In an age where original LEGO action/adventure themes seem increasingly rare in an IP-dominated market, DreamZzz has felt like a breath of fresh air. The inherent playfulness and creativity that serve as the core of the theme are a perfect match for the LEGO medium. So when LEGO offered BrickNerd the new 2026 wave of DreamZzz sets, I was excited by the opportunity. In true BrickNerd fashion, we decided to distribute the sets to several local builders across my home state of Iowa and let the recipients’ creativity run free! With the sets in hand, it was time to assemble my dream(zzz) team. Luckily, Iowa has its own LUG, IowaLUG, full of incredible builders (shameless plug, if you’re in Iowa, definitely check the group out). I reached out to several members who I thought would be a good fit, delivered the sets to them, and let them get to work! And...

Prepare all your festive decorations and cast the spell that creates the biggest snowbanks as we make our way to Hogsmeade, the all-wizarding village known for its gorgeous architecture and magical holiday atmosphere! LEGO provided BrickNerd with set 76457 Hogsmeade Village - Collectors’ Edition. This wonderful set recreates the charming design of the old wizarding cottages and shops in remarkable detail: all the playful signboards and colorful elements are faithfully inspired by the films. The only difference from the Harry Potter franchise is the feeling of an in-between season. It’s clear that the richness of modern LEGO elements would disappear beneath thick layers of snow, and this limited snow coverage became an exciting creative challenge for us! Let’s enjoy this incredible set as an “off-season” foundation for creativity and watch the landscape transform into a true Winter Village. I took inspiration from the snow-covered window ledge of the Hog’s Head pub...

Back in the 15th century, THE renaissance man Leonardo Da Vinci had a dream to design a human-powered flying machine. He never realized his goal, but he quite impressively worked out an early understanding of many laws of physics behind flight—often based on observing birds and their mechanics. This allowed him to devise some pretty fantastic concepts that were ahead of his time, such as his famed “flying machine” (an ornithopter). The flying machine design revolves around a central wooden platform that the human lies on and works mechanisms with their arms and legs to power bird-like wings and a tail with ropes and pulleys. To be fair, Da Vinci’s ornithopter couldn’t get past the weight-to-power ratio that the inefficient flapping motion required. But, it sure looks cool, doesn’t it!? Isn’t she beauteous!! The creative folks over at LEGO decided to adapt Da Vinci’s ornithopter concept into set 10363, Leonardo da Vinci’s Flying Machine, and...

“The Conversation Piece” is a monthly BrickNerd series about creativity and building with LEGO authored by our friends over at the Builder Improvement Initiative (BII), a Discord-based community that helps LEGO builders of all levels get better at their craft through knowledge-sharing and constructive feedback. Have a question you would like us to consider for a future article? You can submit it here. Enjoy! Why So Many New Molds? Browsing the LEGO element catalog the past few years can make you feel like a kid in a candy store, or perhaps more accurately, a mall of candy stores. For nearly every category of part, we’ve seen several groundbreaking additions to the family: plates now come rounded with bar holes, wedge plates are becoming tiles, and brackets are always getting a new variant. The graph below charts the amount of new parts per year (taken from Brickset), although it is inclusive of...

In just a few days, there are five more projects that have reached the 10,000 supporter goal for the First 2026 Review Stage. We’ve already seen different versions of these projects before but these are new spins on the general themes. With this update, we’re now up to 10 projects already that have reached the review stage and we’ve barely just started. It looks like it’ll be pretty busy for this round. Locomotive: New York Central #5405 – Olivier312 Cuphead – Vaicko Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice! – Brick Built Labs Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter – King of Crocs Bring Back the Retro Hype : Vinyl! – brickmotionID The post LEGO Ideas January 13 Update – Up to 10 Projects Already appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran