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!

An evil ringmaster with a unique method of construction

At first glance, this facial sculpture triggers conflicting emotions, from one of beauty in the build, to a striking hint of fear. Builder timofey_tkachev has quite the knack of looking at the world through a very different set of eyes. I could almost see these driipping LEGO hands, also built by Timofey, belonging to what I shall dub as “The Evil Ringmaster”.

Take an extra moment to appreciate the subtle skill behind this creation. What is so unique about this build, if you have yet to notice, is that it contains not a single brick or plate – parts that are commonly used in almost any build. It’s all put together with other odd bits and pieces, and yet, this masterpiece emerges.

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Let it LEGO, let it LEGO, can’t hold it back anymore

Princesses Elsa and Anna from the 2013 animated movie Frozen have now been immortalised in LEGO by YOS Lego, with a host of ingenious parts used in bringing them to life. The builder has managed to capture those impossibly perfect hourglass figures in their flowing dresses and narrow-waisted bodices using a combination of slopes, wedges and (of course) curves. The red-headed Anna figure is fitted out in a beautifully detailed green dress, an amazing likeness to the animated Anna’s green coronation dress.

Elsa’s signature windswept, voluminous yellow hair is very cleverly made with bananas and Hero factory masks. The cheeky little bit of leg showing at the bottom of Elsa’s dress, and the more innocent posing of her younger sister, are very fitting. The characters are fantastic, but my only slight concern is that these two princess have either been drinking too much stimulant energy drinks or perhaps Olaf has given them a fright …those eyes are certainly wide and piercing!

First official images of LEGO’s new Marvel & DC Superheroes BrickHeadz [News]

LEGO first unveiled the BrickHeadz theme of blocky, cute brick-built figures at San Diego ComicCon in 2016, but the 8 figures revealed then were a limited release only for that convention. Now we’re getting our first look at the sets that will be widely available, and the first wave includes 8 figures sold individually, split between DC characters from next month’s The LEGO Batman Movie and classic Marvel characters. Each figure will retail for $9.99, available Feb. 15 to LEGO VIP members, and March 1 to everyone else.

41590 Iron Man, 96 pieces

41585 Batman, 91 pieces

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Slowly cross your eyes and build this LEGO Peppermint Butler, fools! [Instructions]

The 8th season of the enduring cult hit Adventure Time airs tonight. To mark the occasion, here’s a guide for a LEGO version of the Peppermint Butler (aka The Dark One) that you can build yourself. This is one of the additional characters that I designed to complement the ones from the new LEGO Ideas Adventure Time set that we reviewed recently.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaru, the three wise monkeys (or three mystic apes as they are also known) represent the Japanese Buddhist proverb that reminds us to avoid evil and not to spread it. Jimmy Fortel went for the classic interpretation, although some other versions include a fourth monkey that adds an additional message to the proverb. The build uses simple colours and shapes, focusing on the message of the build instead of advanced techniques, even though there is still some nice part usage with the rubber pegs for eyes.

Someone call for an exterminator?

I’m not fan of rats, cockroaches, and alien critters skittering around my spaceship, but I’m also not sure I’d like to have Djokson‘s character around either. He’s stocky, he’s menacing, he has a big gun and probably leaves a trail of aliens to match.
There is a lot of excellent color contrast in this build, with a few bright-colored pieces popping against the black armor and background. The blue hose caught my eye first, but then you look up and see the dark red eyes of the mask and suddenly the exterminator seems a lot less friendly. And be sure to keep four eyes out for some really excellent parts use on his alien trophy.

Room with a View, Baby Doll and Building in Bed: a conversation with Romanian super-builder Vitreolum [Interview]

We recently had the opportunity to talk with Pacurar Andrei, also known as Vitreolum (Letranger Absurde). Pacurar lives in Romania and builds in a wide range of styles and genres. His work is highly regarded and his build, Room with a View, made our short-list of the year’s best creations. Please walk with us as we explore the mind of a builder!

TBB: How did you get into the LEGO hobby and what inspires you to build?

Pacurar Andrei: I got into the hobby when I decided to sell my childhood collection. They were all mixed together in two large bags, so I had to sort and build everything… by the time I was done with this I ended up buying sets instead of selling. Everything inspires me, from someone else’s build to things that surround me. Sometimes just looking at a certain part will be enough. Or just an idea that suddenly pops in my head. Although my biggest source of inspiration has always been movies, games and literature. The challenge is whether I can translate it into bricks.

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Five arms are better than two

This truly alien-looking creation from Tremah comes courtesy of a great mix of System, Technic, Bionicle, and Hero Factory parts. Qlauflus the Handyman is a marvel of low-parts-count versus overall shape. There’s skillful use of larger LEGO pieces, coupled with bars and tentacles to create those spindly appendages.

The color scheme is also working well — relatively rare lime green pairs up nicely with the white. I think there’s some “cheating” going on, with concealed elements to keep the model balanced upright for the photo, but they’re so well hidden that I’ll let it slide.

Street Sharks? I haven’t heard that name in years

Well, even if it’s been said thousands of times, it bears repeating here: One of the best aspects of LEGO is the ability to come up with a completely bonkers idea and turn it into a physical creation. One such idea from Tora is “Spec Ops Commander Hammer Shark… a hammerhead shark that can actually walk and eliminate assigned targets with his harpoon rifle”. I wonder what that would look like, hmm…

Using a truly mixed bag of parts from Bionicle to the Star Wars buildable action figures to, if I’m not mistaken, the often-mocked Galidor, this build is a true showcase of what LEGO is capable of.

Make sure you also check out this back shot of the build, which shows off the suit which allows this shark to breath while on land.

Time to tip the scales

Robin, a playable character in Fire Emblem: Awakening and Super Smash Bros Wii U, has been constructed beautifully by Eero Okkonen. The build in its entirety is full of excellent techniques that capture the character’s likeness, especially in her long coat and hair, and her jagged Levin Sword is simple yet effective.

If you enjoyed Eero’s Robin, you may also like his other fighters in Super Smash Bros, such as Varia Suit Samus, Zero Suit Samus, and Palutena.

I’m late, I’m late for a very important date

The facial expression and ever present fob-watch make this guy immediately recognizable as the White Rabbit from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Julius von Brunk creates a suitably trippy-looking bunny to join his LEGO Mad Hatter and playing cards. The minifig torso used here seems strangely in proportion, and looks great with the lower brick-built legs and large head.

With the addition of a brick-built Mad March Hare and an Alice minifig, Julian has even brought his new and old Wonderland characters together for an impromptu musical performance. Great use of party lights and a small number of props are all that is needed to showcase Julian’s marvelous creations together in Alice’s band:

Build it, then throw a blanket over it [Instructions]

Fans of Bravest Warriors rejoice! After vanishing for two and half years, this wacky space animation from the mind that created Adventure Time is now back from the dead, with a third season beginning today on Cartoon Hangover. And because LEGO makes everything 9000% sexier, here is a building guide for Catbug to get you in the mood.

(Click here for enlarged version)