Illustration by Joe Meno On July 1st, 2013—eleven years ago—Tommy Williamson debuted Nerdly, the glasses-wearing mascot of a site called BrickNerd he started six months before that. The bespectacled red 2x2 brick has since become a symbol for all things nerdy about the bricks, popping up in contests and countries all around the globe. To mark the occasion, we are going to re-publish last year’s article about Mega Nerdly, the crazy oversized collab that created something beautiful… and ended with a bang! But fear not, because this time, the story has a happy ending! Happy Birthday, Nerdly. Turn it up to eleven! History to Live Up To To celebrate BrickNerd and Nerdly’s birthday, we wanted to go big! The plan was to build a 10x size Nerdly to premiere at Brickworld Chicago and then tour around LEGO fan conventions to encourage readers to participate in the BrickNerd Brigade, showing off how...

It’s finally summer! And with the weekend coming up, why not take BrickNerd to the pool and enjoy this month’s roundup of insightful features, deep dives and interesting articles from across the LEGO community? There’s something for everyone! 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 looked at the LEGO Technic orrery and LEGO Fan Mail, and got a parents guide to Legoland California as well as designer insights about the mushroom house. We built a GBC module, celebrated at Hogwarts, (politely) asked for instructions and levelled up our LEGO habitats. We even highlighted a charity helping rebuild Ukraine, learned about brick-built patina and LEGO ZNAP, and got to know all about one of the best space and community builders of our generation and more. In fact, we’ve published so many interesting...

Today’s guest article comes from Maciej Kocot, an AFOL from Poland, an active MOC builder, and microscale master. You can find him online on Flickr and Instagram. Charity and the LEGO Community The AFOL community and acts of charity seem to go hand in hand. From the inclusion of Make-A-Wish kids at events and unnaturally fierce charity auctions at conventions to the annual Creations for Charity fundraiser selling MOCs to buy LEGO for children, there are plenty of examples of generous folks for charitable causes. Today, we’ll take a look at a particular group’s new cause: Ukraine. Brickmania Benfifet for Ukraine It’s been more than two years since the war visited upon Ukraine. The events taking place there are truly heartbreaking. BrickNerd wrote about the LEGO community in Ukraine, which I hope will recover soon. When I hear news from Ukraine, I often feel helpless. There is not much that one...

Today’s guest article comes from Chris Castagnetto who shares his family’s experience visiting Legoland California. Is Legoland California worth the trip? Do the newest rides and experiences live up to the hype? Is there enough to do with the park being a quarter of a century old, and what’s worth doing? These are just a few of the questions I hope you will be able to answer after reading this opinionated look at Legoland California from the eyes of a parent. My name is Chris Castagnetto, and I’m an AFOL. As such, I am also a huge fan of pop culture and theme parks. I have been an avid theme park and attraction attendee my whole life, taking classes in college about zoo and theme park business, design, and management. Luckily enough, I’m now a father of two and get to see theme parks and experiences in a whole other light....

For anyone who has ever been to a LEGO convention, the sound of a GBC is pretty hard to miss. It’s not a very pleasant sound—in fact, it’s often quite deafening—and it’s almost always crowded with people admiring the different types of contraptions that slowly transport a crazy amount of LEGO footballs (soccer balls for our American readers) and basketballs around a never-ending loop. What is a GBC? GBC in the LEGO community stands for Great Ball Contraption. If you are new to GBCs, it’s a build (aka module) with moving parts that transports balls from one point to another. BrickNerd has a comprehensive article on the history of the GBC. The beauty of this concept is that if you put a bunch of modules alongside each other, the balls can be transported from module to module. If enough are connected, you get a loop that transports the balls in a...