LEGO Community Headlines and Highlights for September 2023
Pumpkin-spiced lattes are taking over cafés and Halloween costumes are being crafted: It sure sounds like September is already over! Time to kick back on the porch one last time this Summer and enjoy this month’s assortment 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 went supersonic right after learning everything about LEGO model airplanes. We met builders at BrickSlopes, took a trip to an impressive castle, and learned about AFOL tokens of appreciation. We published instructions for a yellow convertible as well as expanded LEGO succulents, created brick-built characters for Dungeons and Dragons and designed our MOCs meant to be touched. We talked illegal SNOT, learned about the BrickBuilding Community’s fight against cancer, and got a fascinating history lesson on Modulex. We even tried to recover some stolen LEGO! In fact, we’ve published so many interesting articles in September 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 September. 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!
Beyond the Brick: Huge LEGO Dungeons & Dragons Built By Over 30 People
BrickCon 2023 brought lots of characters together to make an awesome dungeon crawl. Get ready to roll initiative and dive into this adventure, humor included.
Brickcrafts: Automating a LEGO City
Join Marcus as he builds a basketball court sideways, shows how to elevate a building, and reveals what goes into automating a city with lights for different times of the day.
Brickset: How To Really Get Into LEGO Buildings
Throwback Thursday or not: Brickset’s article on how LEGO has provided play access to buildings and other structures over the last couple of decades is literally going through the roof. Or at least parts of it – later sets were apparently pretty (un-)hinged!
Cheesey Studios: Revisiting LEGO Vikings
What happens when you combine Technic, Bionicle and System? Well, you get one of LEGO’s most bizarre and well-loved castle themes. Join Caleb as he revisits LEGO Vikings in all their awkward glory.
DoodleBricks: TFOL Talk with BenTheBrickBuilder
DoodleBricks chats with BenTheBrickBuilder about influence in the LEGO community, how you have to suck at something to improve, and other not-quite-teen topics.
DuckBricks: Finding the LEGO Win Kid
DuckBricks tagged along on a journey with MiniSuperHeroesToday to Aarhus, Denmark to meet Martinus Mandal who is perhaps the most recognizable face from LEGO instructions you never knew you knew.
Jay’s Brick Blog: Bidding Farewell to the Models at the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery
This time of year is the time of masterpieces. Just before AFOL Day during Skærbæk Fan Weekend, the models in the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery were switched out – time for Jay to recap what last year’s class of builders brought to the gallery!
Kos Brick: LEGO Farm Mini Vehicles - Part 3
When it comes to building small, Kos Brick makes the most of very few pieces. Let’s head to the farm to see what mini vehicles they’ve created this time.
LEGO For Adults: Building Billund in Bricks
LEGO community stalwart (and BrickNerd alum) Francesco Spreafico shares one of his brick-built Billund in at LEGO Campus in Denmark.
Matyho kostky: LEGO Dogs - A Minifigure's Best Friend (translated)
LEGO has a long history with our four-legged friends as you will soon learn in this deep-dive into LEGO puppy history. Wooden toys, DUPLO, Belville, and fictional or not, we’re sure you’ll find a breed to your liking – and might learn a thing or two, too!
Matyho kostky: The Rise and Fall of 3D Building Plates (translated)
Long replaced but never forgotten, the legendary raised building plates of the past have created countless memories for AFOLs far and wide. Join Vlastimil as he travels back in time to highlight the variety of vacuum-formed terrain.
New Elementary: New Moulds in the LEGO Icons 10318 Concorde
No one makes new elements look more appealing than New Elementary’s Tom Loftus when he shows off his LEGO System knowledge. It comes as no surprise that this month’s offering of Concorde windscreens has kept him busy!
New Elementary: New Moulds in the LEGO Friends 41760 Igloo Holiday Adventure
Fancy a second course off the New Elementary menu? Caz Mockett has taken a look at a recently released LEGO Friends set and showcases the interesting and slightly crazy elements that it comes with. One of them might be a game changer for the MOC building community.
reubs: We're Remaking LEGO Island
Yes, you read that title right. Two superfans have decompiled the original LEGO Island game and are giving it the HD update it deserves, this time with realistic simulated water!
Solid Brix Sudios: Modding the LEGO Republic Gunship
How do you get started modding a LEGO set? David takes us through the steps from color changes to adding more detail to the new Star Wars Republic Gunship.
StarWars.com: The New LEGO Star Wars UCS Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser
There’s a new gray triangle releasing, and it’s massive. A great reason for StarWars.com to sit down with LEGO designer Hans Burkhard Schlömer to talk about the new UCS Venator and how it came into being.
Stonewars: 12 MOCs From LEGO Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (translated)
Continuing his series covering one of the most impressive vignette collabs in recent history, Jonas Kramm chats with Eil Willsea about his impressive Lord of the Rings vignettes, his developments as a builder, and the design process.
Stuck in Plastic: Lord of the Rings – Stop Motion
Ever wondered how those amazingly immersive stop motion videos over on the LEGO instagram page are made? Find out how a short film for the release of LEGO Rivendell was created, and even find some tips and tricks for your own animations.
The Brick Blogger: Builders’ Guide for LEGO Braille Bricks
From A to Z, blogger and Braille user William goes over some of the basics of the Braille alphabet, LEGO’s new bricks, and how they can be built into a LEGO model.
The Brothers Brick: A Peek Behind the Wall - Building a 200,000-Piece LEGO Game of Thrones Diorama
Anu Pehrson of LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery fame has created another stunning LEGO Game of Thrones creation and written an amazing guest feature covering how she created this towering creation. What starts from a clean table ends with dozens of modules, motorization and beautiful details to boot!
The Rambling Brick: Stressful Legalities - Wedging Elements Between Studs
Ever since Jamie Berard’s infamous presentation of “Stressing the Elements” back in 2006, the term “illegal” is heard more often than not. Time for Richard to add his own spin to that, stress testing the humble LEGO plate by wedging tiles and other things between its studs. It’s oddly scientific yet beautifully presented!
Tips&Bricks: Toxic Fandom in the LEGO Community
The LEGO community can be friendly and welcoming but like every fandom, it has its dark sides, too. Tips&Bricks shares their thoughts on this issue of toxicity, how it starts, and what can be done about it.
Tips&Bricks: Making Mechanisms Move – Part 3
Tips&Bricks is covering another wonderful type of motion to make LEGO models more interactive and full of life. This month’s addition to your technique trunk is the spiral effect – see how various different MOCs use this simple principle to great effect!
True North Bricks: Guide to LEGO Wild Cats
With this month already bringing a feature on dogs, it seems True North Bricks felt like one-upping the “competition.” This article is all about the top of the food chain and the wild beauty of large LEGO felines, from ancient saber-tooth tigers to the elegant leopard.
The Washington Post: How LEGO Bricks Went From Five Colors to Nearly 200 (subscription)
In 1958, the LEGO color palette featured five colors. Since then, what was once exclusively available in primary colors has transformed into a rainbow of options, with bricks coming in anything from teal to metallic silver. This article beautifully chronicles the additions and changes over the years.
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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