Tag Archives: Creatures

Creepy crawly or fuzzy & fluffly (yes, that’s possible in LEGO), we love our LEGO animals. Check them out here, and fall in love yourself.

The Tarakava and its rider

Originally depicted by LEGO as a “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot”-esque Bionicle creature, the Tarakava gets a serious overhaul here by alex_mocs. Losing the treads and bopping arms, the creature now sports a raptor-like design, while maintaining the startling lizard visage. I love how the builder leaned into some of the printed parts and stickers from the Jungle Dragon Ninjago set, as well as the seamless integration of Technic and System LEGO parts, both in the mount and rider. But the details in the reins and saddle are what really set this build apart.

Cubone: the tragic backstory Pokémon

For a franchise that’s squarely aimed at kids, Pokémon can get really quite dark sometimes. Consider Cubone, ably built here by Joey Klusnick. Adorable, right? Well, according to various Pokédex entries, the skull it wears as a helmet is from a deceased parent. Moreover, the ‘dex entries also mention crying a lot. How tragic — this is a kids’ game, remember! Thankfully Joey’s creation is so well-built I think we can focus on how cute this little guy is otherwise. That Bram sphere tummy in particular makes it look very huggable. After reading all the lore on Cubone I (and it, probably) could do with a hug…

Cubone

A wild serpent of a grand scale

It is truly remarkable the forms that can be made by repeating a handful of LEGO parts over and over. And this vicious-looking serpent by Aiden Rexroad is a wonderful example of such a technique. By repeating the pattern of turquoise minifig flippers and magenta tri-leaves, Aiden provides the perfect scaled look for this beast. This color pattern matches nicely with its spine of bright light orange fins. I would love to see the inner workings concocted to hold the outer shell in place, especially how the design was tapered at one end and connected to that fierce visage at the other. And speaking of its face, the blank white orbs used for eyes make for the perfect menacing touch!

Blyrakas

It’s probably a bit of ostrich but...

Japanese LEGO builder Mitsuru Nikaido has a knack for turning any beast into a mechanized creature. This time the mighty ostrich gets the mech treatment. I’m loving the quizzical expression of this leggy bot. As always, there are some amazing shapes and build techniques here. This prolific builder’s growing bestiary is truly a sight to behold. Check out our Mitsuru Nikaido archives to see what I mean.

LEGO Mecha Ostrich_01

“It is time for the Ents to go to war”

Treebeard is probably one of my favourite characters in the Lord of the Rings. Shaun Sheepa has created this superb LEGO version to cart the hobbits Merry and Pippin around. It’s one of the best versions I’ve seen! The knurled root feet are great, and the face is particularly good. The nose is made from a droid arm, the moustache from a couple of curved wedge pieces, and the eyes from some 1×1 stud with bar pieces. They combine to really sell this as a realistic walking, talking tree! Or at least as realistic as that can be…

Treebeard!

An elegant dragon

This elegant LEGO horned dragon by Aiden Rexroad appears to have a fluid, sinewy shape thanks to the ball joints of Bionicle, something that’s difficult to achieve with traditional System elements. A pair of large claws turned upside down gives the distinctive horn on the dragon’s nose, which lends a lot of uniqueness to this build. Meanwhile, Aiden has turned to Destiny’s Bounty from Ninjago to repurpose the cloth sails as wings.

Athaya

It’s best to keep an eye on this one

A LEGO builder who goes by the uncanny name of Iggs is a person of few words, all of them cryptic, shadowy, and kinda creepy. About this Lord of Many Eyes creation, he tells us “That which collects eyes will set sight on many…” The three dots at the end was his inclusion, probably for dramatic effect. And what a dramatic creation this is! I’m loving the foreboding nature of this totally creeptastic figure. Iggs’ words are a bit shadowy indeed but hold plenty of truth. The same can be said for anything, really. It’s kinda like me with Hot Wheels cars or, since we’re here talking about adult LEGO builders, and LEGO. This wouldn’t be the first time Iggs made us think whilst also giving us the heebie-jeebies a little. Click the little blue link (if you dare!) to see what I mean.

Lord of Many Eyes

Fear the Gods worshipped in this Cathedral

Around this time last year, we featured a terrific (if slightly unsettling) creature build from Aidan Hayward (AjRed17). As it turns out, it was the first in a series of awesome beasts all using some common features: mostly grey builds, with spindly limbs and gold-and-brown appendages, using the Gungan shield as the eyepiece. The latest entry, named Cathedral, is the biggest one yet. It seems to have grown out of… well, a cathedral! The way various spires and other elements of Gothic and Neo-Gothic architecture have been woven into its structure is superb. But like the others, my gaze is invariably drawn towards the eye at the ‘entrance’ to the cathedral. It’s almost hypnotic… I’m obsessed! I can’t wait to see more in this vein.

Cathedral

Super-sizing a super-sized Bionicle titan

Bionicle? Sure, it was great. But not the Toa – the bigger Titan sets were where it was at! There’s been a glut of builds from the Mahri Nui subtheme surfacing lately, and Mitch Phillips has contributed this awesome re-imagining of Maxilos and Spinax. I recognize a lot of the pieces from the original set here, which is always nice to see in re-dos like this. Of course, Maxilos (the… I was going to say human one; bi-pedal one, I guess?) has his mask, but he’s also clearly been hitting the gym. Dude has been getting ripped since being taken off the shelves!

Maxilos and Spinax

The dog-like Spinax has also bulked out a bit. So much so that the original headpiece is big enough to be used as the upper legs, as well as the head. I love meta parts use like that! The yellow cables on its back are probably my favourite addition though. With the added lighting, they give off a very cool cyborg feel. I see only one problem with this build: it makes my copy of Maxilos and Spinax look like mere Matoran…

As far as the living dead go, I think I prefer zombies

Can someone tell Park Seung Hun (Buffoon) that Hallowe’en isn’t for another 9 months yet? They’ve crafted this LEGO graveyard creature to haunt our dreams. And I don’t mean a creature that hangs out in graveyards, I mean it is literally a creature made from a grave. It’s a frightening new take on the ‘living dead’ trope. Clearly the grave-digger didn’t dig this one deep enough. Mind you, it has uprooted a tree (which makes good use of Chewbacca’s bicep for roots, incidentally) in the process of leaving the ground. So perhaps a simple grave was never going to be enough to contain this beast.

Tombstone

Joss rings in the new year with a roar

On the final day, in the final throes of 2022, LEGO builder Joss Woodyard presents The Cloud Beast. While most of us would like to leave 2022 in the rearview mirror, it might be good to reflect back on the amazing techniques this build encompasses. I love the use of the cloth sails as well as the stance, colors, and tail of this build loosely based on the Chinese Guardian Lion or “Foo Dog”. The expression is great too. But the star of the show here is a detail I would have missed if Joss didn’t point it out himself. His favorite detail is the LEGO plant sprue used as the lips. It is next-level building like this that makes Joss Woodyard one of our favorite all-time builders. Please check out his other creatures; you won’t be disappointed.

The Cloud Beast

Look at this terrifying LEGO deer. Or, on second thought, don’t

A lot has changed since the Black Falcons first appeared in LEGO canon. There have been a lot of new parts introduced, and minifigures have become a lot more expressive. Both are ably demonstrated by Ids de Jong here. The terrified faces combined with those helmets give a definite Monty Python “run away! run away!” vibe. And they’re right to be bricking it: Ids has created something rather unsettling called a Hirska. No big deal, just an all-seeing, oversized deer that apparently doesn’t take kindly to being looked at the wrong way. Or being looked at at all, for that matter. You know what, why don’t we all admire the quaint tree and rockwork instead? I don’t fancy adding ‘running scared from a deer demi-God’ to my personal repertoire of facial expressions any time soon…

Hirska