LEGO Community Headlines and Highlights for April 2023
April arrived in force with a bevy of interesting articles, fascinating features, insightful deep dives, and eye-catching videos 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 published the case for and against purism, posted instructions to build a ballerina and some art supplies, and teased a “Children Welcome” initiative along with revealing the work behind LEGO’s Majestic Horse April Fools joke. We explored the classic minifigure smile, forgotten minifigure packs, working LEGO clocks, and building trains with style. We’ve chatted with AFOLs with kids, autistic AFOLs, and charitable AFOLs. We’ve even analyzed the rise of big sets and the basics of a LUG. In fact, we’ve published so many interesting articles in April, that we’ve included an interactive calendar of them at the bottom of this post so you can make sure you didn’t miss a thing.
But there are many more fascinating stories to be told from within the LEGO community, so here are some of the best LEGO articles and videos that caught our contributors’ attention throughout the month of April. We applaud the effort that went into each of these features, so click on the headlines or photos to head to each story or video. They are well worth your time!
Ant Bandit: Beginners Guide to LEGO Stop Motion Animation
Join Ant Bandit as he shows how to make your own stop-motion LEGO Brickfilms for beginners, step by step.
Brick Architect: Going Big at BrickCan 2023
BrickCan 2023 took place April 20-24 at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, BC, Canada. After being canceled in 2020 and virtual conventions in 2021 and 2022, this is their first in-person event after the pandemic, and boy did they go big!
BrickCentral: Building and Photographing Brick-built Scenes
This article is intended as a compilation of tips to consider when shooting entire LEGO-built scenes, especially if you don’t have a lot of brick resources available for large MOCs. Learn some important compositional basics to consider when you build your brick scene and how to utilize this to use as few bricks as possible.
BrickCentral: Using Mirrors to Extend a Background
Who hasn’t dreamed of making large LEGO sets, which take up a lot of space, fit in a singular photo? But unfortunately, builders are confronted with two problems: the lack of LEGO parts and/or the lack of space because of a small table or little space to take the pictures. But a mirror can change all of that…
Cheesey Studios: LEGO's Misunderstood Castle Theme
LEGO Knights' Kingdom had a lot to offer Castle fans, so why was it received somewhat negatively? Take a look at all the line had to offer.
Jay’s Brick Blog: All the LEGO April Fools 2023 Jokes and Gags
April Fools is a long-running tradition in the LEGO community, with LEGO Fan Media and even the LEGO Group themselves joining in on the fun. Here’s a list of all the LEGO April Fools jokes from 2023.
LEGO Newsroom: The LEGO Group Breaks Ground On Carbon-Neutral Run Factory In Virginia, USA
The LEGO Group broke ground on its new carbon-neutral run factory in Chesterfield County near Richmond, Virginia, USA. This is a US $1 billion investment in the company’s long-term growth globally and will help delight millions of children in the Americas with LEGO play.
matyho kostky: Do you know how to number LEGO kits?
How does LEGO number all of their sets? Is there a secret code to that five-digit number? Take a look at this summary list of numbers to see what trends we can discover.
New Elementary: Flowerfest - Eero Okkonen
A flower power parts fest is back on the schedule for New Elementary and they are starting off strong with Eero Okkonen creating many memorable characters highlighting the pretty petals of LEGO botanical sets.
Rebrickable: Is This LEGO? Technic
The site judges the sub-themes on their worthiness of the Technic label. After that, they offer their opinion on the state of 'modern' Technic in general. What is modern Technic, anyway?
StoneWars: Always Bigger, Always More Expensive? An Analysis of Adult LEGO Since 2010 (translated)
With the increasing number of sets geared more toward adult buyers, the question of whether the price of an individual set is justified or not now arises. Has the LEGO range for adults been raised too higher in price in recent years?
Toy Photographers: High Key Toy Photography
“High key” and “low key” are creative styles that photographers use to help convey a specific mood or emotion in their images. Learn some of the best techniques to get the best photos of your MOCs and minifigures.
Tips&Bricks: Autism Acceptance Month 2023
April is Autism Acceptance Month! To celebrate Tips&Bricks invited Autistic builders to build what Autism means to them and share how it impacts their love of LEGO.
Tips&Bricks: 7 Ways to Inspire Yourself to MOC
Making a MOC can sometimes feel intimidating. Tips&Bricks outlined seven ways to inspire yourself to make a MOC like recoloring a set, adding lights or movement, or making changes to a set you already love to make it even better.
Women’s Brick Initiative: How Well Do Minifigs Represent People from Around the World? Analysis of Cultural Representation in Minifigs
When LEGO creates minifigs, they are by default assumed to be white individuals of Western European descent. In this analysis, we take a look at diversity and explore which cultures have been represented, how they have been represented, and how representation has changed over time.
If all of those amazing features weren’t enough to satisfy your LEGO community craving, here is an interactive calendar of everything that BrickNerd has published this last month to make sure you didn’t miss a single article.
Did we miss any of your favorite LEGO articles and content for the month? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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