El Camino

It takes one flip through a Sears Wishbook or a rerun of the Gong Show to remind yourself just how unattractive the 70's were. Things like avocado appliances and bellbottoms not only existed, they were popular. It is in this environment that things like wood paneling, orange on brown paint paint schemes and the shag dashboard were allowed to happen. So for LUGNuts' latest challenge "cult following", builder Lino M had to audacity to built an El Camino, with an orange on brown paint job...and it's friggin' awesome. It defies all logic, but he pulled it off.

Technique Tuesday - Fa-brick

Builder BMW_Indy is credited with this fabric (get it, fa-brick?) technique. Using boat tiles, netting and pips you can weave as much as you need, as long as it's in 10x10 pieces. Builder Deborah Higdon used this technique to great effect with this stylish purse.

Pipes

I'm certain that I'm not the only person who will think of the classic screen saver "Pipes" when they look at this abstract work by builder Legobird3. There's something very satisfying about this piece, it's simple, yet the intersecting pipes add a layer of complexity that draws you in. I'd much rather see these in ABS than in OpenGL.

Woodland Creatures

I was lucky enough to see these adorable award winning little guys in person at BricksLA. Builder Miro Dudas brought so much character to each of these little animals they seem ready to scamper off. They're all loaded with clever building, but my favorite detail has to be the raccoon's hands.

It's Better Down Where It's Wetter

It never fails to amaze me what a simple seed part can inspire. This magical MOC depicting the undersea world of Disney's The Little Mermaid all stems from the black fan you see on Tritan's tail. That's the seed part in this round of the ABS Builder Challenge, and that's all builder Nuju Metro needed to inspire all of this.

King Of Hearts

You don't hear much about the King of Hearts. The Queen of Hearts is of course famous from Alice in Wonderland, but the King just doesn't get much attention. Well builder Likus is here to change all that with this well crafted and badass figure. She might be yelling "off with his head" all the time, but the king here looks like he would just take care of that himself.

My First Computer: Adore Edition

No one brings the nostalgia with a subtle unique style quite like Chris McVeigh. His creations are so cleanly built and beautifully photographed you know they're his as soon as you see them. This is an update of one of his earliest computer builds, and it's awesome. Being an old school Amiga man, I have a soft spot for Commodore, and the 64 is an undisputed legend. You can build your own soon when he publishes a building guide to his website.

Deadpool Duck

I don't know why, but every time I see the name Deadpool Duck, I hear that terrible song by Rick Dees, Disco Duck. And as much as that sucks I can't help but think if this character was in a movie, that would be a pretty awesome theme song if it was done right. Meet Deadpool Duck, who recently shot to AFOL cult status and infamy after becoming one of the San Diego Comic Con exclusive figures. Now he's a fully brick-built figure thanks to builder DOGOD Brick Design.

Kali Ma!

Not long ago I told the story of camping out for Temple of Doom, and my mixed feelings on the film. This scene, with Mola Ram plucking some poor dude's heart out and dunking him in liquid hot magma, is dark, really dark. But if you use Minifigures to depict anything, it inevitably elevates the cuteness and charm, as evidenced by W. Navarre's excellent diorama here.

Even A Man Cave Needs A Sink

And if you're gonna have a sink, it should be in a nice counter right? And why not surround it with some stylish shelves and complete the look? My studio is sort of a man cave, it's at least a manchild cave, and I wish my little kitchen area was 1/10th as sophisticated as this sweet interior by builder Heksu.

Gungan Plasma Farm

Although it's widely reviled (and understandably so), I don't outright hate The Phantom Menace. I saw it in theaters when I was 10, so I was just excited to see a new Star Wars movie. Love, hate, or just barely tolerate it, you can't deny it had really nice art direction. This awesome Otoh Gunga Plasma Farm by Inthert, although not seen in the movie, looks like it could be just off screen. There's always a bigger fish...

FDNY Engine 273 "NY Mets"

Builder sponki25 is back with another brilliant vehicle celebrating New York's finest firefighters and the Mets baseball team. It's engine 273, a 2009 Seagrave Marauder II (2000/500) from Queens. The detailing on this is stunning, right down to the baseball bat on the front and the unbelievably meticulous pin striping.

Library

When I was a kid if you wanted to learn anything this is where you went, the library. I can vividly remember learning to write my name so I could get a library card to visit the one that was literally around the corner from my house. Of course it wasn't nearly as nice as this one from builder MaximB.

Frybot

Sure, you might think he's just some french fried potatoes in a cardboard sleeve, but you'd be wrong, it's Frybot from builder chubbybots! I have no idea what his primary function is, it might be to save us all from plain food with his twin condiment cannons, but it could also just be to look pretty awesome next to a burger. He could be part of a whole elite fast food fighting force, we just don't know.

Whitefang

Sometimes when we build a MOC we're not quite satisfied, and that's natural. As an artist I'm never quite satisfied with my work, always thinking it could be better, but you just run out of time, run out of money or run out of steam, happens every time. Occasionally we get the chance to revisit something, we take the time and update it, and that's what this fantastic space dragon is, an update. The original was splendid, but there were certain aspects that always bothered builder BobDeQuatre. Now he's taken some time to correct those, and the results are spectacular. If I had to guess there's still one or two things he'd like to perfect, but that's an artist, never satisfied.

Technique Tuesday - Bowcasters

One of the best things about the LEGO community is that we can learn from one another.  Here at BrickNerd, we like to share techniques that we see from builders all around the world. . .

I haven't seen any many techniques come across my feeds this week, so I decided to do one other feature of my own techniques. Any Star Wars fan is familiar with Chewbacca's famous bowcaster, but do you remember what LEGO provides as an accessory? That's right, just a silver LEGO crossbow piece, the same used in castle sets. Or, now they have the crossbow stud shooter. Sometimes you just need something else, a weapon of your own design. Did you know that most Wookies craft their own bowcasters? Using simple parts, I created a series of different bowcaster designs. Each is scaled for minifigures, maybe just a bit long in some cases (but not too terrible). I think my favorite design is third from the right. Do you have a favorite design? Obviously the combos can we mixed and matched, which allows a bit of "customization" for your minifigures. You can take a closer look over on my Flickr page, NS LEGO Designs. Thanks for taking a look!

Green Rock House

There's really no description or details about this gorgeous house from builder betweenbrickwalls, so I'm left to speculate. It's based on a real house built in 1968 from renown architect Mitchell McAlester. Built directly into the cliffs above Santa Fe New Mexico, what isn't as well known is it was built for eccentric artist Buddy Clifton, who was actually a secret agent working for an undisclosed government agency. The house actually serves as a facade to the underground bunker that extends some 300 meters into solid rock. Today it's a popular tourist attraction and exceptionally profitable Airbnb. I made all that up. But seriously, it's a fantastic build and there's plenty more pictures after the jump, including some amazing furnishings inside.

Planetary Express

Who says you need monorail to be futuristic? That being said, bring back the monorail LEGO, if for no other reason to not have to hear about it from the space guys at EVERY CONVENTION, but I digress. Check out this transportation of the future from builder TFDesigns. This baby runs on power functions and sports loads of LED lighting. I also want to point out with a little imagination, even regular train track can take on an excellent appearance.

Reflector

I deal with camera issues all the time as a photographer and videographer. But I've never had to deal with a camera that transforms into three separate characters. This is Reflector, from the Transformers cartoon, built by MortalSwordsman. It transforms into Spyglass, Viewfinder and Spectro seen below. My big question is how are they with hot pixels and flickering with sequential images?