LEGO Brick Separators Are Taking Over the World!

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Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published May 3, 2022.

LEGO brick separators are everywhere (except when you really need one)! Cluttering your build table and falling on the floor, waiting to be stepped upon! We’re talking about the all-too-common brick separator. Join BrickNerd for a quick look at the history, usage and building inspiration of the brick separators. And see what we learned about whether they are indeed taking over the world!

Beginnings of Separation

The first brick separator was introduced in 1990 (time flies when you’re having fun). The original design was unchanged for over twenty years (1990 – 2011). Old dark gray was the most common color, appearing in 66 sets. Green was the only other released color, appearing in 17 sets. (We aren’t going to cover other mysterious colors that have appeared in the wild in this article. We’ll save that investigative reporting for another day.)

Who knows how many teeth have been saved by this invention! Not to mention the countless LEGO elements being saved from bite marks. Our resident dentist, ElBarto, has verified this statement to be true.

Slimming Down

2012 saw the introduction of the redesigned brick separator. The new version was a much slimmer design allowing it to access more confined spaces. It certainly seemed less sturdy, although I haven’t broken one. The tapered end is much easier to use for removing tiles. While it works better functionally, I have seen the edge get damaged over time (better to damage the separator than the LEGO bricks, right!?). Removing the tiles from a couple of modular buildings will certainly take a toll on the edge.

The updated version has been released in three colors: orange (767 sets), green (2 sets), and dark turquoise (123 sets).

A subtle but important change appeared on the underside. The new version has three indentations instead of two (sorry, I haven’t adopted the “anti-stud” terminology yet). This allows for easy removal of jumper plates with the half stud offset. Now we just need another version that will work on 2x2 jumper plates! While we’re at it, how about a single stud wide separator for even more confined space?

The other primary change was the addition of the pin/axle remover on top. This helps with disassembly of technic models, although the handle often limits accessibility.

Bulking Up

The latest addition to the lineup is the four studs wide brick separator introduced in 2020. This version comes with the LEGO Art mosaic sets and is intended to speed up disassembly of the 1 x 1 round tiles and plates. This version has so far only been released in black.

From experience, go slow. Going fast with this tool makes tiles and studs literally fly off the mosaic canvas and fling into places where you will never find them again!

Slim Pickings

While not exactly a brick separator, these three tile remover tools can serve a similar purpose. They were first included in LEGO Dots sets and then in LEGO Art mosaic sets to help with more exact “tile surgery” to get at that one stud that might be off. (And yes, the first one is just a pearl gold minifigure crowbar—hey, if it works, it works!)

Nerdy Analysis

While brick separators have been around over 30 years, why do they seem to be proliferating so much in recent years? Is it just the combined accumulation, or are they being put in sets more often?

Using the BrickLink inventory, a quick analysis shows the original brick separator appeared in 83/7449 (1.1%) sets during its production. The redesigned separators have appeared in a combined 892/7471 (12%) sets (as of April 2022). So, there you have it, the redesigned brick separators are included in sets more than 10 times as often as the original design! (It could also be that LEGO sets on average are getting larger too.) Combine this with accumulation over time and it’s no wonder they seem to be taking over the world!

Family Portrait

How Do You Use a Brick Separator?

We’re not going to dwell on the “normal” intended uses for the separators. This has been well covered already by multiple sources. If you want to learn more, we encourage you to check out these two.

Mundane or Inspirational?

But what we love is when someone uses a brick separator in an incredible way. Just because the intended uses are mundane, doesn’t prevent other more creative uses! Allyson Gail is one of the many AFOLs that have been inspired to create wonderful MOCs using the separators. Besides the planet earth model featured at the top, here is just a small sampling of some of her other fun models:

Naturally Allyson Gail isn’t the only one finding inspiration in brick separators. Here are just a few examples of other builders that have found splendid ways to incorporate brick separators into their MOCs.

BrickNerd’s own Dan Ko built a nifty speeder bike. Horsepower like that really separates the winners from the losers in a speeder race!

Builder alanboar’s used them to create a lifelike rendition of a Cockatoo, sporting a fancy coif.

Builder Thomas Gion created a convincing facsimile of a caulking/adhesive gun, and in fact, this was the first time he used a separator in a MOC. (This would have been great for our Festival of Mundanity!)

The BrickNerd lesson here is the same as for every LEGO element: look beyond the obvious uses and get creative. So go out and save the world, and use some brick separators in your own models. They may even separate your builds from the crowd!

How have you made use of brick separators, either in their intended use or in a build? Have you ever chipped a tooth separating LEGO pieces? Did you tell your dentist what you were actually doing? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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