The Heart Of The Home

The kitchen is the heart of the home, I’m sitting in mine at this very moment (most of the blog posts happen right here in my kitchen/breakfast nook). It’s where we prepare meals, and where every party seems to end up, probably because the food is there. Builder MarcelV was challenged by the fine humans at New Elementary to come up with some innovative uses for the Brickheadz glasses part, can you spot them in this excellent interior? OK, that was easy, now look for the other pair.

Ben's Garage

This is one of those MOCs that just keeps giving. The kind you have to view in high resolution to truly appreciate. The amount of detail and clever part use in this relatively small diorama by builder roΙΙi is pretty astounding, everywhere you look there's something unique or just fun happening. Do yourself a favor and click through to see the largest version of this, it's worth it.

Reverend Frantic

I'm not sure if I'm breaking policy here. In general BrickNerd doesn't feature politics or religion, yet according to the description by builder Pate-keetongu the good reverend here is "Man of faith, force and a circular saw hat." He's also positively dashing, and it's my blog, so I'll do what I want. And before you stare puzzled for too long, yes, those are big fig arms as his chest, some impressive NPU.

Buzzzz

One of the things I look forward to when a new part starts getting a buzz (totally meant to do that) is seeing how builders will take advantage of it. This is the first time I've seen the new bee hive part in clever use, as the abdomen of this bee by builder Grantmasters, but I'm sure it's not the last.

Belly Up To The Bar

Builder simply bricking it posed a fun challenge when they posted this nifty pub interior. There's a lot of pretty cool techniques and part use here, and the builder has tasked us with finding...

1) Pirate's Rope Bridge.
2) Friend's Lipsticks
3) Minifigure Drills.
4) Scala Benches
5) Minifigure Sweeping Brushes

I wouldn't suggest trying it here with this low resolution picture, but click through for a fun challenge.

Little Buffalos In a Big World

Tiny, little buffalos roaming a prairie. Another wonderfully creative model from Grantmasters, with a rather unique parts usage that adds just the right amount of texturing and shaping to these animals. What's even more impressive is the fact that he was able to get the shaping and include the horns for these beasts, not an easy task for this miniature style. However, thanks to Chima, he was able to accomplish this task!

Happy!

According to builder lummerlander, the intent with this MOC was to convey "happy". Not only it is absolutely successful, it makes me happy just looking at it. There's some wonderfully clever building and parts use here, from the hotdog bun ears, wrench eyeglass temples and whatever part is being used for the tongue.

Cielan

So, how's the weather where you are? If it's a gorgeous day, sunny with mild temperatures and little wind you might have this lady to thank. This is Cielan, Goddess of skies, clouds, weathers and all things aerial according to builder Pate-keetongu. She's colorful, charismatic, and let's face it, sexy. And the use of the vahki crests for her hair just adds evidence to my arguement that there are no "useless" pieces, just those that lack the imagination to implement them.

Wickedly Awesome

One of the things I enjoy most about Iron Builder is the continual surprises and mind blowing ways the builders find uses for the seed part. I must admit, when I sized up that Duple grass piece the notion of using it for a face was the furthest away from my feeble imagination. But builder Legopard has done exactly that, not only super effectively, but with some exceedingly clever techniques. 

Inside Out

This one's a bit morbid, but tempered with whimsy. Builder simplybrickingit built this MOC that rides a fine line between anatomical and humor. But it's the part use that really caught my attention. So many creative decisions in this, and so much questionable taste. Like my old friend James Cummins used to say, "inside each one of us is a skeleton dying to get out"

Batman's Favorite

After a long day of crimefighting and being everyone's favorite, Batman totally deserves a lobster dinner. Builder team and awfully fine people Siercon and Coral bring us this appetizing little dish, and I do mean little. It's deceptively small, just take a closer look. And as everyone has pointed out, that lemon steals the show, very clever.

Detective's Workshop

I do love a richly detailed interior, especially one that tells a story and has a built in history. This lovely little workshop by legoalbert is loaded with detail and clever part use. Everywhere you look is something interesting, but my favorite detail has to be the inverted torso as part of some mysterious device.

Sir Cross St. Vanille

No idea if this is supposed to represent a real person, a character from some book or movie, or just from builder Vitreolum's ever-impressive imagination. What I do know is some people say that the white croissant is a useless piece, and this MOC proves otherwise. And that's not the only nice part use on this clever little MOC.

Quite Possibly The Single Greatest Use Of Bananas Ever

Sometimes it's not the obscurity of a part that makes it a NPU (nice part use). Everyone has a banana or two, at one point last year we had over 100 in the studio for a particular animation gig, but the thought of using them as thatching on a roof, like this brilliant treehouse MOC by theogiulia never occurred to me. What a fantastic use of a totally mundane part.

Shplat!

LEGO is a fantastic medium for activating imagination. Whenever I see a new build, it gets me thinking about a scene from a movie, or about the potential of a new technique or narrative. But this build by Letranger Absurde is the first LEGO build I've seen that makes me think of a specific sound. Every time I look at this picture, I hear a vivid "splat!" just like in Loony Tunes. That splatted bug makes fantastic use of that weird Toy Story octopus bottom, for a true NPU. Brilliant and hilarious work here, not to mention the on-point character building.

Chinese Triplets

How cool is this?!  A miniature version of what was arguably the weirdest-looking Jaeger from Pacific Rim!  A NPU build by the very talented Grantmasters, the Crimson Typhoon features a clever use for a minifig boxer's protective headgear on its shoulder and some red knight armor on the other shoulder.  With three arms and an all-seeing eye in the middle, the Crimson Typhoon is ready to kick some mini-scale butt or perhaps any regular-sized minifig unfortunate enough to cross its path.  I'm looking at you Series 5 Lizard Man.

Cailín

While the description of this whimsical and strange robot from builder Gamabomb describes it as  a friendly ai bot, I do find it's appearance slightly unsettling. It's wonderful but odd proportions and featureless face make it a little creepy and benevolent at the same time. But the overall effect is very compelling. If you're having trouble placing that face part, it's the top of a First Order Stormtrooper helmet, brilliant.

Troll In the Dungeon!

Vitreolum just thought you should know about that troll in your basement. . .  Okay, let's start with the most obvious example of NPU (Nice Parts Usage): the Plant Monster headpiece.  Vitreolum is truly a master at NPU, and this build is no exception from that point.  The use of the strange new element LEGO has produced is truly magnificent!  It gives little bits of texture to the forehead of this unique creature, almost as if it has some wrinkles from old age.  Other examples of NPU are the minifigure hair piece used as some shaggy chin hair, and the LEGO Chima metallic paw piece as a shoulder guard (I personally have some of those pieces and can never figure out what to do with them).  All in all, the armor this creature wears is entirely made up of NPU!  I could definitely see this guy in a fairy tale. . .

Nocturnian floating castle

This is a whole lot of spectacular in not a whole lot of space. With careful and inspired part selection and an attention to detail, builder marcu44 managed to cram oodles of character into this microscale floating castle. I invite you to click through and peruse the large image of this, you'll find yourself delightfully identifying tiny parts.

Stop Bugging Me

Just kidding.  You're not bugging me at all!  

From what I can tell from being an English teacher for nine years, Japanese boys and girls have a unique fascination with insects and even have a knack for collecting them.  They're not all just creepy crawly critters!  This makes me wonder if Takamichi Irie collected insects as a child.  He recently spent a year studying abroad and time to time expressed his feelings of being homesick, which might explain where his LEGO insect series came from.  It's amazing what you can do with just a few tiny parts (and especially with those that seem to have only a single use).  NPU, dude!  You can see the rest of the his "Small Animals" series on his Flickr.

Snail Black Widow Spider Stag Beetle