This Speeder Woke the Force

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Calin has taken a crack at Rey's rather loud, homemade speeder from the Force Awakens. There have been many models of this particular vehicle, and this is another great addition to the collection we can see online. I particularly like the placement of the net of junk, and the seat area. Zoom zoom!!!

Rey
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Nathaniel Stoner

     My name is Nathaniel Stoner, and I am an very active LEGO builder.  I mostly build in the themes of castle and science-fiction, but I also dabble in other genres and create occasional random MOC's (My Own Creations). 

     When I was younger, I would get and build small LEGO sets for my birthday, but I was never really into them.  When they fell apart, I would become frustrated attempting to put them back together and would throw them in a box in my closet.  I couldn't stand them!

     Then, miraculously, I became addicted to the LEGO brick later in my teen years.  Ever since, I have continued to build up (pun intended) my collection of bricks and to expand my knowledge of techniques and building skills.  LEGO is truly more than a toy, its an art form and a way to express yourself.

     For the most part, I collect LEGO Star Wars (mainly the minifigs), which is probably my favorite LEGO theme.  I have a fairly decent collection, including some of the original 1999 sets, such as the Snowspeeder, X-Wing, and Naboo starfighter.  I also collected LEGO the Lord of the Rings when those sets first came out.  The minifigs are great, and the story remains one of my favorites ever. 

     My hope is to inspire other young (and perhaps even older) LEGO builders to unleash their inner creativity!  You can find me on my Flikr here. 

Pull To Inflate

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When we were seeing the first photos of the cast of characters for The Force Awakens, I remember that there were some articles online about Poe Dameron and what the Aurebesh text on his flight vest said.  It translated to "PULL TO INFLATE".  Oh man was I excited.  Don't get me wrong and I'm not being sarcastic.  It's the little details like this that make the movies immersive to me.

Takamichi Irie has made one of his coolest models yet.  This 1:1 scale Resistance pilot's helmet and life support unit belong to Poe Dameron, but the 1:1 scale LEGO Poe is nowhere to be found!  The details on the helmet are spectacular.  The Rebel logo is integrated into the spherical brickwork at an angle, the visor curves all the way around and looks like it actually protects the eyes, and the simple box shaped life support unit is just so smooth.  I'm a sucker for smooth things made out of LEGO.

Poe Dameron's Flight Gear

Bobbajo

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One of the things that got people so hyped for The Force Awakens was the promised return to a more practical approach to filmmaking, real sets, real costumes, real creatures. This guy was one of the first alien life forms we saw in a video shared by JJ during production, and we all went nuts. Now Takamichi Irie has built him in brick, and we can all go nuts again.

Bobbajo

BB-8 Behind The Magic

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Oh man, there's so much about this I love. It's Star Wars, so it's instantly got my attention, it's by Pete Reid, my best mate across the pond, and it's behind the scenes, where the real movie magic happens. Here we see one of the secrets of BB-8's endearing performance in The Force Awakens, his puppeteer. I assume it's Brian Herring, but it's hard to tell, he's wearing a mask.

BB-8 - Behind the magic

Poe's X-Wing In Midi Scale

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Midi scale is a tricky but wonderful thing. The size needs to be between minifigure scale and mini, with enough detail to be worth it, but not so much it gets cluttered or messes up the proportions. When done right the results are irresistibly swooshable, like Poe's X-Wing here by Rogue Bantha. Those intakes are inspired genius,

Poe

BB-7

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Droid development is an incremental process. Sometimes what seems like a good idea turns out to be a bit problematic. Take for instance BB-7 here. As baffling as it may be, the designers decided a cubic form factor would be worth exploring. Eventually as you all know things got more spherical, but this one is pretty much just as cute. Leave it to MacLane to find the corners of everyone's favorite new droid. Check out the video to see how he works.

BB-7 Trading Card
BB-7 in action

Build A BB-8

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If you've seen Star Wars The Force Awakens you've no doubt fallen in love with everyone's new favorite droid BB-8 (and if not, what's wrong with you?) Well now thanks to builder DanSto you can build your very own BB-8! He's made a video of a step by step instructions, so break out the bricks, limber up your pause finger and get building.

BB8+R2-D2_C-3PO

Fastest Hunk Of Junk In The Galaxy

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The Falcon is my favorite ship in the Star Wars universe, and seeing it again in The Force Awakens just about made me cry. There have been countless brick versions of this venerable craft, and I have a new favorite to add to my very short list. This version by marshal banana has the right look, the right proportions and is fully lit, it's epic.

Millennium Falcon (Starwars VII)
Millennium Falcon (Starwars VII)
Millennium Falcon (Starwars VII)

Pimp Rey's Speeder!

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Those outstanding humans at The Brothers Brick have a new contest going challenging you to pimp Rey's speeder, and they're giving away some really cool stuff. What better way to celebrate the awakening of the force? Head over to the official Flickr group for all the rules and details and get building!

Oh, and I couldn't help myself, Nerdly needed to get in on that action. And it serves double duty as a completely disqualified entry to NERDvember!

Nerdly Speeder

Behind The Scenes

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Here's a builder after my own heart. Not only is this large diorama Star Wars inspired, it's behind the scenes as well. Burglarhobbit brings us a little taste of what it takes to make a blockbuster movie, in this case The Force Awakens. There's tons of fun little details here, but my favorite has to be the cockpit on the motion base, awesome.

IDSMO - R5 - The Making-of

Meeting BB-8

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The Force Awakens sets are finally out (ours are on order from Billund, we had to wait just like everyone else) and I'm super excited to get to build a piece of the next chapter in the saga. But I'm also looking forward to seeing what creative builders do with the new parts and minifigs. Like this excellent little vignette of Rey meeting BB-8 by Legomichiiiiii.

Rey meets BB-8 in Jakku

The First Jaw Dropping Moment Of The Episode VII Trailer

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I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I saw this moment of the trailer, recreated brilliantly by KevFett2011 here in bricks. I was at Star Wars Celebration, sitting on the floor in front of the LEGO booth (we couldn't get into any of the places the panel was being simulcast, but luckily LEGO streamed it to their jumbotron) and there was a sudden hush as the trailer started. The first shot fades up and there's a soft "oooh" from the crowd. But as the camera panned over and it became apparent that wasn't a mountain in the background. There was a palatable rush of energy in the room, a collective intake of breath and a million goosebumps erupted simultaneously around me. One shot and we were hooked.

Episode VII-The Force Awakens-Apoca Star Destroyer on Jakku

First Order Stormtrooper

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When I saw the teaser trailer for Star Wars The Force Awakens and there was that glimpse of the new stormtroopers I had a surge of childhood course through my veins. It's a thrill that's indescribable, yet here I sit trying to come up with the words. I had a little taste of it this morning too, when I saw this delightful MOC by umamen. Suddenly I'm nine years old, and I want to save the galaxy. I want to jump around with a flashlight and make swooshing noises. I want to climb aboard a starship and jump to light speed. I want some Star Wars.

LEGO: Stormtrooper of episode 7 (8inch)