A Herculean Effort

I know what you're thinking. "A post about a SHIP? It's not September yet!" But Migalart apparently didn't get the memo, and I'm not complaining. He says this was his first attempt at a SHIP, which makes this awesome build, named Hercules, even more impressive. There's a lot of great detail in this, from the texturing on the main panels to the center greebling. I particularly like the tiny windows on the front, they really give the ship a great sense of scale. And that photo edit is just gorgeous!

Update: Migalert uploaded a new pic with some tweaks and no effects, what an insanely cool design and execution.

I'm Remembering Something!

Builder Grantmasters has created this fun little scene from Finding Dory and I'm just gushing over all the detail! The water plants are cleverly made with green flower studs and green flags, and the fish use minifigure hands as fins and Belville shoes! This is quite ama---what was I saying again?

VirtuaLUG Putt Putt

For Brickworld 2016, VLUG opted to scale things back a bit from previous years, and focus more on individual creativity.  What better way to accomplish that goal than to build our own Mini-Land Plus Putt-Putt golf course!  Fearless leader Dave Kaleta took the helm again.  But unlike the Wizard of Oz collaboration which required very specific scenes and exacting standards, this year's concept left a lot up to the individual builders.   As long as you had your tee box and a path, you were good to go.  So from Cthulhu to Gamma Trianguli VI, the VLUG crew certainly didn't disappoint! 

Photos in the slideshow courtesy of Dave Kaleta, and one by Mrs. Barto of the Sand Castle scene.  There's also a nice Beyond the Brick tour with Dave.  He highlights each builder and their themes, plus you can see the mechanical action featured in several of the holes. 

Behold The Batcave!

This MOC is Bruce Wayne levels of commitment! Check out this truly epic Batcave from builder 莫古 (Chak hei Mok). The scale is impressive of course, and the level of detail is stunning, from the multiple bat-vehicles, to the choice of suits and the tiered construction to the complex geology, it's a feast for the eyes. But what I really love is the attention to detail in the lighting. It's all scale lit and looks absolutely cinematic.

Link

I admit I'm not much of a gamer. Not from lack of enthusiasm or interest, but time (and skill, I'm pretty bad). But there's one game character that gets a squee out of me every time, and when I saw this brilliant Link from Legend of Zelda by builder NKubate I'm not ashamed to admit a sharp inhale of breath and an eye pop. This is by far one of the best renditions of Link I've ever seen, and it makes my nerd heart go pitter patter.

A Feat of LEGOistics

Joshua Brooks takes us back to 1776 with this incredible MOC of the 'Noble Train of Artillery'. He's captured the wintery season with the snow-covered landscape and browning trees. The cannon and structures used by the cattle and horses to pull them are so true to form. Despite the fact Knox's Expedition took troops 3 months to complete, these minifgs still seem to have smiles on their faces!

It Is Your Destiny

I've only played Destiny a few times (bad nerd, I know), so I didn't recognize this build by Jayfourke. I do, however, know an awesome spaceship when I see one, and this definitely qualifies. The shaping is very unique and very cool: I particularly like the big scoops and missile pods on the sides. Also, I'm really digging the orange color scheme. It's quite a nice color which doesn't get used often enough, in my opinion.

Monarch & Wasp

Builder Zcerberus continues to delight with daily releases of fantastic Neo Classic Space ships. I like how they're all completely different from each other, yet look like a unified team or series. I especially like the Monarch, with it's dropship-like appearance looks especially fierce. Judging by the description of the first offering, the Firemoth, we can look forward to at least one more, but I couldn't help myself and had to post these two.

Having Lots of Faun

As awesome as this build is, I've goat to ask ewe to not faun over it too much so Toltomeja doesn't get sheepish. And I just horned in fur puns. Six now. But anyway, this idyllic scene from a faun-filled valley is very cool. The vegetation is extremely convincing, especially the grapevines and that beautiful tree. I also really like the almost ramshackle roof, which makes great use of minifig flippers.

Mack & Joule

I feel slightly better for not recognizing these characters, being as the game they come from, ReCore, isn't even out yet. But judging by the trailer from E3, it's going to be pretty sweet. And judging from these awesome MOCs by Nick Brick, he's going to be playing it. This is Mack and Joule, I can't tell you much about them, but they look just as cool as the game does.

Dragon Attack!

Just look at that Dragon. Its AWESOME! The parts use here is superb, a million illegal connections, excellent. The castle isn't to shabby either. This Micro scale MOC by Guy Smiley would make a superb set, if it wasn't for all those not so legit connections! Gonna go and see if I can make my own little (big) Dragon!

Pull To Inflate

When we were seeing the first photos of the cast of characters for The Force Awakens, I remember that there were some articles online about Poe Dameron and what the Aurebesh text on his flight vest said.  It translated to "PULL TO INFLATE".  Oh man was I excited.  Don't get me wrong and I'm not being sarcastic.  It's the little details like this that make the movies immersive to me.

Takamichi Irie has made one of his coolest models yet.  This 1:1 scale Resistance pilot's helmet and life support unit belong to Poe Dameron, but the 1:1 scale LEGO Poe is nowhere to be found!  The details on the helmet are spectacular.  The Rebel logo is integrated into the spherical brickwork at an angle, the visor curves all the way around and looks like it actually protects the eyes, and the simple box shaped life support unit is just so smooth.  I'm a sucker for smooth things made out of LEGO.

The Riddler

The latest figure in Tim Lydy's Forms of Gotham collection is The Riddler, Batman's quizzically narcissistic adversary. As with all of the characters from this series, he stands on a base that reflects his place in the Gotham lore, in this case his signature question mark. He's also adorned with question marks skillfully modified from official LEGO stickers.

Firemoth

I was just thinking yesterday that it's been a while since I've seen a good old neo classic space ship. Thankfully builder ZCerberus came along to slake my nerdy lust with this lovely craft. It has an unusual shape, far more round and snub-nosed compared to most ships, and that's what I find most appealing. With the impression of large turbines in the wings it almost looks like a VTOL, making for some cool takeoffs in my imagination. This thing looks ready to protect the galaxy.

Abernathy Farm

The Fallout series and world has always intrigued me. I've often wondered what a world after a large extinction level event would look like and the Fallout series of games offers just such a window into that world. WookieeWarrior (how does he build with such large furry hands?!) has created a very authentic vignette of the Abernathy farm for us to stare at and attempt to find all the little details that go along with a ruined world.

Breaking Bad

I'm probably going to get grief for this, but I've never watched Breaking Bad. I mean I've seen some of it, when I was in the room with others watching, but I've never been a viewer. That doesn't mean I don't know what it's about and can't appreciate this brilliant MOC by Disco86. This thing is at once super clean and ridiculously detailed. I don't know the particulars of this machinery, but I believe it works.

Just Troopin' Along

I'm not often a huge fan of Bionicle/Hero Factory style MOCs, but Djordje's builds always impress me. This futuristic trooper is no exception. It amazes me how the builder can get such unusual and disparate pieces to mesh smoothly. For example, the bottom of the soldier's head is the cowling from a Chima Speedor. Such a weird piece, and it works perfectly. I also really like how realistically posed this guy is, from the way he's holding the gun to his "come at me, bro" stance.

Hermey And The Abominable Snowman

This wonderful custom set of figures won Best Custom at Brickslopes last weekend, an event I was fortunate enough to attend. I know we don't cover much custom figures here on BrickNerd (I don't know why, should we?) but this pair is from something so dear to me, the animated classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We watched this every year as kids, it was a hallmark of the season. These figures are so clean and well done they look practically factory made, nice work Done Rite.

Teedo's Luggabeast

The Force Awakens was rife with new and wonderful alien lifeforms (but, sorta strangely devoid of all our favorites, hmmm). This one captured everyone's imagination, not only for it's size and the fact that it was a beast of burden, but the fact that's a fusion of animal and machine. This version by robert.lundmark has a fantastic level of detail.

Strongarm

Two popular types of mechs are ones that look very realistic and utilitarian, and the ones that have a lot of character. This mech by Aaron Williams is both. It's just bursting with character, what with the almost cartoony proportions and the organic pose, but it also looks like it would be useful in the real world. There are lots of awesome little details, such as the hydraulics in the shoulders and the white dot on the left knee. Very cool.