The BrickNerd Team Just Got a Little Nerdier
/It has been an exciting month and a half here at BrickNerd, and today we are excited to welcome a few more amazing people to the BrickNerd Brainery. Together with the team members announced last month, we now span 12 countries and languages! These incredible minds come from a wide variety of backgrounds, are experts in their fields, and are excited to share with you their LEGO nerdiness.
As always, we are excited to share our love of LEGO, fascinating stories, building skills and opinions while highlighting awe-inspiring creations and creators within the AFOL community. We come from diverse backgrounds, generations, locations and demographics, and invite you to join us in dialogue as we explore the awesome nerdiness that is LEGO. Let’s meet the new members of the BrickNerd team!
Andrew M. Pankratz
Andrew lives in New Jersey (USA) and enjoys building anything Disney, Friends, or Brickfilm related! He handles the technical side of BrickNerd, keeping everything up and running! You can find him on LinkedIn.
“I’ve been building software and websites for more than 20 years and LEGO sets for almost 30. I'm excited to be working on the technical side of BrickNerd, and, who knows, maybe convince them to let me post a Brickfilm or two while I'm at it.”
Grayson B.
Grayson lives in Maryland (USA) and is our expert in all things Constraction (like Bionicle). He is a member of both BioniLUG and Charm City LUG. You can find him on Flickr and Instagram.
“My name is Grayson, I'm a middle school computer science teacher in Maryland, and a LEGO fan as long as I can remember. Bionicle is what kept me in the hobby until I joined the online community in 2010, but I have a deep appreciation of all themes. Here on BrickNerd you will see me covering constraction (constructible character/creature action figure) MOCs and artists!”
“I collect, speed build, and MOC, not necessarily in that order. I grew up with the classic late 90's early 2000’s themes, which quickly spiraled into an exploration of basically everything LEGO, old and new! I love the rare and the obscure, but also the history and story behind what I'm building. Many times I find the inspiration for my MOCs in my other passions: amusement parks and film.”
Inez Vasquez
Inez is from the Philippines and focuses on BrickHeadz, botanicals and the local LEGO community. She is a member of the Philippine LEGO Users Group (PhLUG) and you can find her on Instagram.
“Collecting LEGO drew me into this hobby, but the community makes me stay. I love discovering new models, building LEGO flowers and making new friends, especially within my region (Asia represent!). I hope to introduce readers to interesting builders, beautiful MOCs, and fascinating build techniques!”
Isaiah Durand
Isaiah splits his time between the USA and Chile and loves Pirates, Castle, LEGO role-playing games (RPGs) and Ninjago. He is a member of InnovaLUG, and you can find him on Flickr and Blockheads.
“I am a Bible-believing Christian, pianist, creative writer, reader, and homeschool graduate, and like a lot of LEGO builders, I started out heavily into Castle and branched out pretty widely from there. The way storytelling and LEGO building so often overlap and complement each other is one of my favorite things about the hobby, so it'll not come as a surprise that I've been deeply engaged in RPGs since first diving into the online community in 2012. I'm currently one of the leaders of EuroBricks' Guilds of Historica RPG and was one of the founding leaders of the piratical Brethren of the Brick Seas RPG (go Eslandola!). Ship-building, pianos, and MOCs that tell great stories are a few of my all-time favorite things to see, build, and talk about!”
Maria Straatsma
Maria lives in Michigan (USA) and loves Modulars, anything Medieval, Harry Potter, replicas, sorting, photography and fan conventions. She is a member of Eurobricks and WisLUG, and you can find her on Flickr and Instagram.
“My name is Maria and I'm half of the Midwest Builders. My favorite things to build are modulars, detailed interiors, and landscapes and I enjoy attending Brickworld conventions. I love learning new building techniques, sorting methods, and photography tips and can't wait to share these with the BrickNerd community. Aside from clicking bricks, I’m a homeschooling mom of two who enjoys hiking and cooking delicious meals for my family.”
Nathan Hagan
Nathan lives in Virginia (USA) and loves all things Architecture, Creator, micro, and contest-related. He helps with the graphic design of BrickNerd and even made the cool logo for our Nerdly Strikes Back contest! He is a member of Charm City LUG.
“I am an engineer, artist and graphic designer with a lifelong love of LEGO. I only actively became a member of the AFOL community in the last few years, but I am glad to finally meet friends who share my obsession with little plastic bricks. I am joining the BrickNerd team as the resident graphic designer, and I’m excited to offer the artist perspective highlighting talents across the AFOL world.”
“Most everyone has played with LEGO and has some connection with pop culture—be it film, gaming, or music. I love to combine the feelings of nostalgia that ordinary people get from LEGO with what's cool now and what was cool back in the day. 1:1 scale replicas are my specialty!”
Pedro Sequeira
Pedro is from Portugal and loves LOTR, sets with Asian influences, LEGO Adventurers and graphics (stickers and prints). He helps with illustrations at BrickNerd as well. He is a member of Comunidade 0937, and you can find him on Flickr and Instagram.
“Being a grandson of a painter and designer made me a designer by heart too and also as a daily job! LEGO has been around in my life since I was three years old. It unlocked the creative part of my brain just like the thinking and understanding parts. I truly believe that LEGO can help kids and adults grow, solve problems faster, and have fun. I love to find and analyze new building techniques from LEGO designers or AFOLs.”
BrickNerd is still growing and adding amazing contributors so stay tuned to see who else is joining our Nerdly ranks. If you are interested in becoming a contributor for BrickNerd, please send an email to dave@bricknerd.com.
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