Tag Archives: Cartoon

LEGO, Illumination, and Universal partner to launch Despicable Me 4 sets this spring [NEWS]

The LEGO Group, Illumination, and Universal Products & Experiences have officially confirmed their partnership on a new venture. Contrary to recent speculation sparked by an April Fools’ Day prank on social media, this collaboration does not involve a giant Minion. Instead, the trio is gearing up for the release of Illumination’s highly anticipated film, Despicable Me 4, hitting theaters on July 3. To mark the occasion, the partnership is introducing an exclusive line of LEGO Despicable Me 4 sets, sure to delight fans of the animated franchise. This range features four products, two of which were unveiled today: 75583 Minions and Gru’s Family Mansion and 75582 Brick-Built Gru and Minions. These sets will be available starting May 1st.

Check out these new DM4 sets below!

Casa de la Familia Madrigal: A brick-built Replica of Encanto’s Iconic House

Is this not the outcome every LEGO creative builder aspires to when encountering something they want to recreate in LEGO? “Casita,” arguably the standout feature of Disney’s film Encanto, was released in LEGO form in late 2021. With the release of 43202 The Madrigal House, LEGO provided enthusiasts of all ages with a glimpse of the potential in using LEGO bricks to build “Casita” from the movie. Builder kopoppo_mama has skillfully blended creativity and photorealism to bring “Casita” to life using what one could only assume is an exceedingly large quantity of LEGO bricks. Check out some of the other “Casita” inspired creations that have been featured in the past here and here.

 

He’s a gigantic fluffy monster with an arrow on his head! Its kinda hard to miss him!

Sokka sure got it right when he pointed out this major flaw in Team Avatar’s main mode of transportation. Despite his lack of stealth, Appa proved to be an essential part of the team, carrying the gang and more all over the bending world. Fans of Nickelodeon’s The Last Airbender surely look back wantingly at the small line of sets that The LEGO Group blessed us with when the show was still airing and plenty of builders have expressed their dreams in brick form. Jay-Roon Bricks has joined in with this wonderful brick-built Appa, Avatar Aang’s loyal sky bison. Katara and Sokka look pretty comfy in that lovely saddle, while Aang looks ready for the next adventure. I’m glad they haven’t lost their supply bag yet either, represented here by the sand blue round plates and tiles behind the saddle.

This version models Appa’s body well and seems to be in scale with Toph and the rest of the gang. His face has some great details and seems very expressive, helping to capture the big guy’s spirit.

This picture from above also shows off the details of Appa’s tail and patterning. The rounded end and tight joints really match the character’s design and probably make this model very poseable.

Check out some more cartoon-inspired builds that we’ve shared.

You’ve got a (LEGO) build in me

“Reach for the sky”, Star Wars helmets; Woody and Buzz can take it from here. Pixar fans will love these fun Toy Story builds from Rokan Cheung. Woody’s hat is a good blend of different shadows of brown, with Studs Not On Top approach. The eyebrows are a good choice, adding some life to the build, and the pink cheeks bring it all together.

Woody in Helmet style!!

Again, Rokan is killing it with the eyebrows. Using a whip for Buzz’s dimple (or beard? sound off in the comments!) is also great. The purple and green really sell this as our intrepid Space Ranger. I’d love to see Rokan continue the line with the rest of the Toy Story crew.

Buzz Lightyear in Helmet style!!

Looney Tunes voice actor Eric Bauza teases the new LEGO Collectible Minifigures on his Twitter [News]

While LEGO’s official social feeds are busy revealing the new Looney Tunes collectible minifigures one by one, Canadian voice actor Eric Bauza doesn’t shy away from bragging a couple of boxes full of yet to be revealed Looney Tunes minifigures on his Twitter account. Last December, Eric was put in charge of voicing Bugs Bunny, so he doesn’t miss a chance to bring some of the new LEGO minifigures to life while unpacking them.

It is currently cowabunga hours

“The perimeter’s quiet.” “Yeah, a little TOO quiet.” It feels like we’ve all forgotten that there were actual Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets some time ago. Unlike the lifespan of LEGO’s short-lived theme, LEGO fans will build Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo for generations to come. Alex Jones (Orion Pax), the builder of all things pop culture, recently designed some nifty large scale figures of the loveable pizza-consuming reptiles.

TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles

Not only is each Ninja Turtle recognisable by his coloured masks but also of their unique weapons. Alex also went out of his way to make each character a different shade of green. And it wouldn’t be possible without the Hulk arm pieces coming in those colours. I particularly like the use of minifig seats as the shells and minifig legs as the hands and feet.

Check out more builds by Alex here!

You, too, can fill your zoo with over 20 adorable animals!

As someone obsessed with animals and animal builds, I’m pleased to share some exciting news! TBB’s 2020 Creation of the Year builder, Koen Zwanenburg, is providing instructions for his collection of cute and cuddly LEGO critters! These cartoon-ish creations are some of my all-time favorite animal builds. Just look at that walrus’ flippers – genius! The size and style lend themselves perfectly to repeating the techniques with all sorts of characters. And now, you can build them and collect them all yourself.

Cuddly Toys: The Animal Collection

While you’re here, be sure to check out some of Koen’s other builds! In addition to many other completely different creations, he’s also used this technique for both Super Mario and Christmas characters.

The Doofenshmirtz-inator!!!

“Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated” – if you’ve watched the legendary Disney channel cartoon Phineas and Ferb, in your head you probably heard the little jingle that goes along with this quote. Paul brings the lovable and goofy villain from the show – Dr. Doofenshmirtz to life with his LEGO version of the character.

Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz

The white lab coat and black turtle neck – the signature look of Dr. Doofenshmirtz is brick-built using various sized tiles, slopes, and bricks by way of the SNOT (studs not on top) technique. The rest of good ol’ Doof is also composed of bricks and other pieces, my favorite parts usage being Paul’s use of the small claw pieces in black as tiny eyebrows and a couple reddish brown tooth shafts to render some spiky tufts of mad scientist hair. Of course I am a fan of the classic 2×2 round tile eye pieces which work perfectly for Doofenshmirtz’s cartoony face. It is always great to see pop culture subjects rendered in LEGO, and Paul did an excellent job with this character build.

These Gauls are crazy!

European readers will recognise these busts of two big-nosed cartoon characters named Asterix and Obelix. These Gaulish warriors are from a French comic series with the same name, following their fantastic adventures and fight against the Roman Empire. They sometimes get temporary superhuman strength by drinking a magic potion brewed by their village druid. George Panteleon built the perfect portraits of the titular heroes, each instantly recognisable by their characteristics. Asterix is the small but strong warrior with his signature winged helmet. Obelix is his sidekick, overweight with permanent superhuman strength because he fell into the cauldron of magic potion as a baby. Obelix’s double chin and broad shoulders set him apart from Asterix, all with the clever usage of rounded bricks. Smaller quarter-dome bricks give the shape of the noses, cheeks, and helmets of these cute but fierce characters.

Asterix & Obelix

See more of George Panteleon‘s wonderful builds, including his impressive Joker bust.

Build your own horse, Lucky Luke!

What’s even more difficult than creating just the perfect LEGO minifigure for your creation? Crafting the perfect character in a small scale without using minifigures. Well, ok, this build by Marion Weintraut actually uses a lot of minifigure pieces, just not how you’re “supposed” to. The long-running comic strip hero Lucky Luke and his horse Jolly Jumper are wonderfully gangly and full of cartoon whimsy. From the perfectly placed hollow studs for Jolly’s nostrils, to the small slope for Luke’s bandana and the minifigure pirate hook for his cigarette, there are so many techniques to love here.

Lucky Luke + Jolly Jumper

Although, while I’m always a fan of unorthodox techniques, I do detect a slight twitch in my eye at the way the minifigure arms are connected for Jolly’s tail. Let’s both pretend we didn’t see that, and enjoy the rest of this splendid creation.

The terror of tiny Transformers

As a kid, I think the Transformers cartoon did teach me some memorable words, like screaming at the top of my lungs in Megatron style “Decepticons, retreeeatt!” These too deserve some shout out with the family members that we’re sure to find familiar. There’s Daddy “Screaming” Megatron, Sonny “Rebellious” Starscream, Brother “Silent” Soundwave, “Conehead” Ramjet, “See-It-All” Reflector and “Shoot-em-up” Shockwave. All these were brought to you by Joe Perez, using the LEGO Mixel joints that were in abundance in the theme.

"Decepticons Attack"

Even though these are not transformable, and neither do I expect them to be, they make a nice tiny collection that demands to be in my collection one day.

Suddenly, a wild Pikachu appears!

In this expressive character model, Build Better Bricks builds a better LEGO Pikachu. What makes this figure so delightful is the expression and pose that capture Pikachu’s character perfectly. Arms connected with ball joints keeps the pose active along with the offset ears and his iconic lightning bolt tail. The face with its compound curves and tiled details is so full of life that one can almost hear his cute, squeaky voice. Or perhaps you hear the dulcet tones of Ryan Reynolds. In any case, he’ll make you want to pick up the nearest PokeBall and capture him for your own. Pikachu, I choose YOU!

Pika