His Icon Was a Rubber Band Holder

April 14, 2010 7:44 AM

Nate Neilson is a name that is not only unfamiliar to most people, it's unfamiliar to many of his biggest fans. That's because he went by the nom-de-brick of "nnenn". Neilson was a huge presence in the online Lego community, regularly putting out amazing and unique Lego creations on a regular basis, including entire building genres. He was also the driving force behind Novvember, a month-long celebration of the "Vic Viper" (from the videogame "Gradius") in which he and others "riffed" on a basic central design to see how many interesting variations on it they could make. Sadly, Neilson passed away recently following an automobile accident. Many of his online fans only learned this way of his real name, his job as a stay-at-home-Dad with two sons, and his other artistic outlet. He was a huge presence in the online Lego community, and he will be greatly missed. There is a fine eulogy for him (along with an overview of his work and influence) over at the premiere Lego site, The Brothers Brick. (And yes, his icon was a Lego rubber band holder.)
posted by Legomancer (24 comments total)

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posted by Legomancer at 7:44 AM on April 14, 2010

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posted by DU at 7:49 AM on April 14, 2010 [4 favorites]

(Also, I never knew that was a rubber band holder! Maybe I can finally keep my Lego rubber bands from ending up all over the playroom!)
posted by DU at 7:51 AM on April 14, 2010

This is really cool, and I feel privileged to have learned about such a neat builder from this post.
posted by Greg Nog at 7:58 AM on April 14, 2010

Neilson was a huge presence in the online Lego community

On behalf of the online Lincoln Log community, I extend my condolences.
posted by haricotvert at 8:04 AM on April 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm tearing up reading the tributes and I don't even follow the Lego community.

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posted by kmz at 8:06 AM on April 14, 2010

I feel so inadequate when I look at his Lego models.

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posted by KokuRyu at 8:07 AM on April 14, 2010

Excellent post.
posted by kid ichorous at 8:15 AM on April 14, 2010

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posted by soy bean at 8:22 AM on April 14, 2010

Well done, Legomancer. God speed, Mr. Neilson.
posted by Brak at 8:24 AM on April 14, 2010

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posted by brundlefly at 8:39 AM on April 14, 2010

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posted by cerebus19 at 8:40 AM on April 14, 2010

His Lego stuff is stunning. So is his other art, which somehow manages to capture the "feel" of stained glass figures through an different medium.
posted by infinitywaltz at 8:44 AM on April 14, 2010

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posted by mrballistic at 8:45 AM on April 14, 2010

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posted by LobsterMitten at 8:58 AM on April 14, 2010

Damn the blue. If you're not making me angry about something I didn't know I was meant to be angry about, you're making me sad about something I didn't know I could get sad about.

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posted by Molesome at 9:02 AM on April 14, 2010 [4 favorites]

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Thank you for introducing me to his work.
His work is amazing.
posted by VickyR at 9:06 AM on April 14, 2010

His kids are 3 and 8. This kind of thing just breaks my heart. What wonderful things he created.
posted by not that girl at 9:51 AM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Damnit DU, ya beat me to it! :P
posted by symbioid at 10:14 AM on April 14, 2010

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posted by Fleebnork at 11:27 AM on April 14, 2010

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posted by marienbad at 11:40 AM on April 14, 2010

The tributes are really beautiful in that they mostly tell the same story: "When he first showed up, I didn't like him, I thought he was an arrogant rule-breaker who didn't know how to do things the right way; eventually I realized that the results he achieved were a practical demonstration of why rule-breaking was okay, and my horizons were broadened forever." He sounds like the Monk or Parker or Joyce or Woolf of Lego. I hope that one day when his kids are old enough to understand and be proud of this, they do and are.
posted by No-sword at 1:23 PM on April 14, 2010 [4 favorites]

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posted by kumazemi at 8:18 PM on April 14, 2010

Another site with more tributes to nnenn: http://swooshable.com/nnenn/
posted by Legomancer at 4:18 AM on April 15, 2010