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!

The frog prince of wails

The story of the frog prince has been updated many times over the years. Maybe in this LEGO version by Ivan Marynov the prince has just realized that social distancing is going to make smooching a princess a lot more difficult. Whatever the case, this is certainly an expressive frog. A golden crown from the 2006 Knight’s Kingdom II theme is all that remains of this fellow’s past, and a bit of red cloth forms the interior of the gaping mouth. But for me it’s the eyes (yellow radar dishes surrounded by tires) that really get the horror of the moment across. I also like the Technic ball joints used for the toes. The tiny fly(ing) magic user is also full of fun part usage. From the blue wizard hat to the Parademon wings, this little fellow clearly wasn’t someone to mess with.

You know, sometimes existential angst is just darn cute.

Ivan’s other featured creations aren’t quite as adorable, but you should still check them out!

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Worm-ridden figure is a creepy delight

LEGO isn’t all cheery minifigures and bright colors, sometimes builders conjure up imagery guaranteed to haunt your nightmares. VB‘s latest — The Red Death — is one such creation: a lurking horror surely deserving of its own chapter in the Cthulhu mythos. The overall frame is a wonderfully creepy form, the shape immediately evoking a hooded figure, with skeletal claws offering a deadly embrace. But then the eye is pulled in, we are powerless to resist, and we become aware of the egg clusters and the black tentacle form nestling within the red worms. The puckered purple mouths at the end of the red tubes provide a final, disgusting, glorious highlight to this sinister figure.

Toot toot – here comes Thomas

Let’s take a trip to the fictional island of Sodor, home of the Rev. Wilbert Awdry’s Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends series of classic children’s tales. If your day trip includes a railway excursion on the branch line from from Knapford to Ffarquhar, you might encounter the titular hero of the stories: Thomas himself. He’s never looked better than in this LEGO version by city son. The cheery little engine’s face is nicely done, with those big Mixel eye tiles a perfect choice. The colourful livery of the original character is captured well, and I particularly like the use of lifebuoys for the front-facing windows and that brick-built 1 on the side. There’s even an accompanying minifigure version of The Fat Controller, or “Sir Topham Hatt” as he was called in the US. All this model needs is a voiceover from Ringo Starr and we’re sorted.

George Floyd was human, just like us

LEGO builder and Instagram user Pedro Sequeira reminds us that George Floyd was…a human, just like us. George’s May 25th death, his suffocation under the knee of a police officer, has sparked outrage around the globe. This phenomenon is not new, not by a longshot. People of color have not had an easy go, or even a fair go, in the US and elsewhere. Peaceful protests, while admirable, often go unheard, and can in turn sometimes lead to violence and looting, which is also not the answer. This leaves us wondering what can be done to enact change — real lasting change. If leadership cannot address civil injustice at their level then it is often best to begin to enact change ourselves with our votes and our wallets. Treating others fairly should be a no-brainer but often this requires the help of grassroots organizations, and the SPLC and the ACLU come to mind as good places to start. Please support them if you can.

What does it take to be human?

This out-of-this-worldly LEGO creation entitled “Trying to be human” by Grant Davis is a mechanical humanoid meditating and presumably figuring out what makes us all tick. What’s the lure of being a human when you can process googol calculations in a second and perhaps never die? It seems way more interesting than a fragile human life that ends so easily. My take is, if a non-human entity is able to figure out and become more human-like, I’d say we’re in big trouble!

Pampered Panda

When you think about pandas, what characteristics come to mind? Cute, cuddly, fuzzy, playful, sleepy, chubby? If they could talk, what do think they would say? Seeing as they spend most of their waking hours eating, I’d say it’d involve food. And if a panda was able to operate a phone, he/she would almost certainly order vegetarian takeout ASAP. Ian Hou must feel the same because he built this adorable snacking panda out of LEGO for the world to enjoy. How could you not love that big round belly, sweet face, and adorable bow tie?

Click to see more builds by Ian (AKA DOGOD Brick Design).

A new dimension in wing design

I’m not exactly sure what a Guardian Symbiont Ophanim is, but by golly Djokson can sure build an awesome LEGO one. The use of the Dimension game stand disks in the wings gives this ethereal being just the right blend of “Matrix-hovercraft” and “Doctor Strange spell-casting CGI”. Flexible rods are also used to great effect in the head and add some curves to the otherwise delicate arms. And check out the use of a Bionicle Krana Mask for the upper torso.

Those are some tiny little feet, though. I have to wonder how this creation manages to stay upright. Well, I suppose if you can fly on wings like those, you never really have to touch the ground.

The Joy of Building with Bob Ross

These days you could do a lot worse than spending some time listening to a soothing voice and being creative. If ever there was an icon for that sort of thing, it would have to be Bob Ross. Julius von Brunk has created a LEGO version of the master painter that is just as inspiring and every bit as clever. From the metallic silver of the lightsaber hilt in the paintbrush to the mixture of tiles and various styles of 1×1 round plates as paint, the use of parts in Bob’s tools are as inspiring as the techniques in the artist himself. The use of a 3L bar and tan clip for the mustache made me smile. And did you spot the engine covers in Bob’s hair?

As charismatic as Bob is, though, he really needs somewhere to work. Julius has that covered, too, with a brick-built easel, paint selection, and canvas. That canvas is currently blank, but that’s by design.

We’ve featured several of Julius’ other creations in the past. Maybe you’ll find one of them equally inspiring as Bob, here.

May the gods smile on your costly contribution

You may already know that the Aztecs (along with several other ancient civilizations) believed in human sacrifice. The thought of removing someone’s still-beating heart sounds pretty grizzly indeed. But these guys truly believed the world would end if they didn’t pay the gods, and evidence suggests many people saw it as an honor! Now, you may think the priests that carried out the sacrifice, like this rendered LEGO recreation by Steven Howard, were evil. But they had a pretty tough life. They had loads of official responsibilities, including being peacekeepers, teachers, doctors, mathematicians, and astronomers. They also had to advise the king, be fluent in the ancient languages, memorize all chants and prayers, perform regular rituals, take confession, and prove their worth by hunting dangerous animals. All this while also regularly fasting.

It’s probably fair to say some priests were a little psycho, and I bet many were terrifying. It takes a very complicated mind to be and do all those things. So perhaps this build isn’t far off the mark. I particularly like the scowl, and those mysterious, dark, and brooding eyes made with helmets. The colorful headdress and costume are instantly recognizable. I also like how the old skulls and more recent lantern elements were used on the knees and belt.

Very recently, we featured another, very different, set of builds from Steven. Take a look at these three epic mechs!

Popping pills and chasing ghosts

Taking on an iconic character can be an intimidating prospect; it’s all too easy for people to spot when something isn’t quite right. But no such worries here, as Marin Stipkovic nails this LEGO version of Pac-Man. The shaping on display here on both figure and cherries is fantastic, especially for such small models. Pac-Man’s expression is wonderful, and accurate right down to the nicks out of the eyes. But my favourite part has to be the gloves — a spot-on recreation from the original using only a “handful” of parts (do you see what I did there?)

The lovely lady in white

There’s just something about a clean monochrome LEGO sculputure that draws me in. This build by Aido K reminds me of an alabaster statue in my parents’ home. The purity and gracefulness of the white on black is beautiful, although I think it would be just as elegant if the color was reversed. It has to be difficult to create this kind of movement, especially with these angles. And it’s a little wild to consider that the head must be sitting on a single stud.

Want to see more monochrome creations? Check out our monochrome archives. We also have several more builds from Aido K.

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.