Tag Archives: Characters

We love builds with character! Creating characters from LEGO elements, whether traditional System bricks or using elements from Bionicle and Constraction themes, is an amazing way to showcase your building skills. Brining out emotion and personality in bricks is an art!

Bag Tag Dice Lad

The LEGO Dots line has introduced some fun printed studs and colorful pieces to play around with. This year they introduced bag tag sets with a new cube element. In the past, they’ve had 2×2 stud cubes used in games as the dice, but this newer cube is 3×3 studs, allowing for more detail. Though the beveled, angular edges of the element can provide some challenges to integrating it into a model, builder nobu_tary shows us the character it can lend to a brick-built figure.

This little guy’s colorful head is detailed with tiles and modified studs while the body is built upside down, attaching to the studs on the bottom of the bag tag cube. Simple use of a slope and a curved top stud attached to bricks with studs on the side help give the impression of an arm. The same side-studded bricks are used to attach the Macaroni Technic tubes and 1×2 plates that make up the cute little legs. The angle nobu_tary shot this photo at helps conceal the attachment for the bag tag ring clip, which could either make or break a model because of the asymmetry it adds to the cube element. Nonetheless, creative positioning, as well as color blocking between the figure and the seat help nobu_tary, build an adorable little character that reminds me of the Wood Man from Netflix’s Hilda. Something about the character’s expression just reminds me of the Wood Man bursting in unannounced to peoples’ homes. Maybe this is Dice Lad, a relative of sorts, that appears to moderate board games, whether you like it or not.

Find more of nobu_tary’s builds on Flickr or Instagram (@nobu_tary) or check out some more characters by other builders!

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Undead Cowboy Nightmare

This spooky fellow has a bone to pick. Revan New’s Prairie King has a haunting form thanks to the creative use of pieces which make up the skull. Minifigure arms and Exo Force arms shape the model’s striking cheeking bones. Clip pieces clasp claw parts, portraying realistic looking teeth at the front. To top that off, the hat appears to be a wheel with the tyre inversed around its centre spoke. The grey coat also has some nice angling created by a variation of slope pieces. As you finally gaze into the soulless eyes, you might spot some harry potter wands used for pupils. The end result is a beautifully sculpted model which has a creepy appearance, ready for Halloween.

A magical catch with striking form!

Builder Eero Okkonen has a history of building some impressive figures. A master of brick-built poseable models, his creations are full of character and story. The eye-catching designs always pull my attention to his intriguing use of pieces and array of techniques. This model, Archchancellor Ridcully’s Catch, has a magic about it that makes it clear Eero was harkening back to the classic fantasy series, Discworld. This Archchancellor is the wizard, Ridcully, out flyfishing on a relaxing morning and he’s certainly made a great catch here.

In this fully posable figure inspired by Sir Terry Prachett’s Discworld series, Eero’s use of rounded hinges and plates really help with the mobility of the legs. Meanwhile, 1×1 clips and the newer “stud with bar” help to achieve awesome angles with the arms. The hands are a bit simple, sure, but they still seem to provide great grip and dexterity! Also, thanks to the scale of the model, the fishing rod minifig piece fits perfectly in this flyfishing motif.

There are lots of things to appreciate about this model, so take some time to check it out! From the cape to the brick-built fish complete with a splash of water and framed by cattails, Eero Okkonen once again shows his skill with LEGO. I mean, just look at that beard and literal handlebar mustache! Find more through the links or by checking out his Flickr and Instagram @eerookkonen.

“Higitus figitus migitus mum! Prestidigitonium!”

If you do not recognize this character at all, you need to watch the Disney classic Sword in the Stone, stat. It’s certainly one of the best Disney films ever, and I think Rickard Stensby must agree! One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Merlin casts a spell where he packs the contents of his entire house into a traveling bag. In true Disney fashion, he sings his spell, “Higitus Figitus.” Arguably, the better line is “Hockety, pockety, wokety, wack,” but I digress. Rickard perfectly sculpts the scene in LEGO, from the shrinking belongings floating into the bag, down to the rickety wooden floorboards. Merlin himself is unmistakable with his blue outfit, glasses, and an overly long beard.

Top marks for perfectly recreating the body pose, as well as the use of bananas and droid heads for fingers.

This one had me feeling all the nostalgia. How about you? Click here to see more Disney builds. We also have more from Rickard too!

A small guardian of the forest with a big heart

You don’t have to be big to have a big job, as this epic 101 part model of a forest guardian by Markus Rollbühler proves. The flower at the heart of the model is just one of many perfectly placed flower and leaf elements, but there are also some great “building” tricks, like the curved brown sloped parts used for the lower arms, which are gently wedged into the undersides of those wonderfully bulbous sleeves. And the hands and ankles, which use clip plates tucked into the underside of the arms and feet. A soft glow added to the staff give the finished figure a magical finish.

There once was an impatient caterpillar

This adorable LEGO caterpillar built by Jens Ohrndorf is the perfect illustration for a children’s storybook. Just the critter alone is cute, from his paint-roller antennae to his “fuzzy” body and flower-stem spines. But when you add those balloons, it’s magic. It really does give the illusion of this fellow’s body being lifted up. He didn’t quite use enough, though! Don’t worry little buddy! Be patient and someday soon you’ll be a beautiful butterfly!

Jens is great at giving his builds life and that spark of character. Just check out this fun cactus!

C is for Seed Part. You know, phonetically.

The Iron Builder competition is based around taking an unusual LEGO “seed part” and incorporating in into amazing creations. brickleas is an expert at this craft, taking a huge pile of 100 blue Large Figure Part Shield Holder with Axle pieces and transforming them into Sesame Street’s own Cookie Monster. The texture of the shield elements does an amazing job of standing in for Cookie’s fur, but the techniques that create the black puppet-mouth and googly eyes are just as impressive. Even that chocolate chip cookie manages to look delicious somehow.

When I reviewed 21324 LEGO Ideas Sesame Street, I had a few reservations about the look of the Cookie Monster minifigure, and it does my heart good to see him done justice here. If you’re a fan of Sesame Street, too, then check out some of our other featured creations starring more Muppet friends!

Skull Kid and the stolen mask

Even if you haven’t played The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, you may recognize it. It’s the symbol of one of the most popular games of its time. Expert LEGO character sculptor Joss Woodyard has graced us with this colorful and fun recreation of the evil Skull Kid. He does a great job of making the actual mask look like the original, but the rest of the body shouldn’t be overlooked. The bushes for arms and flippers for the pants really set it off.

While you’re here, check out more of Joss’s (AKA Jayfa’s) work. And if you’re into Link and the Legend of Zelda, we have that too, including another version of Majora’s Mask!

A dark lord to rule over Middle Earth

Marcin Otreba’s latest LEGO creation doesn’t appear to have anything inscribed on it, but I’m sure if you held it up to the flame, you’d find an inscription that loosely translates to:

Three batarangs on his chest up high,
Seven on his face mask, pearl dark grey blades shone
Fine the bricks he did apply
One model Dark Lord we’d like to own.

On the internet, where LEGO builders vie
One brick to rule them all, one sorter to find them,
One builder to bring them all, and with clutch power bind them,
In the land of LEGO where bricks mystify

I bet it’s as slimy as it looks

I’ve always thought sand green is the perfect LEGO colour to capture the feeling of being sea sick, and what better subject for “seasick” than Davy Jones’ decapitated head? Well, maybe Rickard Stensby agrees with me, because he’s so greatly captured what I just described.

This trophy just oozes with character too. The tail pieces as facial tentacles blowing in the wind seem very deliberately selected and placed, while the square corners around his mouth perfectly represent the character from the films. The eyes and eyebrows convey so much with so little. My favourite little touch are the 1×1 round plates with holes used a barnacles on his hat – making it truly appear that he was fished out of the ocean.

This barber can help get you back into polite society again

I remember barbershops! They were popular before all this COVID stuff. Since lockdown, some of us have taken matters into our own unskilled hands. One neighbor gave himself the “Robocop” haircut while another gave himself the ever-popular “I’ll never recover from this financially” hairdo. As circumstances have it, I’ve been rocking the “Crystal Palace” look for months now. No muss, no fuss, no nothing! With my goatee, I resemble the bassist for a heavy metal band or a tiny bouncer. Once things get back to normal this LEGO barber by Vir-a-cocha should get your hair looking as hip and cool as his own. He seems like he’d be a fun conversationalist, too. I really miss barbershops! Do yourselves a favor, next time you go to a barber or beautician, be sure to tip them well and let them know they are greatly appreciated. I also really miss hair.

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.

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!