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.

The Struggle Is Real

I would argue that it's been a very, very long time since I've stepped on a brick. Mostly because I'm so particular about storage and proper care of the precious. Then again, I stepped on a pip just yesterday during the LiveBuild (with shoes on, does that count?). But as a parent, with two boys that were once quite into LEGO, I've suffered my fair share of nighttime ABS induced foot trauma. Now our friends at Tee Fury have a shirt to recognize the pain we've all shared. Act fast, it's today only!

BrickNerd LiveBuild - Mixels Series 8

Mixels series 8 is out and we've got the whole collection. Join me and Mrs. BrickNerd as we build the Medix, Pyrratz and MCFD live starting at 1pm PST. Grab the popcorn, make a sandwich, find a comfy place to sit and get ready for some riveting building. Will I say something stupid? (absolutely) will Dianna make a building mistake? (who knows) Will it be more entertaining than the last Fantastic 4 movie? (guaranteed)

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.

Orion (And His Belt)

Marco De Bon recently put out this fantastically slick mecha figure, Orion. I would think it would be difficult to make so many colors in one model aesthetically pleasing, but this build effortlessly balances them all, making it very appealing to the eye.

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.

LiveBuild Tomorrow!

I know it's been a while (what can I say, I've been pretty busy) but while I was in Utah Mrs. BrickNerd scored an entire series 8 of Mixels, and tomorrow we're going to build them. Join us at 1pm PST for some real-time LEGO building action!

Disclaimer: I use the term "action" pretty loosely, but it is guaranteed to be at least 17% more exciting than watching bread dough rise.

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.