Battle Droid And S.T.A.P.

This blog has certainly been a bit Star Wars-riffic recently, but can you blame us? The Force Awakens has everybody jonzin' for some good old galaxy far, far away stuff. Everyone knows I'm not a prequel fan, but there are some redeemable qualities. While the battle droids looked cool, they were too easily dispensed to be a reasonable threat (I mean, shutting off the wi-fi makes their heads pop off?) But the S.TA.P. was something to get excited about. It's like a flying Segway, with guns! Nice work nobu_tary.

Raising the Bar Bar

Everyone's favorite character in the Star Wars universe has long ears, a big schnozola, and is pretty good with accidentally killing off battle droids in the heat of battle.  And despite helping to fend off Phantom Menaces, he helps evil politicians become Sith lords and basically disappears by the third act of a lousy bunch of prequels.  Sadly, this character will likely never become a part of the forthcoming LEGO Constraction line, here's Flickr user Letranger Absurde's excellent take on Jar Jar Binks, making clever use of 1x2 log bricks as feet, skeleton minifig arms as fingers, and smooth sloping elements all around.  Still trying to figure out, though, if Letranger is trying to tell us something by having this particular Gungan walk on water.

I Have Been Trained In Your Jedi Arts...

Of course everybody remembers General Grievous from Episode III, with each of his four robotic arms wielding a deadly spinning lightsaber.  But Takamichi Irie (aka Legomichiiiiii ) has opted to create another of the General's fine attributes: that piercing stare!  You can almost hear the smoker's hack, too.  

Splat!

You can do it. Sure it's hard to hold five soft serve ice cream cones at the same time, but the family is waiting and you're in a hurry. Besides, you're the dad, and dad's rule. Now if you just arrange the cones in such a way that you can hold one between your middle finger and your forefinger, and one between your forefinger and thumb, and grab the last one between your hands...yes, yes, that'll work. Oh good, he's holding the door for me, thanks dude! Now where did they go? Ah there they are, by the statue, 200 feet away. Wait until the kids see these, I'm a hero, best dad ever. 100 feet, whoa, that lady almost took me out with her stroller. Ack! The middle one is slipping, oh jeez.  50 feet, watch the curb, watch the curb. 25 feet, don't get any ideas mr. seagull, ugh, it slipped again. 10 feet, they see me, look at the gleam in those little eyes! 5 feet, oh crap...

*splat*

Guess I'm not having ice cream.

The Dark Lord

Bear with me, I'm still in Star Wars Celebration afterglow, and I blogged this builder just four days ago, but I really wanted to share this. Darth Vader is pretty much the ultimate film villain. I don't know if he's the most recognized, but he's certainly in the top five. This version by Legomichiiiiii has a fantastic blend of basic elements and figure building joints, giving it a cool look. He's missing his cape but I sort of dig that, like he's cast it off to kick some serious light side butt.

Double Decker Avengers

This colossal MOC by OliveSeon is an impressive blend of actual LEGO sets and mad building skills. If you look closely you'll see modified versions of the Grand Emporium, Palace Theater, Pet Store and more. Plus of course the Helicarrier and a number of other vehicles. The Avengers Tower looks like it's build from no less than 10-12 official tower sets, this MOC was a serious investment.

When Vinyl Was King

I'm dating myself, but I remember when the only way to get music was records or those new fangled 8-tracks. In fact, I remember my very first records, they were the Star Wars soundtrack and the Story of Star Wars (still have them!) But this MOC by MinifigNick goes back even before my time, to the 50's, when vinyl was king, hair was interesting and rock 'n roll was new.

SUROS Regime

Nick Brick, the master of fantasy weapons is back with another masterpiece. This is the SUROS Regime, an auto rifle from the game Destiny. It features a removable magazine, moving trigger and charging handle and a light-up ammo counter. All that wrapped in a kickass, contoured MOC with perfect attention to detail.

BB-8

Star Wars fever is reaching a fever pitch, and we've still got some 8 months before Episode 7 comes out. I was at Star Wars Celebration and the excitement is infectious. The panel with JJ and Kathleen was already pretty awesome, but everyone lost it when this little guy rolled out. It seems everyone's favorite astromech R2-D2 has some competition as far as adorability goes, because BB-8 is crazy popular already. Builder Legomichiiiiii is so smitten he built him in brick, and the results are pretty amazing.

Less Than Two Weeks For "Yellow"

The clock is running out and Nathan Sawaya is super close to making the 10k mark. For those that don't know Nathan is one of the premiere brick artists in the world, and his traveling exhibit The Art Of The Brick is in five countries right now. He has created a scaled down version of one of his more iconic pieces, Yellow, and it's on LEGO Ideas. Click through and show him some love!

Gremlemin

Growing up in the 70's I saw plenty of AMC cars around. The Pacer was always amusing, the only car build with zero blind spots. The Eagle looked like a sedan that longed to be a station wagon, a "sedagon" if you will. But by far the most tragic was the Gremlin. Perhaps if they were fitted with chrome engines, scissor doors and lemonade dispensers like this one from Lino M they wouldn't have been quite so laughable...who am I kidding? Nothing would have helped.

TinTin Rocket

Feeling a little retro today? Good, me too, and it doesn't get much more retro than this classic TinTin rocket from Destination Moon circa 1950. It's iconic, it's streamline and it's perfectly done by builder gonkius. Now let's climb aboard for a little adventure shall we?

Thanks for the tip Larry Lars!

Castle Black

Kris Kelvin, aka Mongomery Burns has created this stunning Medieval mountaintop fortress.  One can only imagine the nefarious creatures dwelling within.  The detailing and textural work are quite convincing, in addition to the overall architectural design. According to one Jon Snow, this castle is not as cool as the one near some big wall somewhere, but he knows nothing.

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The Conquest Of Lampsacus

When it comes to "setting the stage" few can rival builder Mark of Falworth. With lavish settings, rich storytelling and exquisite details his MOCs always deliver. And this latest offering does not disappoint. It tells the story of the peaceful conquest of a small city. There's a lot to love here, but that center building is by far my favorite thing.

Lego Marvel Chess!

Just in time for the May 1st premiere of the movie, Ryan Rydalch has created this action packed chess set: Avengers Vs Ultron.  It features all your favorite heroes and villains on the board, plus a few on the sidelines offering their encouragement.  I can see Hulk getting pretty fired up for a classic Lasker/Bauer combination.  Always a crowd pleaser!  'Nuff said!

MFX [F] - Aztech Deity Reborn

As our MOCs begin to collect dust on the shelves I think the temptation is often there to wonder how they would be different with some modifications. As new elements and colors become available and our skill sets grow it's natural to want to "noodle" with something we've already built. But occasionally a builder takes an already awesome and recently built MOC and takes it to the next level. That's the case with builder Messymaru and Aztech Deity here. The original was stunning, and it's only a few months old, but this new version with a slightly more feminine aesthetic and improved articulation is jaw-dropping.

Star Wars On My Mind

Here at BrickNerd we like to look back from time to time, sometime a long, long time ago. It's a big week for me as a life-long Star Wars fan. I'm off to LA today to help a friend prepare for Star Wars Celebration and attending the first day on Thursday. I'm involved in a couple projects and events I can't publicly discuss (but they're AWESOME) And the digital versions of the movies just came out. So I thought I'd go a little retro with an old favorite of mine from SPARKART! I've always been a fan of Ralph McQuarrie's inspirational illustrations, and I love when they're brought to life with LEGO. This early R2 concept is excellent.

Tonight!

Here's a huge surprise, I'm a Game of Thrones fan. I listened to the books years ago and when HBO announced they were making it I was skeptical but excited. Well, they've far exceeded my expectations and I can't wait for season five to start tonight. I'm guessing Guy Himber's a fan too, and this MOC is just his way of expressing it. Now as far as Joffrey goes...

Landing Module

I really like the aesthetic of this latest build from my favorite spacer and dear friend Pete Reid. I'm simultaneously feeling optimism for the future and nostalgia for the past. This landing module would look right at home on the cover of a 1950's sci-fi magazine. In fact I have to confess my first instinct was to download it, crop it and turn it into a retro magazine, but I just don't have time.

UPDATE: I made time, couldn't help myself

Mini Detective's Office

One of my favorite modular buildings is now one of my favorite mini modulars thanks to builder DDoshini. I've always been captivated with the minis because of the ingenuity required to scale down such a complex structure and maintain the look and feel of it, but as you can see it's been accomplished. It looks right at home between the Pet Shop and the Parisian Restaurant, which I might add are also really well done.