The Culture of Japan

Builder Alanboar creates this beautiful representation of Japanese culture to commemorate his honeymoon with his wife. There is so much detail in this creation, including the Kyoto Kiyomizu temple, and it all sits on a brick-built scroll. Some of my favorite details are the fins used for minifigure kimono sleeves, and (obviously) the mini sushi! Makes my desire to visit Japan so much stronger! 

Introducing MOC Nation

There's a new option on the web for custom LEGO creations and fans of LEGO of all ages, builders and designers alike, MOC Nation. For builders it's a chance to get your hands on sets designed by the greatest designers on the planet. For designers it's a chance to share your creations with the world and make a little money too. Today is the official launch date and while the catalog is small, it's going to be growing very soon. Head on over and check them out!

MOC Nation was created by Matt Gutierrez, Jason Gutierrez, and Andrew Capener — three AFOLs with backgrounds in e­commerce, entrepreneurship, design and a passion for all things creative. 

Kirika Towa Alma

As if it isn't always a bit awkward commenting on a character I don't recognize from a game or film I haven't seen, this goes one step further. It would appear that builder Pate-keetongu based this on concept art for a game he's never played, so we're both sorta in the dark. I know a good character build when I see it though, and this one is gorgeous.

Tsukiko

Confession time: I never watch any anime, ever. Not saying that I wouldn't like it, I just haven't watched any. So, I have absolutely no idea who or what this build by Djordje is. But I really dig it. This gal is a beautiful example of what can be accomplished by combining System and Bionicle pieces. Also, all the shaping is fantastic (especially on the skirt), and that purple hair is just awesome.

American Ninja Warrior

We don't watch much sports at our house (is American Ninja Warrior a sport?) but we do watch this from time to time. And when you combine it with stop motion animation and LEGO, well, that's a winner in our book. Find out what happens when the Ninjago team faces the course. The animation in this is pretty amazing, and the build is fantastic. I don't know who to credit for it, but it's excellent work.

The Batman

The centerpiece of Tim Lydy's Forms of Gotham collection, Bruce Wayne's alter ego, the crimefighting legend, Batman. Like the other figures in the collection, Bats stands on a base representative of his place in Gotham lore, namely where his fate was sealed, crime alley. This is where young Bruce witnessed the murder of his parents, and was changed forever.

The Perfect Couple

According to research one of the things that makes a perfect couple is common goals and mutual admiration. What could be more descriptive than The Joker and Harley Quinn? They both share the common goal of bringing down the Bat, and each is infatuated with the other. Sure they're raving psychopaths, but that's beside the point. Two more of Tim Lydy's brilliant Forms of Gotham collection, and an inspiration to couples everywhere.

Operations Room

A lot of you may not know I have a second childhood toy fascination, GIjOE. When I was a kid I had 12" Joes, and now that I'm an adult I have well over 100. So this 1/6 scale interior by {YVD} resonates with me on a deep level, bringing together my love of LEGO and action figures. I love the retro feel of it, from the control panels to the modern chair, it feels right out of the late 60's.

There's Been An Awakening.....

Deep in Maz's castle lays a chest with Luke Skywalker's lightsaber buried away. When Rey follows the sound of a child's voice, it's the saber that calls to her. This build by Forgotten Days shows the scenes from Rey's force vision in chronological order. This is definitely worth more than a quarter portion!

Tall Tower, Tall Trees

The LEGO Castle building community often gets accused of having too little innovation and lots of repetition, but builds like 'Sergeant Chipmunk''s Stonecreek Forest make me think otherwise. The most unique part of this build is, of course, the fantastic wall technique, using what looks like stacked 1x1 round tiles - looks great, but I can't imagine it would hold up well in a fight.

Remote Controlled LEGO Monowheel

Mechanical mad genius JK Brickworks is back with another mind-blowing creation. This one might have you scratching your head how it could possibly work. Luckily Jason shared a video that shows all the secrets. Maybe it doesn't navigate stairs so well, but the rest of the time it's pretty amazing.

Gargamel

I'm afraid I've never watched a single broadcasted moment of the Smurfs, nor did I see the movies (in fact, I had to Google whether or not there was a sequel to the first one) but I do recognize some of the characters. I also recognize mad building skills, and Builder LEGO 7 totally nailed this rendition of Gargamel. What he has against little blue dudes eludes me though.

Medical Frigate Microfighter

I've always been a fan of the Microfighter series (well, the latest wave was a bit lukewarm) and their chunky, chibi style. This EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (AKA Medical Frigate) by builder markus19840420 captures the feel of the series perfectly, and then some. This makes me want to build my own rebel fleet!

Classic Space Grand Carousel

Now this is how to reimagine. Builder justin_m_winn took an incomplete 10196 Grand Carousel and turned it into this classic space masterpiece. The re-theming is brilliant, with different ride vehicles, classic space color scheme and even custom printed canopies. I like to imagine it's playing some cool retro futuristic music with plenty of "pew pew" sound effects.

Don't Tap the Glass, They Hate it When You Do That

Talk about a crazy (in a good way) build to see this afternoon!  Djorde has built one of my favorite funky builds that I've seen in quite some time.  I'm sure there are many fish-related jokes that one could make about this creation, especially with the recent release of Finding Dory, but I'm not going to dive too deep to think of some.  (Get it?)  Just keep swimming, Djorde!  Okay, I'll stop now.

Heart of Plastic

Tim Lydy's Forms of Gotham series has been getting a lot of coverage here on BrickNerd lately, but I can't help drawing attention to his most recent model: Mr. Freeze. Victor Fries has always been one of my favorite members of Batman's rogues gallery, both in character content and appearance - I love his eerie representation in the Arkham video game series, which this model seems to take inspiration from. The model has a lot of dark colors, so I recommend checking Lydy's stream to more views of this great model.

JMC Starbug

Red Dwarf fans will get a charge out of this build!  And for the rest of us, we'll be seeing something pretty unique.  It's been a five year project by Patrick Gregory.  To me it's more of a sculpture than the typical sci-fi model.  But it's got a fully loaded interior, complete with all the characters I don't recognize.  That's what being a true fan is all about!  I know, I'm a BSG fan.  Awesome build here, Dude!

We're All Mad Here

I have to confess that even as big a Batman fan as I am, I've never heard of Jervis Tetch, AKA Mad Hatter. Builder Tim Lydy admits that he's "just outside of the main circle of arch-bat-foes". Since I'm not much of a comic reader, I can see why I've missed him, but now I think I need to go back and do a little catch-up, this guy's got some panache. Part of Tim's brilliant Forms of Gotham collection.

Mechstick

Maybe it's the slight resemblance to IG-88, maybe it's the impossibly slender proportions, maybe is that innocent look countered with that big gun. I don't know what it is but I find this tall and skinny MOC by Karf Oohlu very compelling. I can imagine him (I assume it's a him) chasing down his enemies and finding cover behind ridiculously narrow objects.