Here at Brick Architect, we recently posted a really interesting article explaining the current state of 3d printing technologies. We explore what The LEGO Group is able to achieve using professsional additive manufacturing techniques, and what you can realistically produce at home using a more economical hobbyist 3d printer. Enhancing your LEGO Hobby with 3D printing explains why the technology still can’t compete with moulded bricks but it is good enough to produce accessories to complement your LEGO hobby.

Enhancing your LEGO Hobby with 3D printing

If you are a fan of LEGO Architecture (like me), you might be interested to learn that a new LEGO store opened this month in an architecturally important building — the Battersea Power Station in London has been transformed into a boutique shopping destination as part of an £9 billion adaptive reuse project.

Intricate LEGO model of the Battersea Power Station on display at the new store. (Photo: Shamus / Jay’s Brick Blog)

To celebrate the new store, a large scale LEGO model of the Battersea Power Station by Gary Davis is on display in the store, and people who attended the grand opening were able to build a really nice looking microscale version to take home. (While I would not call it an official LEGO Architecture set, it is certainly more official than many microscale LEGO Architecture creations.)

Scanned building instructions – the ID for the building instructions is 6479597. (from Brickset.com)

May is also a month filled with anticipation in the LEGO community, since one of the largest waves of new LEGO sets each year comes out in June. The focus is usually on sets in evergreen kid-focused themes like City, Friends and Ninjago, but there is a lot on offer for AFOLs as well. Rather than list out each and every new set, I highlighted a few of the sets of greatest interest to the AFOL community later in this article.

#71469 Nightmare Shark Ship looks weird and wonderful, like everything else in the new theme.

Looking beyond this huge wave of new sets, a brand new theme was announced! LEGO Dreamzz is a playful new theme that feels like a mashup of Cloud Cuckoo Land from The LEGO Movie and the short-lived Hidden Side theme, and I am eager to see how it resonates with customers. While the sets will not be released until August, the first wave of 11 sets was annouced, alongside the first four episodes of the show which accompanies the new theme. I skimmed the first episode and can see that the animation quality is good, but I am more excited by the sets themselves which feature kid-pleasing vehicles. (Most of them are brightly colored and inspired by animals such as a Shark Ship, Crocodile Car, Turtle Van, or Bunny Mech.)

Exciting new sets for AFOLs

As noted in the intro, June is a big month for new LEGO set releases! I’ve highlighted just a few of the most interesting sets for AFOLs here, but be sure to visit LEGO.com to see if there’s anything I missed.

Let’s start with a few of the most interesting sets designed specifically for the 18+ market:

• #43227 Villain Icons (Disney)
  This is a reasonably priced set which includes four minifigs, clever building techniques, hidden compartments and retro elements like a VHS tape. Can’t be rearranged easily, which feels like a missed opportunity.
  1540 pieces, ages 18+, $130, available now at LEGO.com
• #10323 PAC-MAN Arcade
  Expensive but impressive is a good way to summarize this brick-built homage to the most iconic 1980s arcade game. It is not ‘playable’ but you can see PAC-MAN and the ghosts navigate a dot-strewn path by cranking the arm on the right side.
  2651 pieces, ages 18+, $270. available now at LEGO.com
• #71799 Ninjago City Markets
  The latest addition to the highly sought Ninjago City series is this massive model that occupies two 32×32 baseplates. It is ambitious, with two separate towers connected by bridges and a cable car.
  6163 pieces, ages 18+, $370, available now at LEGO.com

#71799 Ninjago City Markets is huge and alive with activity.

Between dozens of new sets in the LEGO Friends, City, Ninjago, and Creator themes, I wanted to highlight a few sets of greatest interest to adult builders.

• #40649 Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure
  I have always enjoyed oversized brick-built LEGO minifigures but haven’t given them a try. I suspect this is about to change as I love the look of this classic oversized figure, complete with the classic smile print.
  654 pieces, ages 10+, $50, available now at LEGO.com
• #41757 Botanical Garden
  The 2023 Friends reboot has been excellent, featuring a more diverse cast of characters and some excellent sets. This one has especially captured the imagination of the AFOL community as it’s muted color palette and refined architectural sensibilities put it nearly on par with the highly sought Modular Building Series. I’m excited to build and review my copy very soon.
  1072 pieces, ages 12+, $80, available now at LEGO.com
• #41748 Heartlake City Community Center
  That’s not all, the second model I wanted to highlight is also from this summer’s LEGO Friends lineup. Check out the architectural detailing and vibrant color palette on this modular-inspired skyscraper.
  1513 pieces, ages 9+, $140, available now at LEGO.com.

#41748 Heartlake City Community Center brings realistic architectural detailing and vibrant colors to the LEGO Friends lineup.

In addition to the sets released on June 1, there are a few sets coming out later this month. Lastly, I want to call out my continued dissapointment that The LEGO Group releases a small number of sets every year on June 1 in most of the world, but delayed to August 1 in North America.

This feels particularly unacceptable when the set feature USA-centric subjects like this year’s NASA Mars Rover Perseverance. This also happened in 2020 with #21054 The White House.

• #40634 Icons of Play
  This set features four famous female footballers in minifig form and a ton of additional minifigs, but the model itself is a bit underwhelming. Full review of this set coming soon.
  899 pieces, ages 10+, $100, available June 6 at LEGO.com
• #42158 NASA Mars Rover Perseverance
  Previous LEGO-based rovers were based largely on System elements (Bricks, plates, and tiles), but this new version is a serious Technic affair featuring lots of interactive features. It looks cool and is well priced.
  1132 pieces, ages 10+, $100, available August 1 in North America, available now everywhere else at LEGO.com
• #76252 Batcave – Shadow Box
  At first glance, this is just a black rectangle with the Batman logo carved out, but inside you will find an intricately detailed Batcave in the style of high-end Classic Space MOC’s. But the price – this just doesn’t ‘feel’ like a $400 set.
  3981 pieces, ages 18+, $400. available June 5 at LEGO.com

To see all of the other new sets this month, including a ton of impressive sets in the LEGO City and Friends themes, visit the lego.com store.

Best articles from around the web

It is always a pleasure to highlight some of the best LEGO articles every month. I hope you enjoy this month’s best content from around the web.

• An Opinionated Guide to LEGO Storage: Containers and Cost
  Grayson Moses offers their personal journey in creating a LEGO storage solution that balances storage density, sorting into categories instead of by part to use fewer containers, while still ensuring that it is easy to find the pieces you need.
  —BrickNerd
• Mr. Gold Turns 10: A Retrospective…
  Jay Ong is one of the rare AFOLs who found a rare Mr. Gold figure in the wild. This is a fun personal story about how he got it, and the role it still plays in his collection..
  —Jay’s Brick Blog
• Adult Fandoms Are Driving the LEGO Market to New Heights
  I am always eager to see how mainstream outlets cover the evolution of the AFOL community. This is a really nice article featuring quotes from a wide range of AFOLs including many who enjoy building official sets, and a few who enjoy building MOCs.
  —Dwell

Highlighting some of the new elements in Summer 2023 Ninjago sets. (Photo: New Elementary)

• LEGO Ninjago June 2023: Elements Rising
  Tobymac shows off some of the awesome new elements debuting in the Summer 2023 Ninjago lineup, including a new multi-colored marbled ball element that is about 50% larger diameter than the GBC-classic Soccer Balls. Eager to see ‘Ninjago Ball Contraptions’ in the future. (We also get a spinner that uses three balls, a ball launcher, and numerous other ball-free elements.)
  —New Elementary
• Everything You Want To Know About LEGO Pneumatics
  Ronald Vallenduuk offers a succinct summary about how Pneumatics work, the evolution of pneumatic LEGO elements, and a few of the most impressive sets.
  —BrickNerd
• How does LEGO depict conflict in Star Wars sets?
  In this article, we explore LEGO Star Wars sets through the eyes of Ph.D Data Scientist Joshua C. Fjelstul. There’s a lot of charts, data, and written analysis, but one of the main takeaways was that a majority of Star Wars sets feature both a protagonist and antagonist – reinforceing the idea that conflict helps with brick-built storytelling and sells better.
  —Brickset

We can conclude that having familiar names attached to models increases sales enough to make it worthwhile acquiring and paying for licences, otherwise LEGO would not bother, so they are here to stay, like it or not.

Huw Millington / Brickset

• Licensed Technic sets: where will it all end?
  Huw Millington explores the shift towards almost exclusively Licensed LEGO Technic sets. It is surprising how fast this has changed: with around 7% Licensed Technic sets in 2011-2015, and 78% Licensed sets in 2023. Does the LEGO brand really need a boost from 3rd party licenses — do licensed sets sell that much better? (Probably yes.)
  —Brickset
• Bio-Cup 2023 is Underway!
  Ted Andes explains that Bio-Cup is a Bionicle-themed competition which features some amazing MOCs from folks around the world. I am frequently in awe of the organic shapes that certain bulky Bionicle elements allow, and the energetic poses that constraction joints allow.
  —BrickNerd
• Hacking Studio: How To Get Better Lighting in BrickLink Studio Renders
  Wayne Tyler is known for his massive LEGO Architecture model of the National Mall in DC, but I enjoyed this lengthy and deliciously nerdy article explaining how to significantly improve the quality of rendered images using an HDRI map. This allows you to light a LEGO model as if it were photographed in a real-world environment. Even cooler, if any reflective (chromed) elements are included in the model, you will see the environment reflected back like a mirror!
  —BrickNerd

Floss Barrett showcasing her custom LEGO Botanical designs. (Photo: Bricknerd)

• The Ageless Appeal of LEGO Botanicals
  This interview with Floss Barrett shows the wide range of flowers that she has created beyond what is already available in the LEGO Botanicals series. It’s an impressive collection worth seeing, wrapped in an interview about her personal LEGO journey.
  —BrickNerd
• Old Elementary: 6931 FX Star Patroller set review and MOCs
  Kev Levell gives us a detailed look at some classic LEGO space elements in this throwback 1980’s space set review. While my focus has always been on conteporary elements, it is fun to see what you can do with vintage parts.
  —New Elementary
• How to Skærbæk: A Guide to the Most LEGO of LEGO Cons
  Andreas Lenander offers an in-depth look at the many activities that take place during the annual LEGO Convention closest to The LEGO Group’s headquarters in Billund. As you will learn, the long weekend is packed with memorable opportunities!
  —BrickNerd

Best Podcasts:

I didn’t highlight any easy listening this month, so you will need to find some quiet time to get the most out of this month’s selections. Enjoy!

• Remember More, Forget Less (56:06)
  This episode is all about how human memory works, why it fails, and how we can leverage tricks like storytelling to remember things a lot more easily. Near the end, they even offer an relevant analogy for this audience: they explain that stories fit together in our brain the same way that LEGO bricks stack upon one another. To risk taking the analogy too far — narrative storytelling is the clutch power of human memory. (Hidden Brain is an excellent podcast hosted by Shankar Vedantam, but it requires your full attention to get the most of the complex stories.)
  —Hidden Brain
• Nuts and Bolts (44:21)
  I enjoyed this discussion with structural engineer and author Roma Agrawal about some of the obvious and not-so-obvious innovations that (literally) hold our modern society together. (Let’s face it, while we love talking about the clutch power of our favorite plastic bricks, there are stronger ways to build things in the ‘real’ world.)
  —99 Percent Invisible

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