Every LEGO Collab Standard, Themed Month and Recurring Contest

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We all know that build inspiration isn’t always easy to come by. Sometimes finding an idea can be just as difficult as bringing the idea to reality! This is where LEGO collaborations, building standards, and themed challenges come in. Sometimes having a base to work from or being part of a larger puzzle can help bring a build— and its builder—to life.

To help builders achieve that goal, we’ve compiled as many themes and projects with published standards we could think of, ranging from the big like New Hashima all the way to the vaguest of weekly challenges that can help motivate you to begin your next build that plugs right into the LEGO community! Some of these collabs have been huge for years, while others have faded into the background, but it doesn’t take much to bring inspiration back to the spotlight!

From MILS to Micropolis, there are many different themes that have become “standards” in the AFOL community. This extensive article seeks to list and document every LEGO collaboration standard, themed month, recurring contest, and any other coordinated excuse to build. BrickNerd has written extensively about many of these events and linked to them in our monthly contest round-up. This article was spearheaded by BrickNerd Patron Charlie Stephens, an AFOL from Virginia, along with the vast global brain trust of our BrickNerd Contributors. If there is anything that we missed, please add it to the comments!

LEGO Collaboration Gold Standards

Great Ball Contraption (GBC)

We’ll start with a staple of most shows, the Great Ball Contraption or GBC. A series of independent modules, a GBC layout is intended to pass little LEGO soccer and basketballs around in a loop. Some layouts fit onto one table and some can span across dozens and dominate a convention hall!

The key to this system is the standard for a GBC module, dictating a specific flow rate (machines have to pass an average of one ball per second onto the next machine), input height (inbox has to be 10 bricks tall, 10 bricks wide, and 10 bricks deep), and output height (11 bricks, to easily flow into the next input).

Some shows or builders have developed more guidelines to make shows run better, like having a bypass for large modules that can’t be easily swapped out if something breaks, or even developing “shared power” mechanisms so that multiple machines can run from one motor! Outside of the specific technical requirements, builders have a lot of free reign with GBC so there are some fantastically creative modules out there!

 

HabitaTS

One of the most accessible collabs, you don’t need much more than a minifig and two walls for a Habitat. The low part count and easy guidelines make it very easy to build a large collection of these small builds, and the effect is even better when they’re stacked. That’s right, these builds don’t just connect horizontally to their neighbors, but vertically too! At conventions (or at home), Habitats can be connected in a pyramid-style Stack, creating an awesome larger display.

So many awesome fan challenges have been hosted around the Habitat standard, and there have even been other variations on the specific shape of the Habitat at conventions like BrickFair! And this is another collaborative standard that’s been lucky enough to see some love from LEGO set designers.

 

There’s definitely less motion in Micropolis, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive! Developed by TwinLUG, Micropolis is a city-based collab where each module is a quarter of a city block built in microscale (smaller than minifig scale). The quarters come together to form blocks, and the blocks come together to form a city!

The standard is a bit more specific here, with intentional spots for roads, sidewalks, and crosswalks. But between all of those, you can add any microscale building you’d like to the city! Some variations on the standard have been offered to include a microscale monorail, waterfront property, and even some attempts at angled streets!

 

MILS/Moduverse/Modulars

If microscale isn’t your thing, then MILS might be more up your alley. As opposed to most other collab options, the Modular Integrated Landscaping System (MILS) is much more of a baseline rather than a complete collab. It provides a solid foundation for a collaborative effort, making it much easier to match heights between modules, maintain a consistent look and feel between different builds, and connect and separate easily when it comes time to display.

It’s also a lot more solid than just building directly onto baseplates, unlike the usual modular building standard based on the “Modular” LEGO sets of the same style. MILS lists specific heights and depths for all different types of terrain (though it’s used most often for modular cities) and even has some cousins across the oceans! Swebrick has a Moduverse with the same foundational intent, Denmark has taken it a step further with Moduverse+, and SydLUG in Australia has made enough tweaks for a new level of standard: SMILS!

 

The overlap of interests between LEGO fans and model train fans means that there was destined to be some type of collaborative effort around LEGO train displays. Thus, there are a handful of options including the L-Gauge Modular Standard (LGMS), which basically creates an ecosystem! Devoted to putting on huge train displays, LGMS needs that level of detail to make it as seamless as possible when folks arrive to start setting up.

Track height and width, shaping and degrees for different corners, and even the table height are all finely calculated for the most effective display. Some aspects of this standard were adopted from PennLUG’s original ballast plans. LGMS has a European cousin as well, Germany’s LEN Railway Standard. The differences might not be massive at first glance, but it’s always interesting to see how multiple discoveries can result in slight changes between groups across the globe.

 

Yes, that is a minilander of BrickNErd-in-chief, Dave Schefcik, along with NErdly! This is a permanenet part of miniland in Legoland New York.

Now if microscale and minifig scale aren’t your thing, don’t worry! Minilanders might suit your fancy. At LEGOLAND parks around the world, “Miniland” is one of the central attractions featuring large models of local and global landmarks with brick-built figures to complete the picture. These figures might not see a ton of AFOL action these days, as their large scale can make it tough to build full scenes for them if you don’t have a theme park’s worth of parts lying around.

But with the variety of small pieces these days, there are so many creative possibilities for different characters! One of my favorite uses of Miniland scale is Minicon: a display built on-site at a convention with Minilanders to represent the attendees and microscale builds to represent the MOCs present. Minilanders is ripe for a revival!

 

Another LEGO collab that’s ready for a resurgence is Moonbase. Based on a standard for raised bases and interconnecting tunnels, Moonbase offers a side of space-themed building beyond just ships. Even though the tunnels and bases might not be complex, you’ll want to double-check your measurements so that all of your raised sections can connect securely to each other and to your neighbors.

This standard has recently received a push through Junebase, a challenge to build a Moonbase module during the month of June! You could even argue that some LEGO set designers are riffing on the concept with their latest Space mega-sub-theme. The airlock element is featured throughout the City, Friends, and Technic space-themed sets, so you could potentially connect them all into one big spaceport! There’s also Micro Moonbase, combining some established styles into a loveably tiny display, one-third the size of minifig scale. Microscale is a lot easier to transport!

 

Founded by members of NOVA-LUG and honed by other local LUGs, the Waterfront goes beyond a city layout and stretches to the shoreline. With specific standards for the boardwalk, beach, and ocean, and stretching to three baseplates deep per module, the Waterfront definitely isn’t the smallest collab you can do. But just like Habitats, the effect is awesome when you get to line up all the modules together!

The LEGO Collab Lightning Round

So, we’ve covered many of the most widespread standardized collab options, but we can’t stop there. Here are a handful of other building standards that you can consider for a future project.

  • Baseplate: Standards don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. IndyLUG’s standard for their M-Tron base is the humble big grey baseplate. Whatever works!

  • Castle Slice: Designed by NILTC, this hefty Castle Slice standard provides a solid base for a castle collab. They’ve also created a Skyscraper standard for folks to add to their modular city.

  • Fallout Shelter or Fallout Shelter or Bunkers: Another round of multiple discovery where several groups created essentially the same thing, but this standard is made up of stacked habitats to the theme of your choosing. Both standards are based on the same mobile game, so clearly it struck a chord. But remember, lighting is key!

  • LEGO Tower: To the skies! This LEGO Tower standard is based on the mobie app, an apartment-tycoon-style game with tons of different designs for floors and businesses. Given the wide world of LEGO, there are still so many options for themes and styles you could include in your own custom floor or elevator. And in a similar vein, the floor design from set 41748 Heartlake-City-Community-Center is stackable as well. Groups like RVA-LUG have used this to their advantage, making stellar towers with monthly challenge builds!

BrickNerd has you covered with how to upgrade your Maxifig

  • Micro Pirate/Castle: Another easy-to-transport collab, this standard for micro-builds uses a neat octagon-shaped plate to get more wavy, natural borders than the traditional squares provided by LEGO pieces. 

  • Minifigures on Parade: In order to avoid the boxiness of Habitats, but still enjoy a small Minifig-scale build, Rambling Brick developed the Minifigures on Parade (MOPs) standard for LEGO’s 90th anniversary. Always great to have collabs with a low barrier to entry!

  • New Hashima Cube: Designed as the basis for a BroLUG Cyber City, the cube skeleton makes it easy to ensure that you can connect to your up- and downstairs neighbors. And that Cyber City collab inspired the legendary, once-in-a-hobby New Hashima collab (#YONHO). This collab takes a bit more planning than just making a cube, but that is the underlying structure of the whole tower. I could give it more than a passing mention here, but, what else is there to be said after New Hashima Week happened here on BrickNerd? If you click one link in this whole article, make it that one so you can appreciate one of the all-time collabs.

  • Space Trophy Ultimate Piece Intensive Diorama: Man, if only there was a more catchy name, maybe like an acronym. Very different from the previous Micro Moonbase concept, but sharing some similarities. And another one with triangle-based modules, rather than typical squares. Thinking outside the box!

  • WBI Quilt: The Women’s Brick Initiative runs this partially digital collab, which has seen several iterations through different conventions and themes. Participants build a 6x6 mosaic and then send in a photograph, which gets digitally added to the overall mosaic. A real-life version also travels to select conventions where the squares are stacked into a frame. Definitely something different and always a hit!

Themed Months

Sometimes, collaborative builds or challenges will have guidelines rather than strict stud-by-stud standards. A lot of these types of standards can be found in the space (SPAAAAACE) community, with challenges covering almost every month of the year! Here are a few of the LEGO-themed months that have been or still are part of an AFOL’s annual calendar.

January

  • Droneuary: Kicking off each new year, Droneuary is straightforward and open-ended. Build drones. No meatbags allowed! Big, small, civilian, military, eldritch, you name it, all drones are welcome.

February

  • FebRovery: The loose theme of FebRovery is where the challenge is to build a tripped-out ground vehicle that travels on wheels or treads. Some folks have taken on the added challenge of making a new rover for each day of the month!

March

  • Marchikoma: March brings us back to the land of standards based on the Tachikoma ‘Think Tank’ design from Ghost in the Shell. These robot designs have a segmented body and specifications for the arms, legs, and eye(s). The Think Tanks also have a handy dandy color-coded graphic to help indicate whether or not a build meets the standard. 

  • MARCHtember: An offshoot of SHIPtember listed below, MARCHtember serves as another outlet for very, very big spaceships. Participants build a SHIP in March—quite the task!

June

  • AquaJune: A more recent effort, AquaJune challenges its participants to MOC in the Aquazone theme, an underwater (but very space-esque) theme from the mid to late 90’s. 

  • Time for Crab: With a handy bit of overlap, Time for Crab runs from June 22nd to July 22nd. It’s time for crab.

September

  • SHIPtember: Here we have one of the biggest efforts in the community, SHIPtember. During the month of September, build a Super Huge Investment in Parts (SHIP) that’s at least 100 studs long. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but the results are astoundingly impressive! 

  • Friendshiptember: There’s also been the recent development of Friendshiptember, involving a lot more bright colors and a lot fewer studs. There’s something for everybody!

October

  • Mechtober: In case 100 studs of spaceship-building last month didn’t wipe you out, we continue to MECHTOBER. Four weeks to build four mechs and they each need to fit a pilot, although that doesn’t necessarily mean a minifig! Frogs make pretty stellar pilots as well. It’s not the most complicated challenge of the year, but it still takes a decent amount of effort to keep up with the pace. 

  • MOCtober: Hosted by NOVA-LUG, with apologies to INKtober, MOCtober is a set of 31 prompts, one for each day of the month. Some folks plan ahead and prep some builds ahead of time, some play with the prompts and build more towards homophones, and some only do a handful of days through the month. As long as each build doesn’t take longer than a day, there’s no wrong way to participate.

November

  • NoVVember: Back into space territory, NoVVember is centered around the ‘Vic Viper’ style of spaceship. Based on a sprite from the Gradius game series, and popularized by the late Nate “nnenn” Nielson, the Vic Viper style is distinct with a specific alignment of wings and fins. This is another collab that has been immortalized in LEGO set form, as the Alien Conquest subtheme features a spaceship that fits the standard!

December

  • Build to Give: Starting in November and carrying through to the end of December, Build to Give is definitely worth mentioning here. Hosted by The LEGO Group itself, Build to Give runs from the start of November to around the end of December and challenges participants to build hearts and post them with the hashtag (#BuildToGive). For every heart shared, The LEGO Group will donate a LEGO set to a child in need of play. 6.5 million sets have been donated so far, and the number goes up every holiday season!

Recurring Contests and Challenges

Outside of themed months, many LEGO contests run regularly at certain times each year. This list has been vaguely organized by month, though some of them tend to move around a bit. There are building opportunities that often have prizes for judged entries, though some are just to celebrate the joy of building!

  • LEGO Ideas, LEGO House & BrickLink BDP: These are some of the long-running, most widely accessed competitions or challenges in the LEGO community—and they just happen to be sponsored by LEGO themselves! Participate in a challenge run by LEGO Ideas and your build might end up as a set! Or enter a LEGO House competition to have your build displayed at the LEGO House. There aren’t many honors higher than that! (Aside from maybe having your MOC end up as an official set, available for pre-order, like the end result of the Bricklink Designer Program (BDP) for a chosen few.)

  • AFOL Conventions & LUGs: Outside of official LEGO sponsorship, AFOL Conventions and LEGO User Groups (LUGs) have contests and challenges all the time. Some conventions give away trophies and LUGs can sometimes give away a few prizes for challenges too. Check out the LAN website to find the events and groups near you!

  • Marchitecture: Back from the dead! This challenge was dormant for a few years but came back strong this year, getting builders to recreate ‘existing’ man-made landmarks in the style of the LEGO Architecture series of sets. You could even choose existing buildings from other worlds! 

  • Bio-Cup: Bio-Cup is an elimination-based, Bionicle-inspired competition that runs from May through July. This constraction (that’s constructible action) figure competition draws the best of the best in the community, so it’s always a treat to see what kind of characters they can cook up. 

  • May the Fourth: Eurobricks (EB) is a popular LEGO-related forum, and as such they often hold contests and challenges. Their biggest event each year is the May the Fourth challenge, with different Star Wars-based genres to build in!

  • Iron Forge: Iron Forge is a seed part challenge organized on Discord, one of the most popular of that type. Participants are tasked with using a particular LEGO piece, like a helmet, frog, or leaf, and incorporating it into a MOC. Easier said than done! During each round, the free-for-all participants get scored on their entries, and the eventual winner gets the honor of participating in an even tougher challenge like…

  • Iron Builder: This is the real deal. Iron Builder is THE seed part challenge. This contest is invite-only and based on participation in past years (and winners of the Iron Forge). Each contestant is paired up against each other and sent a handful of the seed part in question, this time narrowed down to a particular element. After a few elimination rounds, the last pair duels to become the next Iron Builder. Not many folks get the chance to participate, but everyone can enjoy the stellar builds and endless puns!

  • Summer Joust: Another multi-month event, Summer Joust runs from June 1st to August 1st. This contest is focused on Castle-themed builds, with last year’s event featuring categories like Light and Shadow, and Fantasy Heights. This year’s event had more creative prompts, like Festival of Colors, Beast Masters, and Stairway Tales! 

  • Middle Earth LEGO Olympics (MELO): In case Castle is a bit too generic for you, this contest focuses directly on JRR Tolkien’s domain. Similar to other contests, there’s a different theme for each week, based on the realm of the Lord of the Rings. 

  • Vignweek: Hosted by RebelLUG, this is a concentrated contest. Held over a week, participants have just 24 hours to build for the first five prompts, and 48 for the final prompt. Each build should be a vignette, anywhere between 16x16 and 32x32 studs. 

  • Nerdvember: Another November opportunity is Nerdvember, hosted right here on BrickNerd! This challenge has participants build variants of Nerdly, the BrickNerd mascot and usually comes with some amazing prizes. This year’s theme is Animation, with past themes including Survival, High Fantasy, a comic book scene, and video games!

  • Space Jam: Hosted in December by RebelLUG and OrphanLUG, Space Jam is another space-themed challenge. But there isn’t just one theme! The most recent round of Space Jam featured six different categories for entries including Bio-Mechanical Fusion and Future Cityscape. 

  • Brickscalibur: Hosted by RogueBricks, this Castle-themed contest boasts some excellent trophies (even for digital entries!). The contest even sponsors a “battle pack” scholarship for aspiring builders.

  • Colossal Castle Contest: The Castle spirit is strong, enough to support multiple contests! CCC has been going for years and the best builders can double dip!

  • Brick Film Day & Bricks in Motion: These creators focus on brickfilms and stop-motion animation using LEGO. They even host an annual week-long contest, Brickfilm Rapidly All Week Long (BRAWL)!

  • Brick Train Awards: This virtual, global competition began as a way to keep the LEGO train community connected during 2020 but has been going strong ever since!

  • Let’s Build Series: Hosted by Kate (@BrickHuntress), this is also a themed habitat-like challenge that takes place every few months, but with a more open vignette style. 

Contests and Themes That Should Come Back

We’re a nostalgic bunch at BrickNerd, and there have been so many amazing contests and building themes that have come and gone in the LEGO community. Here are the ones that we brainstormed that we think should make a reappearance (as of Nov. 2024), also in vaguely annual order. (And yes, some of our decisions are based solely on how good a name a contest has!)

  • Febrobbery: Sure, you could participate in FebRovery listed above. But how much cooler would it be to build some human or alien baddies who could swing through and steal all the rovers everyone else is building? Febrobbery answered that question in 2022. 

  • Imperial March: Build Star Wars-themed MOCs in March! Though it seems to be a one-time challenge so far organized by Boone Builds, it definitely has one of the most fitting names! 

  • April Tools: A challenge held in April, centered around tools. They could be either from real-life or movie props and across any building scale.

  • AdoraBuild: Earlier this year, right here on BrickNerd, there was a contest all about cuteness. The AdoraBuild certainly made an impact and helped everyone smile and go “Awwww!” Maybe if we well up our eyes real big, it’ll return next year!

  • Greeble de Mayo: A bit more focused, this contest encourages participants to ‘greeble’ an 8x8x8 stud area by offering different themes for each week of May. 

  • 31 Days of Mosaics: Hosted by Nicole (@Blu.Fam.Bricks), the challenge was to build a small mosaic (between 6x6 and 8x8) every day of May. Not for perfection, but for completion, building for the sake of building! With any luck, this challenge will return next year even stronger. 

  • Orctober: Held in October, Orctober is a contest based around the big green lugs. The variety in scale is impressive here, with orcs ranging from brick-built minifig scale to some that are easily 20 bricks tall!

  • Ma.Ktoberfest: Also held in October, this was a kit-bash-style sci-fi challenge. It has since been confused with Mechtober, but was more of a spaceship building opportunity.

  • Winter Village Contest: Centered around the atmosphere of the annual Winter Village LEGO sets, this Eurobricks contest is a holiday treat! Many people’s Winter Villages have been inspired by entries to this contest.

  • LEGO Speeder Bikes: Not a concrete standard, but definitely a fun sci-fi niche to join in on! If you like speeders, then this was the contest for you. It comes back every now and then.

  • GARC: The Galactic Asteroid Rally Circuit (GARC) was a wide collab focused on space-based, ludicrously fast racing ships. It’s found a bit of a descendant in the recent Xenoball Run displays popping up at conventions…

Worldbuilding Themes

There are some building inspiration themes that don’t fall into a contest or month and are better categorized as a long-running organized worldbuilding theme. Sometimes, these groups host contests as well, but they stand more on the concept itself.

  • Guilds of Historica: In another newly-created storyline, folks build Castle-esque MOCs based around four different Guilds.

  • Hibernia: From a more sci-fi angle, Hibernia is based around an ice planet. No, not the Ice Planet you’re thinking of, but it’s still inspired some excellent builds!

  • SW Factions: This worldbuilding effort is set in the Star Wars universe, taking advantage of the vast amount of untold stories in a galaxy far, far away.

  • Wandering Skies: Based in a steampunk setting, this ongoing story has inspired a handful of MOCs and challenges, some even taking flight!

Themed LEGO Building Days

Finally on our comprehensive list, there are a few specific days that are LEGO-themed that people use as an excuse to build LEGO. Here are a few of them, organized by day in the year and then by day of the week, though there are likely a few that we’ve missed.

  • International LEGO Day: January 28th is International LEGO Day, marking the patent application for the original bricks. 

  • Day of Play: June 11th marks the International Day of Play. It’s intended to encourage play for the development of kids, but who said AFOLs couldn’t join in?

  • LEGO Build Day: On December 27th, LEGO Build Day is set aside for all of the new sets you probably just unwrapped, or you can dig into the parts you already have!

  • Micropolis Day: August 17th marks Micropolis Day, the anniversary of the standard’s creation. Obviously, the best way to celebrate is by building a Micropolis module!

  • Mosaics on Monday: Led by Dana (VirginiaBricks) and John (JohnBToys) on Instagram, Mosaics on Monday does exactly what it says on the tin. Every week, folks gather to build a mosaic of any size, any style, with any type of LEGO pieces.

  • Thrifty Thursday: Initiated by the late Naomi Takeuchi (Brickanista on YouTube), Thrifty Thursday is a time to build a smaller, cheaper set. She streamed her build experiences to open up the fun to everyone else!

  • Will It Spaceship?: Not strictly a day, but it fits the closest here. Led by Will (Acceleryx) on Instagram, this free-for-all challenge asks a simple question: Can a particular set be rebuilt into a spaceship? It’s an excellent spark, with build subjects ranging from old Castle sets to small train polybags!

No Excuses, Time To Build!

And there we have it. I’ve definitely missed some collab standards and other themed excuses to build. If you know any others, please add them in the comments! While you’re at it, maybe ponder some new collabs to add to the portfolio, as there are definitely some gaps in the themes covered (and in the calendar, too).

It’s also definitely worth noting that if your LEGO collab or challenge idea hasn’t caught fire, don’t give up! These standards didn’t become the standard overnight—it often takes years of progress and refining before they really find their audience. Standard status is only achieved through collective building, enabling the community to participate together in a way that they couldn’t have done before. By working together, our builds can become more than just the sum of their parts, no matter the reason you build. Happy building!

What will you build next? Let us know in the comments below!

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