with this LEGO® Love Gift Box (40679) set, Valentine’s Day just got more fun. Featuring a Shiba Inu dog, heart-shaped chocolate box, heart balloon and flowers, this cute set is also suitable for other special occasions, like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or birthdays. It also comes with a choice of eyes for the dog and 2 different sticker messages. Sit the dog in the gift box for a...