Stitch is an adorably cuddly alien lost on Earth, and as the weirdest blue teddy bear he’s rather difficult to translate into LEGO. But this bust by Joffre Zheng is fantastic, capturing his expressive eyebrows and ears with ease, while also employing a variety of shades of blue. Joffre says the internal structure consists mainly of Mixel ball joints, which help him achieve the odd angles of many of the pieces, like the quarter circles for the eyebrows.
Phineas & Ferb was a work of genius. And for me, a central element of its appeal was the espionage adventures of Agent P — Perry the Platypus. In the immortal words of his theme tune, he’s got more than just mad skill, he’s got a beaver tail and a bill — and both of those are on display in PaulvilleMOCs‘ excellent LEGO version of the character. Sometimes I think those big Mixel tile eyes can be a little basic, and would prefer to see brick-built alternatives. However, the use of them here is a perfect choice, nicely reflecting the animation style of the model’s inspiration. Nice hat too.
Paul has previously built some of the other Phineas & Ferb characters in this style, including this brilliant rendition of Perry’s nemesis, Doctor Doofenshmirtz…
Tino Poutianen has built this fabulous creation, based on characters from the anime film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. In the build of the ostrich-like bird, named Kai, claw parts have been used to create sprouting tail feathers of the bird. The lanky, tall proportions of the creature are perfectly captured through the use of long plant pot pieces at the legs. The ancient swordsman, Lord Yupa, has a cleverly constructed cloak over his arm with even a croissant piece used for his moustache. Tino has been able to portray the bulbous proportions of Yupa’s costume through a variety of rounded pieces while conveying the mysterious aesthetic of the famous warrior.
Beyond Japan, Yōkai are often assumed to be demons, but the word actually translates as “strange apparition” and these mystical spirits are not always malevolent. Having said that, Rockmonster2000‘s LEGO yōkai figure looks pretty mean! The stance, the stare, that weapon — they all strongly suggest this beastie is about to unleash some diabolical mayhem. There’s quite the mix of parts involved in this character — I spy regular System bricks, Technic panels, and Bionicle and Knights Kingdom pieces. That braided piece of clothing around the midriff looks like a shoelace to me — I do hope it’s an official LEGO one from 10282! My favourite detail though, that has to be use of the bucket-handles as clasps on the sandal buckles. Lovely stuff.
Based on the main character Razputin (Raz) of the platformer video game Psychonauts, in which a young boy with growing mental powers enters the minds of other characters to unlock clues and gain allies in his effort to stop an evil plot, this model by Titolian is spot-on. The character has a Tim Burton or Coraline vibe, with his large head and spindly but fairly pose-able limbs. He stands poised atop a brain with a door, which is inspired by the games promotional material. His goggles are made from the large Minions set, and that’s not the only part from the Minions theme. The flat mouth is made from two tiles from the Minions BrickHeadz
Simon Liu has a history of building mech-style creations with unconventional operators. When he saw the Frog Mario upgrade from LEGO’s Super Mario Bros. line, he knew pretty immediately that he wanted to use the hat in such a creation. But instead of a sci-fi type mech, the creative process took him in the direction of a fairy tale frog prince in shining armor.
The final result is both adorable and imposing. This regal frog is ready to leap into battle with armor that looks custom made for his amphibian anatomy, thanks in large part to the ample use of Overwatch Reinhardt shoulder pieces.
Hopefully it provides enough protection that he won’t croak in battle.
Here’s a supercute version of animation’s First Couple, put together in LEGO bricks by Zio Chao. They’re a little smaller than the official LEGO set versions of Mickey and Minnie, but Minnie’s dress makes good use of the printed wedges from that set. The rest of Minnie’s outfit is a masterclass in shaping — don’t miss those puffball shoulders! The faces are just as well built, expressive and immediately recognisable, despite being packed into a tight design. There’s also a clever use of the relatively new Ninjago dice spinner as the wrapper for the bouquet. (Although if Minnie takes a closer look I’m not sure she’ll be impressed with Mickey’s choice of wrapping paper — that spinner design is bedecked with skulls!)
These adorable creations by Mike Dung are kind of meta. They’re plastic avatars of the virtual YouTube avatars from the Hololive 0th Generation. If (like me) you’re not up on the whole VTuber thing, don’t worry. You can still enjoy the charismatic builds and expressive faces of these characters. My favorite detail is how the same curved slope element is used in a variety of ways – from a flowing skirt to a lock of hair. I’m also fond of all the ways cheese slopes were incorporated, that’s another favorite element of mine.
Mike has been building great anime builds for years, but they’re not the only one. Check out our archives for more!
The original Masters of the Universe figures stood about 5 and ½ inches tall. Robert Lundmark’s take on four of the series’ major characters measures more than twice as high. Standing at 32 cm (a little more than a foot), these brick-built versions of Man-At-Arms, He-Man and Battle Cat, Skeletor, and Beast Man would take the power of Grayskull to new heights if they found themselves transferred to Eternia. Robert’s done an amazing job at capturing these warriors in LEGO form. Every detail from Battle Cat’s armor to Skeletor’s havoc staff is instantly recognizable. Plus, the use of the Bionicle shin guard on Man-At-Arms’ neck armor is so close to the actual thing that it made me do a double-take.
Virva Staccato is ready to tear the house down! Inspired by the drum kit from LEGO Friends set 41449 Andrea’s Family House, this exceptional drummer can only be the work of uber-talented artist, Eero Okkonen. The funky color scheme gives the character a ton of flair and attitude, but it’s the parts usage that gives it the wow factor. Details from the house, like the window shutters on her top and 1x2x2 trans opalescent window panes for the glasses. I’m also a big fan of the pigtails from tires and Hero Factory robot legs for earings.
This has to be one of my all-time favorites, but it’s hard to choose from all of Eero’s other great LEGO characters we featured! Stick around and check out a few more!
Now imagine for a moment: you are a world-famous artist and LEGO builder with thousands of subscribers among your social feeds. You combine plastic bricks, memes, movies, and celebrities like no one other, building the reality the way only you can. You know exactly what fans want, and you can give them that and even more. When building a tribute to Loki, how hard could it be to include Mobius on ski jet? But for some reason, TBB alumnus Iain Heath decided not to include Owen Wilson’s latest character altogether. I totally get it: the brick-built alligator Loki deserves its own official LEGO set, but what’s wrong with some fun on a jet ski..?
All poking fun at our friend Iain aside, we love this lineup of LEGO Lokis. Despite the relatively small scale, he’s managed to capture the personality of each of the characters perfectly.
This is what happens in the Multiverse of Madness! Over ten years ago, the story of Bionicle was as convoluted as some of the Marvel comics – full of overlapping story threads and alternate dimension-hopping shenanigans. At one point, it is revealed that there exists a version of the Bionicle universe where Makuta – the franchise’s big bad – isn’t big bad, but big good. Matt Goldberg built this alternate version of Makuta, with a bright colour scheme and elegance that oozes raw not-evil power.
Matt combines elements of LEGO’s original Makuta set and a build by Yannick Godts that was inducted into official Bionicle canon. As both of those were over ten years ago, and recent innovations in building made it possible for this character to be refined. For instance, LEGO introduced most of the current “constraction” pieces after Bionicle’s ending, and Matt uses them to great effect. He also includes regular LEGO elements in gold which match golden armour pieces from Legend of Chima buildable figures. Despite Bionicle having an aesthetic of greebly details, the clean look gives this Makuta a slick yet ancient look. And this is why many Bionicle builders love revamping old sets and characters.
*title is in reference to an actual Bionicle commercial from 2003