My October kicked-off with BrickCon 2022, the local LEGO convention here in Seattle, WA. The rest of the month breezed by, but not without some new content that I’m excited to share. There has also been some substantial news in the world of LEGO, including multiple significant moves towards greater inclusivity, and the retiring of one of the most influential LEGO product lines of all time.

Inclusivity

In the broader LEGO world, the biggest cluster of news this month relates to the November release of the #21337 LEGO Ideas Table Football set. The two big points of discussion being the small size (with just 5 players per side) and the choice to include a huge range of skintone minifigure heads instead of using the iconic (but less inclusive) yellow heads. Slipping a little below the radar is that skintone was not the only type of inclusivity packed into the set; it also included two heads with hearing aids and one with a skin pigmentation condition called vitiligo. It is always good to see more ways to represent yourself using LEGO!

#21337 Table Football (Foosball) is pricy, but a big step forward for diversity and inclusion.

Despite negative initial impressions due to the small size, the initial reviews including this review by Jay (Jay’s Brick Blog) indicate that it’s not a replacement for a full-sized table, but the tiny foosball table is playable and fun. As for the $250 price, it is a bit hard to justify unless you need an army of minifig parts with a diverse selection of skintones. The best sumamry of the diverse minifigure heads available in this set is a different article at Brickset.

On a related note, we finally have news of the long-rumoured reboot of LEGO Friends. As the parent of a 4-year old son, I am thrilled to see less overtly gendered packaging, and a shift to include three boys among the core characters in the theme. They have related the new series back to the original cast in the way that I had anticipated — the five original girls have grown up and will appear in the new series as parents of the eight new kids or other adults in the community.

The 2023 reboot of LEGO friends includes a more diverse cast of characters.

The best coverage of this development is this excellent Brickset article by Megan Lum. Gender is hardly the only form of inclusivity here… One of the characters has a limb difference (a missing left hand), and the bio for several of the characters suggest multiple forms of neurodiversity.

Mindstorms — the end of an era

In what appears to be a major surprise for the AFOL community, The LEGO Group is retiring #51515 LEGO Mindstorms Robot Inventor, the only current product with the Mindstorms branding. While it hasn’t been formally announced yet, it seems likely that #17101 Boost Creative Toolbox could be next on the chopping block, eliminating all of the consumer-facing products that focus on programming skills.

#51515 LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor is on the chopping block.

New at Brick Architect

• Review: 2022 LEGO Advent Calendars
  This year we get a fresh batch of five (more expensive) advent calendars to choose from. Let’s find out which ones are worth the higher price.
• BrickCon 2022 LEGO Convention
  This year’s convention felt like a homecoming of sorts — packed with positive energy, even more amazing MOC’s, a vibrant after-hours scene, and TV star vibes from a ton of LEGO Masters contestants.
• Review: Wooden LEGO Brick Desk Drawers by Room Copenhagen
  Exorbitantly expensive, impractical for storing LEGO bricks, and lower quality than you might expect — there’s an unexpected audience who might want these wooden drawers anyways…

Choose from the five 2022 LEGO Advent Calendars in our spoiler-minimizing review!

MOC of the Month

It is hard to beat a LEGO model that combines the architectural detailing that I love to see with an artistic, ethereal composition that captures your curiosity. LEGO artist Ralf Langer has creating something truly awe-inspiring here…

Lavender Dream, by Ralf Langer.

A surprise for me was learning that this amazing image is not a digital creation; Ralf is clearly the master of LEGO photography with this crisp, clean image and a perfectly edited backdrop. You can learn more about the model in this discussion at 1000steine (German).

Exciting new sets for AFOLs

With Christmas / Winter Holidays just around the corner, there are just two sets which are being released in November — and both have made waves in the fan community.

• #21337 Table Football (Foosball)
  We talked about the latest addition to the LEGO Ideas series already. If you are interested in building your own table, or the selection of diverse minifigure heads, give in a spin.
  2339 pieces, $250, available now at LEGO.com
• #76210 Hulkbuster (UCS-sized)
  Very few LEGO sets earn truly scathing reviews, but Hulkbuster is one of those sets. Critics (such as Brickset) slammed the set for inaccuracies which are inexcusable at this scale, large gaps at the joints, and an astronomical price tag.
  4049 pieces, $550, available November 4 at LEGO.com

A relatively poor model for a terrible price; there’s a lot to hate about #76210 Hulkbuster.

Best articles from around the web

Here are some highlights this month from around the web – Happy reading!

• Designing a Modular Building from start to finish
  This is an incredibly in-depth look at how one builder uses digital design tools to create top-tier modular building MOC’s. I love getting inside the minds of other talented builders to borrow techniques and refine my own skills.
  —Brickset
• The Galidor Horror Picture Show
  I participated in this Galidor-inspired madness late Saturday night at BrickCon this year. Will Hafner brought 20 pounds of Galidor parts and dumped them on the table, resulting in some of the cringe-worthy creations featured in this article.
  —BrickNerd
• We Stress Test the New ‘In Box’ Paper Bags
  I am extremely eager to see The LEGO Group reduce their environmental impact. While I don’t think eliminating single-use plastic will make a huge difference, it is a tangible step that’s rolling out soon. Richard did some hard-core experimenting on the new bags to see how they compare to the plastic bags they are replacing, and is largely impressed by what he finds.
  —Rambling Brick
• 8×8 Honorifics: The Art of Custom Trophy Construction
  As a two-time theme coordinator at BrickCon, I have had the pleasure of designing six brick-built trophies. Learn more about this tradition in North American conventions in this great article.
  —BrickNerd

“How a mediocre rendition of the Hulkbuster has become the largest and most expensive Super Heroes set ever released, I’ll never know.”

Brickset

• 2022 press release poll analysis
  It’s inevitable that some LEGO sets will get more “buzz” than others, but can it be quantified. Despite some obvious selection bias (which is noted in the article), Brickset has enough data to highlight those 2022 sets which have garnered a lot of buzz, and the ones which readers are less excited about. (I was not surprised to see the 90th anniversary #10497 Galaxy Explorer and #10305 Lion Knights’ Castle sets at the top of the list).
  —Brickset
• GBC Beginnings: The Birth of LEGO Great Ball Contraptions
  This is a brief but informative history of GBC, which (I learned) started out as simple machines to pass a ping pong ball to the robot on your right.
  —BrickNerd
• Old Elementary: LEGO® Clikits – colourful icons
  This is a deep dive into the unique and obscure colors used in the oft-forgotten line of girls fashion jewellery known as Clikits.
  —New Elementary
• How LEGO Instructions Have Changed Over Time: A Forest of Discovery
  This is a nice summary of the evolution of LEGO Instruction design, using the original 6054 Forestmen’s Hideout (194 pieces) and #40567 Forest Hideout (248 pieces) remake for a reasonable apples-to-apples comparison.
  —BrickNerd

LEGO Masters around the world

Despite a one-week delay due to Major League Baseball scheduling issues, Season 3 of LEGO Masters USA is well on it’s way. So are the articles which offer more insight into what it’s like to be on the show!

Local Coverage:

• UArizona student to compete on season three of ‘LEGO Masters’
  Liam is a student at the University of Arizona, which published this great article and a short video about his experience being on the show with his mom Emily.
  —University of Arizona News
• B.C. siblings compete in LEGO Masters TV contest
  David and Emily share some of their experiences on the show. Emily explains that watching the show on TV is “almost like watching a memory bank…”
  —Langley Advance Times

“almost like watching a memory bank … We were laughing all the time – it was so much fun doing it.”

Emily Guedes

I hope to share our own interviews with the LEGO Masters contestants soon, which will naturally focus on: LEGO Storage, building LEGO at home, and the unique experience of being on a prime-time TV show.

Podcasts:

Here are a selection of podcasts that I hope you will enjoy.

• The Tale of LEGO Bricktales (58:23)
  I just started playing Bricktales, a new LEGO game that requires you to build LEGO solutions to puzzles digitally. This digital building is the most unique aspect of the game, and the central focus of this episode.
  —Bits N’ Bricks
• Meet your new LEGO Friends, Paper Bags in sets, and LEGO’s financial results and cost of living problem (48:13)
  In the most recent episode, Richard and Jay cover some of the same topics in this month’s newsletter.
  —Extra Pieces
• Monumental Diplomacy (41:39)
  Learn how North Korean artists and architects started off building structures within their country, but became exporters of their unique monumental style at budget prices.
  —99% Invisible
• First Errand (34:11)
  I have long understood how culture impacts design and architecture, but the built environment shapes culture too. Japanese cities are designed differently, making it possible for very young kids to navigate without their parents. As the parent of a 4-year-old, this type of child-friendly urban environment fascinates me.
  —99% Invisible