Happy Birthday Nerdly!

Three years ago today BrickNerd officially launched, and what an adventure it's been. I could not have imagined where this little bespectacled brick would take me, the friends that I'd make, the doors he would open. I set out to start a small blog and YouTube channel in my garage, with an open-ended concept for company growth and a lot of ideas. Now three years later I have an amazing studio, an animation division and I've been invited to speak at an event. The outpouring of love and enthusiasm has been beyond my wildest expectations, and it makes doing this job seven days a week more than worth it. I'd like to say a huge thanks to all my readers, viewers, contributors, commenters (well, some of them), guests, clients, sorters, builders and all the others that have helped me bring all my stupid ideas to life the last three years. I'd also like to thank my family for supporting me through this wacky endeavor, you're the best.

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.

Fallout Shelter Contest

Hey! A game tie-in I'm familiar with! I don't play of course, but my son does, and I recognized this immediately. The fine folks at eclipseGRAFX, Brickarms and Brickstuff are all sponsoring a pretty cool collaborative build for Brickfair VA. They're inviting you to build a module for what should be a pretty epic Fallout shelter when it's assembled. The contest ends 12:00 am EST on August 1st, so you have about a month. Check out the rules and standards here and get building!

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.

Insect Warrior

Moko is back with another stunning and seamless mix of Bionicle, Technic and Sytem, the Insect Warrior.  This thing looks as menacing as it is gorgeous, from top to bottom. The posing, lighting and photography show it off in first class style. Absolutely wonderful in all aspects.

Cailín

While the description of this whimsical and strange robot from builder Gamabomb describes it as  a friendly ai bot, I do find it's appearance slightly unsettling. It's wonderful but odd proportions and featureless face make it a little creepy and benevolent at the same time. But the overall effect is very compelling. If you're having trouble placing that face part, it's the top of a First Order Stormtrooper helmet, brilliant.

Penguin

Gotham's notorious crime lord Oswald Cobblepot, AKA Penguin, has been plaguing Batman's efforts to rid the city of crime since his first appearance in 1941. This version by Tim Lydy looks the business, and captures his slimy, infamous persona perfectly. Another in his series of brilliant Forms of Gotham collection.

Survival Starts In The Core

Anyone who follows E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) might recognize this little guy from a beautiful game introduced to us in 2015. ReCore is a secret to most of us gamers, all we really know about it is the mysterious girl with a grappling hook and her robot side-kicks. This doesn't stop builders like LEGOJunkie from already creating some of the lovable creatures we are all eager to get to know!

ReCore doesn't launch until September but as long as cute creations like Puppy Mack keep coming out, I'm good to wait :)