Colonial Viper

When I was about 10 years old, the Sears Wishbook came out and some noob had labeled the Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider Revell model kits backwards. Well, I wasn't going to stand for that and wrote them a letter. To my surprise several weeks later I got a letter back from someone at Sears. He expressed his regret for the error, and explained that clearly someone at the catalog department wasn't as big of a science fiction fan as me and him. In addition to his kind letter he sent me both models as a thank you for spotting the error! Yes, that has very little to do with this jaw-dropping UCS scale rendition of a Viper MKII (I mean, it's not even from the same series) by builder Davdup but every time I see a Viper or Raider, that fond childhood memory is always the first thing I think of.

High Tech Vintage Communication

I imagine if you had told Samuel Morse way back in the mid 1800's that in the future someone would use a combination of a child's toy and a rather advanced robotics system to make a system that could interpret his code and write it out in legible words on paper, he might have called the men in white coats to haul you off. But that's precisely what mad genius Jason Allemann has created here. And of course being the awesome guy he is, he shared the instructions to build your own on his website jkbrickworks.com.

Golden Gate

I'm not sure if there's a name for the style with which ZiO Chao built this lovely Golden Gate Bridge, but I love it. It's the closest thing I can imagine to building a painting - like a mosaic, but with more detail, and more notably, true depth. The result is a unique piece of brick art that I imagine would look great in a frame.

Livebuild Tomorrow!

Join me and Mrs BrickNerd at the BrickNerd homestead live tomorrow as we build something a little different. At the intersection of LEGO nerds, sports enthusiasts, Michael Jordan fans and shoe aficionados there is bricksnkicks.com. And tomorrow we're going to build this custom LEGO model they sent us. The build starts at 10am PST, join us!

Man I'm Pretty

Way back when Cartoon Network was pretty much on all the time at my house. Luckily for me and my wife back then the content was pretty good. The likes of Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack kept us as entertained as our young boys. But one of my favorites was Johnny Bravo. The writing, editing and pacing of that show worked so well. This character build by Cha Mi captures his swagger in perfect style.

Pokemech

Here's a mashup that needs to be a thing, Pokemon and mechs. Builder LEGO 7 imagines Pikachu as a mech, and it opens the imagination for an entire world of huge Pokemon inspired mechs. Just think of the battles that will take place, and the new abilities that could be added (I'm betting Magikarp will still be rubbish though).

Legoland Theater

I love movies, always have, and I love going to the movies. There's something so special about the shared experience in a darkened space that you just don't get at home. Of course you also don't usually have to walk on a floor covered with "cinemuck" and have to listen to some jerk on his phone when you watch at home (if you do, you have my sympathy). So this excellent theater by RVA LUG resonates with me. And with the custom lighting, cool posters by none other than Paul Lee and clean, retro look, it's an absolutely awesome creation. Check out the video to see the lighting in action.

Abbey of St. Delyn

Round structures built with square bricks always impress me, but this one also has flat edges that transition to round ones and a slight taper, which sort of blows my admittedly tiny mind. Other details like the roofs,  the color palette and the spooky little swampy forest at the bottom make this a very interesting and lovely bit of castle goodness.

Pahlawan

Builder Benjamin Cheh certainly knows how to craft a mech, just look at this thing. Can you imagine spotting this thing coming over the rise on a battlefield? I'm pretty sure I'd soil my jumpsuit. I'd also like to point out that it's mostly black, therefore very difficult to photograph, but these images (and a few more after the jump) turned out awesome. 

Modular Road System

Every once in a while a builder posts something so clever or well done it could be the foundation of a real line from LEGO. This modular road system by builder LEGO 7 could absolutely be developed into a full-fledged theme. I could even see it being a sub-theme of established properties, like Star Wars or Ninjago. It's practically there already, with a cameo by Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.

Galaxy Explorer

The Galaxy Explorer (and the original space theme for that matter) is a classic. The only evidence you need to see the absolute affection the community has for this craft is the continual homages paid to it. I myself have created one, and I was given one as a gift. And builder ZCerberus has crafted this gorgeous tribute to the venerable ship, carrying on the tradition.

Happy 4th Of July!

Today America celebrates 241 years of independence. As we do we should all take a moment to reflect on the founding fathers (brilliantly recreated by the talented Legohaulic here) and give thanks that we're a free country, tea is still delicious and silly wigs have gone out of style. Happy July 4th everyone.

One-Eyed Eynar

What a coincidence, I was thinking of wearing this exact same outfit to celebrate Independence Day today. Then I remembered that I'm not a cooky conquerer, and that July 4th has nothing to do with vikings (so I'm wearing a shark costume instead, not really). I'll leave this look to One-Eyed Eynar, a fabulous creation by builder lummerlander.

Sheep

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing this absolutely charming animated short by Maxime Marion at CineBrick in Portugal last month. I won't waste a lot of time trying to sum it up or describe it, I'll just strongly encourage you to take five and half minutes out of your day and watch this, you won't regret it. Maxime would also like to give a big shout out to Kloou for the mad building chops.

Theed Spaceport

While I'm no fan of the prequels, that doesn't diminish my appreciation for this MOC by The Steads. Besides, I love a good micro build, especially a Star Wars micro build. And seeing this many N-1 Starfighters in one scene is pretty stunning. Now if we can just keep that little brat from stealing one...

What's On My Mind?

I can sorta relate to this unorthodox but absolutely compelling MOC by timofey_tkachev. With the present political climate, continual angst on social media, equipment failure, frustrating clients and a creative dry spell, yeah, I can totally relate to this. I think just about everybody could use a primal skull scream, then carry on.

Zeus

When people scoff at Bionicle and Hero Factory about not being "real LEGO" or too limiting, I like to point them to creations like this jaw dropping figure from Moko. While it may not be stacked, studded bricks, it's still LEGO, and it's still an amazing creative tool. This king of the Greek gods looks ready to dispense some thundery judgement.

Potions

“I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper on death”

— Professor Severus Snape

I miss Harry Potter. We became fans around the time book two was out, so we were fairly early to the party, and what a party it was. While it was satisfying to see the series wrapped up, not having that next book to look forward to made me a bit sad. This scene from Snape's infamous potions class by builder CheeseyStudios brings back a lot of fond memories, both from my imagination and from the movies. It's packed with details and I highly recommend clicking through for a peek at the larger pictures, it's worth it.

Les Miserables

I've never seen the play Les Miserables, but I recognized this instantly. It's the iconic climax of the play musical Les Miserables. During my time in London I walked past the theater where this was playing every day, but it never really interested me. The construction and attention to detail in this MOC by W. Navarre is exquisite, and looks like it's right out of the show program.

Port Au Ciel

I do appreciate a good steampunk display, and this one by builder tkel86 is the steampunkiest. One of the things I like best about it is the expanded color pallet. One of the pitfalls of the genre is over reliance on browns, copper and pearl golds, tending to make things sort of one note, but the use of tans, blues and and other colors gives this a pop while still maintaining it's steampunk roots. Add to that plenty of motion (check out the video) and you've got a real show stopper.