Round 2 of Bio-Cup 2022 has come to a close with 27 contestants participating. With only nine people remaining after this round, the competition is nearing its end. With these high stakes, everyone has been bringing their A-game trying to outdo each other for a place in the semifinals. But because of this, many talented builders were knocked out of this round. Each of the builders featured in this article is moving on to the semifinals—so make sure to check out all the entries because it will be well worth your time! The theme this round was “numbers,” with each bracket being assigned a number 1 through 9 with no further direction or context. This brought out some very creative concepts and, as always, expert execution. So without further ado, let’s literally count down some of the amazing builds from Bio-Cup’s second round. 9 Starting with number nine, VelociJACKtor brings the...

Do you like your cars loud? Do you smoke your tires at every traffic light? Do you only drive in a straight line? Then you’re probably an American muscle-car fan. And you’re probably pretty stoked about LEGO’s announcement of the new customizable 1969 Camaro Z28 coming August 1st. Here at BrickNerd, we figured we take a lap around the interwebs to check out some other versions of Camaros from the LEGO community. So take a break from Amazon Prime Day and get in gear for a ride through these Camaro-inspired MOCs. Let’s fire it up with Eric Teo’s mining scale Camaro, complete with sleeveless driver. He’s got some nice upgrades here, like the fog lights and the exposed engine-y thing in the hood. Boss! (That license plate looks strangely familiar, though!) Next up, we’re shifting gears to a 1973 Camaro Z28 by Doug Vander Meulen. Although he said it started out...

To celebrate BrickNerd’s pirate contest, I wanted to look at the many sets that LEGO has produced over the years that contain ships or boats. The early days of the LEGO System focused more on the Town Plan theme, so ships were rare in those days. But as early as 1959, the box of Town Plan set 200 shows building suggestions that could be two ships. In 1968, LEGO released the first set with a ship as its main model: 343 Ferry. Minifigures weren't around yet in 1968, but this set was certainly “minifigure scale”. Minifigure-sized ships have since appeared in many themes like City, Pirates and Vikings, but you might be surprised to find ships and boats in other themes such as Adventurers, Indiana Jones and Vidiyo.  However in this article I want to talk about “Model Ships”. In other words, LEGO sets with ships that are not populated by...

Best of BrickNerd: Weekend Highlight — Article originally published July 15, 2021. Today I have the privilege to shine the spotlight on another one of my favourite builders in the community, Josephine Monterosso, or Jigsawjo as she is also known. I can’t remember when I first started to follow her work, but I am sure it was because I saw one of her robot-builds. She creates some of the coolest robots around, often with a fairly limited number of pieces, that have connections that will blow your mind. And if you think I have mentioned the word robot quite a few times in this opening paragraph, you might as well get used to it, because this article will showcase quite a few of them. So…robots, robots, robots! Here we go. Andreas Lenander: Hi, and thank you so much for chatting with BrickNerd! Please tell our readers a little about yourself. Josephine...

Best of BrickNerd: Weekend Highlight (in celebration of our “pi-RATS & BUG-aneers” contest)— Article originally published June 8, 2021. Ahoy, me hearties! Are you ready to set sail on an adventure through the history of classic LEGO Pirates? This immensely popular theme has undergone various renditions since its origins in 1989, but continues to attract numerous scallywags young and old. To understand this fantastic swashbuckling theme, let’s jump into a deep exploration of what made the “Classic” Pirates one of the most beloved and still loved product lines. Come with us on a treasure hunt through history, because it is time for LEGO Pirates 101 to begin! LEGO Pirates 101 An early promotional ad for LEGO Pirates in 1989. Image taken from 1989 edition of the LEGO Builder’s Club Brick Kicks Magazine. We’ll focus specifically on the classic releases, sometimes referred to as Pirates I, which spanned from 1989 until 2002,...