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!

Making a pig of himself

Zhu Bajie is one of the Monkey God’s fellow travellers in the classic tale Journey To The West. Western TV viewers might know him better as ‘Pigsy’ from the late-70s adaptation. However, familiarity with the source material isn’t required to appreciate this amazing LEGO version of the porcine hero by Kingmarshy. Wonderfully sculpted from a mix of Technic, Bionicle, and regular system bricks, this is a masterpiece of character building. The face is excellent, as is the headdress, but it’s the lines of the robe, with its white trim gaping around the bulging stomach, which really caught my eye. It’s also nice to see this sort of character engaged in a peaceful activity like feasting rather than set up in a more martial pose. The accompanying furniture is perfect — helping create the period feel, but not distracting attention from the main character himself.

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Cooking up a chemically pure Breaking Bad scene with LEGO

The TV show Breaking Bad showed us chemistry-teacher-turned-drug-kingpin Walter White’s descent from sympathetic protagonist to monstrous antagonist over its run, and the ever-talented LEGO 7 has rendered the self-styled Heisenberg in brick form here at the peak of his meth-cooking days. Like the famously blue 99.1% chemically pure meth, this model has all the right ingredients to be a hit.

I absolutely love the use of the trans-clear Bionicle tooth for the chemical pouring into the pot, although I think the standout parts usage here is the trans-black windscreen 3x4x3 which expertly replicates the protective face mask of Walt’s meth-cookin’ outfit. Enjoy a bonus shot of this brilliant model with the facemask up to appreciate the work recreating Walt’s distinct glasses, goatee, and shaved head.

Stay on target

Red 5 standing by! John Cheng gets torn into the LEGO bricks and brings us a super-cute Manga-styled rebel pilot. The bobble-head look is perfect — with a nicely-oversized helmet and those big anime eyes making this an adorable piece of work. Nice detailing on the flightsuit too — the dark grey bracket parts peeking between the orange bricks gives a real impression of pockets and seams. Lovely stuff.

A little LEGO manga smile from Cells at Work

I can think of few builders able to nail ‘cute’ quite like MikeVd; and his latest creation, Platelet from the Japanese manga series Cells at Work, is no exception. The series reimagines human cells as anthropomorphic characters, with platelets – the blood-clotting agents – depicted as helpful children. Using a modified plate to capture an innocent smile, Mike pushes the kawaii aesthetic with a carefully tilted head and flowing hair. The result: an adorable, sparkling-eyed, little LEGO girl!

Not even brick can save you from me!

We’ve seen a multitude of characters built by YOS Bricks in BrickHeadz form and otherwise, inspired by everything from Disney movies like Wreck it Ralph to Blizzard games. A strange mix indeed, and the collection of Blizzard Brickheadz has been flying under the radar so far. But now, with the addition of the Prime Evil Diablo from Diablo III and his host Leah, it is about time Yos Bricks’ “BlizzHeadz” get some recognition!

YOS Bricks takes the popular theme of Brickheadz to its limits and further with his builds, and the builder has declared that the Diablo figure in particular was the hardest so far. It is very complex while still keeping the basic BrickHeadz look. The ribbed horns are captured really well with the use of hinge bricks and 1×2 plates with door rail. Other characteristics like the iconic forehead and patterns on the demon’s body are also captured perfectly. The addition of Leah in the picture adds a bit of a sad tone to those more familiar with the story.

Click to see more of YOS Bricks’ Diablo characters in Brickheadz style

Do you really believe your puny powers can threaten a member of the Order of Mata Nui?

Long-time fans of Bionicle may remember the character of Brutaka, released as set 8734 in 2006. Masteryker has completely revamped and re-imagined the classic design into a beautiful but brutal-looking Brutaka. Brutaka has his signature mask and pearl gold colors but is constructed at a much more massive scale. The overall build feels wonderfully organic.

See the weapons wielded by this mighty Bionicle warrior

The eyes have it

I am mesmerized by Djokson’s latest build, Mask of the Spirit Caller. The bold colors and intricate design of the Orient Expedition shields make the eyes really pop. After recovering from the trance induced by staring deep into those eyes, I noticed the rest of the build is quite wonderful as well.

In addition to some clever parts usage, particularly the Hero Factory armor plates that ring the neck, this model also has great color blocking. The dynamic pose chosen for this photograph also brings the character to life. Rather than simply showing us a greqt build, Djorkson shows us a moment of a story and invites us to imagine the rest.

Battle for the sky between Fujin and Raijin!

The Japanese Shinto-Buddhist gods of wind and storms have an eternal rivalry for control of the skies. Fūjin is the god of wind, and carries an enormous bag of air to blow, while Raijin beats drums to make thunder and lightning. LEGO 7 has captured the look of these well-known deities perfectly in LEGO, complete with bolts of lightning emanating from the cloud that Raijin is floating on. Although Fūjin is typically depicted with red hair, the white hair that both characters share ties them together wonderfully, while both gods sport distinct armor around their waists in silver and gold. This pair of fearsome spirits would fit in perfectly guarding the Kaminarimon “Thunder Gate” at Senso-ji in Tokyo.

A sheriff from another world, and I don’t mean the American old west

There’s something indefinable about this alien sheriff by Patrick Biggs that I can’t help but love. He wears the classic old-west sheriff attire–a long black coat with a dark gray waistcoat beneath–but it’s the small details that really bring this character to life, such as the spurs on the sheriff’s boots, his thumb poised on the hammer of his six-shooter, and the excellent sideburns constructed with light gray feathered wings, just to name a few.

However, I think my favorite part about the build may be the simple use of a Friends star piece as the sheriff’s badge; in other words, using a star as… well… a star, showing that sometimes the perfect part is indeed out there, you just need to find it.

When Buddha inspires your LEGO builds...

Why not make a Buddha out of LEGO? Actually, while we’re at it, why not make a posable Buddha mech? That’s what inspired Moko to build this odd-but-beautiful creation, and the posable figure is actually quite intriguing. The body shape is nice, and the face, as well as the hair made with exposed studs on the head, are expertly crafted.

Moko is also quite good at taking photos that really bring his characters to life. If you can read Japanese (or roughly approximate it with an in-browser translator), you can learn more about Moko and his build on his blog. Actually, even if you can’t, his plethora of pictures are quite interesting! Yes, a minifigure can indeed fit in the compartment behind that muscular chest, so we guess that makes this technically a mech.

A shocking Bionicle gremlin

I do realize that a blue-haired gremlin is less of a shock in LEGO than in real life, but imagine being shocked by Eddy the Electrical Gremlin, both literally and figuratively. The feeling would probably be as funny as this little blue guy we are looking at here. The closest a person has gotten to being shocked by Eddy is Logey Bear, his builder, so if you are curious about it, direct your questions to Logey.

The build is oozing with character, which is very well established as a mischievous little monster by his psychotic yellow eyes. There is a lot of unique parts usage as well, such as the Hero Factory head piece as hair, Galidor limbs and troll arms for legs and a Scala purse used for its intended purpose. The figure’s posing is very expressive too, Eddy looks just like he might vandalize something right now.

Imprisoned in dreams of terrors

This Medusa-like character is eerie and sinister while at the same time beautiful and terrifying. One can only wonder what would inspire Timofey Tkachev to build such an unsettling mythical creature. The curvature on the female form and its detailing through the careful parts usages for the eyes and lips amplifies the realism. What draws the viewer to the scene subconsciously is the impressive effort of tessellation with steering wheels that complements the scene.