Coraline's Pink Palace

One of the highlights of San Diego Comic Con for me was the Laika Experience. The stop motion movie studio Laika took over a space a couple blocks from the convention center in the historic Gaslamp District and converted it into a miniature version of their studio in Portland. In addition to tons of excellent displays of props, sets and figures from many of their films, they had a functioning model shop and shooting stage, with artists on hand to demonstrate and answer questions. They even had free themed ice cream when you exited. But I'm here to tell you about something at the beginning of the tour, visitors waiting in the queue got a great view of this fabulous LEGO Ideas hopeful from Laika's very own Holly Webster, Coraline's Pink Palace.

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Yes, it is generally the policy of BrickNerd not to feature LEGO Ideas campaigns unless it's very special circumstances. For instance a major stop motion movie studio displaying a set built by one of it's employees at a special venue at the craziest comic con on the planet. Holly's version of the apartments has all the charm of the original, which is easy to verify because the real set was just a few steps away.

There's even a full set of custom minifigures made with the assistance of the talented Jared Burks, featuring Coraline, Other Mother, Other Father, Bobinsky, Wybie, Coraline Doll, and the cat. The back of the house splits open to reveal a detailed interior of rooms any fan of the film will recognize instantly.

The LEGO Ideas campaign is going now, and thankfully is still early enough that it has a strong chance of making it, especially with the exposure from this past week. Head on over to LEGO Ideas to cast your vote and make this wonderful set a reality. I'd like to give a huge shout out to Holly for granting us access to not only her set, but the fascinating and awesome Laika Experience, it was unforgettable. 

BrickNerd LiveBuild - Tron: Legacy

The Grid...
A digital frontier...

Me and special guest James Morr (SpastikChuwawa) are going on the game grid today. We're going to take on Master Control Program and build the new LEGO Ideas Tron Legacy set live!

Join us at 2:00pm PST, and have your quarters ready.

The House From A Christmas Story Reaches 10k

Just in time for lovely, glorious Christmas (around which the entire kid year revolves) this LEGO Ideas campaign by twrt0es has reached the 10,000 mark! This means we may all soon have a chance to own this amazing reproduction of Ralphie's house. It may not be an official Red Ryder 200 shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time, but I'd certainly love one of these sets under the tree. Fingers crossed!

There It Is, My House, At Good Old Cleveland Street...

While it is the general policy of BrickNerd not to feature LEGO Ideas project, sometimes I have to make an exception. A Christmas Story is one of my all-time favorite movies. From Thanksgiving to Christmas every year we watch it (or at least have it on) a lot, practically every day, sometimes more than once. So when I saw this project of the Parker house I just had to share. It's got everything, the major award, the Bumpass hounds, the turkey, the rabbit pajamas and of course the official Red Rider carbine action 200 shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.

Caterham Seven Comes Full Circle

When I built the new LEGO Ideas Caterham Seven live on Sunday, the designer Carl Greatrix stopped by to chat a bit an revealed that he had just finished modifying the set to restore some of the lost features. Wrap your head around that...he designed a set, submitted it, got 10k votes, LEGO accepted it, a designer from LEGO re-engineered it (standard procedure) and made some changes to make it practical to produce, it's released, and then the designer re-engineers it to bring back lost features (like steering!). It's a convoluted path, but the results are pretty stunning. 

BrickNerd Live Build - Caterham Seven

I've only ever seen a Caterham Seven in the wild once, at a mall in Irvine CA, but I was instantly smitten. Of course I've seen Caterham cars on TopGear many time, but seeing it in person was different. It's an unusual beast, with a energy even when parked. Well now I get to build one, and you should join me while I do it. It's guaranteed 13% more exciting than watching bananas discolor in real-time. Building starts at 10am PST, see you then!

Holy Micro Builds Batman!

I've spent SO much time over the last couple years engrossed in the world of Gotham and Batman, so much so I'm frankly a bit burned out. But this wonderful microscale Batman set got me instantly excited, so there's still some hope for me. I LOVE this, all the tiny details, all the figures, all the vehicles and play features, it's awesome. I generally try to avoid posting LEGO Ideas stuff, but I would love to see this actually made. Head over to LEGO Ideas to support.

Support The Nautilus!

Out of fairness I really don't feature LEGO Ideas stuff much, if I posted every project that I get sent soon the blog would be nothing but. So this is pretty much totally selfish because I want this set! Time is running short for this fantastic Nautilus from Orion Pax, it needs your support. Let's try and make this thing a reality.

Wall•E!

I'm super excited about the LEGO Ideas Wall•E set. It's a favorite Pixar character of mine, it's designed by my friend Angus MacLane and a completely awesome model. Well, my pals at The Brothers Brick managed to get their grubby little paws on one (don't ask me how, I don't know the details but I understand lemur sacrifice might have played a role) and have an exclusive review of it! Click through for your first peek at this amazing new model.

Wall•E

Pictures of Angus MacLane's forthcoming LEGO Ideas set surfaced a few days ago. And you didn't see them here because I have a strict policy on leaks and rumors, namely that we don't go there. But I will say I'm every bit (if not more) excited for that set as I ever was. It looks like the inevitable modifications by TLG actually improved the set, which is sadly usually not the case (for necessary or at least arguable, if not heartbreaking reasons). Builder Miro78 is excited too, and built this wonderful logo.

The Next LEGO Ideas Set Has Been Announced

The excellent Tim Courtney from LEGO Ideas has just unveiled the next set. There were many to choose from, but only one could be chosen (at least for now). Check out the video for the news!

Less Than Two Weeks For "Yellow"

The clock is running out and Nathan Sawaya is super close to making the 10k mark. For those that don't know Nathan is one of the premiere brick artists in the world, and his traveling exhibit The Art Of The Brick is in five countries right now. He has created a scaled down version of one of his more iconic pieces, Yellow, and it's on LEGO Ideas. Click through and show him some love!

The Wind Waker

There seems to be an intrinsic link between Nintendo gaming and MOCs. Think about it, there are SO many cool creations out there inspired by the likes of Mario and other Nintendo characters. But by far my favorites are Zelda MOCs, and this one is actually in the home stretch on LEGO Ideas. It has just over a month left and only about 1500 votes needed to get it into consideration. It's got my support, how about yours?

Sega Classics

Generally speaking I don't blog LEGO Ideas stuff, but I do make a rare exception. I'm going to do it this time in memory of the thousands of quarters I dropped into classic arcade machines (hey, I was a kid of the 80's) These Sega classic arcade machines by mista_carrot are so clever and fun I just had to share. You know what would make them even cooler? A sound brick (hint hint LEGO)

UCS Landspeeder

When we walked out of the theater as kids after seeing Star Wars, every one of us had a new wish list. Some wanted a lightsaber, some wanted Stormtooper armor, we all wanted Princess Leia as a girlfriend. This was on my new list, Luke's Landspeeder. This version by fresh-out-of-his-dark-ages Aaron Fiskum is a beauty, measuring in at over 22 inches long, it has proper UCS scale and detail. And it can be a reality with your support.

BrickNerd LiveBuild - LEGO Ideas 21301 Birds

Join BrickNerd Nerd-In-Chief Tommy Williamson and Mrs BrickNerd as they build the latest LEGO Ideas set, Birds

Guaranteed 10% more exciting than watching grass grow.

Build starts at 9am PST, Join us!

LiveBuilding Birds Tomorrow

Yes, it's been a little while since we've done a LiveBuild, hectic schedules is my only excuse. But we have the latest LEGO Ideas set in possession and we're dying to build it and share with you. Join me and Mrs. BrickNerd tomorrow at 9am PST while we build some birds!

Anyone Got A Quarter?

Being a kid of the eighties, I lost (invested?) a considerable amount of coin in these wonderful time wasters, but I don't regret it. The golden age of the video arcade is over, but like it, big hair, gloves on one hand a parachute pants, I got to experience it first hand. I lived it. You can try to recreate the experience by backing this project on LEGO Ideas. Thanks for a bit of nostalgia msx_80. 

BrickNerd LiveBuild - Research Institute & Vulture Droid Plus Live ALS Bucket Challenge

Join me with my special guests David Pagano and James Morr as we build LEGO 21110 Research Institute as well as LEGO Star Wars 75041 Vulture Droid. And as if that wasn't enough action, immediately following the build I will be doing a live ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Our good friend Josh at The Brothers Brick as called me out, and I will rise to the challenge. Building starts today at noon PST, with the dowsing happening around 2pm. Join us!