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!

Chihiro’s journey: A LEGO tribute to Spirited Away

They say that Disney movies touch the heart, but Studio Ghibli films touch the soul. None more so than the Miyazaki classic Spirited Away. I’ve modelled the works of this legendary Japanese animator in LEGO before, but on the 15th anniversary of its US release I figured it was time to take a deeper dive into this particular masterpiece:

Spirited Away remains unrivalled for its blend of the spiritual, realistic, fantastic, and human. In balancing all of those realms, Miyazaki was the master. No surprise then that this movie won the Oscar for best animated film and remains Japan’s highest grossing movie to date.

Click to see more Spirited Away scenes

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Nya, the dragon slaying warrior

In the world of LEGO Ninjago, Nya is the current Elemental Master and Ninja of Water, as well as Kai’s younger sister. Daniel Huang has crafted a large figure version of her using a mixture of Bionicle, System and Technic elements. Daniel has posed Nya slaying the Green Dragon, with her samurai sword plunged deep into the head. The clever use of tyres and tracks within her leg structure contrasts with cloth robes and some ample CCBS assets for a unique blend of styles.

Contrasting with her dragon-slaying pose, Nya also has a clear feminine side, albeit with a few weapons in tow. I particularly like her head, as it’s well constructed with her helmet, and she gives off a ton of attitude in ABS.

Deadpool and Cable break the fourth wall into the realm of BrickHeadz

Amazing fan-made BrickHeadz keep popping up, covering every conceivable screen franchise. And now Adam Dodge adds the comic pair of Deadpool and Cable to the fray. While both of these are great, the Cable is outstanding. Aside from the clever parts usage on the shoulder pads, the use of official printed pieces is a masterstroke; that’s a pair of printed piston pieces which form a belt and the use of the X-Men “X” symbol from one of the Mighty Micro sets.

Iron Man and War Machine are looking a bit blocky

Builder nobu_tary delves deeply into the blocky nature of LEGO bricks with this pair of Stark hardsuits. This building style is very distinctive and I love the exaggerated effect. There’s a ton of small details to look for such as the shades of old grey vs new grey pieces in War Machine, the use of an official Iron Man print, and a very clever slit technique for the “eyes”. All topped off with that signature mecha pose; let’s puff out those chests, boys!

All hail Megatron, leader of the Decepticons!

Builder Sam Cheng is back with his Chibi-Transformers, this time, however, defecting to the side of the Decepticons. The leader of all things against good and hoarder of Energon-cubes, Megatron is beautifully sculpted with over 40 points of articulation, and is fully transformable to its weapon form. Sometimes a good amount of tinkering is required to get things right to personal satisfaction. Sam has been at this since April and tried a dozen different methods to achieve the look he wanted. The headpiece is inspired by Moko‘s Megatron. Standing at an estimated 500 elements, the toughest part of the build is making sure that the alternate ‘gun mode’ is totally asymmetrical and in proportion.

Click to see alternate mode

What is my purpose?

When creating sentient life forms out of LEGO, it’s generally a good idea to give your creations the means and ability to live a long, fulfilling life. Kodiak Sanders has done just that. Ooh wee! Thanks to his handy tire treads, this little robot can zip from one end of a dining table to the other and he’s even strong enough to lift an entire stick of butter. What else could a butter-passing-robot possibly need?

Lynn MinMay, Macross space celebrity [Instructions]

Lynn MinMay from the Robotech/Macross anime series is brought to life by SPARKART! in a modified Brickheadz doll. The styling emphasises the head over other features, with her eyes capturing that genuine anime sparkle. Below you’ll find the parts list and instruction guide to build your very own singing space celebrity.

Click for parts and instructions

BB-8 rolls into action with LEGO motors and lights

Based on looks alone, BB-8 is always a little less interesting for me than R2-D2 — a couple of sphere’s stacked on top of each other and you’re good to go. But what makes him come alive is his ability to glide across any surface gracefully while looking around and making charming bleeping sounds. Jedi brickmaster Takamichi Irie cleverly constructs a body-spinning, head-turning, light-illuminating BB-8 to bring the character to life in LEGO. All that’s missing is a lighter for recreating that memorable “thumbs up” gesture!

Wide-eyed warrior princesses

Would you like to know what happens if a prince strolls into an all-princess party? Yep, you guessed it! Princesses Moana, Mulan and Merida all stand glazed and wide eyed, armed and ready to battle each other for his hand in marriage! While I may tease YOS Bricks about one attention grabbing feature of these models, he’s been at this theme for quite a while now — since we last featured his versions of Elsa and Anna — and there is certain charming consistency about them that appeals.

The builder’s Flickr stream is definitely worth checking out to see similar takes on Jasmine, Belle, Tiana, Cinderella and Ariel. As an added treat, many of the princesses are also shown wearing multiple outfits. But in each case, the brick-built recreations of their costumes and hair styles are almost perfect.

Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can...

Modelling human proportions and shapes in LEGO can be very challenging, but Umamen does a fantastic job with this brick-built Spiderman figure. The model captures Spiderman’s lean-yet-muscular build we have seen in comics since his creation. I particularly like the use of an actual LEGO spider as the logo on the chest. It just goes to show that sometimes NPU (“nice parts usage”) can mean using a spider as… well… a spider!

And don’t miss the model’s extreme poseability:

A-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah!

With his philosophical proposal “Cogito ergo sum” (“I think, therefore I am”), French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist René Descartes may have had a clever way with words. But I think Popeye summed it up admirably with “I yam what I yam and tha’s all what I yam”. Like many of us here at TBB, Oliver Becker is old enough to remember this underdog with bulging forearms, a mean uppercut, and a love of canned spinach.

I love how he has managed to capture everything about this famous star of comic strip and screen; it’s almost as though he’s about to bust out with that classic line “I oughta busk you right in the mush”. As the star of his own comic strips and animated series, on both the small and big screens, Popeye became quickly ingrained in American culture, and today remains one of the most recognizable pop-culture icons in the world.

RoboCop vs Terminator: Who’s the better BrickHead?

Fans continue to create their own versions of BrickHeadz for the community to enjoy, and tankm brings us RoboCop and the Terminator (who have shared a crossover comic book series, for those who didn’t know). RoboCop wins my vote — I prefer his overall design. But the Terminator is packed with nice details such as the subtle sloping around the nose area, great greebling in the head, and smart use of hinge pieces for the “teeth”.