xtra Xmas Accessories Review

Feeling the holiday cheer yet? LEGO wants to stuff some stockings and help get your cities in the spirit! The xtra Xmas Axxesories (sorry, I had to!) set 40368 was released several weeks ago and I was sent a few packets to review. This set has 32 pieces in it, the most interesting of which…

Castle of the Forsaken Emperor Review

I’ve been a fan of the Ninjago sets for a few years now – mainly from the release of the amazing Temple of Airjitzu (70751-1) in 2015. That set transcended the theme and brought out my liking for interesting architecture sets. As the Ninjago theme continued to add great sets that had wider appeal (the…

CMF Series 19 Review

The Collectible Minifigure Series 19 officially hit the shelves on September 1 and I received a fresh box from LEGO for this review about a week ago. Since a lot of photos and reviews were posted online well before the series was officially launched, I’ll skip the parts rundown and jump right into the juicy…

Friends Rescue Mission Boat Review

It happened. I bought this set just for one picture. My imagination was immediately turned on when I saw this set and I answered the devil’s call. You can’t say no to the devil, especially when is made of bricks. But #nospoiler for the moment, I’ll let you guess which of next pics is the…

Fun Fair: LEGO People Pack Review

The LEGO People Pack – Fun Fair 60234 makes its debut on August 1 here in the US, but since I was visiting family in Spain where they’ve had it available since June 1, I couldn’t resist picking up the set at a LEGO Store in Madrid. I’d been so excited to get my hands…

Brick Generals: Asian-themed Custom Minifigs

Feeling the sting from not being able to buy the Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner 80101 and Dragon Dance 80102 sets last year, I started searching for minifig customizers that specialized in creating Asian-themed characters and stumbled upon Brick Generals in Singapore. Brick Generals has a whole range of minifigs from Lunar New Year revelers…

More Bokeh for Your Mobile

One of the banes of mobile photography is the inability to create smooth backgrounds and bokeh. The problem is a matter of physics — small sensors like the ones we have in our phones can’t produce a shallow depth of field. Camera manufacturers came up with “portrait mode” to digitally fake it, but the AI…

Pseudo-macro LEGO Photography

If you’re shooting with a regular lens on your camera, filling the frame with LEGO minifigures often means composing with crop in mind, wasting pixels in edit, and ending up with a lower quality image. This is why many LEGO photographers shoot with dedicated macro lenses: you can get tack sharp, close-up shots without sacrificing…

Mobile Flash Photography: Godox A1 Review

Off-camera flash photography used to be the realm of DSLR and mirrorless shooters but now mobile shooters with supported phone models can get in on the game with the Godox A1. The Godox A1 is a compact device that is billed as a smartphone flash but also functions as a remote control and wireless transmitter…