Meow & Squeak

I can’t say I totally understand this moc by builder DOGOD brick Design, but I like it. For one I’m a cat lover, and of course I’m into LEGO. But mostly I think it’s because I get to write the following sentence: Check out Emmet in his mouse mech riding a cat who has a powerful lamp on his head. I’ll likely never assemble that set of words in that order again.

It's A Miss, It's Totally A Miss

And once again Ochre Jelly is all over a meme before I’ve even heard of it (and truly, I could have lived without it). I don’t know the origin of this, what it’s based on, who this lass is or anything. And I feel a headache would follow any attempt at research so I’ll just post this and remain willfully ignorant of this one Iain.

The Perfect Thing To Ring In The New Year

As we transition from 2018 to 2019 I’m thinking this siege tower by W Navarre is sort of the perfect MOC to represent it. Because I don’t care who you are, everyone seems to think they’re under attack. From the silliest online debates of what Grover said to countries being held hostage by political maneuvering, everything feels like an assault. I’m an optimist by nature, so I’m going to remain hopeful that we can pull our collective heads out of our collective rear ends and start building a future instead of endlessly squabbling. Lets use this tower as a really sweet diving platform and have a pool party okay?

Klingon Battle Cruiser

Every good story needs a good villain, and the Klingons have always been pretty good villains. While the Federation may be only interested in exploring strange new worlds (and hooking up with the local babes, let’s face it), the Klingon Empire is having none of that. Just try to enter the neutral zone and you’ll be staring down a few of these bad boys. This is the Klingon Battle Cruiser, by builder Ben "Spaceship!" Smith, it’s here to blow you up. Qapla'!

The Star Wars Early Bird Display

Flash back to 1977. Star Wars has rocked the world and become an absolute phenomenon. Nobody had ever seen anything like it, and the blockbuster was born. In its wake came the scramble to create merchandise. Before the film came out nobody was interested in creating anything for it, and really back then it wasn’t a thing. We had lunch boxes and occasional toys, but it really wasn’t like these days, where you can slap Han Solo on a bag of oranges. A small fledgling toy company named Kenner won the rights to the toys, but had absolutely no way to create an entire action figure line before the important holiday toy buying season. So they hatched a brilliant plan, to pre-sell the figures with a certificate that came with a display for the figures. Yes, they sold an empty package for Christmas, and we all had one. Flash forward to last Friday when I received quite possible the coolest present I’ve ever been given, this glorious reproduction by my dear old friend Peter Abrahamson.

Me and Pete go way back, we actually met on what was the first film gig for both of us, The Blob in 1988, and we’ve been friends ever since. Remember the Battlebot Ronin? That’s his! He’s one of the most brilliant guys I know and I’m proud to call him friend. After giving my family a tour of where he works, a mechanical think tank and technical wizardry wonderland called Applied Invention, we made a quick trip to his house where he unveiled this. I’m still in shock at the level of nerdy awesomeness. While most of us way back when were satisfied with the cheap cardboard display that was in our early bird, included in the package of the figures we waited eagerly for there was a coupon to send away for an upgraded stand.

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And once you see this you can truly appreciate the level of detail and deep dive that Pete put into his creation. Look closely and you’ll see that even the backdrop has been meticulously recreated in LEGO. Add to that the three swiveling levers, the brilliantly build figures and the custom sticker (including the term “Death Squad Commander”, something that always baffled us) you can see it’s a labor of love and dedication from a fellow nerd that shares my passion for Star Wars. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Pete, I’ll cherish it.

You can find more of Pete’s work at his website Ronin Brick Studio, check it out!

Christmas At Hogwarts

Christmas may be over, but the surprises and wonderful presents keep coming. I opened my Flickr (sorta like a present) to find this inside this morning. Builder Legopard has built a perfect representation of Christmas at everyone’s favorite school of witchcraft and wizardry, and it’s as charming and wonderful as it is in the movies. Everywhere you look it’s packed with details, check out the bookmark on the mantle, or the melted wax on the candle next to it, just so much to love.

Mario Kart

As I mentally prepare myself for a trip to Los Angeles today I’ll remind myself that it’s not OK to throw turtle shells or banana peels at my fellow motorists, as much as I may want to. While the “rules” of the freeways of the greater LA area don’t allow this, I’m sure there will be plenty of exchanged harsh looks and perhaps a couple gestures. But in my head I’ll be Mario, skillfully maneuvering through traffic, looking for the finish like. Just like this wonderful depiction by builder polywen.

Hugin & Munin

I love it when a MOC teaches me something. I’m not super knowledgeable about Norse mythology, but admiring these wonderful ravens by builder birgburg lead me to read the caption on the photo. According to it “In Norse mythology Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory) are Odin's two ravens. At day they fly over Åsgard and Midgard. At night they sit on Odin's shoulder and whisper in his ear what they have seen.” I was never aware of this and I love it. And to think I was just going to make a stupid “attempted murder” joke, shame on me.

Minimal Heroes

I love this. With a literal handful of parts builder SPARKART has recreated a key moment in my favorite movie of all time. Is there anyone out there that doesn’t instantly recognize this as the throne room from the end of Star Wars A New Hope? While the whole thing makes me giddy, it’s the silver lower leg of C-3PO that puts it over the top for me. Yes, in ANH Threepio has a silver leg, look it up.

The Great Deku Tree

The Great Deku Tree from The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time holds a dear place in my heart, and I suspect in a great many of yours too. It’s the first dungeon of sorts that many of us conquered, at least in a 3D game, and beyond the training ground that is Kokiri Forest. It’s that first satisfying completion of a large task in the game, and rewarding. It also happens to be my favorite game franchise. Builder Julius von Brunk has recreated this icon in bricks, and it has all the feels I could want.

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Knight's Hall

Medieval times had their fare share of hardships. Yes, everything was lit with candlelight. Sure, guys in metal suits were always trying to take your castle. Of course large swaths of the population might be killed off by disease. But if you were fortunate enough to actually live in a castle what a wonder it must have been. I mean who wouldn’t want to spend time in a space like this one from builder Lego_fan? I want to eat some food at that table or play a game or read a book by that fire, right now!

A Visit from Saint Nicholas

Bert Van Raemdonck captures Saint Nicholas delivering hope at Christmas time. Saint Nicholas was a bishop in what is modern day Turkey he lived from 270-343 AD and much of what we know of him focuses on his generosity.  A brief bio of what we know can be found here. The miter (a bishops pointy hat) is excellent captured using the classic roof piece 3049 , as is the crozier (a bishops staff of office, which often resembles a highly stylized shepherds crook) using the gold plant piece. 

The Gingerbread Express

The holidays means a lot of things to a lot of people, and a great many traditions. One in our house is a mild obsession with gingerbread. I’ve made no less than four batches of gingerbread men this season, I just ate one while my tea was steeping this morning in fact, and the bag is taunting me as I type this. We’ve built houses in the past, but never anything even remotely as whimsical and wonderful as this train by builder Tim Lydy. It’s adorable, and looks delicious.

A Host Of Robots

What does one call a collection of robots? A gaggle? A flock? I’m going to propose the official word to represent a mechanical gathering, a “tinker” (make this happen, I’m counting on you all). Builder Rogue Bantha has assembled quite a collection of robots here, and has invited us all to pick our favorite. This is really no small feat, and despite staring far too long at this image I’m afraid I’m not up to the task. I cannot pick just one, so I’ve decided not to, you can’t make me (remember this day when our robot overlords come, when I was inclusive and did not play favorites).

Christmas Cookies

While we are up to our 5th batch of cookies this year, we haven’t made any of this style (but the gingerbread men have been so yummy) but there’s still a couple days before Christmas so who knows what might happen. And while they might be tasty, I seriously doubt they’ll be as cute as these cookies from builder buildings blockd, which are as adorable as they are filled with Christmas spirit.