Cheery Littlebottom

I've never read any of the Discworld books, but the more I learn about them, the more fascinated (and confused) I get. For instance, this figure by Pate-keetongu is Sergeant Cheery Littlebottom, a former forensic alchemist and the first openly female dwarf of Ankh-Morpork City. Yes, under the beard and all the armor and leather, that's a female. Apparently all dwarves are traditionally 'male', and bearded,  but there are both male and females of course, or how would they procreate? Another intriguing but baffling facet of this book series and universe.

Blacktron Kong

There's no description on this MOC by builder David_Alexander_Smith, so it's up to my imagination to figure out how this fits in the Blacktron universe (like that's a problem). Meet Blacktron Kong, the bipedal mech invented by Thaddeus Shvenkle of the 76th Space Division- Oracle Base Unit. Kong was built for remote exploration on the uneven and diverse terrain of Novus 6. His ape-like structure allows for high mobility in the jungle regions as well as the rocky plains. Kong has a crew of up to 4 explorers, but is capable of being driven by a single pilot. His total mission time is 76 hours under normal use and his energy source is classified at this time.

A Life-Size "Realistic" LEGO Head Is Just As Disturbing As You'd Think

Those mad geniuses at Tested have conjured a thing of nightmares. Makeup and monster maker Frank Ippolito designed and built this LEGO inspired costume in record time for San Diego Comic-Con, and it turned out fantastic (and absolutely unsettling). Not only did he make the head, but he fabricated a pair of hands that are just as disturbing. Pair those with his simple red shirt and blue pants and you have something that is simultaneously endearing and frightening. I wish I was able to see this in person on my one day there.

Regis Commdor Hyperion

Ancient shipbuilders sure knew how to make a statement. I can't speak to the accuracy of this ancient Greek galley, but it's impressive and absolutely beautiful. With a combination of wind and man power, these ships could transport soldiers quickly and quietly, and judging by the number of oars on this, it was pretty fast.

Buckbeak and Black Break Free

With Buckbeak and Sirius Black facing the end of their existence, Harry and Hermione race against time as they use a 'time-turner' to save the beloved Hippogriff and Harry casts a Patronus Charm to escape the Dementors. Kevin Wollert has perfectly captured the scene of Sirius riding Buckbeak to their safety using minifigscale, and microscale for Hogwarts as it disappears from sight. I'm sure there was no magic spell used to create this enchanting piece.

Classic Biplane

From the thumbnail I thought that this was a classic wooden toy, but as you can see it's all bricks, 1000 bricks to be exact. I don't read or speak German, so I haven't a clue why builder grubaluk received 1000 2x4 tan bricks from 1000stein, but he turned them into something wonderful. Keep in mind that only 2x4 bricks were used to build this, and if you've ever tried to build something with just those bricks you'll appreciate how difficult it can be,

MFS-04 Bison

If I had to pick one word to describe this new mech from Moko, it would have to be "beefy". Just look at the lines on this, the mass, the strength. This is the sort of machine you go into battle with, clomping headlong into the fray. And judging by the firepower on this, it's going to pack a wollup. The color scheme is also very nice, all that olive green gives this a definite military feel.

Shplat!

LEGO is a fantastic medium for activating imagination. Whenever I see a new build, it gets me thinking about a scene from a movie, or about the potential of a new technique or narrative. But this build by Letranger Absurde is the first LEGO build I've seen that makes me think of a specific sound. Every time I look at this picture, I hear a vivid "splat!" just like in Loony Tunes. That splatted bug makes fantastic use of that weird Toy Story octopus bottom, for a true NPU. Brilliant and hilarious work here, not to mention the on-point character building.

The Tick - Heroes And Villains

The 90's cartoon series The Tick was known for being quirky, funny and unorthodox, and these miniland scale figures by builder BenSpector42 can be described the exact same way. Sure super strength and invulnerability are nice, but 'drama power', now that's serious. Especially when you're up against a guy with a chair for a head.

Nerdvanna

Yesterday as many of you know I took a break from my family vacation at Disneyland to make a one day pilgrimage to the holy land, San Diego Comic Con (leaving Disneyland to go to SDCC, #FirstNerdProblems). It was a whirlwind tour of just the exhibits, no time to see any panels or stand in line to buy stuff.

The first significant stop was happening upon the legendary Bill Plympton, who was kind enough to sketch me an addition to the BrickNerd Art Project. He was ultra cool and it was a pleasure to meet him. You can bet this is going to get framed and hung on the studio wall as soon as I get home.

I continued my long trek, weaving up and down the aisles of the show floor after that, which is no small endeavor, especially with already tired legs from two days of theme park walking. If you've never been to SDCC, there's really no way to describe or explain it. It's absolutely enormous, and there's so many enthusiastic nerds from all over the world collected in one space that it's almost overwhelming, almost. There's SO much love there, so much joy for so many things. From comics to movies and from toys to fine collectibles, there's something for literally everyone there.

The next significant event needs a little setup. Back in 2005 I worked on Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece film Pan's Labyrinth. After principal photography was done, I was cleaning and organizing the camera gear we used at CafeFX and I ran across the insert slate, the little board you mark with what scene/shot you're filming. Normally I would have just wiped it clean and got it ready for the next gig, but by then we were far enough into the film I knew that we were working on something important and special, so I set it aside. It sat on a shelf in my office for several years after that, and when the company folded in 2009 I kept it as a memento. Fast forward to a few months ago and I was digging around on my workbench in the garage and I happened upon it. Just days earlier I was watching a video tour of Adam Savage's man cave on Tested.com and saw that he has a special GDT shelf among his amazing collection. He has props and mementos from many of his films. So my first thought was "this needs to be on that shelf, on display where it can be appreciated, not collecting dust in my garage".

I tweeted a picture out, but got no response from Adam. While packing for this trip I happened upon it again, and thought "what the heck, there's an incredibly remote chance I'll see him there and can just give it to him" and tucked it into my backpack. Fast forward again to yesterday, as I continued my way across the hall. I made to the Prop Store booth, one of my favorite stops every year to look at all the props and fun stuff from movies I love. While admiring an insert slate from The Empire Strikes Back I remembered the slate in my backpack and recalled that Adam usually makes his way to this very booth during one of his famous Adam Incognito videos. Not 45 seconds later, while admiring a full body prop from Terminator 3 I see Kylo Ren in my peripheral vision. Just last week Adam posted a video about making the neck piece for that costume and I thought "no way". Then I heard him talking and it sounded like him so I said "Adam?" It was him. I washed back and forth between giddiness to have found him, and utter shock to have found him. I told him I had something for him and dug it out of my backpack. It took a moment for him to realize what he was holding, and to register that it was for him. But his reaction after was great, I couldn't see him smiling under his mask, but I could tell by his body language (and huge hug) that he was pretty stoked. He needed to get get going so we snapped a quick pic and he was on his way. I wandered off too, content that I had just won comic con, mission accomplished.

While I did make several stops at the LEGO booth, it was always wrapped with people hungry to collect their convention exclusives (I was not among them, no special sets for me) and an absolute mob scene. I would have taken some pictures, but you all know what a bunch of people look like, just imagine that with a large LEGO sign hanging above them. I did duck in to say hi to LEGO master builder Erik Varszegi while he was building a giant Batgirl, always nice to see him.

After that it was just a lot of wandering, napping Nerdly selfies (he's so narcissistic), short chats with old friends I ran into and sweating (SDCC is always hot, always). Content I had seen and perspired enough I made my way back to the Amtrak station to catch my train back to Anaheim, SDCC 2016 was over for me. Time to start planning for next year, maybe this time I'll mark the calendar and not plan a Disney Vacation to coincide with the same weekend, duh.

Brickheadz In Disguise

In the wake of the new Brickheadz Super Heroes line announced at this weekend's San Diego Comic Con, it didn't take long for AFOLs to start making Brickheadz of other characters, such as these great Transformers by Tankm.

"There's A Pikachu Over There!"

Show of hands, who's been playing Pokemon GO? The game's been available nearly three weeks now and it's already cliché to ask that. I've been playing the game like mad lately and nothing's beaten the excitement when a Pikachu showed up nearby - a moment perfectly captured in this giant iPhone model built by Chris Madisson. For me the most impressive part is how cleanly he achieves the look of the Pokéball - round shapes aren't always easy in LEGO but all it took was a tire and some quick thinking to perfect one.

Cole Blaqtron

Neo-Classic Space is arguably the oldest theme in which AFOLs have been building for all these years, and in just one build Cole Blaq has both mastered it and wildly subverted it. "High Jack" is one of the most unique NCS models I've seen in a while in terms of shape, with some clever part uses thrown in for good measure.

Well, It Began As You Might Expect. . .

"In a whole in the ground, there lived...a Hobbit."

Balbo, a very popular Lord of the Rings LEGO builder, has created the iconic "Red Book of Westmarch."  You may recognize this book as the keeper of both Frodo and Bilbo's writings, containing their stories and their adventures of Middle-earth.  Just seeing this build come through my Flikr stream made me want to pull out a copy of the Lord of the Rings and start watching the trilogy again.  I also really want to open up this book and read the text within (even though I've read both stories multiple times).  If Tolkien was still alive, I believe he would be very pleased with this recreation, along with many other great LOTR creations.  Keep it up, Balbo!

Cha-ching!

I suppose today's kids learn about money handling with an app (between catching Pokemon) but when I was a kid, this was the apparatus of choice, the Fisher-Price cash register. Seeing this MOC by scottstaz brought a whole flood of nostalgia and happy coin-counting feels. It's a perfect 1:1 recreation, right down to the chute on the side.

Robot Hit Squad

I always love it when a sci-fi creation actually looks realistic and practical. This group of robot assassins by Devid VII is a great example of military sci-fi realism, with lots of functional-looking greebles and a very aggressive, utilitarian look. The drone in front makes great use of minifigure parts, such as using legs as a major part of the arms. Devid says that there are more robots coming in this series, and I can't wait to see them.

Galactic Surf Is Up, Dude

Here's a mashup I can get behind, a classic VW type 2 bus at neo classic space! What better way to find all the tasty waves in the galaxy than strapping your board to the roof of this baby and jetting to the nearest intergalactic beach? Click through to see Builder Priovit70's other space creations, including the type 1 beetle equivalent of this radical ride.

Ard Ri

That's Gaelic for High King.  Dan Harris has created an ornate game board based on a Scottish variant of an ancient genre of strategy games called Tafl .  These games, originating in the Germanic and Celtic regions of northern Europe are played with two armies of uneven numbers.  The goal is for the King to escape from the center of the board to the periphery or, as in this case, a corner.  According to Dan, the King wins about half of the time.  What I really like about this set-up are the intricate patterns created with those sideways cheese-slopes, from the Viking ships on the outside to the dragon/ouroboros in the center.  Nice work, Dan!

"Together, We Can Rule The Galaxy As Father And Son."

The duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader on Bespin is one of those iconic scenes which we see revisited in the brick a lot by many different builders, but I'm very fond of this new model by Vitreolum. He achieves a very clean look by using mostly monochrome light bluish gray parts, with minimal visible studs, which fits the scene well in my opinion.