Tag Archives: Mike Dung

Virtual YouTubers in real LEGO

These adorable creations by Mike Dung are kind of meta. They’re plastic avatars of the virtual YouTube avatars from the Hololive 0th Generation. If (like me) you’re not up on the whole VTuber thing, don’t worry. You can still enjoy the charismatic builds and expressive faces of these characters. My favorite detail is how the same curved slope element is used in a variety of ways – from a flowing skirt to a lock of hair. I’m also fond of all the ways cheese slopes were incorporated, that’s another favorite element of mine.

Hololive 0th Generation

Mike has been building great anime builds for years, but they’re not the only one. Check out our archives for more!

The founding fathers of classic gaming

As a big fan of classic gaming, I was thrilled to see Mike Dung’s adorable chibi trio of LEGO Nintendo characters. Mario and Link are here, as is the LCD handheld gaming legend that is Mr. Game & Watch. I love that Mario and Link’s tiny bodies are poseable, and the sculpting of their facial features is spot-on. Despite being monochromatic, Mr. Game & Watch looks quite animated! After seeing these figures, I could play a few rounds of Super Smash Brothers.
 
Mario_Link_Mr_G&W

Ride the wave with Hatsusika Hokusai

When it comes to Japanese art, one of the most iconic pieces produced during the late Edo period was Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.” This masterpiece helped to inspire the character of Hatsusika Hokusai, found in the free-to-play role-playing-game (RPG) Fate/Grand Order. Mike Dung has made two versions of this character, including a cute chibi figure. In the chibi-build, Mike’s brick-built wave is instantly recognizable and beautiful representation of Hokusai’s artwork. The wave in the other model is cleverly built with several trans-light blue garage door pieces.

[Fate Grand Order] Hatsusika Hokusai

These chibi girls rule the school

Mike Dung has created a troop of supercute chibi schoolgirls. A relatively simple frame structure and face design manages to support distinctly different characters thanks to great use of color, and some fantastic hairdo designs. Brilliant stuff Mike.

ちびμ's　練習着

For the anime aficionados among you, these characters are from Love Live! School Idol Project (ラブライブ), a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by three companies. The project revolves around a group of fictional school girls who become idols in order to save their school from shutting down.

Vocaloid Hatsune Miku – “Snow Miku”

Mike Dung has done an incredible job of recreating the “2013 Snow Miku” version of Hatsune Miku. The posing of the figure is great, but the folds and layering of the shiromuku are really exceptional. It’s too bad he had to make her hair green instead of turquoise but the figure wouldn’t have turned out nearly as well, due to parts constraints. It was a great compromise, as there are limitations, even in LEGO. Mike really turned out a beautiful creation here!

2013 Snow Miku

Dust Bunnies

While clearly inspired by Japanese Anime, RWBY (an American animated series from the Rooster Teeth stables) could never be mistaken as a product of that genre. But that hasn’t stopped Anime building master Mike Dung from adapting his signature style to depict Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang in full 3D….

I’ll admit that my first reaction upon seeing the show was “Anime-skinned Red vs Blue”. Which is not surprising since it’s made by the same team that gave us Red vs Blue. But its snappy dialogue, rock soundtrack, great fight choreography, and short episodes seem to be winning combination within the RT community.

 
 

Personally, I’d love to see Mike break from his trend of only building female characters, and perhaps try his hand at some of the guys from this show as well, like Roman or Junior!