Tag Archives: Cartoons

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.

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.

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The Bricks are Busted!

Builder Paul has struck cartoon character gold again, this time with his LEGO builds of teenage characters Candace Flynn and Vanessa Doofenshmirtz from Disney Channel’s Phineas and Ferb. Both characters are known for their attempts at “busting” their family members for their crazy antics.

Using a variety of bricks, slopes, and tiles in varying sizes Paul did an excellent job at fashioning these brick-built characters accurately via the SNOT (studs not on top) technique. The most difficult component for these characters to render correctly in bricks would be Vanessa’s more curvy frame as well as the round faces of these particular characters in comparison to the more angular faces of some other characters in the show such as Dr. Doofenshmirtz. I think the tooth shaft in pink which Paul utilizes in order to render Vanessa’s lips is an example of some pretty creative parts usage. What can I say? Paul has done it again, and I as well as many other fans are definitely hoping to see some more brick-built versions of other characters from this beloved television show.

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.

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.

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

Pop culture flattened and served in a fresh new way

There are so many ways that LEGO can be used as an art medium and it’s been a long while since I’ve seen a different take on using the simplest elements to convey a whole lot. Granted that it’s not actually placed together on any studs, and are digital renders, but the arrangement of odds and ends by GYUTA is simply delightful and so on-point.

This could not have happened in the early years of LEGO art arrangement as the round 1×1 quarter tiles were only introduced in 2016 and the 1×1 half-circle tiles a year later with various colours slowly trickling in over the recent years. There are so many great designs that I’m so spoilt for choice and think it would be a disaster to miss any of these being highlighted. Let’s take a stroll down pop-culture lane and see what you think of these.

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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.

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.

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!

Go down memory lane with these amazing LEGO versions of classic Transformers

Alex “Orion Pax” Jones is a very focussed builder. All his LEGO building time lately has been spent on creating as-accurate-as-they-can-be digital Transformers Generation 1 characters. There’s so much to love about these as they instantly transport us back to a time when morning cartoons were not streamed and you had to wake up early to tune in to what now are amazing pop culture classics.

Click to see more Generation 1 Transformers

Blast to the past with Generation 1 Transformers

Builder Alex Jones (Orion Pax) has a laser-focused talent to bring our favorite Transformers to life. They not only look great and recognizable in their humanoid form, but it takes skill to also make the same builds look fabulous in their alternate vehicle modes using LEGO bricks. This is not an easy task indeed and would likely take tons of hours of experimentation. These sets of builds feature; Autobots Ironhide, Cosmos, Mirage, and Powerglide each decorated with the unmistakable patterns and prints from the original box designs from the 80s. They certainly don’t make morning cartoons like they used to!

Click to see more Autobots in action

The cutest creature of the underground – Krtek

Readers from eastern Europe will instantly recognize this adorable critter from the Czech cartoon Krtek (which means “little mole” in Czech). Having read books and seen cartoons of Krtek’s adventures throughout my childhood, I never thought to see the character built out of LEGO. But when I saw this perfect recreation by Eero Okkonen, I went full “aww-mode”.

The pose on the image is so iconic that one would hardly notice this is LEGO, were it not for a jagged edge here and there. Curved pieces capture the character’s shape very well, but my favourite parts are the red nose and the three long hairs on the mole’s head. As a master character builder, Eero has explored many different source materials and themes, but none quite as iconic as this one. Thanks for the nostalgia trip, Eero!

Wile E. Coyote is the symbol of never giving up in anything you do...

If there’s the one time that I’m rooting for the bad guy, it’s Wile E. Coyote. He works so hard in all his traps and thingamajigs but the Road Runner not only always eludes and avoids them, but manages to make the contraptions work against poor Mr. Coyote. They don’t make TV cartoons like they used to, and this build by Chris Goddard brings back tons of memories. The Technic ball joints that make up Wile E. Coyote’s eyes popping out of his sockets describe his everlasting hunger and passion to never give up hope and to always keep trying

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