Waiting (Not So) Patiently For This Guy

It's December 3rd, so we're still three weeks away from the night jolly old Saint Nicholas comes down the chimney (seen here brilliantly realized by builder vincentkiew). I hope those adults reading this can take a moment to think of the children. Right now, all over the world, they are in anguish. For time passes more slowly this time of year, so slow in fact it's functionally immeasurable. I can sorta relate, I've been waiting for my new 3D printer for three weeks. Be strong kids, you can do this.

Santa Claus

Micro Tintin Rocket

I love a MOC that makes me go "wait, what?" That was precisely my reaction as I scrolled Flickr this morning and came across this little wonder by builder [E]ddy. Yes, that's Tintin's rocket, and yes, it's only 6 parts, and yes those are stickers (but the builder assures us they are official LEGO stickers). It's all so meticulously done and wonderfully simple.

Micro Lego Tintin "Explorers on the moon"

Mission San Escobar

This lonely Caribbean island by PigletCiamek makes me want to be on a boat. Not a pirate ship really, but a Disney Cruise Line boat. And I won't get off the boat in all likelihood, I'll just admire the island from a distance while I eat way too much food and enjoy some activities. But since this is 1715 there's no such thing as DCL yet, so likely I have dementia and probably scurvy, and am actually in a small row boat. I'm a terrible Pirate.

02 Mission - San Escobar, 1715

HYPR10NN

Even the mechs with the highest of tech need a little diagnostics and TLC from time to time. Despite it's imposing appearance and no doubt incredible capability, this mech still needs a little time for a little upkeep in this cool MOC by geraldcacas. Unless that guy is just playing Space Invaders, possibly, maybe Galaga. Even techs need a little distraction from time to time.

HYPR10NN: ONLINE

One Day Of Nerdvember Left!

Yes, as you can see by the countdown clock above, your time is running out builders. But I can tell you from experience there's still time to build and enter. Need some motivation? Take a gander at these prizes from LEGO, one of our sponsors. These and a slew of other prizes from all of our awesome sponsors could be yours. So put some great 80's movie on in the background and get building!

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Black Flag

I've never played any of the Assassin's Creed games, but if I ever do decide to jump in I'll certainly have a lot to play with some 10 titles in the series. The one I find the most fascinating is Black Flag, because pirates. I mean a mashup of time travel, elite assassins and pirates, how can it loose? It also makes for as awesome LEGO diorama as you can see from this layout by builder Legopard. And I'm pretty sure that's Captain Hook I see at the trading post, nice easter egg Jonas.

Black Flag

1931 Ford Rat Rod

I'm sure as the first cars rolled off the assembly line, Henry Ford could little imagine what an impact they would have on the world. Not only from a transportation and infrastructure standpoint, but from an integral cultural one. And as soon as they ended up in the hands of the "creative types" people started making them their own. The birth of the hotrod was decades away, but the seeds of that phenomenon were sown in those assembly plants in Michigan. Speaking of creative types and hot rods, check out this stunning rat rod from redfern1950s2! The color combination of sand green and black says old and new at the same time. And the souped up engine says "I'll see you in my rear view mirror".

1931 Ford Rat Rod
1931 Ford Rat Rod

Pick Up, Move, Place, Repeat.

Recently a leading German pallet truck and forklift approached builder Norton74 to use his considerable skill to recreate their entire line of vehicles. As you can see it was worth it, not only did he recreate every vehicle, he constructed three scenes to show the typical scenarios of use. I wouldn't have thought you could make warehouse storage and merchandise shifting charming, but there you are.

Warehouse Life | storage
Warehouse Life | loading/unloading close-up

Totoro

Everyone wants Totoro for a neighbor, he's so lovable and huggable. Not to disparage the neighbors I have, they're nice enough. But I'm guessing there's a lot of you out there who don't even know your neighbors. So ask yourself this, if you don't know your neighbors, how do you know that Totoro isn't living next door? Food for thought and a fantastic build by Eggy Pop.

Totoro

Stonmer Manor

People don't live in castles much any more, but when they did I bet they wish they had a great hall like the one in Stonmer Manor by Mitah Val Karem, especially during a cold winter. The two giant giant fire pits keeps it nice and cozy in there I'm sure. And I think if this was my great hall, there would be some seriously cool retractable grills and/or rotisseries for some awesome BBQ.

Stonmer Manor - Great Hall
Stonmer Manor - Great Hall at night

Color Palette

I've never seen one of these, nor do I know if they exist, but it seems awfully specific and plausible to me. This is a LEGO molding color palette, presumably for checking color accuracy of ABS lots, and I very much want this piece of utilitarian coolness in my collection. Not to diminish the coolness of this brick version by Anthony SÉJOURNÉ, in fact, I'd like one of these too.

Lego MOULDING COLOUR PALETTE - atana studio
Lego MOULDING COLOUR PALETTE - atana studio

Don't Touch L.O.L.A.

Anybody who closely follows the Marvel Cinematic Universe surely is familiar with Agent Philip Coulson, and his fancy car Lola. "Don't touch Lola." PsychoBrick took Coulson's flying car to a whole new level by designing this mech version of the corvette. Seriously, how cool is this model? The inclusion of the printed Lola element fits perfectly into the abdomen section, which I think is really designed well. Overall a very cool and creative model! 

“So that’s what it does...”
“So that’s what it does...”
1 Comment

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

Pardon This!

Traditions come and go. No one really cooks Christmas goose anymore and I've often wondered why, but after seeing this fully armed and raging turkey by Legohaulic, I have a theory. We humans take way too much pride in our domination of other species, and some day we'll get what we have coming when they rise up. In the mean time there's plenty of leftover turkey in the fridge.

Not This Year!

Everyone's First Instrument

Like Silly String, Squand, play drums and trampolines, some gifts for our children have a secret, prepackaged ingredient, regret. Remembering this toy from my childhood I didn't hesitate to get one for my first child, it was mere hours later I felt an overwhelming desire to call and apologize to my parents for what must have been weeks of torture when I was 4. But I'm sure many gifted musicians out there can trace their skill and passion all the way back to this brilliantly recreated gem by builder Pistash.

Xylophone

Pulse Rifle

The M41A Pulse Rifle from Aliens is one of my favorite sci-fi weapons. Jim Cameron's design paired with Simon Atherton's prop making skills made for a perfect combination of futuristic and plausibility, you just buy it. Builder Missing Brick has assembled one of the smallest, cutest (if a badass military weapon can be cute) versions I've ever seen, with startling accuracy for it's scale. I just wanna pick it up and go "pew pew".

Aliens M41A Pulse Rifle

Star Wars X Building Contest

Our pals at FBTB are challenging you to build ships based on the Star Wars alphabet aurebesh. Yeah, those random characters you see all over the Star Wars universe is actually an alphabet, and you can decode any of those messages. All you have to do is pick your favorite glyph (and there's lots of fun ones to choose from!) and build a ship inspired by it. They're giving away some awesome prizes too in the form of X-Wings, including the discontinued 10240 Red Five X-wing Starfighter! Final contest submission must posted to the official contest forum thread no later than 11:59:59PM PST Sunday December 3rd, 2017.

We're also super excited to announce that FBTB is a last minute sponsor of Nerdvember and will be kicking in some vintage LEGO sets to the prize pool. You have a lot of building to do, get to it!

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