Let’s Get NERDIER About LEGO Pianos - Part 2

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Let’s Get NERDIER About LEGO Pianos - Part 2

In our first installment, I looked at pianos from LEGO Friends sets. In this installment, I analyze EVERYTHING else, from minifigures to keytars to Ideas and beyond. And after building some seventy LEGO pianos, I had to try my hand at creating my own…

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Bearded Overweight Glob Of Grease

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I love a good mashup, especially when Star Wars in involved. Builder paddybricksplitter has taken everyone's favorite feisty astromech and mashed him with everyones favorite cantancerous pirate mech Metalbeard and created R2-D-Beard. It makes me wonder what could be done mashing up the Tantive IV with the Sea Cow, hmm...

R2-D-Beard 1
R2-D-Beard 2

Benny's Mini Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP!

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If you've seen The LEGO Movie (you have, haven't you?) you'll remember Benny, the exceptionally enthusiastic spacer. And you've no doubt drooled after Benny's super-sweet giant spaceship. Well powerpig has scaled things down to a more manageable (and affordable) level with this mini version of his ship. I dig it, it's like a Micro-Fighters scale version.

Benny's Mini Ship

How The LEGO Movie Should Have Ended

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Last month BrickNerd Studios was lucky enough to have stop motion animator Kevin Ulrich help us out on Beyond The Brick: A LEGO Brickumentary. Sharp eyed viewers might have spotted him in this video of our biggest setup (he's the one wearing glasses). Well the team at How It Should Have Ended recruited him as well, and who better to determine how The LEGO Movie *should* have ended?

Did You Spot Any Of These MOCs?

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When the live action scene was shot last year in Los Angeles the producers of The LEGO Movie put out a "MOC casting call" to local groups. Many talented AFOLs responded and now their work is on the big screen. I don't know which is more mind-boggling, that I know these artists and have actually held some of these MOCs, or that I didn't spot a single one when I watched the movie last week.

The LEGO Movie Is A Global Phenomenon

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I wish South Korean LEGO artist OliveSeon would post descriptions so I could tell you more about this amazing MOC depicting all the worlds of The LEGO Movie. But you'll just have to do what I did and gawk in admiration. The MOC is obviously taking advantage of many official sets, but to excellent effect and in an awesome total package.

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Wyldstyle

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We've never covered LEGO cosplay here on BrickNerd, but that's about the change. For the uninitiated, cosplay is basically "dress up like your favorite character". I know that's overly simplistic, and that dedicated cosplayers literally spend months if not years perfecting their costumes. This Wyldstyle costume by SunlitEquinox is awesome. So is she a DJ?

Wyldstyle cosplay
Wyldstyle cosplay

The LEGO Movie - Reviewed

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Going into the movie theater on Saturday afternoon I honestly didn't know what to expect from The LEGO Movie. I suppose part of me expected the movie to cater to the target LEGO audience 6 to 13-year-olds, but I hoped deep down for something more. I wanted the LEGO Movie to transcend the product, to show the rest of the world what those of us in the LEGO community already know - that the LEGO system of play is thoughtful, complex and beautiful.

A motley crew of heros: Unikitty, Benny, Emmet, Batman, Vitruvius, and Wildstyle.

A motley crew of heros: Unikitty, Benny, Emmet, Batman, Vitruvius, and Wildstyle.

Not much was known about the LEGO Movie plot going into the release weekend. What we did know was that the movie featured average-Joe Emmet Brickowoski somehow joining forces with the fearless Wildstyle in hopes of saving the LEGO world from Lord Business' evil plans. What they delivered was one amazing, and sometimes bizarre, adventure that criss-crossed many of the classic LEGO themes including city, old west, castle, and pirate. While watching the movie I kept thinking that the plot felt like it was taken from the imagination of my 9-year-old self playing with bricks down my basement.

The animation is top-notch with every element of the landscape and characters rendered in great detail. Each minifigure was brought to life with tiny, lifelike movements of their hair, hands, and limbs. Explosions, lasers, and even water were made from digitally rendered LEGO bricks. The animators used LEGO bricks to painstakingly create all of the structures, vehicles, and environments seen in the movie. I kept wishing I could pause the movie and look at just how everything was built. That being said things on screen got a little overwhelming at times, which made it hard to tell what was going on, but maybe these eyes of mine are just getting old.

So, was LEGO able to break away from historically terrible toy-themed movies? I fully believe so. From the prospective of an adult fan of LEGO the movie succeeded in reminding me of why and how I fell in love with LEGO bricks in the first place. I appreciated the throwback LEGO themes, unexpected cameos and humor that only adults would get. But this is also a family movie and the directors gently remind us that as a community of adult LEGO builders we should help inspire our children, the next generation of LEGO enthusiasts, to think beyond the instruction sheet.

I give The LEGO Movie 5 out of 5 Nerdlies.

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