Grief And Joy

This is a powerful MOC by Sheo. Depression and grief affects so many people, including friends and family of mine. I consider myself lucky that I spend the vast majority of time on the far right of this image, but like everyone else I can sometimes find myself somewhere in the middle. Luckily I can maneuver back to the right with little effort, and I like to bring those on the left with me.

Grief and Joy

We're Looking For A Few Good Nerds

nerdly_sam.jpg

Do you like LEGO? Do you spend way too much time browsing Flickr and MOCpages? Do your friends consider you the funny type? Ever been shoved in a locker or blow the grading curve? Would you rather attend SDCC than baseball camp? Know who played Wedge Antilles? Congratulations, you're our kind of nerd!

BrickNerd is looking for contributors. If you think you've got the right stuff gather some writing samples and send an email to tommy@bricknerd.com

The Lovell House

My favorite architectural style is arts & crafts, but I do appreciate a cool modernist house. These scatter the hills of the more trendy parts of the greater Los Angeles area, a reminder of a burst of growth and the golden age of Hollywood of the 20's through the 40's (and a resurgence in the 60's and 70's). This one is the Lovell “Health” House by architect Richard Neutra, wonderfully recreated by builder Mattias Søndergaard. You may recognize from the movie LA Confidential.

The Lovell House
Carport

Pif Paf City

Howdy stranger, you new around these parts? Well, welcome to Pif Paf, I'm the local blacksmith Clement Sturkle. Homesteader huh? Well you're going to like it here. Old Jeb serves up a great skillet up at the bar, and of course there's plenty to drink. And the train comes through here Tuesdays and Fridays, so there's always plenty of goods for trade. Oh and a friendly tip, stay upwind of the cattle, whew! Can I interest you in new shoes for that pinto?

Pif Paf City 2
Pif Paf City 2

Philae Lander

Humans are a pretty ingenious and ambitious lot (when they're not bombing each other or posting pictures of their dinner). Take for instance the Philae Lander here, expertly recreated by builder creative bricks. This craft LANDED ON A COMET! Think about that, designed and launched by humans, a 10 year journey through the harshness of deep space, and stuck the landing on a friggin' comet! And you posted pictures of your pasta last night.

Lego Philae Lander I displayed at the National Space Centre UK with Brickish
Lego Philae Lander I displayed at the National Space Centre UK with Brickish

The Thing

So what's the deal? Why am I showing the poster to John Carpenter's The Thing? Look again, it's BRICK! This seriously phenomenal build is for the MOCathalon over at MOCpages by builder matt rowntRee. This is one of my all-time favorite thrillers, and to see it like this gives me a happy. Click through to see how this amazing and pretty huge MOC was done.

Big thanks to elbarto for the head's up

Cacodemon

Very few would argue what a paradigm shift Doom was. While Wolfenstein blazed the trail, Doom was there to pave a 6 lane highway to Gamerville. It was dark, dirty and lets face it, pretty damn scary for the time. Especially these guys, the Cacodemons, expertly rendered in brick here by builder Jarec. As if you weren't amped up enough, when these guys showed up you were better off wearing a diaper.

Doom

The Eagle

Ahh, Space 1999, another series trying to capitalize on the success of Star Wars right? *Loud Buzzer* Wrong! The series actually premiered two years before Star Wars came out, we just never saw it here in the states much until after Star Wars came out and the whole world went Sci-fi bananas. Here's another fun fact, the series is from Gerry Anderson of Thunderbirds fame. Yes, the show with the marionettes. While the show was always a bit sleepy for my taste I always like the Eagle, it had a real NASA aesthetic and believability. This version by Bricks For Brains is the perfect size for swooshing, gimme!

Eagle 1 front quarter

House Held Aloft

By far one of the most imaginative genres of builders out there are castle fans. I don't just mean this from the building standpoint, but the overall presentation of their work. A great many don't stop at the posting of images, but continue to weave fantastical tales and narratives of the drama and circumstances surrounding that build. This whimsical MOC by Milan Sekiz is a perfect example. Click through to learn how this house came to be perched atop a giant stone hand.

Tree houses are so yesterday
Tree houses are so yesterday
Tree houses are so yesterday

Da Bears

While I'm not a huge sports fan, I am a big fan of bricks, and that's what makes up this excellent football stadium by Dave Kaleta. But what I like even more is the story behind this. It's actually the result of a collaboration between Dave and a very young apprentice, like 6 years young. It all started innocently enough, with just an idea for the field, but it grew into something fantastic.

Soldier Field - Overview
Soldier Field - Steelers vs. Bears

Terraformar

It's long been said that the cockroach will outlast us all, but how will it evolve? Well, here's one possible scenario, Terraformar. Yes, super evolved anthropomorphized cockroaches living on mars with incredible strength and an instinctual hatred for humans. But really who can blame them. Do you suppose they've ever invent the "Human Hotel"? (wait a minute, that's already been invented...hmmm.....)

TERRAFORMAR

Sega Classics

Generally speaking I don't blog LEGO Ideas stuff, but I do make a rare exception. I'm going to do it this time in memory of the thousands of quarters I dropped into classic arcade machines (hey, I was a kid of the 80's) These Sega classic arcade machines by mista_carrot are so clever and fun I just had to share. You know what would make them even cooler? A sound brick (hint hint LEGO)

Sega-Arcade-Machines-01
Sega-Arcade-Machines-04 Space Harrier
Sega-Arcade-Machines-07 Out Run
Sega-Arcade-Machines-10 Thunder Blade

Zack Is Awesome!

So you think you're awesome? Well, you'll never be as awesome as Zach here. Zach had been saving his own money for LEGO Minecraft 21118 The Mine, I say had because yesterday without his parents even knowing he donated that money, a whopping $120, to Pennies for Patients to help kids with cancer (I'll pause while you pick up your jaw).

Well, when we heard about that we were so impressed we had to do something. We're going to hook him up The Mine so he can do a special guest review here on BrickNerd. Look for it in the coming weeks.

In the mean time, you can attempt to be as awesome as Zach and make your own donation to a very worthy cause.

 
 

Thanks to Paul Lee for bringing this awesome kid to our attention.

Star Wars "Midifigs"

This is a project I've been watching for a while, Miro78's "Midifigs". It's a cool new scale for upsizing your favorite minifigs. I really like the scale of these, they're big enough to get some fun detail in, but small enough to not take up too much space. Just about perfect for displaying on a bookshelf or desktop. I'm sure it's a challenge to get the forms and details needed, but that's also part of the fun. 

Midifig Cast of Characters
Luke (Rebel Pilot suit) midifig
Hoth Leia midifig
Chewbacca Midifigure
Han Solo midifig