TBB: Your LEGO creations first came to our attention after your appearance on LEGO Masters China, when you started a Flickr gallery. From the start, you were building at a very high level. I’m sure there was a long journey between when you first discovered LEGO to where you are today. When did you first discover LEGO?

Dicken Liu: Lego hasn’t been in the Chinese market for very long, and the price was a big reason why it wasn’t a toy for the average person when they first appeared in China. I first saw Lego in a shopping mall in the 90s. But it was more than a decade later that I actually bought my first Lego set.

TBB: How did you discover that LEGO was more than just a toy? When did you become “serious” about making your own creations?

DL: It was probably from 2016 that I started to try my hand at making small pieces. (Before that my interests were more focused on models, drones, and film.) I started to look around for information and learn techniques to enrich my MOC knowledge, but at that time the actual LEGO MOC pieces I saw were quite limited. Here are a few pieces I’ve kept. They’re pretty rough to look at now, but it was really the start of my MOC journey.

TBB: Have you been member of any LUG (LEGO User Group) or other building community? Did you have friends or family who were as passionate about LEGO as you?

DL: I am a registered member of the Chinese LUG community: lelezhen lug, and also joined the LUG community: Heroes Club lug & China lug. None of my family members are LEGO fans, but they all support my hobby unconditionally, and I love them very much, and I am grateful for their support. Here I need to make a special mention of the influence of the China LUG community on me. In 2017 Shanghai, China hosted China’s first AFOL festival. I visited it for two consecutive days, which made me really interested in LEGO MOC. After this, I applied to join lelezhen lug.

TBB: Over the last decade, LEGO has been very intentional about catering to builders in China. Growing up, how common was LEGO? How have things changed now in your experience?

DL: In the past decade, LEGO has made rapid development in China. At the same time, there are more and more MOC players around me, and now there are 7 LEGO certified LUG communities in China, and they are still growing. In my opinion, LEGO has changed from a ‘luxury’ to a common toy. More and more people can understand and participate in MOC activities and MOC culture.

TBB: How did you find your way to LEGO Masters? How did it feel building in front of cameras like that?

DL: In 2021 I participated in The LEGO Masters, which was held in China for the first time. My friends and I had already witnessed such as the American and Australian versions of the competition in front of the TV. So, when I knew that the competition would be held in China, I immediately signed up. The process of recording the show lasted for three months and it was a wonderful time. My partner was Geng Lei. We created a lot of works together and I’m proud of our dedication and hard work.

TBB: Last year some of your work went on display at the Masterpiece Gallery in Billund. What was it like to be selected by the LEGO team? How was it decided which models would be displayed? What was it like to meet the other AFOLs chosen to be featured?

DL: Yes, I received an email invitation from Stuart in May. At that time I was very happy and I immediately told my wife the good news. Because I think this invitation represents a kind of recognition. As for the selection of the pieces, it was a mutual process where I would propose some of my own pieces for the LEGO House team to review and select.

In September, I met 8 other outstanding AFOLs, and it was a great honour to be invited with them, because several of them, such as Steven W. Howard, Donny Chen… are AFOLs that I admire very much!

TBB: What prompted you to start sharing your creations online? How has your online presence changed your relationship to the hobby?

DL: A big part of the reason why I share my work online is due to that special ‘COVID’ period, when the situation in my area prevented me from going out normally, so I had to stay at home, which gave me the idea of interacting with more people on the internet.

As I published more work online, more people noticed me, especially after I published some traditional art-themed LEGO MOCs, people didn’t realise that LEGO could be played in this way.

 

TBB: Your creations cover such a wide range of subjects and styles. You create characters and sculptures, as well as lifesize props. There’s a bold use of colors and studs are rare. There is also a streak of whimsy and silliness in your works. How would you describe your building style? How do you choose a subject to build?

DL: I think good works will tell stories and convey the creator’s point of view. I think life needs humor and happiness that can make people smile. And let more people experience this emotion. I also want to express this in my own works. I usually look for inspiration from movies, traditional art, video games, and trendy toys to create.

TBB: Minifigures are seldom featured in your builds. What are your thoughts about building at minifig scale?

DL: Yes. I rarely create pieces based on Minifigures scale. That doesn’t mean I don’t like them, on the contrary, I collect a lot of Minifigures, and I favour Minifigures with unique shapes rather than patterns on them. If I need to place them in my work, I prefer some special Minifigures, such as animal figures.

TBB: Are there any themes or types of builds you aren’t comfortable building? Are there any themes or subjects you’ve wanted to build but haven’t done yet?

DL: I am very envious of Lego tech MOCers who have techniques that I am not good at. Although I have also been learning Lego tech building techniques, it turns out that this genre is not my forte. I’ve always wanted to build a huge traditional Chinese mythological scene, but it’s probably too big for me, so it’s always been only in my head and not implemented.

TBB: Can you share a bit about your building process? Do you have a dedicated space for building? How do you store your bricks? Do you tend to keep your creations in tact or disassemble them after photographing?

DL: I don’t usually work in software (unless there’s a specific need), I build directly from parts and will just sketch beforehand. I have a small room at home that I use as a studio (sorry it’s messy…) I use a chest of drawers to store and sort parts. Most of my pieces sit for a while after being photographed, until a new piece needs the parts, then I don’t hesitate to dismantle it. For me most pieces don’t stay intact all the time.

TBB: Sometimes you share free instructions for your models. What motivated you to open up in this way? Is it something you plan to continue doing?

DL: I shared pictures of a MOC ‘Fire Flower’ on other platforms, and a lot of people loved it. This made me very happy. However, I found out that some manufacturers had stolen my work and made products for sale, which made me very unhappy. Because I think such behaviour is disrespectful to MOCers including me. If it was a MOC built with LEGO products, it wouldn’t have allowed these people to continue to make mistakes. So I didn’t hesitate to share the instructions. I guess that explains part of my reason for sharing it, I want people to be able to enjoy the simple pleasures together, especially the moments when many people send me pictures. And probably a big reason people like this is because it reduces the difficulty of making (sets that aren’t designed by LEGO). This will lead to more regular people who don’t play MOC to try them out. I’m happy to do that.

TBB: Lately you’ve been creating a lot of Alternative models using the parts from just one set. You must have a very substantial LEGO collection. What inspired you to go back to the constraints of building from a single set’s components?

DL: The idea came about a couple of months ago when I was looking for parts for a project and realised that most of the parts I needed could be found in a LEGO set, which led me to revisit the idea of building from a single set’s components. Even though I had tried it before.

TBB: What inspired you to make a face hugger from a bunny in particular? There’s something especially funny about the source and the results! It’s crazy to see how viral that went.

DL: I actually chose this bunny completely by accident, I purchased it because the kit had new parts that I needed. I saw it right away when I decided to do the building from a single set’s components. After looking through the parts list, the immediate thought that came to mind was arthropods, but animals in general wouldn’t be the subject matter I was looking for, so the facehugger came up…

TBB:  Your Alien alt build is the most impressive alternative build I’ve ever seen, incorporating thousands of elements. What was most challenging about making that model work?

DL: It should be the forelimb part. Because in 76968 the Tyrannosaurus Rex has very small forelimbs, but the Alien Dog has strong forelimbs. I need to build this otherwise non-existent part with limited parts.

TBB: One of your latest alt builds is a “wild devil” made from the Giraffe 3-in-1. Could you talk a bit about the process? Did you have a creation in mind from looking at the parts in the set, or did you figure it out by building?

DL: Firstly I would like to say that I really like the 31150. the designs of the lion and giraffe in particular are both excellent and I chose this kit because I wanted to try and see if I could create the same wonderful shapes with the same parts. The biggest problem in creating this was the colours, 31150 has more colours and this can cause the shapes of the MOC pieces to become unclear. I worked hard to try and improve it.

TBB: Do you have any advice for builders who have less experience building without instructions who might want to try creating their own alternate build without the help of instructions?

DL: Yes, I strongly hope they will start trying with the set in their hands. As I said in the LEGO Masters finale: take the LEGO brick in your hand and be brave. No matter how great the work, it all starts with the first brick.

TBB: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us about building. We’re excited to see where your creations take you next!

DL: Thank you so much for the interview and for your patience in reading it.