Meet Oswald, Mickey Mouse’s predecessor. Way back when Walt Disney was making cartoons with this little guy, 27 of them to be exact. But then Walt lost the rights to him and was suddenly without a lead character. Well that was then and this is now and Oswald is proudly back at home with Disney. Builder Alex Kelly brought this little version to life, and he looks ready for some antics.
If you would have asked me as a freshman in high school I might have suggested this would be me about the age I am now (well, perhaps a bit older). I had a wet suit, I had a surfboard, I went to the beach once or twice a week. It took me years to come to terms with the fact that I don’t actually like the beach, but I figured out I can’t surf pretty quickly. I’m from California, I’m supposed to love the beach right? Well, it’s nice to look at, and I’ll enjoy it from the comfort of my Airstream thanks very much. And I’ll leave the surfing to those that can actually do it, like this old shredder by builder vir-a-cocha. Tear it up dude.
If you’ve spent any time downtown in the city of angels, or watched any television or movies in the last 60 years you’ve probably seen this, the iconic Los Angeles City Hall. It’s been the backdrop for many TV shows, including Adam-12, Dragnet and Alias and was destroyed in V. But my personal favorite was standing in for The Daily Planet in the old Superman series. So to see this classic old building in bricks gives me a warm fuzzy, and to see it photographed outside with the hills of Los Angeles in the background at “magic hour” by the great Bruce Lowell made me smile ear to ear. For more information on this build check out Bruce’s website here.
This excellent harbor scene by builder Vaionaut one of those MOCs you can appreciate from the medium resolution image, but must really be seen in person or scrolling around the large image to get the full effect. It’s so effortless in it’s construction and flow that you’ll miss all the clever techniques and color combinations unless you’re drilling down.
It was the first ship ever seen in the Star Wars universe, it carried the droids to Tattooine, the ship that Princess Leia was captured on. It’s the Tantive IV, AKA the Rebel Blockade Runner, and it’s the newest large LEGO Star Wars ship. LEGO was kind enough to send one our way and here’s our review of one of the most iconic science fiction ships to ever burst onto the silver screen.
Read MoreFans of Kung Fu Panda should recognize this master of tiger style, it’s Tigress by builder Block Head. Through use of Mixel joints for poseability, excellent System construction and careful sticker use, she’s no longer confined to the big screen. But as you can see in this pic, she’s lost none of her attitude.
I don’t know where my fascination with art deco came from. There’s a pretty limited sample of the style here in my home town, but I’ve always been drawn to it. So I find this latest build from snaillad totally irresistible. I would love to stay at this hotel, as long as it wasn’t pretentious and weird inside. I’ve stayed at a number of hotels in recent years that celebrate the art deco aesthetic, but only on the outside. On the inside it’s chrome bears, terrible art, pointless doors and friggin’ bean bag furniture. But as you can see, it’s classic 30’s inside this lovely building.
I have to admit, Chinese New Year might be better than any other new year. Sure we stay up til midnight drinking and then make a lot of noise (and spend the whole next day nursing a hangover), but there’s no dragons! And we don’t have an official animal every year, which is pretty neat. Speaking of neat, builder vincentkiew has assembled this excellent collection of the entire Chinese zodiac. While they’re all very cool, the dragon and the monkey are my faves.
It’s Star Wars Day!!!! And what better way to celebrate than to build the latest super awesome LEGO set, the Tantive IV! You may know it as the rebel blockade runner, or perhaps as the original “smuggler ship” (yup, this was the original Millennium Falcon) and we’re going to build it live starting at 9am PST. Tune in to either our YouTube channel or head over to our sister site Nerds&Makers’ Twitch Channel.
See you then!!!
There’s a lot to unpack here with Tim Lydy’s first Star Wars build. It started simply enough, with a trench battle featuring the pretty spiffy Mimban Stormtroopers. But it grew in size, and then the Emperor was added, then with the addition of the aurebesh title (for the empire) it has taken on almost a propaganda type feel, and it’s pretty amazing. For a more in depth breakdown of the build, check out this post on EuroBricks.
While I’m not much of a prequel fan I can say this, if you can get through all the silliness of Phantom Menace and get to the end, you’re gonna see a great lightsaber fight. This was the first time the fans saw some serious Jedi-in-their-prime and total-kick-ass-Sith crossing sabers, and it was pretty bad ass. In fact I’m guessing from the title of this post you’ve had John Williams’ score in your head and you’ve been hearing the humming of lightsabers while you’ve been enjoying this MOC by LEGO 7, amiright?
One of my go to films when I’m feeling sick is the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. I don’t know what it is, but they have magical healing properties. So just last weekend I watched Fellowship of the Rings and it made me quite happy to scroll to this amazing rendition of Sauron by builder Aaron Brick Designer. I was already feeling pretty good, but now I’m feeling great!
It’s hard to describe the impact of this man. His imagination and talent brought forth a tsunami of creativity and escapism to generations of people. From the early days of the fledgling comic book company Marvel to the behemoth of the Marvel cinematic universe, he is one of the handful of people that were the start of it all. His influence was the spark for so many creative people now, and will be for the foreseeable future. From young artists learning to draw right now, to aspiring filmmakers, to artists working in other mediums, like bricks. Builder vincentkiew has crafted this fitting tribute to an incredible man, Stan Lee.
Of all the intricate pieces Lego builders have at their disposal, perhaps the most ironic one and the one we take for granted the most is the piece separator. It is a highly valuable tool that can spare your nails from extreme pain by separating those two 2x2 plates that have spent an eternity attached to one another after a child decided they would fit nicely together. This speeder by Inthert perfectly illustrates a wonderful use of this often forgotten piece that creates a fascinating shape. Let’s just hope the speeder doesn’t feel the wrath of the piece separator mid-flight!
Builder Mike Dung is back with another stunning video game character. This time it’s Jeanne d'Arc Alter from the Japanese game Fate Grand Order. And this is the part where I say I haven’t played it, and have no idea who this is, like I always do. I don’t care, she’s gorgeous and that flag is pretty awesome too. It looks like the product of a graphic run through a mosaic program, but the results were then broken into slats and hinged. the results are an eye catching and unique feature.
Ahh, Paris, the city of lights and love. In this wonderful depiction by Markus Rollbühler you can almost hear the sound of the cafes and see the Eiffel Tower rising above the buildings in the distance. The smell of fresh bread and coffee fills your nose as you walk past a bakery and as you walk over a bridge you can hear and smell the Seine, which is not a pleasant as the bread but is almost as beautiful. You walk past a restaurant and… wait, is that a rat cooking? It must have been your imagination. After all, Paris is a magical place.
What is the biggest problem LEGO builders face? No, not the price of LEGO. Not the illegal building techniques either. It’s not even the time waiting for the next BrickNerd blog. It’s of course finding the right darn piece! Now if only we could all have this perfect little companion built by Sven Franic to help us find those pesky parts life would be so much simpler. I highly recommend checking out the article that explores the new Ninjago turntable piece used for the hands which you can find here.
Those mad geniuses at Brickstuff have done it again. As if LEGO 71043 Hogwarts wasn't impressive enough, now you can trick it out with another stunning lighting and sound kit from Brickstuff. And this isn’t your typical “stuff it with way too bright LEDs” kit we see so much of these days, it’s seriously high tech and incredibly well thought out. Brickstuff took over six months developing it, including the development of a whole new controller board. It’s the most advanced kit they’ve ever offered, surpassing even the stunning Millennium Falcon kit. And it’s not just a bunch of lights that turn on and off, it’s storytelling. The whole kit is designed from the ground up to bring the castle to life, not just make it visible in the dark. And once you add your own sounds to it, you will swear school is in session. The kit is so innovative Brickstuff has created it’s own website, lightmycastle.com to showcase it. The kits are available for pre-order now, but there’s a limited supply of “mega-bundles” so act fast.
When I was little, growing up to be an astronaut was all the rage. With our head in the stars, we dreamed about distant galaxies and meting aliens along the way. But this moc by Ralf Langer is nothing like that. This is not the colorful domaine of cute and friendly aliens from cartoons, and judging by the state of this facility the last thing these aliens are thinking about is having a good time. As this astronaut ventures deep into the alien compound, he might just send out one last message into the stars: “This is Brickley last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off”.
It’s the policy of BrickNerd not to get political, but if a MOC this good is inherently political in its nature, I’m happy to break that rule (besides, it’s my blog, try and stop me). I got a warm fuzzy seeing our former president in his natural habitat, skillfully crafted by builder jarekwally. The oval office hasn’t looked this good in over two years.
What makes your eye land on one part of a LEGO build before another? In this month’s Conversation Piece, we explore focal points, visual weight, and how builders can guide a viewer through a composition.
LEGO Speeder Bikes are back with a new community building challenge inspired by Citizen Sleeper. Build an airbike, create its messenger, and see what you can squeeze into just three studs wide.
Ahoy, me hearties! It be Talk Like A Pirate Day! Are you ready to set sail on an adventure through the history of classic LEGO Pirates? Where did it begin, what was it all about, and where has the theme showed up since? Join us on a treasure hunt through history!
Take a seat as we explore clever LEGO chair techniques that will leave you sitting pretty. From boat studs to bucket handles, here are some simple ways to design your own stylish chairs.
Identifying individual LEGO parts from bulk second-hand purchases can be challenging, so what are the most common elements that people want to know, “What is this!?”
The same bricks have sailed under many names in Alexander Zarkowski’s LEGO shipyard. We talk cruise ships, building at scale and how it feels to take apart a massive build after only a few weeks.
Which country has the cheapest LEGO? We’ve crunched the numbers across 22 countries spanning Europe, North America, and Australia and found a surprising result…
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October has arrived with a fresh selection of LEGO contests and challenges. Don’t miss your chance to build a MOC and maybe even win some awesome LEGO prizes. With a new LEGO Speederbike Challenge, and a Halloween contest or two, there’s plenty of inspiration to be found!