Your reference for LEGO and nanoblock builds
There are 2 types of nanoblock people. They are nanoids and nanobbits. The more common model for people are the nanoids.
A nanoid is a little person that is made of nanoblocks. There are 2-3 round 1×1 nanoblocks stacked. Usually, there is also a hair-shaped brick. Nanoids are very common in the Sights to See Collection (NBH).
Nanobbits are articulated little figures. They look more like figures with arms and legs that move. The heads also turn.
The nanoblock Pad is by far my favorite and most used accessory. This is because I find it so useful to create my builds. When I refer to my nanoblock pad or pad, I am generally talking about NB-020 or the larger pad because it is the one I’ve had longer.
The nanoblock pad is a silicon pad that is used for the creation of nanoblock builds. There are 2 different models. The only real difference is the size of the actual pad.
The NB-020 pad has 2 sections that can fold up to protect the studs. 1 section is a pad that has studs. This is the side where you can create nanoblock builds. The other section is a flat section of silicon that is nice for laying out small bricks.
Recently a smaller version of the nanoblock pad was released. It is much smaller than the original pad. I don’t use this pad very often because the larger pad has more flexibility about where exactly it goes.
When I start a build, I always try to lay the base layer of bricks on the pad on the side with studs. Normally this works, but sometimes it doesn’t work, and you need to build off the pad.
After laying out the base layer, I add the second layer of bricks as the top layer. Because of how nanoblock designs the builds, the first and second layers are fully connected.
Normally after I build the 2 layers, I build as much as possible on the pad but sometimes, after a few layers, it makes more sense to build while holding the model in my hands.
One of the hardest things about nanoblocks is that Kawada is based in Japan, so many blocks are never available in the US. In doing research, Australia has a decent selection that can be purchased. I will focus on how I get my sets in the US.
In 2021 Bluefin Brands took over the distribution for nanoblock in the US. Since then, they have posted many sets that will be released. Most of the time, the releases are several months out, but you can’t preorder from them directly at this point, so you need to find a retailer that carries nanoblocks to be able to buy them as they are released. Several of the sets I’ve seen announced I’ve never seen in retail in physical stores or sites like Amazon. They have a few sets for sale on their site, including collectors editions that aren’t available anywhere else.
The most accessible place I have found to buy nanoblocks is Amazon. Here is a link to the nanoblock store. Amazon does have an excellent selection, but prices can be hit and miss because of third-party sellers. I am hopeful that things will become more reliable with the new US distributor. I also do not recommend preordering from Amazon because I’ve had issues where the preordered set was canceled.
Since I don’t like waiting for release dates, I prefer to buy on the Japanese release schedule. This means I go through a third-party dealer. I like Plaza Japan and have used them for many orders over the past few years. The price of sets is comparable to what you pay for the sets on Amazon. The real killer is the shipping, but if you are getting several sets, it all averages out in the end. There are also a lot of sets that you can’t easily find in the US.
The other place where I buy my sets is eBay. This is my main source for all Disney and Universal Studios nanoblock sets and sets that may be retired. I have done research and found a couple of Sellers that sell the set for a reasonable mark-up and give discounts for shipping on large orders. I tend to put in larger orders to save as much as I can shipping. eBay can get really expensive if you aren’t careful with sellers. We have also been known to make orders from Buyee Japan so that we could get old sets that are no longer made.
Other Places I have had success ordering from:
nanoblocks are small building blocks. When I am telling people about them the best way I have found to describe them is tiny LEGOs. They come in a ton of different colors and in general, I find the colors to be more vibrant than LEGO. The photo above shows a pink LEGO next to a red nanoblock.
nanoblock primarily com in kits instead of boxes of loose bricks. These kits have a ton of different themes including Pokemon, historic buildings, and anime characters. I am regularly impressed with how much detail they can get into a build that can normally fit into the palm of your hand. While Lego has been a household name for decades for their building kits, nanoblocks are much smaller and relatively new since they were only created in 2008. The company puts its own description on each package. For example, some of the packages read,
nanoblock is an extremely micro-sized building block born in JAPAN. The smallest part is a mere 4x4x5mm! “Fun to make, Fun to display and Fun to collect.” nanoblock is a stimulating and entertaining hobby material for everybody, especially for grown-ups.
Back of nanoblock packages
A description similar to this can be found in English on both Japanese and American Packaging.
I know it can be hard to compare with just measurements, so here is a picture of a quarter, a 2×2 pink LEGO, and a 2×2 red nanoblock.
As you can see, the nanoblock is much smaller than the LEGO. This means that your final builds are much smaller, making it easier to have a large collection. One of my biggest problems with LEGO is every building takes up so much space it is hard to keep them all out and display them all. On the other hand, I can easily store 50 or more in a display cabinet or Kallex from Ikea. One of the other advantages is that they can be much less expensive. Most small kits can be purchased new for $10-$25. There are deluxe kits that can cost much more but overall there is a much lower barrier to entry than with LEGO when it comes to cost.
Generally, I have only been able to get the bricks that come in a kit that comes with exactly what is needed to build that one kit. I have had a hard time getting the nanoblocks sets that are just collections of colors like NB-023. There are a number of sets like NB-023 but they are rarely in stock when I try to purchase from Plaza Japan or Amazon JP. These variety packs are similar to the LEGO classic packs, where there are a set number of each size and color that you can build.
My general findings with working with nanoblock over LEGO:
With builds, sometimes you want an amount of detail that you just can’t get from bricks alone. That is is, kits include stickers. Stickers are pretty common in LEGO builds, but typically there is a ratio of one sticker per brick. This means if you ever need to take the build apart for some reason, you can. nanoblock stickers don’t work like that, and to be honest, I very rarely put the stickers that come with my nanoblock builds on. At this point, I can think of 2 builds I used stickers on, the Pokemon Quest Eevee and my light-up Kaminarimon.
Why don’t I like nanoblock stickers?
I don’t like nanoblock stickers because using them means you can never take the build down. Now I’m pretty good at finding storage solutions, so it’s not like I take builds apart all that often. But, I plan on moving at some point in the future, and I may need to take the builds apart when I do. nanoblocks are small, so a sticker is often on several bricks, which means you can’t take those bricks apart. That may not be a big deal, except nanoblocks are staggered in such a way that you end up with a cube instead of a wall of bricks. Since you end up with a cube, you really can’t take things apart.
What about the sticker themselves?
The sticker can add a lot of detail, like the kanji on the lantern for the Kaminarimon. The stickers on my Eevee give it a face and shading on his ears. So the amount of detail can be excellent.
However, the quality of the actual stickers is not the best. I’ve had them rip and affect how things look.