What happens when you’re a demon from Hades but still love Dead Kennedys, The Buzzcocks, and The Sex Pistols? Well, that makes you a punk rock devil and that is precisely what Steven Wayne Howard has built with LEGO. The eyes are eyeball-printed minifigure heads situated within space helmets and are bricked upsidedown. It makes for some great expressions! This builder has dazzled us before with some neat build techniques including one recently. Check out what I mean in our archives.
Return to the distant past of 2004 and the theme of Knights Kingdom II with King Crusher – a hefty brawler of a character created by djokson. The most impressive trick in this build has to be the usage of King Mathias torsos for the Crusher’s giant fists. But don’t overlook the shoulder armor that forms the chest, or the protruding jaw made from a 2×2 spoiler brick. Yeah, this is one fighter who’s earned their crown – and is ready to tackle anyone who might even dream of taking it from them.
There aren’t a ton of entries in our archives yet for Knights Kingdom themed builds, but we can only hope this creation will stir other builders into a renaissance of clever part usage and brawling armored bruisers!
Though the Bionicle and Hero Factory lines died a while ago, plenty of fans still covet and horde the pieces that LEGO provided us during those golden ages. Nonetheless, builders hold onto the parts to provide some unique and specific detail to their character models. I had a chat with Alex_mocs about their build process for this model, Dawnpike Azaria, inspired by the Lizards in the game, Divinity: Original Sin. Alex challenged himself to sculpt a more feminine reptilian character saying that he hadn’t seen “many feminine coded dragon characters built from LEGO.” Thus, he had fun sculpting a lizard-like head with that energy in mind. He certainly did well, utilizing dragon wings, vines, and various other decorative elements to capture the frills and horns common to this character’s people. Though the color palette limited his piece choices, Alex made great use of them throughout Azaria’s figure. Her armor and jeweled necklace are wonderful details that work well to fill in the gaps that some pieces leave. Alex also found that gold hoops fit snugly around some rubber tires which made it possible for them to be stacked and hold their position. He used this technique in the neck, tail, and ankles. Meanwhile, Alex admitted to using a paperclip in the gold hose around her waist to help her chainmail skirt hold its shape.
Modeling characters with realistic textures and movements was a difficult task for the animators at Pixar back in the nineties. While making their first short film in 8 years, Geri’s Game, the company utilized a method to make more lifelike skin and even developed a dynamic cloth simulator to emulate clothing better. Not only did it push Pixar technologically, but it also started a tradition of shorts before feature films that continues today. Builder Deo embraced a more blocky form and used their LEGO to create his own Geri, a version with a life all its own. This wonderful idea includes the chairs, table, chess set, and (not pictured) the prized dentures.
Donald Duck, Disney’s angry but lovable waterfowl, may be a bit in the shadow of Mickey Mouse, but he’s still got plenty of fans, such as LEGO builder Ian Hou. Ian’s latest build is a huge bust of Donald sporting his iconic sailor’s uniform and cap, and it’s a lovely bit of building to get the duck’s shape down so well, even including a slight coloration to Donald’s eyes thanks to some carefully chosen aqua elements.
But turn the bust around and you’ll discover that Donald’s got a secret: a full recording studio for Disney voice actor Clarance Charles “Ducky” Nash, who voiced the duck’s mad rantings. It’s quite a feat to fit such a lovely detailed interior inside Donald’s head without compromising his looks!
The marriage of LEGO and Nintendo that occurred in the last year has been a gift to nerdy builders everywhere. The Super Nintendo set blew our collective minds, and the Mario sets have given builders of all ages a fun new way to interact with the classic characters. Though the game is a cool idea for the Mario sets, the printed pieces and newer molds that LEGO provides in this line give builders a chance to do what they do best and build their own versions. Enter Bruce Lowell and his model of Bowser. At a larger scale than the official LEGO version, this build of the classic bad guy gives more definition and form to his legs and arms. The claws look awesome, and the spiked straps on his arm are an awesome detail. While the official LEGO Bowser’s proportions are a bit cartoonish, this version gives the character a more realistic feel. This is especially true in the face, which Bruce has molded with more depth and detail, abandoning the printed mouth tile and opting for a working jaw instead.
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.