Welcome to Nerdvember! In BrickNerd tradition, every year in November we celebrate our nerdiness with a little excess flare and an amazing building contest. Normally the contest is a chance to build our Nerdly mascot with a specific theme in mind (like Disney, video games, the 80s, and Star Wars). But, we kinda got excited and did that already in February to celebrate the return of BrickNerd. So that means that Nerdvember is going to be a little different this year…

Welcome to Nerdvember 2021: Comics Edition!

Have you ever wanted a rare event-exclusive LEGO set from Comic-Con or Star Wars Celebration? Do you want to have your MOC turned into a hand-drawn comic book cover? Do you want to win a Golden Nerdly trophy!? Well now is your chance!

Build an Event Exclusive

So what is the Nerdvember challenge, you ask? You must build a creation inspired by the comics that could be the next super rare event exclusive. Build something that makes your fellow LEGO fans scream, “I want that!”

Exclusive sets typically fall into three categories: iconic scenes, vehicles & ships, and character busts. For Nerdvember, you can choose to build something in any of these three categories.

Official LEGO event exclusives typically clock in on the smaller side around 250 pieces and retail for $40 when they are briefly made available to convention attendees (before being put on eBay for hundreds more). For Nerdvember, we are a little more flexible. Your creations can be up to 300 pieces and must cost $50 US or less if you were to build it out of new LEGO brick purchased on LEGO Bricks and Pieces or BrickLink. (So try not to use super rare pieces or custom minifigures!)

All entries must be posted during Nerdvember, so you have one month to build. Full rules are listed below.

Official Inspiration

Comic-Con and Star Wars Celebration LEGO sets have varied over the years and typically represent Marvel, DC and Star Wars (excluding limited edition minifigs—those aren’t sets and they vary a whole lot more). For your comic inspiration, let’s look at some event exclusives from the past.

Iconic Scenes

Iconic scenes usually depict a character within or in front of a dynamic setting from their world. The best exclusives replicate a specific moment and are instantly recognizable. Most include a base with a black tile border and can be easily picked up.

Vehicles & Ships

A lot of event exclusives feature vehicles and ships. Sometimes these vehicles are included in a specific minifigure scene with a black tile border like the iconic moments above or sometimes they are featured as a singular ship on a black display stand.

Character Busts

Lastly, there have been a few brick-built character busts as event exclusives. These are smaller in size and a bit more blocky than the widely-available character bust sets from LEGO like Iron Man, Venom or the Clone Trooper. The exclusive busts include the upper torso as a base for the rest of the head.

Nerdvember Prizes

Such an epic contest needs some epic prizes, so we’ve collected the five most recent event-exclusive LEGO sets to give away! First place will get to choose whatever set they want from the prize pool, second place gets second choice, and third place will get to pick from what is left.

Exclusive Prize Pool

The rare event exclusive LEGO sets available in our Nerdvember prize pool include:

75294 Bespin Duel - Star Wars Celebration 2020 Exclusive
77904 Nebulon-B Frigate - San Diego Comic-Con 2020 Exclusive
77905 Taskmaster’s Ambush - San Diego Comic-Con 2020 Exclusive
77906 Wonder Woman - San Diego Comic-Con 2020 Exclusive
77907 Toad’s Special Hideaway - San Diego Comic-Con 2020 Exclusive

Grand Prize Custom Cover Art

But wait, there’s more! Our first place grand prize winner will also have their MOC turned into a comic cover by talented artist and LEGO super fan Paul Lee. (He illustrated the boxes for the three official LEGO event exclusive sets shown at the top of this post, so his illustrating skills are legit!) He’ll hand-draw your creation into a comic cover worthy of a set to drool after!

Golden Nerdly

(Image depicts the likely contents of a BrickNerd Box, but shipped contents depend on whatever cool stuff we have on hand when the contest ends.)

And finally, the top three winners will also receive a Golden Nerdly trophy along with a BrickNerd Box full of swag and surprises. So what are you waiting for!? Nerdvember is here and it is time to get building!

Nerdvember 2021: Comics Edition Rules

All entries must be new creations. Entries may be updated as long as the contest is still open.
Entries can be posted either on Flickr or Instagram. A link to your entry should be posted in the Nerdvember 2021 Flickr thread using the hashtags #Nerdvember2021 and #BrickNerd. If you do not have a Flickr account, you can use the hashtags and tag us on Instagram and we’ll post a link to your entry for you. Please only add one photo/submission of each entry to this group (extras will be removed). If you don’t have either Flicker or Instagram please email your submission to dave@bricknerd.com.
You may enter as many times as you want with unique creations.
Entries must be inspired by a comic, feel like a LEGO event exclusive, and feature either 1) an iconic scene , 2) a ship or vehicle, or 3) a brick-built character bust.
The total part count should be 300 pieces or less including minifigure parts. The total average cost to purchase new pieces and replicate the build should be $50 US or less (or local equivalent). So no crazy rare or exclusive parts or minifigures!
Digital renders are allowed, though the creation must be structurally sound and all the pieces must be available physically. Custom or modified parts are not allowed this time around.
These rules or the prizes may be modified at any point.
The contests ends on Tuesday, November 30th, 2021 at 11:59 pm PT (7:59 am GMT on Dec. 1st for the Europeans). Winners will be announced a few weeks after.
The contest will be judged by BrickNerd contributors and a few special guests who will evaluate entries based on concept, quality, presentation, composition, creativity, how much it feels like an event exclusive, and how much it makes us say, “I want that!”

What will you build for Nerdvember? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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