Twelve Years Of Zodiac

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.

Nian

It might be just a little early for Chinese New Year, but this monster Nian was built for a contest so we get to celebrate just a bit early. According to myth the Nian lives under the sea or mountain, and comes out every new year to feast, mostly on crops but sometimes children, fun stuff. I have it under good authority that this particular Nian was hiding in the LEGO bins of builder Legopard.

There Be Dragons Here

When I lived in London my commute took me through Chinatown every day, it was just a few blocks south of where I worked in Soho. One night, which just happened to be Chinese New Year, I rounded a corner just as the celebration started. My timing couldn't have been better, it went from normal London hustle bustle noise to sudden cacophony as drums started playing, fire crackers went off and the crowd cheered. And in the middle of it all, was a dragon, not unlike this outstanding depiction by builder Rhymes_Shelter. This was the first time I'd seen a legitimate dragon, and I was transfixed. I stopped dead in my tracks, the pressing need to get back to my tiny flat suddenly erased, and I watched.

The Sky Is Falling!

OK, not really, but it certainly kinda feels like it these days. But this MOC by alanboar wasn't built to lament a world gone wild, but to celebrate Chinese New Year. It's Chicken Little, from the Disney film of the same name. I haven't seen the movie in years, but we have it on DVD somewhere, and I recall laughing out loud at the dodgeball dance scene, so maybe it's time to watch it again.

Year Of The Rooster

Chinese New Year is upon us, and like every year the animal that is celebrated starts to pop up on Flickr. This year it's the rooster, and brilliant designs are showing up every day like this one from builder DOGOD Brick Design. He may not be as flashy as a dragon, or as cheeky as a monkey, but he's proud and regal, ruler of the barnyard.

Happy New Year!

Yes, 2016 is finally about over. It's been a year of ups and downs, struggles and loss, but we keep on keeping on. It was a pretty good year for BrickNerd, with growth in readership, great cons and some good times in the name of LEGO devotion. As we ring in the new year, the year of the Rooster as illustrated by nobu_tary, we look forward to some more good times and brick mischief. Thanks for taking this ride with us.

New Year Yummies

I won't pretend to know much about Chinese New Year, but I do know candy! This lovely MOC by builder Andybear was one of those "skip over at first since the thumbnail fooled you" moments for me. I mean really, look at the detail and care that went into this. While the treats inside look marvelous, my favorite detail has got to be the lid of the box, that's stellar work.