They'd Be Crazy To Follow Us

Here at BrickNerd we like to look back from time to time, sometimes a long, long time ago. One of the most thrilling scenes in The Empire Strikes Back has never been cuter thanks to builder marshal banana. 

Wildcat

I spent a great deal of my adolescence building balsa and tissue models of WWII warplanes. You know, the ones you spend endless days irretrievably gluing your fingers to the cardboard surface and pins you're trying to use. Not to mention the full day you spent high as a kite from the dope covering. Anyway, I had a few favorites as a kid, and this plane was one of them, the Grumman F4F Wildcat. This version by Mad physicist is faithful right down the the folding wings for storage on the aircraft carrier, brilliant.

Mind Blowing Star Destroyer

Holy moly this thing is fantastic! I've been watching this super-sized MOC from Jarac take shape for ages on Flickr, now it's here and it's jaw-dropping gorgeous.

It's so incredibly and painstakingly detailed you could practically put this thing on a pylon and point a movie camera at it.

many thanks to elbarto for the head's up

The Wait Is Over!

Yes Ghostbusters fans the wait is over, LEGO Ideas 21108 Ghostbusters is now available at LEGO! I've had the pleasure of building this set and it's one of my favorites of recent years. To get yours follow these links and you'll not only get a phenomenal set, you'll support BrickNerd.

And if you have any doubt the set is awesome, have a peek at either the live build (real-time) or the brief I posted on my YouTube channel. 

Dream

Yet another fabulous bust from The Deathly Halliwell. This one is the protagonist Dream from the Sandman comics. This is a really impressive piece, from the light up eyes to the intense expression it's very well put together. And that hair just puts it over the top, fantastic. I wish I was able to go to BrickWorld and see this in person.

GORYOU

Builder kwi-chang has a new addition to his impressive robot army, LHB-ZT-005 GORYOU, but I'm going to call him Mr. Bendy Arms. Mr. Bendy, Arms (or just Bendy to his friends) would like to give you a hug. A nice, big, totally disabling your mech and achieving final victory hug.

SMC & IC On A PCB FYI

That stands for surface mounted components and integrated circuit on a printed circuit board for you non-electronics nerds out there. If you've ever tried to repair a camcorder or modern device, you probably took one look at this stuff and went "yeah right". Here they are recreated at 20:1 by vir-a-cocha. 

The Part Challenge

This is a two part post. The first order of business to attend to is this fantastic MOC by Peteris Sprogis. Brick built lettering can be difficult, especially if you want some panache to it, but Peteris pulls it off beautifully. Although it is important to point out that this is the second iteration of this MOC, because sometimes a "P" can look an awful lot like an "F".

The second order of business is to bring up what this MOC is actually promoting. It's a Flickr group called, you guessed it, Part Challenge. It's sort of like Iron Builder for the rest of us. Check it out and get building!

Free Wheelin'

Ultimate Design Bricks has released a free ( ! ) LEGO book about wheels. And not just any wheels, but highly customizable and clever wheels in a range of sizes. You can download the book on his website. There's also tutorial videos and more.

Gamma Four

Check out this crazy cool robot from Jason Corlett! In his ongoing series (one for each letter of the Greek alphabet) this is Gamma Four. I rarely post more than two pics of a MOC, but this thing is so gloriously detailed and designed that I couldn't help myself. I especially love the legs and feet, you can practically hear this thing clomping down a futuristic corridor.

Mad Stairway Drawing Skills

Here at BrickNerd we like to look back from time to time, and draw squiggles with knobs. This is childhood in a single picture, an iconic toy built from my favorite toy. Everyone remembers trying to draw the family pet or house, only to discover part way through that there was no way to get to that next detail without leaving a bizarre contrail. Then with one mis-turn of a knob and the whole thing was for not. No biggie though, one big shake and it was on to the next drawing. I don't know how old this MOC is, all I know is it was built by customBRICKS, and it's awesome.

Oooooh, Shiny

I have a bit of a weakness for retro MOCs, I'm also a fan of chrome, so this 1930's Spindizzy tether car from Sir Nadroj naturally caught my eye. Not only is it stylish and appealing, it's also 100% "legal", no custom parts or modifications, splendid!

It's Called What?

Dane Erland (AKA Mechanekton) was key model builder for BrickNerd Studio's animation on Beyond The Brick: A LEGO Brickumentary. He built like mad for weeks on end, and created some stunning pieces for it. But the project didn't require any mecha, so it's nice to see him building again in his standard genre. I'm just not sure about his naming skills...

Dragon Keep

This latest castle by ZCerberus falls somewhere between humongous and massive in scale. And, a lot of times, when we see builds this large they tend to lose detail due to the magnitude of time it takes to build something on this scale. This castle is clearly the exception. You can tell that a lot of thought was put into the typically more boring parts of the castle, including the injection of color and symbols into the traditionally bland castle walls. Additionally, ZCerberus has done a nice job of creating an interesting and foreboding environment surrounding the keep.

Check Out My Briefs!

No, not those briefs, these briefs. I've uploaded a couple time-lapse videos, Trevi Fountain and Ghostbusters. 

Unzipping The Storm

The latest Iron Builder continues to rage on, and neither opponent is letting up. Today's MOCs couldn't be more different, and each is amazing in it's own way. Onosendai's zipper could be on anything, use your imagination (keep it clean kids). And anyone from "tornado alley" here in the US knows the awesome power of the tornado, but they've never seen one as cute as this MOC by Kyubi.

You've Been Violated

If you went up in my attic right now you'd find dozens and dozens of Spawn toys. Todd McFarlane shook up the toy industry just like he shook up the comic industry and it elevated everyone's game. One of the incredibly imaginative characters is Clown/Violator, expertly depicted here in brick form by Pistash.

Green Dragon

Deathly Halliwell is back with another stellar bust, this time it's a green dragon. This works very well as an overall sculpture, the pose and weight distribution is excellent. I also really like the expression, the lowered brow and slit eyes give it a really menacing look.

Holy Extra Cheese Batman!

INT GOTHAM APARTMENT - NIGHT

A cloaked, dark figure stands in a moody hallway, eerily lit from behind. A cord dangles from a communication device as the figure slowly paces, a faint ringing is heard.

Voice (O.S.)

Gotham pizza, can I take your order?

The dark figure stops pacing as his senses tingle, ready for action, he clears his throat, 

Batman

Yes, I heard there's a situation there. I'm here to help.

Voice (O.S.)

Umm, I'm not sure what you mean.

Batman

(after an awkward beat)

I need a pizza.

Voice (O.S.)

Yes sir, what would you like on it?

Batman

Do you have any...dark ingredients?

Voice (O.S.)

Ummm, olives are pretty dark I guess.

Batman

Perfect. And I need it delivered under cover of night.

Voice (O.S.)

Well, it's 9:30 at night, so... yeah

I Know Just How He Feels

I think we can all relate to this sometimes, it's particularly applicable to me these days. Between animation for Beyond The Brick, all things BrickNerd and recent work on Expendables 3, I feel like this all the time. But we carry on cmaddison, we carry on.