Rolling in Style. . .In SPAAACE!

There seems to be a sudden wave of many amazing micro and nano scale creations in the past few months.  This miniature (yet mighty) space rover is a wonderful addition!  Builder Sad Brick has created a rover that is so unique, but incredibly realistic at the same time.  I would definitely cruise around in a full size version of this adorable little build!

MicroRover
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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

Hot Wheels

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you (and no, we haven't started covering other toys), these are LEGO. Builder Brick Flag has recreated some classic Hot Wheels, and the results are perfect. Of course they're significantly larger than their tiny rolling counterparts, but I think that's part of the fun. What's more is I had these very cars when I was a kid, the paramedic truck was one of my favorites, and the fastest in my collection.

Hot WHeels Lego MOCs 1 of 11
Hot Wheels Lego MOCs 2 of 11

Winter Fox Hunt

I watched a lot of nature shows when I was a kid, so when I saw this shot of Miro Dudas' new moc, I could almost hear David Attenborough's voice.  Built for a contest on Eurobricks, Miro has captured the action perfectly.  The fox, listening to it's prey scurrying beneath the snow, almost has a smile on its face, ready to strike.  Lunchtime!

Winter Fox Hunt

Firestorm

Every once in a while a ship comes along that just screams to be swooshed. You know what I mean, you just wish you could reach into the screen, grab ahold of it, pull it out and run around the room making ridiculous but totally satisfying spaceship sounds and flying it with one hand (and in my case closing one eye and pretend the other is a camera). Today, this marvelous Vic Viper by builder Tim Schwalfenberg is that ship.

Firestorm
Firestorm Details

Khvostov 7G-0X

Nick Brick is back with another top-notch video game inspired weapon. This time around it's a rifle from Destiny: Rise of Iron, and it's pretty stunning. It's a bit of a departure from the more fanciful weapons of recent history and seems more rooted in reality (looks an awful lot like an AK-47 in my opinion). The attention to detail is what we'd expect from Nick, making this a jaw-dropping reproduction.

Khvostov 7G-0X - Destiny: Rise of Iron
Khvostov 7G-0X - Destiny: Rise of Iron
Khvostov 7G-0X - Destiny: Rise of Iron

No Starch Humble Bundle

Those fine folks at Humble Bundle and No Starch Press are having "pay what you want" sale and you can score some amazing deals on ebook versions of a load of LEGO inspired titles. Check out this lineup!

Pay any amount to receive ebooks of:
Beautiful LEGO
The LEGO Adventure Book, Vol. 1
Medieval LEGO
The LEGO Build-It Book, Vol. 1

Pay more than $8 to receive all of the above, plus:
The Cult of LEGO
Incredible LEGO Technic
The LEGO Build-It Book, Vol. 2
Forbidden LEGO
LEGO Space
The LEGO Technic Idea Book: Fantastic Contraptions

Pay more than $15 to receive all of the above, plus:
The LEGO Architect
The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book
The LEGO Neighborhood Book
The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Discovery Book
The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book, Vol. 1
Steampunk LEGO

It's $323 in books that you can have for as little as $15, and it supports charity! What are you waiting for? The sale ends Nov 23rd so get going! 

Eve

Character design and animation at Pixar is pretty amazing. If you saw a sketch of Eve from Wall-E before you saw the movie, you would scarcely suspect she was capable of the range of emotions required for the film, but she was. You might also have suspected she would be pretty much impossible to build with LEGO, but thanks to builder LuisPG2015 you can see it's not

LEGO EVE
LEGO EVE

A Circle Within A Circle Within A Circle Within...

Every once in a while a MOC comes along that makes you go "wait...what?" This motorized gimbal by builder Sheo stopped me cold this morning, and I love that. It seems impossible at first (even for someone with a background in mechanical contraptions) but then you look more carefully and it makes sense. And in motion it's as beautiful as it is confounding.

Spinning Gimbals

If We Join Together, No Forces Can Stop Us.

Last night Mrs. BrickNerd and I had the distinct honor and privilege to attend the wedding of one of my best pals in the AFOL community, Brandon Griffith. These brilliant little clapboards served as our place cards and told us where we were seated (yes, I squee'd). The ceremony and reception were truly a joyous occasion and a great time was had by all. I can think of no two people more perfect together and I'm so happy you found each other. Congratulations Brandon and Daphne, live long and prosper.

IMG_5683.JPG

Saboteur 67 Ultra Wave Equalizer

If you're not familiar with Dr. Grordbort, you need to acquaint yourself. It's a rabbit hole of much steampunk goodness "where science meets violence". This pistol by Grantmasters was inspired by the Saboteur 66, one of a great many whimsical and wonderful steampunk weapons featured. It's small, much smaller than you would first think, but t's powerful. 

Saboteur 67 Ultra Wave Equaliser

Hot Diggity Dog

Fun fact: When I was a kid my parents started a hotdog restaurant. Starting restaurants was something they did, some of them are still going strong (Tom's Burgers in Lompoc anyone?). While "The Dog House" was only reasonably successful, I did have the satisfaction of having a dog named after me. The "Tommy" was a simple dog with ketchup, very popular. My brother's dog, the "Paul" had sauerkraut, and didn't sell nearly as well, much to my brother's chagrin. I have no qualms whatsoever admitting that seeing this clever MOC by nobu_tary has me craving hotdogs, I think I'll be having some soon.

Hotdog

Batman

Batman didn't get to be the most popular super hero by having super strength, or super speed, or  alien technology, or any super power. And he certainly didn't get there for the ability to talk to fish. He got there by being super scrappy, super well trained and let's face it, super rich. But no one will dispute the absolute badassery of bats, and this bust by Carson Hart captures said badassery perfectly.

Boating In Style

Finely crafted wooden boats are just about the most beautiful things on the water. Sure there are some more sculpted forms made from more exotic materials, but they can't rival the beauty and warmth of good old fashioned wood in the hands of a skilled boat maker. And in the hands of a skilled builder like redfern1950s, LEGO can mimic this look to surprising effect. This classic Riva looks ready for some maritime action.

poor mans riva aquarama
poor mans riva aquarama

Futuristic Bags Of Air

So the future is actually the past. What do I mean? Well, take Airships, they had a moment in the past and according to Terry Pratchet and Stephen Baxter they have a moment in the future, many futures. This small but perfectly formed Airship (SciFi Flying boat) by MiniGray! ticks a lot of design boxes. Its small but has many cool curves and features. The all over white colour scheme makes it quite clinical and functional.

sci-fi  Flying Boat

Bienvenue À Paris!

Love me some macro creations - it requires a specific kind of skill of simplicity that is very difficult for some of us builders. We are eager to fill spaces with as much detail as possible and the beauty of micro/macro building is that ability to pull back and focus on only the minimum. LegoJalex treats us to this neat scene of the Eiffel Tower, using a minifigure hand for the famous landmark. 

Fun fact about the Eiffel Tower: The tower is repainted every 7 years by hand. The weight of the paint alone weights as much as 10 elephants. 

Paris