Welcome To Portland

In the ramp up to Bricks Cascade builder dviddy decided a little mashup was in order. And what do you get when you combine something uniquely Portland and Star Wars? Well you get dark lord of the Sith Darth Vader wearing a kilt and playing a flaming bagpipe while riding a unicycle of course. What else?

Vader's Rage

Talk about a bad day, NS Brick Designs has created any rebel’s worst nightmare. Being confined in a corridor with Lord Vader himself is probably not the most pleasant feeling, especially when he is in a grumpy mood. Needless to say, these troops are in for a rough ride.

Come To The Dark Side...We Have Cookies

You've heard the rumors, and now we have photographic proof thanks to builder MinifigNick. Yoda said the dark side was "quicker, easier, more seductive", but he never mentioned anything about chocolate chips! We can't repel flavor of that magnitude! 

The Dark Lord Of The Squee

It is May the Fourth, Star Wars day, and of course we're celebrating here at BrickNerd. And what better way than to showcase some brilliant Star Wars MOCs, like this absolutely fantastic Brickheadz rendition of Darth Vader himself by builder tankm. I don't know if I should fear him or hug him.

TIE Advanced Prototype

Our pals at the LEGO Car Blog accurately predicted my reaction to this outstanding rendition of Darth Vader's iconic ship from builder Jerac. There's so many cool details and accurate styling on it I don't know where to start, I'll just point enthusiastically at the screen and make "ohh ohh" sounds, ok? Fun Fact: While it's a romantic notion to think this was Darth Vader's ship because he's a super baddie and needed an equally badass ship, the design has a much more practical origin, namely to be able to tell who's who during the battle of Yavin.

Star Wars Midi Figures

Builder Miro78 is having way too much fun and kicking off this year right. For the past four days he has uploaded one of these brilliant midi scale Star Wars figures. Considering the absolute plethora of figures that have been produced he could conceivably be doing this for a VERY long time. I'm hoping to see these, and Miro of course, in person this afternoon at BricksLA.

I See You've Constructed A New Lightsaber

Yes, I know that's a quote from Vader, and that he's referring to Luke's saber in Return of the Jedi. Try to imagine me doing a terrible Darth Vader impersonation (well, it's not that bad) and I'm actually speaking to builder Koen, now it makes sense. This version of Vader's lightsaber is the best I've ever seen in brick, clean and surprisingly acurate.

Wearable Empire

If Star Wars taught me one thing, it's that helmets are popular in space. And what good is a helmet that you can't wear? Well, Lego Admiral seems to think the same thing, and has crafted these excellent Vader and Stormtrooper helmets in bricks, and you can actually wear them. I don't know how much protection they would offer, then again Stormtroopers can be taken out by a teddy bear with a rock, so the real ones don't offer much either.

"Together, We Can Rule The Galaxy As Father And Son."

The duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader on Bespin is one of those iconic scenes which we see revisited in the brick a lot by many different builders, but I'm very fond of this new model by Vitreolum. He achieves a very clean look by using mostly monochrome light bluish gray parts, with minimal visible studs, which fits the scene well in my opinion.

Vader's Lightsaber

Do you think it might have undermined his menace slightly if Darth Vader's lightsaber was as cute and almost chibi as this version by KOSbrick? It has an appealing chunky, stumpy and rounded feel that the real one lacks, and I'm totally ok with it. Check out the video for more views.

Power Of The Dark Side

This is one of the coolest Star Wars MOCs I've seen in a long time. Builder LEGO 7 shows us his interpretation of the dark lord himself Darth Vader. The combination of sculptural form, minifig action, micro scale ships and iconic imagery makes this almost comic-like, and I love it. It's a feast for the eyes and my nerdy heart.

Darth Vader Car

These little Star Wars inspired Hotwheels hit the shelves a couple years ago, and while I've never purchased one (I really need to control myself, too much stuff at my house already) I always stop and look at them. This is one of my favorites, Darth Vader. Seeing it as a full size car at SDCC was a thrill, but I think seeing it built in brick form by Don't Talk to Robots is even better.

It's The Thought That Counts

The Emperor is clearly not amused.  My guess he thinks Vader just gave him an Ewok for Christmas.  And after that whole Endor fiasco...  

Je hyung Lee has created this high quality SSD Bridge, complete with the perfect lighting and background star-scape.  I'm sure the crew down in the pit is braced for a few jolts of Force Lightening!

Merry Christmas, and May the Force Be With You!

Darth Hauder

This is the intersection of Star Wars, Spaceballs and Bionicle. Meet Darth Hauder, brainchild of builder Unijob Lindo. Now when you sense a disturbance in the force, you might want to check the Bionicle bin.

The Circle Is Now Complete

I love this, for a few reasons actually. First of course it's Star Wars original trilogy, so that's pretty much an automatic. Second, I can appreciate how difficult it was to do, lighting and photographing a super dark set with dark figures is really hard. And lastly, it's just a damn good shot, great lighting, great editing and great composition. Nicely done Andrew JN!

The Force Meets Minions

I do enjoy a good mashup, and builder car_mp has brought together two things that needed to be united, Star Wars and Minions. Although, Luke would probably argue that learning from Yoda was difficult enough, now he speaks in nonsensical bursts and craves bananas? At least Lando probably never knew what the deal was so he didn't know it was getting worse.

Sith Ride

Let's face it, Vader has style. Sure he's a bit asthmatic, and perhaps a poor judge on where you should take on your rival in a lightsaber duel, but he's got style. Check out his ride for instance, expertly crafted by Lino M. This isn't a simple passenger van with a huge sticker on the side (yeah, that's what we called Star Wars vehicles back when I was a kid, it was disappointing then too) no, it's a sleek car with body styling reminiscent of his famous helmet, and an aggressive stance that says he means business. 

The Dark Lord

Bear with me, I'm still in Star Wars Celebration afterglow, and I blogged this builder just four days ago, but I really wanted to share this. Darth Vader is pretty much the ultimate film villain. I don't know if he's the most recognized, but he's certainly in the top five. This version by Legomichiiiiii has a fantastic blend of basic elements and figure building joints, giving it a cool look. He's missing his cape but I sort of dig that, like he's cast it off to kick some serious light side butt.

Star Wars "Midifigs"

This is a project I've been watching for a while, Miro78's "Midifigs". It's a cool new scale for upsizing your favorite minifigs. I really like the scale of these, they're big enough to get some fun detail in, but small enough to not take up too much space. Just about perfect for displaying on a bookshelf or desktop. I'm sure it's a challenge to get the forms and details needed, but that's also part of the fun. 

Brick Buddies

Here's a cute and squee-riffic collection from one of my favorite builders, KOS brick. He calls these Brick Buddies, I call them adorable. They're like Nerdly's pop culture cousins, and I want my own collection of them immediately. Click through for even more of these cuddly little wonders.