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!

New LEGO Star Wars busts revealed: 75276 Stormtrooper and 75277 Boba Fett [News]

LEGO continues to pursue the adult market with its range of Star Wars sets, and today we’re getting a look at two more unique display pieces, 75276 Stormtrooper and 75277 Boba Fett. The pair of busts was revealed by retailer Toysanta earlier today, and each features upscale box art in a style that’s new to the LEGO Star Wars lineup, with the character’s name displayed prominently across the top. Both sets celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, which was released in 1980, and feature the anniversary logo on the box.

There’s no word yet on when to expect these to hit stores or their official pricing, though Toysanta’s prices seem to indicate they’ll retail for around $70-$80 USD. Of course, this isn’t the first time LEGO has produced character busts from Star Wars. Recently the company has launched two similar (though smaller) sets, each available in a limited market. The 75227 Darth Vader Bust was available only to Target Red Card holders, while 77901 Sith Trooper Bust was only given away to randomly selected attendees at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. We don’t know yet what the availability for these sets will be, but we hope that LEGO does the right thing and makes them widely available. Going way back, the much larger 10018 Darth Maul bust from 2001 was among the first LEGO Star Wars sets targeted at adult fans.

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Carrey on my wayward son

The 1990s are a golden age of under-appreciated comic book movies. Sure, just about everyone loves the 1992 Batman flick, but what about Mystery Men? Or Darkman? Or, better still, 1994’s The Mask? Based on the Dark Horse comics of the same name, Jim Carrey starred as a wisecracking, fourth-wall-breaking, indestructible anti-hero. Sort of the Deadpool before Deadpool. Pistash has recreated one The Mask’s most meme-able images in LEGO, and it’s just as expressive as the movie version. (Or its animated inspiration.)

Some standout bits of construction include the use of a zebra-print tile for a handkerchief, and what I think are FreeStyle wheel pins for pupils. And there lots of curved slopes in magenta for the tongue. But I bet you noticed that bit for yourself.

Let’s end with a bit of oddball trivia I discovered while researching this post. I mentioned the Mask’s similarities to Deadpool earlier, right? Well, in 1988 Jim Carrey had a role in The Dead Pool. Eerie foreshadowing or just a stupid coincidence? You make the call.

Built like an Egyptian goddess

Meet Amunna, Eero Okkonen’s latest elegant LEGO figure. I’m continually flabbergasted with the apparent ease with which he brings these characters to life. This time we have an Egyptian-inspired woman loaded with expert parts usage. Bo Peep’s cane to decorate the legs? Check. A surfboard and treasure map printed tile on the staff? Yep! And what about a little coral flare, treasure chest pouch, and colorful wing skirt? You got it! Dying to know what’s on her bust? It’s a printed radiator element that was only found with this print in one set: 7411 Tygurah’s Roar. (The open area above the curves is carefully hidden by her hair.) Throughout, an appealing color palette abounds, and from head to foot, this is one cool chick.

If you’re craving more, take a look at all of Eero’s builds that we’ve covered by visiting our archive!

Two young friends, exploring the world together

I deeply admire those who can take a LEGO build and create a story using beautiful photography. That’s exactly what Orient R Minesky has done with this pair of adventurous school girls. The builds themselves are well done, but their interaction with non-LEGO items brings them to life. The collection includes several great shots, and we wanted to share a few of our favorites. Here they’re spending a beautiful day taking pictures in the park.

Click to see more of the series

Get fabulous with these brick-built Fabuland characters!

Builder Koen Van Der Biest is a master of the brick built figure. His subjects are many and include a range of well-known video game and cartoon characters. This time he goes meta-LEGO with this collection of charming Fabuland characters. I’m a huge fan of Fabuland and these recreations are spot on from Walter Walrus’ anchor to the cat’s cute bow. The faces are nicely rendered and perfectly capture the original characters’ personalities.

I, for one, would love to see LEGO bring this theme back. Maybe revamped with a collaboration with Nintendo for some future Animal Crossing sets? I would be first in line!

The Coffee and Cigarettes Generation

Back in 1993, Jim Jarmusch directed a short black and white film, Coffee and Cigarettes: Somewhere in California. In it, musicians Iggy Pop and Tom Waits meet at a coffee shop. Then they talk about stuff. It’s worth a watch. There’s just something inherently cool about seeing these two icons having a conversation. What’s even cooler, though, is seeing that conversation recreated in LEGO. Builder Timofey Tkachev has somehow managed to convert Iggy and Tom into perfect brick-built likenesses.

There’s a lot to love about this build. There are dozens of great techniques in play, from the use of 2×2 macaroni tile in the ears to the expert combination of wedge plates in Iggy’s jacket. The relaxed poses are full of complex angles and joins, and Tom’s hair…unf. Just so good.

And the background is just as impressive. Check out the use of transparent tile in the coffee urn, the 90 degree elbows in the coffee cup rims. There’s even a tiny “LEGO News” newspaper 2×2 tile used as small print on the cigarette pack.

Like the film itself, this is a build that rewards the viewer the closer they’re willing to look. I don’t know if I’m inspired or just intimidated.

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!

A tasty LEGO build indeed

Ever seen a LEGO build that was just….tasty? Palixa And The Bricks takes us from forest to plate in a culinary journey featuring a somewhat unusual central protein: Wild boar.

Let’s start out with the beast itself in a very very raw state. Charismatic to a fault with Mixel eyes and grey banana ears, this happy-go-lucky scamp has no idea what’s in store. Take a moment and savor the musculature; various curved slopes and tiles gave a good feel of the bulk and weight soon to be enjoyed.

Read on to see this beast turn in to a feast

This LEGO hair will give you whiplash

TBB regular Letranger Absurde is a master character sculptor, and this latest model of a cocktail waitress just gives us one more reason why we love their work. Letranger says the hair was the inspiration for this build, and it works oh-so-perfectly. Made of dozens of curled minifigure whips, the server’s tangled hair brings her to life. There are some other gems of inspiration though: the purple bows from the Friends line make a fantastic highlight to the dress, but it’s the use of minifigure neck ruffles for the frilled edges of her gloves that really take the cake for me.

The fifth horseman of the Apocalypse?

I’m usually sad when quality animated shows reach their end. And sadness is an emotion often associated with Bojack Horseman. That show covered some pretty important topics like depression and addiction and is generally regarded as one of the best television series from the 2010s. Sure, the show may be ending, but not everything has to be a downer. Iain Heath brings us a LEGO version of Bojack who’s every bit as charismatic as his animated counterpart.

It’s the subtle craftsmanship that won me over on this build. 1×1 bricks with Technic holes serve multiple uses, providing a good SNOT connection on Bojack’s nose and implying a camera on his phone. The arms are posed at interesting angles, and even his shoes are stand-out mini-builds. And, of course, the head is a study in creative slopes and tiling.

This Bojack isn’t a one-trick-pony, either. A quick rebuild of the eyes using headlight bricks and printed 1×1 round tiles gives Bojack an additional range of expression.

Maybe it’s just me, but he still looks kinda depressed. Oh well. At least that’s series-accurate.

Once charged, this solar-powered gentlelady can be a hellion on two feet!

LEGO Builder Andrew Evans has heated up something a little different for us to savor. She is Vaihdelia, the Solar-Powered Gentlelady and she’s adorned in what seems to be a corseted jacket made from solar panels. My artist’s sense of color is alight with Andrew’s use of black and gold. White makes an excellent tertiary color while just a few hints of orange, green and marigold really makes this figure pop. The sword guard is a carriage wheel and the piece is used again as part of her collar. The three-panel presentation illustrates how versatile this figure is. Her solar-powered parasol is comprised of parts from a Darth Vader buildable figure but can convert to a shield while in fight mode. I’m sure she’s a gentlelady for the most part but can be a hellion on two feet when she needs to be!

I don’t care how many licks it takes.

I love the sets in the Unikitty! LEGO theme, but I don’t know much of anything about the show. I do know there are some distinctive looking characters in there…and that lead to the existence of some “hard to find another use for” pieces. For example, there’s this piece from the Hawkodile figure. It’s often lumped in with other “modified plate”, but that doesn’t really do it justice. I guess you can’t expect a whole new classification for “beak and sunglasses combo plate.” What you can expect, thankfully, is that a builder like Koala Yummies will take that oddball part and make something new and fun with it.

I’m old, so this build reminds me a lot of Mr. Owl from the 1980’s Tootsie Pop commercials. But, clearly, this bird has no time for idle questions about the longevity of candy.