BB-8

Everyone loves BB-8. Ever since The Force Awakens released it's first teaser trailer the world has been captivated by this little rolling wonder. There's been many LEGO renditions of this little dude, and now famed brick artist Powerpig has added him to his line of Brick Sketches. You can practically hear his charming little voice can't you?

BB-8

Yamato

SHIPtember continues and now that we're almost three weeks in we're starting to see a few completed SHIPs, like this magnificent rendition of the Space Battleship Yamato by builder Eínon. This would normally be the part where I confess I haven't seen the movie or series, but not this time! I've actually seen quite a bit, but it's been so long I can't remember much. I guess it's about time to revisit it.

Space Battleship Yamato - SHIPtember
Space Battleship Yamato - Side View

Jungle Jam

Brothers Isaac and John Snyder are working on another project focused on the old Adventurers LEGO theme.  "John and I decided to do a collab series based around re-imagining old set themes. Adventurers is a theme we’ve liked for years, though we never had any of the sets."  This particular module by Isaac S. is a wonderful representation of ancient ruins that have been swallowed by the ever-growing wilderness.  LEGO jungle creations have always intrigued me.  Perhaps it's because it allows for the builder to dump as much forestry as they want onto the terrain.  The more overgrown, the better!  As Isaac demonstrates here, you also can mix different colors together for the growth which can add more depth.  The beauty of this creation speaks for itself, but something else I admire is that it's just as heavily detailed on every side.  Check out the build, but don't get lost out there!  Bring a machete with you.

Adventurers Reboot: Temple Ruins
Adventurers Reboot: Temple Ruins
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Nathaniel Stoner

     My name is Nathaniel Stoner, and I am an very active LEGO builder.  I mostly build in the themes of castle and science-fiction, but I also dabble in other genres and create occasional random MOC's (My Own Creations). 

     When I was younger, I would get and build small LEGO sets for my birthday, but I was never really into them.  When they fell apart, I would become frustrated attempting to put them back together and would throw them in a box in my closet.  I couldn't stand them!

     Then, miraculously, I became addicted to the LEGO brick later in my teen years.  Ever since, I have continued to build up (pun intended) my collection of bricks and to expand my knowledge of techniques and building skills.  LEGO is truly more than a toy, its an art form and a way to express yourself.

     For the most part, I collect LEGO Star Wars (mainly the minifigs), which is probably my favorite LEGO theme.  I have a fairly decent collection, including some of the original 1999 sets, such as the Snowspeeder, X-Wing, and Naboo starfighter.  I also collected LEGO the Lord of the Rings when those sets first came out.  The minifigs are great, and the story remains one of my favorites ever. 

     My hope is to inspire other young (and perhaps even older) LEGO builders to unleash their inner creativity!  You can find me on my Flikr here

BrickNerd LiveBuild - Disney Castle - Part 2

It's time for another round of Disney magic! Yesterday we started building the Disney Castle, and over the course of about 5 hours we managed to get just over half way done. It's a magnificent set, full of wonderful details and interesting techniques.

Join us today as we finish it. Building starts at 9am PST, see you then!

Eat Your Carrots!

Ever hear the myth that eating lots of carrots will improve your eyesight?  Or maybe your parents told you this in order to make sure you ate your vegetables?  Well, builder Milan Sekiz has heard the myth before, and he has put a unique twist on the concept!  Milan has this to say about his newest creation: "On a planet similar to ours, these guys worship carrots for obvious reasons. They use strange mechas to harvest carrots from obelisks after worship ritual."  I find this build very creative and amusing.  I love the little alien creatures, but my favorite part (and probably the main focus of the build) is that gorgeous mech.  The colors are perfect, and it's a very slick design.  Wonderful work!  Now go eat your vegetables, kids.

Carrots are good for your eyes
Carrots are good for your eyes
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Nathaniel Stoner

     My name is Nathaniel Stoner, and I am an very active LEGO builder.  I mostly build in the themes of castle and science-fiction, but I also dabble in other genres and create occasional random MOC's (My Own Creations). 

     When I was younger, I would get and build small LEGO sets for my birthday, but I was never really into them.  When they fell apart, I would become frustrated attempting to put them back together and would throw them in a box in my closet.  I couldn't stand them!

     Then, miraculously, I became addicted to the LEGO brick later in my teen years.  Ever since, I have continued to build up (pun intended) my collection of bricks and to expand my knowledge of techniques and building skills.  LEGO is truly more than a toy, its an art form and a way to express yourself.

     For the most part, I collect LEGO Star Wars (mainly the minifigs), which is probably my favorite LEGO theme.  I have a fairly decent collection, including some of the original 1999 sets, such as the Snowspeeder, X-Wing, and Naboo starfighter.  I also collected LEGO the Lord of the Rings when those sets first came out.  The minifigs are great, and the story remains one of my favorites ever. 

     My hope is to inspire other young (and perhaps even older) LEGO builders to unleash their inner creativity!  You can find me on my Flikr here

Avalonian Countryside

There's a lot to appreciate in this micro landscape by Full Plate.  It's pretty much a reference photo for the genre, covering just about every type of temperate-zone environment.   You've got your cattail marshland, complete with dock and rowboat, rich fall foliage, pine forest, and an open meadow.  I particularly like the rock wall detail and gate along the path to the houses.  It all blends together nicely for a serene backdrop to a story you can read here.

Avalonian Countryside (9 of 9)

BrickNerd LiveBuild - Disney Castle - Part 1

We're huge Disney fans at our house. We go to Disneyland several times a year, we're Disney Vacation Club owners and we can't get enough of Begal BBQ and Dole Whips. Obviously we're also huge fans of LEGO (duh) so when those worlds collide you can bet we get excited. Join me and Mrs BrickNerd live for the next two days starting 9am PST as we build the new Disney Castle. It's going to be a magical time!

Eat Right

When I was a kid we had the four food groups, and while we knew what quadrant of a circle to put a Twinkie in, easting just as many as those as fruits and veggies probably wasn't too smart. The food pyramid, as illustrated in this brilliant MOC by builder Angela's brick, is a much better way to illustrate the amounts of certain foods you should eat. So, a Twinkie goes on the bottom right? It's sorta bread-like isn't it?

Food pyramid

Leopard 2SG

I have to admit to being fooled by the thumbnail for this. Having grown up building plastic models, I was instantly duped into believing this was a classic Tamiya model kit. But this is Eric Ong's excellent presentation of his Leopard 2SG tank MOC. This is first class presentation, a great deal of care went into this and the results are stunning.

Leopard 2 SG MBT Singapore Army "Rapid Dominance"

Review: The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book

Review: The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book

I love the holidays. Christmas carols, yummy treats, time with family and friends, practically daily viewings of A Christmas Story and of course LEGO under (and on) the tree. I don't know about you, but there's always several LEGO Christmas ornaments on our tree, and this year there's going to be a few more thanks to this new book from No Starch Press and author Chris McVeigh

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We're Going To Build The Disney Castle LIVE!

Me and Mrs BrickNerd were considering visiting Disneyland this weekend, but then this showed up in the mail. Yes, thanks to a little Disney magic, pixie dust and LEGO generosity we're bringing Disneyland to us. Yes, technically this is from Magic Kingdom in Florida, and we're west coasters, but we love Disney World too, just can't get there as often. This is going to be an epic build, so we're going to split it into two days. Starting this Friday, Sept 16th at 9am PST and continuing on Saturday at 9am PST we're going to tackle this mighty but magical set, join us!

Samus

It was a while before I bought and played Metroid Prime for Gamecube, and it was my first Metroid game (OK, I bought it for my son, but then played it myself). At first I was put off by the premise of morphing into a ball to roll around, seemed like a silly concept, but I warmed up to it quick enough. But what I remember the most is being floored that Samus was a girl, I'd seen the character for years, and had never known. This version by Pate-keetongu hits all the right marks. She looks ready for action.

Samus Aran

New LEGO Storage and Display Products

A company called Brick Innovations in cooperation with Phillip Miller Furniture has just launched a Kickstarter Campaign featuring several LEGO storage and display products. Every LEGO builder struggles with how to organize their collection, and the more options we all have the better as far as I'm concerned. Among the items they're promoting is a rather clever selection of tables, cabinets and building furniture, as well as some cool drawer pulls and a shelf to display Minifigures. They were kind enough to send a prototype Minifigure Shelf for me to check out. 

The shelf they sent holds more or less 8 figures, but it's smaller than the 18" version they have as a reward level on their campaign (which by the way its already funded just two days in, congrats guys!) and is made of a somewhat lightweight wood, I'm assuming pine. Embedded in the top is a strip of 1x genuine LEGO plate to attach your figs to.

Now I would be remiss if I didn't point out the obvious similarities to the Chroble shelves that have hung in my studio for quite some time now. The Chroble shelves are solid walnut, larger, heavier and have a strip of full sized 1x bricks on top. They are top quality in every respect, but that quality comes at a price, making them quite a bit more expensive than the Brick Innovations shelves. I don't know that I can fully comment on the quality of the Brick Innovations shelves either, since this is a prototype I have to assume the production ones will be better. But the one I have could have used more sanding, clean up and another coat of paint. 

So if you're interested in more storage and display options for your collection check out their campaign and throw some support their way.

Kylo

I wasn't too sure about Kylo Ren, even after my first viewing of The Force Awakens. But I have warmed up to him since (well, as much as you warm up to a murdering, foul tempered wannabe sith). But how can you resist him as a Brick Sketch by Powerpig? I wouldn't say I'm ready to declare my allegiance, but I have to admit I'm thinking of putting on TFA while I work.

Kylo Ren

Groucho

Yeah, this is gonna be another "back in my day" post. When I was a kid we only had four channels, and on Saturday morning it was our time. We watched classic WB cartoons, Tom & Jerry, Land of the Lost and the usual stuff. But in the afternoon things shifted to film festival time. And while the movie was hit and miss, you could always depend on some Three Stooges or Marx Brothers to be mixed in (as well as Popeye, ugh). So I grew up watching this man and his brothers, maybe not getting the humor as much as a good whack to the head with a hammer, but still enjoying it more than Popeye. This portrait in the style of Powerpig's Brick Sketches is by builder Paddy Bricksplitter, and he totally nailed it.

Groucho

The MOC Is Bursting With Awesomeness

The Arvo Brothers are back, with another jaw dropping, chest bursting, awe inspiring MOC. Everyone remembers the first time they saw Alien, hopefully before someone spoiled it for them (and with that being said, SPOILERS AHEAD) and when this adorable little dude bursted out of Kane's chest after everything seemed back to normal. This is the second version of this iconic creature from the Arvo Brothers, the last one being from 2007. Building instructions are available by contacting them at arvo@arvobrothers.com and soon on their website.

LEGO Alien Chestburster

La Saignante

This post is one week early for international talk like a pirate day (no really, look it up, it's a thing), so I'll avoid any cheesy "arrggs" and "avasts" and just present this absolutely wonderful pirate ship by builder Kloou. This lovely craft has three masts, a functional crane, fully decked out interior and fourteen guns. She's a formidable vessel you don't want to see approaching on the high sea.

Pirate ship : La Saignante
Pirate ship : La Saignante
Pirate ship : La Saignante
Pirate ship : La Saignante

Give Me A Hand

I really dig this mechanical hand MOC by builder ToyForce 120. It reminds me of my time as a mechanical designer, as well as the Terminator (plus robot hands are pretty much always cool). The pose-ability of this hand is absolutely fantastic, if you click through there's tons more pictures with all kids of poses. As for the title of this post, it's totally selfish, I want this hand.

LEGO Mech Hand-01
LEGO Mech Hand-02

151 PokéMOCs

In light of the immense resurgence of Pokémon this past summer, Carson Hart set himself a goal to build all 151 of the original Pokémon, and he's done quite a good job of it. You might have to squint on some of the smaller models, but a lot of them came out looking really spot-on, like his great Charizard, Lapras, and so on.