This month’s update is a couple days late because I am just returning from a trip to Europe. My trip included a couple days in Billund, Denmark — the surprisingly rural town where The LEGO Group is headquartered.

We stayed at the Hotel LEGOLAND, enjoyed two days of rides and activities at LEGOLAND, and a full day of learning and building at the LEGO House. I especially enjoyed sharing the history of LEGO with my son during a quiet tour of LEGO Idea House, which houses a private museum for LEGO employees, guests, and business associates.

I had a lovely interview with designer Niels Mølgård Frederiksen about the employee-exclusive set based on the new LEGO Campus building.

I also had the rare opportunity to tour the interior of the new LEGO Campus Building. It is a colorful building with a complex shape that plays homage to the LEGO brick and brand. I also had a great discussion with Niels, the LEGO Designer reponsible for #4000038 LEGO Campus — the rare employee-exclusive set based on the new building. Please be patient and I’ll share those articles as soon as I can!

New at Brick Architect

We are working on reviews of a ton of new sets, but were only able to publish two of them so far…

• Review: #71819 Dragon Stone Shrine
  Based on the photos, you might wonder if this is a MOC or a real set? It is very real… and offers a unique chance to learn a ton of advanced LEGO building techniques!
• Review: #71486 Castle Nocturnia (LEGO Dreamzzz)
  A castle with a twist or two – are you ready for an M.C. Escher experience with LEGO bricks? This might be the most compelling LEGO Dreamzzz set yet!

#71819 Dragon Stone Shrine offers next-level building techniques.

August 2024 releases for AFOLs

August is a key month in the LEGO calendar. That’s because the majority of the new sets for the holidays are released now. This gives kids plenty of time to get excited about the new sets, stores plenty of time to stock sets on shelves, and families time to buy and wrap gifts. The LEGO Group tends to release plenty of additional sets later in the year, but they tend to be LEGO store exclusive sets since they can control the supply chain more easily.

I already mentioned that #71486 Castle Nocturnia (LEGO Dreamzzz) is an excellent set, and here are a few more interesting sets for adult builders…

• #42172 McLaren P1
  The most anticipated set for Technic fans is the latest installment in the 1:8 scale Technic Supercars series. I look forward to building mine soon, and sharing my review here at Brick Architect.
  3893 pieces, ages 18+, $450, available now at LEGO.com
• #71483 The Never Witch’s Nightmare Creatures
  My son built the four smallest new Dreamzz sets, and this was his favorite “because it has cool new pieces, you know.” He’s right – there’s an interesting new 2-piece cauldron used in this set and you get four of them. (Review of all four sets coming soon…)
  457 pieces, ages 9+, $45, available now at LEGO.com
• #21350 Jaws
  This LEGO Ideas submission is based on the iconic film of the same name. The set captures the famous scene where a giant shark attacks the boat, and looks good doing it.
  1497 pieces, ages 18+, $150, available now at LEGO.com

While I haven’t built #42172 McLaren P1 yet, these 1:8 Scale technic supercars rarely disappoint Technic superfans.

There’s a lot of new stuff for Technic fans this month. You might also want to check out #42182 NASA Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle – LRV ($220, 1913 pieces), or the hotly anticipated #42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line ($250, 2891 pieces).

You can see all the rest of the new releases by visiting the lego.com store. (Making a purchase using our referral link helps support this website.)

Best articles from around the web

Learn more about the LEGO hobby every month with a selection of great articles from around the web…

• Interview with Nathan Thom, founder of Rebrickable
  This article offers tons of insights into how Rebrickable began as a set for making MOCs, and has grown into a marketplace to buy and sell custom instructions.
  —Brickset
• LEGO City review: 60409 Yellow Mobile Construction Crane
  While ostensibly a LEGO set review, the highlight of this article is a closer look at some interesting new parts used to create the extendable boom.
  —New Elementary
• Interview with Graham E. Hancock, author of LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity
  I enjoyed reading insights into the creation of this book, including interesting excerpts such as the following sketches from designing LEGO Star Wars minifigures for videogames.
  —Brickset

Excerpt from LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity. (Photo: The LEGO Group)

• There Will Never Be Another LEGO Club TV
  This article by Henry Licklider offers an amazing look at the early days of The LEGO Group experimenting with Youtube as a way to reach fans. I do think that the period of 2007-2012 represents a key time in their shift towards recognizing the role of social media, as well as recognizing the importance of the growing AFOL community.
  —BrickNerd
• Check out these Seattle landmarks made from LEGO Bricks!
  This is both an article and video about Shane Deegan, a Seattle area builder whose microscale model of the MOHAI is on display at the museum. I love his passion for rebuilding our city using LEGO.
  —King5 Seattle
• How To Make Custom Printed Cloth Flags for LEGO Projects
  Fabric flags and sails with custom printed logos are a mainstay of late 80’s and 90’s LEGO themes like Castle and Pirates, but they are tricky to make yourself. This article by Brian Everett explains how to do it yourself in awesome detail.
  —BrickNerd

Custom printed and cut fabric flags. (Photo: BrickNerd)

• Organising your LEGO collection
  This short article follows a single LEGO fan’s journey to better organize their LEGO Collection using a wide range of storage products. I personally prefer standardizing on just a few storage solutions, but it’s up to you how to organize your collection!
  —Brickset
• Farewell to Fareham: Retiring a Large LEGO Train Layout
  I do not build huge LEGO models, which is why I enjoy reading about the unique challenges that they pose. This article explores Michael Gale’s quest to document a massive train build before starting over.
  —BrickNerd
• The Five Core Mechanisms of Great Ball Contraptions
  This is a succinct summary with short videos showcasing five ways to move balls around your own Great Ball Contraption, or GBC.
  — BrickNerd

Best podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to learn when you are on the go. I hope you enjoy these two stories that relate loosely to the LEGO hobby…

• What’s with all the tiny soda cans? And other grocery store mysteries, solved.
  28:08)
  This podcast episode is all about pricing different portions of food, but I can’t help but draw parallels to what we’ve experienced in pricing and smaller parts in recent LEGO sets.
  —Planet Money
• As Slow as Possible (41:51)
  Architecture plays with space and shapes, visual artists play with color, light and darkness, and musicians play with volume and rhythm. I enjoyed this article about a musician pushing slowness to the extreme, resulting in a song that will take 639-years to play.
  —99 Percent Invisible