5 Reasons Why Alternate LEGO Builds Are So Important

You need to explore alternate LEGO builds. The true heart of LEGO isn’t in the official sets; it’s in the endless possibilities of custom and alternate builds. Let’s delve into the joy of discovery that comes with exploring these alternate creations. This freedom is not just essential to the LEGO community, but it’s also a source of excitement and intrigue. And in today’s world, where alternate creations are more important than ever, this joy of discovery is something we all need to experience.

The Story of How I Discovered The Potential of LEGO Alternate Builds

Click Here For The Full Story…

One day, while on a date, I walked into a local toy store, thinking about board games my partner and I could play over coffee. Instead, I found a basement full of LEGO on display, and I instantly returned to the giddy state of joy of a kid in a toy store.

I was stunned by the LEGO sets they were making these days. I picked up the Fast & Furious 1970 Dodge Charger R/T, which I could justify at a price point of around 30 dollars Canadian.

A picture of my first LEGO set as an adult and am excited to build it later.

My partner and I stayed up the whole night building this set with calm music in the background. We both had so much fun building it that we HAD to finish it that night. It’s one of those days filled with little moments of peaceful joy that I will never forget.

Building this set together reignited my passion for LEGO, and I wondered why I stopped creating. There are so many reasons why it’s a great hobby or activity to do regularly. However, one of the most significant reasons is the sense of community that comes from building LEGO with your friends and family. It’s a feeling of connection and shared joy that truly makes this hobby special and deserves to be celebrated in this article.

This was the set completed after an all-nighter.

After finishing the build and seeing it on display for a while, I do not have that itch scratched from building a 345-piece set.

I went to the internet to find alternative builds for this set.

Lo and behold, I unexpectedly discovered a whole community-building alternative built from only the pieces included in a set. I posted their instructions online so others could make them.

This was incredible; instead of feeling like I had one set, I thought I had hundreds.

I quickly got to building…

I built an alternative version…

Let me show you how many others there are.

On rebrickable.com, there are 146 alternative builds for the Fast & Furious 1970 Dodge Charger.

Even if you didn’t like the original build, you can look through hundreds of alternative builds to see if there is one that you want to build or buy a few more copies. Now, you can have multiple LEGO cars from the same set! This blows my mind to this day.

Before discussing alternate builds, let’s dive into what an alternate build is.

What Are Alternate LEGO Builds?

An alternate build is a LEGO creation that involves repurposing the pieces in a set to create a new model. LEGO often encourages this by including instructions for alternate builds like the Creator 3in1 theme.

In the late ’90s and early 2000s, it was widespread for sets to include at least 3 suggestive images for alternate builds. Let’s talk about that.

A Brief History of Alternate LEGO Builds

Alternate LEGO builds used to be more common in LEGO sets. When you buy a set, you will likely find three or more images of different models you can make with only the pieces inside the box. This was LEGO’s way of encouraging creative play by giving the users a head start on three ideas of how the same model could be constructed differently.

For Example: Crystal Explorer Sub (1995)

This set is one of the first LEGO sets I ever owned as a kid.

It was typical for sets to be released in the late 19s to look like this. The front of the box shows the main intended build and the back has 3 or 4 alternate builds; it often needed instructions on how to build them, as paper manuals for those could be costly to include in a low-priced set for LEGO.

In a way, the LEGO group tells us, “This is how you can play with our product by building your own creations. Here are some suggestions on what’s possible.”

What is a MOC (My Own Creation)?

When the LEGO community (you included) creates an alternate build or any build, it’s called a MOC, which stands for My Own Creation. MOCs don’t necessarily have to be alternate builds; they are simply any custom build created by the community. This term is widely used in the LEGO community, and understanding it is crucial for anyone interested in alternate LEGO builds.

One of the biggest headaches when starting an MOC building is building up an inventory of pieces, which could take a varied amount of time depending on how you source the pieces.

Read my guide on The Best Ways To Get LEGO Bricks For MOC Building.

Building your own LEGO inventory piece by piece can be challenging. This leads me to the first reason alternate LEGO builds are so important: they’re the best starting point for getting into MOC building.

Reason 1: You Have Everything You Need

If you want to start creating something of your own or just play with LEGO without buying a new set, you already have everything you need.

One set is really all you need to get started. This may seem obvious, but it’s a paradigm shift that can empower you to start MOC building. Let me give you an example of a polybag with a measly 67 pieces. It’s that easy to start MOC building, and this simplicity is something that can encourage and inspire you to start creating your own LEGO masterpieces.

This is self-explanatory. With 67 pieces and many details, you can create an insane number of micro-scale castles.

PS. This is a great little set to carry around wherever you are to play with whenever you want.

Community Alternate Builds at Your Fingertips

If you want to build someone else’s MOC or get inspiration from them, there are tons of them to explore on sites like rebrickable.com. I’ll also provide a guide on how to find and use alternate build instructions, making it easier for you to start building your own creations.

What are your sets with excellent alternate builds?

Whether you follow a ready-made design or draw inspiration from the possibilities, you can start building immediately without needing extra pieces or sets.

If you’re ready to start creating your models, working with one set is the best way to build MOCs, whether a beginner or an expert. This practical and efficient approach allows you to begin building immediately without needing extra pieces or sets. Let me explain why in the next section.

Reason 2: Limitations Leads to Creativity

A good friend of mine once said, “Limitations breed ingenuity.” This applies to all aspects of life but is especially relevant to starting to build your own MOCs.

Working with a limited set of LEGO pieces forces you to think outside the box and develop creative solutions. When there is a limited supply of bricks, you’re challenged to maximize what you have.

Here’s an example of what’s possible with 220 pieces.

Verick created an incredibly detailed Sandslash Pokemon with just a158 pieces.

These self-imposed restrictions spark creativity, leading to experimentation and workarounds to create clever designs. The most unique and impressive LEGO MOCs often result from these limitations, making innovation necessary.

This opens up endless creative potential and unlocks way more value from what you already own, leading to my following reason for using LEGO alternate builds.

Reason 3: Maximizing The Value of Your Sets

Nowadays, many sets are designed solely for display, especially sets targeted at adults.

Like the Jazz Quartet (21334-1), it’s a great display piece, but even with 1606 pieces, it leaves little room for imagination. It currently only has one alternate build on rebrickble.com.

While these sets are often impressive and worthy of display, they can feel more like static art pieces than interactive toys.

The beauty of alternate builds is that they offer a new way to engage with your LEGO sets. Instead of leaving it on the shelf to collect dust, you can gain additional hours of building enjoyment or experiment with your creativity. It offers limitless variety without spending extra money on a new set.

Whenever I decide to buy a set, one of the metrics that I always consider is the potential alternate builds. Some sets have more alternate builds online and inspire more custom creation than others.

LEGO alternate builds matter because I want to avoid purchasing a set for a one-time build experience and buy new sets after that. I want to get the best bang for my buck to ensure continuous value for every dollar I spend. That’s why whenever I buy LEGO sets, I would rather spend the same dollar amount on something that inspires more alternate builds.

Reason 4: Combining Multiple Sets

Recently, the community has been producing more and more alternate builds that call for combining multiple copies of the same set or different sets.

For example, the Medieval Castle 3-in-1 (31120) is a set in the theme that exclusively releases sets explicitly designed to include multiple alternate builds with instructions advertised on the front and back of the box.

This set, in particular, has an incredibly versatile range of bricks that can be easily integrated into medieval and/or fantasy-themed builds. It even includes multiple minifigures and accessories that could also be used for medieval-themed builds.

It has three alternate builds connecting to form one large castle scene.

However, we are not here to discuss the preexisting alternate builds; we are here to discuss the mind-boggling community builds for this set.

200+ Alternate Builds

The Medieval Castle is one of the sets with the most alternate builds on Rebrickable. It’s not hard to see why; it’s the perfect Alternate build starter kit. You could buy more copies if you need more bricks to build bigger models.

Explosive Potential When Combining Sets

2X Medieval Castle

3X Medieval Castle

4X Medieval Castle

Goldfyres’s Review of Falcon Master’s Castle

3X Medieval Castle + Tree House

Medieval Castle + Bonsai Tree

LEGO enthusiasts are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with their collections. Combining multiple sets often results in much more complex structures and intricate details, not to mention way more fun. This expands the possibilities of each set and allows for a deeper level of creativity and customization.

The Medieval Castle might be one of the most popular LEGO alternate build sets. Still, it certainly won’t be the last. This concept is snowballing, especially now that many content creators have noticed and started making videos about it. Even collectors are buying more copies to add these alternate builds to their collections. Needless to say, we could be expecting to see much more content like this.

Find out why The Medieval Castle 3 in 1 is The Only Set You’ll Ever Need.

LEGO Alternate Builds that use combinational building concepts are real hidden gems. However, they don’t always have to combine multiple sets for a larger-scale build; they could be expanded upon through modular components attached to the original build.

Reason 5: Modular Expansion

Imagine buying a set and slowly expanding it over time by purchasing another copy and building new modules. LEGO officially does this with some of the sets in the Harry Potter theme. You can buy multiple smaller sets at affordable prices that connect to form a large set with a price point that would be unaffordable if they sold it as one extensive set.

One particular set that comes to mind is the Viking Village.

The Viking Village Extension Modules

You could do this with any set by repurchasing the exact copy or combining pieces from a different set to create modules that could be attached to the original set. This strategy makes it easy to slowly expand the scale of your build while enjoying the process of seeing that expansion without breaking it all apart and building it again.

Bonus Tip: Digital LEGO Alternate Builds Using Studio.io

If you don’t want to spend any money at all you could use studio.io (a program by Brick Link) to build LEGO sets virtually.

What’s great is that you can import all the pieces of any official LEGO set and start building!

Click here to read about my guide on How To Use Studio.io for Alternate LEGO Builds.

Conclusion

LEGO sets are so much more than just display pieces. They’re meant to be played with, rebuilt, and enjoyed over and over again. The true value of a set lies in its potential for alternate builds. It’s not just one creation, it’s hundreds or thousands of possibilities.

If you already have LEGO sets, you have everything you need to start crafting alternate builds. Whether it’s MOCs from the community or your own original ideas. And if you’re making your own MOCs, experimenting with the limitations of the pieces in a single set will really push your creativity to new heights, because limitations lead to creativity.

In addition, LEGO alternate builds are one of the best ways to get the most out of your investment, as they allow you to interact with your sets in countless ways. You can even combine multiple sets to unlock new, larger builds, expanding your set’s scale and complexity. LEGO alternate builds are essential; “LEGO” in Danish means “play well.” I hope this article inspired you to look at LEGO sets in a new light.

In the comment, let me know which alternate builds you’re most excited to make!