EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BRICK SEPARATOR - LEGO
Вставка
- Опубліковано 12 січ 2025
- I bet you didn't know all of this!
BUY LEGO to support the channel ► tiagocatarino....
SUSBCRIBE for weekly LEGO videos!
INSTAGRAM ► / tiagoreiscatarino
TWITTER ► / tiagocatarino6
FACEBOOK ► / tc.tiagocatarino
TIKTOK ► / tiago_catarino_
Video Gear ► kit.co/tiago_c...
My Music ► www.epidemicso...
For business inquiries ► tiagocatarino.business@gmail.com
Worth opening the Palace Cinema for the video?
Please tell me yes... 🥲
If you never meant to sell it so yeah why not
Only if you are also building the set!
I have one Palace Cinema, was my second modular and I love it!
Does this mean now we owe you? 😳
Worth it.
Damn I didn’t expect you to do that 😂
Waiting for the review of Palace Cinema !😁
The actual color of the brick separator that you get is usually an uncommon one in the set, in order to make it easier to find.
sounds plausible but then again, it would be the last piece left over from when i assembled the model that i didn't need then and don't need now so i couldn't care what colour it was. i suppose if you colour it brightly, you can immediately toss it.
@@billynomates920 and then search for it when you made a few mistakes and need to undo 20 steps ...
@@jyvben1520 yes! lego has advanced since my day. there are a lot more pieces that are stuck together like that now and my finger nails will only pry apart so many (i just don't want to admit it!) 🙂
bruh mine was orange and half the build was lava. 10 year old me was really confused
Lol I know what it dors
"As it so happens, I do have a copy of the Palace Cinema, so technically I do have a green separator at hand. It's just inside a box that's worth around €250, sealed, so I would never--"
Best thing I've ever seen.
that brought tears to my eyes
pretty unfunny
@@zarrowthehorse also is your comment
Absolutely tickled me
I had to pick my jaw up from the floor haha
Tiago is a legend, he opened a set that was worth 250 euros just for the brick separator
Right? 🥲
For real! Good video Tiago!
Who wouldnt
Ty for this and ty Tiago
Credit to you for my comment
Seeing the gray brick separator and recognize it immediately really reminds me how old I am 😂
I actually never thought of using two separator to separate two 1x2 small plates like in 3:23 ... that thing was such a pain to separate!
Lol I didn’t even know they made gray, I thought the green one of that design was the original
I had the gray separator in the 90’s 😁😁
It is a TOTAL game changer.
And saves a lot of fingernails, and the corners of bricks.
So I found something out about the orange ones. If you grab a bunch than you have from over a bunch of different years and drop them, you will hear different sounds. One sounds more plastic while the other sounds like something metal. Upon further inspection, I found that the design numbers were different. The teal ones have the same model number as the orange ones that sounds like actual plastic when dropped. Pretty interesting, because this means that at some point lego started using different plastic.
Nice find!
At some point in time they also changed the windscreen materials and most transparent elements, you can clearly tell the difference by the sound as well!
The new lego bricks aren’t made of plastic
@@TheParagonIsDead of course they are, just not the same plastics. PLA, PETG, etc... plastics but different.
@@DSiren ok
The orange separator is the only one I knew existed until this video. I've never seen the other two colors or the older version. When one came in a set about 8-10 years ago, I thought it was the best thing
LEGO ever made. I hope the employee that designed it received a huge bonus.
I think the last time I bought LEGO was 2007 (or before) so I only knew about the grey version, not the orange, green or teal versions.... until today. 🙂
Teal is the best one imo. Also unfortunately I can guarantee that it was some random employee speaking to his boss like "man, it'd be great to have some tool to separate the bricks, something like this (shows drawing)" and the boss goes "oh yeah. Not a bad idea" and then goes to the corporate guys like "hey I came up with this awesome idea!"
@@SuperNuclearUnicorn how come I never see teal ones? Is there a specific set they come in?
@@mickey1627 The first time I ever saw that one was in the lego bonsai tree
Teal ones come in the new star wars helmet statues :)
FYI- the reason for the Green Separator in the Palace Cinema set is reference to the movie poster sticker in the set featuring the green "Godzilla" Brick Separator.
I did not knew about that, awesome!
That's an awesome detail. It's even visible on the box art now that you mention it.
.. and the reason for the Green Separator in the Horizon Express set is the abundance of orange parts, I'm guessing.
The modern separator is a quite a versatile design, and I love it for that. Not only can you use it for its intended purpose, but they make great parts for specific shapes/details.
They are also great for straightening lots of 1x1 plates and tiles up ie tiled flooring. Just run the wedge up and down the grooves and they will straighten right up!
Another great use of the element is for precise sticker application. Push up an edge of a sticker from the label then position the wedged end of the separator under it, lift it up applying a portion of the sticker to the separator, then use it to precisely place your sticker without your fingers ever touching the bottom of it.
I always use a small Razer blade. Works really well for stickers
X-Acto knife, my man. But this is good for small children.
I thought I was the only one that did this. Good tip!
I never once liked the idea of stickers on my bricks
I am glad to know other people do this. Not only does this afford greater precision, it prevents the sticker from coming into contact with my greasy, hairy, stubby fingers. Remember to wipe the brick down first though, I understand there is a light film of nonstick residue left behind from the injection mold process (apparently it helps the brick to slide out of the mold at the factory).
I built so many sets as a kid without one of these. I used my teeth, fingernails, pure strength, and frustration to get it done. I rarely had a couple that I just gave up on trying to get them undone
SAME!
Lost a tooth as a kid to this 🤣.
It was a bit loose but I snapped it in half. Sometimes the bricks got super stuck.
Some of our pieces definitely had bite marks.
I remember doing that. I think I’ve only got one memory of using a separator
Me and my brothers had a butter knife to do this. It messed up quite a few small tiles, but well... We were kids, building random-ass shit.
Despite having issues with almost every lego set I’ve ever had with hard to separate bricks, I’ve never had a brick separator even with a large(er) set and it was always painful because if I made a mistake there was no fixing it without potentially dangerous or harmful means to both myself and the legos.
Don't worry LEGO is more durable than puny human...
You'll hurt yourself first!
@@Robin93k No worries, humans are ingenious! As a smart, tool wielding child, I could cut myself on a brick, break a nail trying to pry, then successfully pry with a metal nail file, leaving permanent ugly marks in the plastic AND potentially stabbing myself!
I also use it for placing stickers if I don't have a pair of tweezers handy. It helps to get them lined up and to hold them by using the tip on the sticky side and a finger on top. This also stops oils on your skin from affecting the stickyness of the stickers.
I got a teal brick separator in my Bonsai set. It was somewhat kinda fitting to be in that set since it’s working with a calming tree and a calming teal separator, instead of a bright orange.
Oh can I trade you my orange one?? Teals my fav…
i got a teal one in the bookshop set
I got it in the bat mobile (1989)
OMG I got the Bonsai as a gift last year but I've not opened it yet because we were buying a house/moving etc. Oddly now I'm even more excited to open this already incredibly exciting box!
I got my teal from Seinfeld.
I’m going too admit that despite owning hundreds of sets and spending the last decade building as a hobby, I stubbornly refused to engage with the brick separator. It felt like cheating somehow. Absurd, I know, but I couldn’t shake this weirdly puritanical approach to Lego I’d held onto since childhood. This video has change my mind. My aging hands thank you brother.
Just do it. Your fingers will thank you.
I never had one as a kid, and I always perceived it as this legendary tool, this master sword of Lego deconstruction. I have one now and have no idea what to do with it.
Mega constructs have a brick separator that might be a little more useful but only by a little. Has all of the other aspects as well as a rod remover and the wedge has an indent.
I didn't use it because I had no idea what it was, despite owning many sets and helping my brother build some.
I just used my nails and teeth when I was a kid. Worked like a charm lol.
In my whole life I had never heard of the Seperator, until last month when my city opened up a Lego store. The store has a wall panel where customers can place an assortment of Lego pieces (many have used this to make love hearts, flowers, their names or more commonly, crewmates) and while I was in-store one day, I had a staff member ask me if I’d ever used the Seperator, before showing me how it works.
They seem incredibly handy, I wish I’d had one in some of my sets when I was young!
I had one friend who had that classic grey one, he is the only person I ever knew who had one, we all used to use our teeths, nails, keys or even some larger lego pieces to separate those as we lacked the proper tool.
This man earned a like from me for throwing away the value of that set souly for a brick seperator
"This box is 250$ sealed, so I would never open..."
Proceeds to open box
I once told my friend that people who were allergic to lego would use this to pick up and place down a lego brick. (this was before I knew what it was for)
That’s hilarious
You forgot to mention that the Palace Cinema also had a poster for a movie called ‘The Brick Separator’ which has a green monster that resembles the included brick separator.
I knew almost everything in this video, EXCEPT that I could use the wedge to separate big plates, that's gonna be really helpful in the future, I also didn't know about the big chunky ones used for removing multiple tiles.
And for that, this video was worth watching and it was also worth opening a Palace Cinema just for the green separator, even though it's not my favourite shade of green.
Keeping Lego sets unopened just for "mint condition" value should be as sacrilegious as using cyanoacrylate glue on Lego. They're meant to be used and enjoyed, not trapped in a box forever.
Actually, I keep my brick favourite brick seperator on me at all times, it is called fingernails
Lego need to start making brick separators in more colours...
scratch that, MAKE THEM IN ALL THE COLOURS.
Before I got the Bonsai Tree, I had no idea that there were different variants and was pleasantly surprised when I opened it and the teal one popped out, it's the one I like to use most if I randomly need one...
Also, speaking about the bonsai tree, I might buy another set just so I can make that brick separator bonsai tree suggestion in the instructions, seems like a cool way to store them all
Be careful while using the orange one: if you press without success removing the piece, then the piece will start to bend and the color of the brick will be more white in an irreversible way.
How much strength are you putting into it?
@@geo4876 Not much. I think that the cause is the torque applied. If the separator doesn't separate the brick and you continue applying torque, the separator tenses the brick too much and it bends.
@@Adri9570 that happens to all pieces , you're just using it too roughly , you probably have " heavy hands " or something
I broke the edge off a plate with mine! I think it was a 4x4 plate. So yeah, be careful!
Wow, seeing the original brick separator in green brings back some memories. I was used to the other colors but kept the green one because I thought it was cool. Wonder if it's still around somewhere!
This was so funny. "And sadly you can only order 50," literally made me laugh out loud. I think all the Vidiyo Beat Boxes had one in there. When those puppies went on super discount, we collected them all. Just really wanted those wacky minifigures. So now we have a vast supply of brick separators.
I have the old gray one. Knew what it was instantly even as a children and it was like the greatest piece ever, but can't remember where it came from. Was actually surprised that out of all the Lego I had as a child, that's the only one.
Wish I could remember the name I gave it. I feel it was more silly and Rugrats like rather than just Lego Pryer or Lego puller.
YESSSS
I have one of these at home, and they are the MOST useful thing in lego.
We used to use our hands, mouth, and a pusher that can damage you finger, but with this, it was WAY easier.
Protip: when using the wedge to split tiles, hold the brick seperator upside down, it gets the wedge in easier.
You are all welcome 😊🧡
Cool idea!
I learnt that trick at a lego show from a friend... we were pulling up hundreds of tiles, he was literally just mowing throught them by holding the splitter upside down.
Waaaay easier.
Yes, this is definitely easier!
I've always used it upside down I thought everyone else did
Actually, I learned a lot of useful tips watching this video. Thank you! I have about a dozen separators and have never used two to separate the tiny bricks. You've saved me broken fingernails!
This is a really nice tool! I wish it was included in more sets for people who might have motor control issues or grip strength issues and can snap bricks together easily but might have a hard time pulling them apart.
The Lego separator is a heavenly object from lego
opening the expensive set to pull out the dark green brick separator is how you won my subscription, that's commitment.
My favorite "secret" use is to use two of them to separate two 1x2 stud flat pieces. Often, I cannot get the lifter edge between the bricks, but putting one tool on top of the assembly and one on the bottom, them squeezing the levers together while applying pressure to keep the tools seated works wonders.
And my dentist has one less thing to yell at me about...
Back in the day before the Internet I got my mom to order the grey brick separator from the LEGO mail order catalog. That tool was so amazing and taught many lessons about taking care of and properly storing/organizing your tools.
Now my kid had who knows how many orange separators.
A few months ago, I dug out a Lego set I hadn’t built for a while, and I found 2 in the same bag (as well as a missing puzzle piece). I made a joke that I could probably fill a bag w/ just brick separators. I’ve loved Lego since I was 4-5.
Using the sharp wedge can sometimes damage it so I only use the orange separators when needed. The green one is honestly never used as I do not want to cause any wear and tear to it at all. But almost all the time there is an orange one on a shelf edge or somewhere else where it's easy to grab as they are quite useful when my fingers start to hurt.
You literally just solved a problem for me in the introduction! Didn't even think to use the end as a wedge to pry the em up!
Brick separators can also push GBC balls in a sweeper, or serve as zig-zag ramps to more gradually lower balls from high places (like bridges).
(0:11) *Look mom, I'm on TV!*
I knew he was going to open The Palace Cinema, but I still said "Yeah that's what you do with a Lego set"
Very enthusiastically when he did So.
I guess it was because I'm happy not to be the only grown adult man on Earth that opened The Palace Cinema just for the green brick separator,
And have yet to build it.
Just have it sitting in my closet missing one piece.
ahaha welcome to the club!
I also use the wedge to lift a sticker during the placement process, if it is not properly aligned.
I haven’t used Lego in about 15 years and don’t have much interest in starting to buy sets again but your videos are oddly addictive.
He really did open a €247/$279.66 LEGO set just for us. I really appreciate what you do just for the content!
or to flex how much money he has and doesnt care about stupid 250€
for some people its a lot of money...
@@zbigniew1 hey, be nice. He’s not trying to flex on anyone, like think about it, for most people €247/$279.66 is a lot, and I would assume that it’s a lot for Tiago. And he gets free sets from LEGO to review, so it’s not like he’s always buying sets to review for us.
@@zbigniew1 bruh edge lord
@@zbigniew1 oH hE haS moNeY He EaRneD! GiVE thE mONeY tO mE!
Credit to you for my comment
I have a bunch of separators, it's fun to find ways to include them as parts in builds.
True
They work quite well as shop marquees
A few years back, a video existed, showing
a Bionicle type build, the tool was used as
insect legs.....better time/mind than mine.
I remember my grandma used the old grey one and ~11 other pieces to make a lawnmower. The brick separator served as the handle bars. Not a bad build for someone who isn't really into Lego, but 4-year-old me was unimpressed by her minimalist creation.
1:45 you forgot the purple variant, the super limited one
and yellow
Quick, concise and informative with a small added sense of humour. No 30 minute useless storytelling, just straight to the point.
Splendid.
Yes, I have minimal dexterity and really wanted to try Lego again. This tool is a game changer!
we had the old gray version, we might still have it. looked it up to see if it was worth anything, looks like you can buy one for 99¢ on ebay. I guess things mass produced in 2007 aren't considered antique yet.
So when I was in very early schooling (like 1st grade, kindergarten, something like that), and the classroom had a lego set. Amongst the actual bricks and blocks and stuff was the classic brick separator ( 0:30 ). I have a really explicit memory of having found out that was a brick separator (I think my older brother explained it to me with our own Legos at home), but during some sorta free time where we were left to our creative devices there was another kid in the class who picked it up and insisted it (alone, by itself) looked like some sort of spaceship and "flew" it while we were doing our 6-year-old imagining stuff. And I, being a little kid as well, got irrationally angry at the other kid because it was such a lazy cop-out -- why don't you BUILD an ACTUAL ship?
Yeah, I think that memory sticks out because that was probably the first time I had ever gotten into any sort of fight outside of my family, and I think maybe I got in trouble for it? But I honestly can't remember anything else specifically. Just him saying it was a spaceship.
... Some 20+ years later, I still don't see it.
The build-up and the execution of the joke was brilliant. And the gotcha moment - with body language! - at the end is priceless. I mean the price was around 250 euro. Was.
Thing was such a game changer!
3:24 The old gray and green one is easier to separate two 1x2 stud plates like that. I still use the 2 of the old ones for that.
Sadly, if you want to keep your Lego as pristine as possible, using the wedge part can damage both the separator and the brick. But still better than using your teeth, which I did as a child (I never had bigger sets).
Yes! It was natural for us to separate bricks using our teeth, our fingernails, or just the sheer strength of our fingers for twisting and pulling bricks apart. I still mostly just use my nails and although I have a couple of the orange separators I never got to like them.
I somehow ended up with two different versions of the green separator, had no idea they were considered rare in any way. One is from the palace cinema set, can't remember where the other one came from.
1980's me is seriously jealous that my kid has access to this. I'm always happy to disassemble things for them when the parts are needed again because there's such a great tool now.
And my kid just got their first teal separator this week!
4:00 Good luck finding your tiles!
The second he opened that box he earned my like, sub, and respect
I thought it was a kickstand for a build I was working on. Until that particular build, I had never seen the brick separator. I kept looking in my instructions for where it was supposed to go. I ultimately ended up asking a friend of mine who also built LEGO and he told me what it was.
I got the older, chunkier version of it in a couple sets, when it was a dark green color and the original dark grey color. I think it came as part of Inventor set 4093 or Designer set 4101, and we thought it was a new unique piece
0:03 my 5 year old brain already knew what it was somehow
Yes I know about the brick separator before I even watch the vid. This is a great thing that do the job for you and you don’t need to hurt your hands.
Worth opening that box love the video!!!!!
The first time I saw this kind of brick separator, I knew what it was. I think I had actually gotten it in a set, and that's how I'd ended up seeing it. I'm old enough to remember the separators from the '90s (which apparently were the same as what was available in the '80s), and I've gotta say that I wish I had one like this as a kid. Using teeth to separate small plates doesn't feel too good...
100% on the "teeth" part... plus it marks the bricks all up, which really gets my OCD going... lol
Yes, totally worth it...something I would do. The first time I saw a brick separator, I didn't realise it was Lego until my son showed me how it worked LOL. At first I was resistant to using them, being nostalgic for just using my teeth or fingernails, but now I have a basket full of separators that I use all the time.
Very cool!
A word of caution about the Big Boy Brick Separator - I wouldn't use it to separate plates from each other that are close to the same size if that size is less than about 2x10 studs; I broke a plate trying to use one to separate two 2x4s - it was an extremely rare Mega Bloks one, too :'-(
Opening that set just for the green brick seporator is dedication!
This has helped me a few times during many builds. An unsung, overlooked hero right here.
Wow, this thing would've saved my finger nails when I was a kid trying to desperately separate stuff. :)
When I was young, I had this prison set and there was a crowbar within it. It was the best lego seperator tool one could think of.
Actually, I still have a preference for the old grey brick separator: I feel the pin in the new ones is useless (just use another long pin) and prevents to easily remove elements stuck under the middle of large plates.
I didn't know about using the tail of brick separators, that's really cool!
Although a razor blade can easily fix that, with such a cheap part damaging it isn't worth worrying over.
The mid conversation of not opening it 😂then you opening it killed me 🤣🤣🤣🙏🏿 had to sub after that
I remember getting my first brick seperator with lego dimensions on the wii u. It was mindblowing, i didn't have to sacrifice my nails or use my teeth to remove small pieces anymore!
I unfortunatley threw out my lego dimensions game and all the legos included, i have fond memories, so I definetley will be getting another set at some point
At this point the only thing this part doesn’t help with is popping out bars, but then you just…. Use another bar I guess.
i have the privilege of owning a green brick separator. first brick separator i ever got, actually. it was in a kid’s set from the early 2010s i believe, got it when i was in kindergarten.
edit: set number is 5508, if anyone cares
Me too, I didn’t even know they were really rare or anything
Am I the only one who ACTUALLY already knew what it was ? 😑
Congratulations
No
For removing tiles from plates just turn the seperator upside down it works way better, Brickcrafts shows it in his Bricks Seperator video
Now these truly are a great invention to make the Lego building process that much more relaxing.
Of course even these still don’t compare to the brutal efficiency (and sometimes destructiveness) of the teeth method
Oh, that's how you use two separators! I always used a new one and an old one because this gives you a plier and the pin pusher doesn't get in the way.
BTW, there's a ton of brick separators out there. My favourites are from Mega Construx, they have figured out ways to put these annoying pins somewhere else entirely. Sadly, they are changing models like it's a seasonal fashion item. They're also kinda overengineered, but as a German, overengineered is my jam.
Sluban's brick separator doubles as a crocodile, which is kinda cute.
I do the same, one old, one new, plier style. so I can separate larger plates easier than with the wedge, and apply the force right where I want it. i may just cut the pin off one new one sometime
Around 2000, Mega Bloks had a tool,
same length/weight as the Lego thing,
it had M. and F. at opposite ends.
Cobi has a nasty NO of a tool.
@@theunknowngamer5477 I once used the tip of the nail file on a Swiss army knife to separate Cobi pieces because of the lack of a more appropriate tool.
@@mpf1947
So sure it's just me....
The fans of COBI are more savage than the hairy bears of the AFOL.
Asking a question seems an act of evil. If a separator tool ever
does become fabricated, I send them a porno video of its use.
I actually thought it was some stairs and I was like “ yall why did they give the stairs if they didn’t use it?”
03:42 It would be far easier to do it using the back side (flip the separator over). I just got into Lego 3 months ago and i just found out on my own today.
1:18 when you said you have to order 50 that isn't correct, at least not in the UK. It means the maximum you can order is 50. To stop people scalping them I imagine. Its possible to buy one in the UK because I did it recently. Hope this is helpful for people who do want to pick one up separately from kits. Great video thank you!
he said it was only a MAXIMUM of 50 not minimum
I have 2 orange ones in some sets and I also got the teal one which was my favorite color. I used my two orange separators for horns in a lava monster build cause I most of the time use my nails or use the teal one.
I thought those were beach chairs. I used to used to use them as beach chairs when I was building with legos.
" I would never " 😂 hahaha hilarious. This man said try and think I won't open a whole box for 1 damn piece. It's like opening candy or cereal just for the toy
I've only ever used the wedge part - i ordered myself the typewriter as my first adult lego purchase (the last time i got a lego set would have been 10 years ago) and im very, very excited!
Before this video, I legit didn't know that this came in colors other than orange.
I remember when my little brother and I got a LEGO Freestyle bucket that came with this weird grey wedge... game. changer.
I also love to incorporate LEGO separators into builds - just trying to think about them differently
Seeing the original brick separator awakened a deep memory from my childhood. I had no clue what I was back then but I definitely remember it.
You definitely earned my subscribe after that green separator
Lol, NiCE! It put a smile on me when u cut the Retired set to get the "RARE" green brick separator.
I personally use it also during sticker placement :D helps me to put stickers more straightly
I remember seeing a Bionicle MOC that incorporated an impressive amount of brick separators. It looked pretty cool!
Thank you for bestowing this knowledge upon me
You forgot the fantastic use of putting headlight bricks on top and then tiles with an eye print on the front of that to make a brick separator slug.... I still have one of the old ones since I am just getting back into LEGO after 20+ years, but it is already proving invaluable. I will probably get one of the new ones soon as soon as I get a set that includes one and then slowly start growing a brick separator slug army.....
Thank you! You're legendary ❤
Honestly i never knew what it was before i saw this video... I first thought it was a stand of some sort to help prop up Lego builds for display, but was confused on how it was supposed to work as it didn't seem to fit and most the builds it came it wouldn't have needed anything for that.... Now it makes a lot more sense.
I saw this piece and got the "I hope you step on a Lego" feeling. It just looks like the perfect trap for your archenemy
Honestly, I never knew the brick separator came in different colors. I have like 20 of them now & all of them are orange.