If you would have asked me as a freshman in high school I might have suggested this would be me about the age I am now (well, perhaps a bit older). I had a wet suit, I had a surfboard, I went to the beach once or twice a week. It took me years to come to terms with the fact that I don’t actually like the beach, but I figured out I can’t surf pretty quickly. I’m from California, I’m supposed to love the beach right? Well, it’s nice to look at, and I’ll enjoy it from the comfort of my Airstream thanks very much. And I’ll leave the surfing to those that can actually do it, like this old shredder by builder vir-a-cocha. Tear it up dude. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

If you’ve spent any time downtown in the city of angels, or watched any television or movies in the last 60 years you’ve probably seen this, the iconic Los Angeles City Hall. It’s been the backdrop for many TV shows, including Adam-12, Dragnet and Alias and was destroyed in V. But my personal favorite was standing in for The Daily Planet in the old Superman series. So to see this classic old building in bricks gives me a warm fuzzy, and to see it photographed outside with the hills of Los Angeles in the background at “magic hour” by the great Bruce Lowell made me smile ear to ear. For more information on this build check out Bruce’s website here. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

This excellent harbor scene by builder Vaionaut one of those MOCs you can appreciate from the medium resolution image, but must really be seen in person or scrolling around the large image to get the full effect. It’s so effortless in it’s construction and flow that you’ll miss all the clever techniques and color combinations unless you’re drilling down. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

It was the first ship ever seen in the Star Wars universe, it carried the droids to Tattooine, the ship that Princess Leia was captured on. It’s the Tantive IV, AKA the Rebel Blockade Runner, and it’s the newest large LEGO Star Wars ship. LEGO was kind enough to send one our way and here’s our review of one of the most iconic science fiction ships to ever burst onto the silver screen. There have been a number of LEGO versions of this ship, in a variety of scales. I was lucky enough to get the original 10019 Rebel Blockade Runner as a gift from my crew on Sin City. I used to build at work as a stress reliever and distraction. It would take months to build a single model, and I was just fine with that. While based on the same ship, that particular version was definitely “chunkier” that...

Fans of Kung Fu Panda should recognize this master of tiger style, it’s Tigress by builder Block Head. Through use of Mixel joints for poseability, excellent System construction and careful sticker use, she’s no longer confined to the big screen. But as you can see in this pic, she’s lost none of her attitude. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

I don’t know where my fascination with art deco came from. There’s a pretty limited sample of the style here in my home town, but I’ve always been drawn to it. So I find this latest build from snaillad totally irresistible. I would love to stay at this hotel, as long as it wasn’t pretentious and weird inside. I’ve stayed at a number of hotels in recent years that celebrate the art deco aesthetic, but only on the outside. On the inside it’s chrome bears, terrible art, pointless doors and friggin’ bean bag furniture. But as you can see, it’s classic 30’s inside this lovely building. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

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. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

It’s Star Wars Day!!!! And what better way to celebrate than to build the latest super awesome LEGO set, the Tantive IV! You may know it as the rebel blockade runner, or perhaps as the original “smuggler ship” (yup, this was the original Millennium Falcon) and we’re going to build it live starting at 9am PST. Tune in to either our YouTube channel or head over to our sister site Nerds&Makers’ Twitch Channel. See you then!!! Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

There’s a lot to unpack here with Tim Lydy’s first Star Wars build. It started simply enough, with a trench battle featuring the pretty spiffy Mimban Stormtroopers. But it grew in size, and then the Emperor was added, then with the addition of the aurebesh title (for the empire) it has taken on almost a propaganda type feel, and it’s pretty amazing. For a more in depth breakdown of the build, check out this post on EuroBricks. Original linkOriginal author: Tommy

While I’m not much of a prequel fan I can say this, if you can get through all the silliness of Phantom Menace and get to the end, you’re gonna see a great lightsaber fight. This was the first time the fans saw some serious Jedi-in-their-prime and total-kick-ass-Sith crossing sabers, and it was pretty bad ass. In fact I’m guessing from the title of this post you’ve had John Williams’ score in your head and you’ve been hearing the humming of lightsabers while you’ve been enjoying this MOC by LEGO 7, amiright? Original linkOriginal author: Tommy