✨Quake And Its Pilot✨

✨Tragon !✨

Trans...dragon..It's funny, right ?- Also, I know it's a wyvern...Dragon sounds better...

It's pride month, so it was the perfect occasion to finally make a dragon, yay ! It's also my first time making something akin to a dragon (technically the second time,, but the first one is truly horrible), and even if the proportion are still a bit out of place, it could have been worse. It's also my first time doing custom wings, but I'll talk about that in more details beneath :}

Also, it needs a name ! I’m really bad with names, but I would gladly take suggestions ! (And here is an alt picture, in its natural habitat-)

Anyways, details/closeups under the cut !

None of these picture below are edited, because it's exam period- Enjoy the green backgrounds :}

I have to say, before any other comment, that I made the body way to heavy for the two poor sockets of the legs. The position above is the only one where it's actually standing upright. Also, my stock of pink and rightly-shaded blue was much smaller than originally anticipated, so I would have done a bunch of tings differently, if it wasn't for that. Still, I was lucky to have that many curved blue pieces for the top part. Well, all of the ones with purple diamonds on them have been forcefully taken from a small Elves dragon, but it was worth it (I also really enjoy the purple here, it contrasts nicely).

All of the joints are mixel socket joints, except for the knees, which are just hinges. It gives a lot of movements, from the tail to the jaw. Even if these are limited, it gives it a wide range of positions (even if, realistically, it won’t change it much from the one I gave it). Still, it can sit ! (Including small trans flag)

The pointy scales on the back are some of the only elements which aren’t directly attacked to the body : one 2*2 plate holds them down, and a modified 2*1 under the plates keeps it from sliding in any other direction, so even with little connections, it doesn’t budge. I really liked these angular pieces. To keep them from being too repetitive, they are only connected to each other by one stud, with a small angle, which gives them a slightly "round" effect.

The tail here is not really complicated, it's just a bunch of socket joints linked together with curved tiles on top (one of the sticker is backward, and it's unnerving, but it's not my fault and I can't risk changing it...), with white arch pieces underneath. Not sure of why I added these in the first place, but it looks cool. And of course, the end of the tail is a big heart, because it simply fits the vibe, doesn't it?

Of course, I can't forget what is the most important, and what makes this creature as cute as it is ! (It is cute, and if that is the hill I have to die on, I will.)

The green background doesn't show it well, but the flame offers a good contrats with the rest of the head, and brings the eyes there first (instead of all the mistakes present). Because there are a bunch of these.

I spent nearly as long on the head as all the other body parts cumulated (except for the wings), because making something detailed yet small enough to be a good head is tough. I actually started from the top (for the piece with the sticker, more exactly), instead of the bottom, like I usually do, in order to get an idea of scale (because I already knew I wanted the jaw to move, and for that I needed to see how big it would be). Then, I did the back to quickly have a neck connection point, to see if it would fit. Because the neck is larger under the connection sockets, the socket of the head is actually pretty high up, but the colours are practically aligned so it works well.

Then, the next thing was the eyes and the spikes. The spikes took me a hile to figure out, because without the rest of the head, they looked kinda dumb, but it does bring the head together when everything is in place. Then the eyes : on the small dragon I took apart, there were these blue tooth pieces which I used to get some texture above them, so that they don't look flat, and then, I connected them to the center connectors of a 2*4 plates. That works well in placement, but I ran into the issue of what would be around. If I didn't do anything, there would be two gaps, which would look terrible. Instead, I stuck two 1*4 tiles in these gaps, and since the tooth pieces are around either side, they don't move - well, not much, they still produce a shaking sound when I'm moving the head.

Then under these plates, I directly have 1*4 pink bricks, which stick out behind the head. At first, it was a problem, and I had nothing else to replace them; but they actually restrict and hold the neck, so that even if the head is technically a bit too heavy, it remains in place.

The actual teeth are modified 2*1 plates, four at the top and four at the bottom. To keep them with such a small gap (and to attach them to either sides of the jaw) I have use modified 1*1 plates with a ring. There is a single one at the bottom, and then underneath a few cut 2*1 and 2*2 curved tiles to make the jaw triangular; and two on top, one which connects it to the head and one with holds the snout (which is using a cheese piece and another one of the blue tooth).

So, custom wings ! It isn't actually complicated, if only a bit tedious. Here below is all that I needed to make them :

As you can see, it's not much. Most important, of course, is a good, solid sheet of paper, and a cutter (precision cutter is better, in my opinion, but anything works). To make things easy (or if, like me, you don't know how to draw properly), you can take a basic lego wing, and trace the outline and where the holes go. I would advise only doing a single, blank one, at first. Once you have your proto-wing, you can start to make the actual frame it will be attached on. I chose to use bricks above it to act as claws, but you can use socket joints, like in most sets. The advantage of using plates is that the overall look is better, but if you want overhangs like I did, you have to get the holes really close to the edge of the wing.

Once you have your frame, trace where the holes would go on it ! (if you used a wing model, it might be easier, but it could also not fit, which is why you make a prototype first). To make holes just the right size, I would advise first cutting squares (easier than circles) at just the right size, then scratching the edges with the blade of the cutter. Once it looks good, try to fit an axle inside. If it just about fits, and can rotate, it's good ! Otherwise, just remove it and scratch again.

When that's done, test if it can correctly fit on your frame. Once that's done, you can either make two wings with that pattern, or simply make another copy. I personally made two new from my first prototype because it took me a while to figure out exactly how to place the holes.

Finally, once you got two wings, you can finally add whatever you want on them (easier when they're not actually on the frame, although that should've been obvious), and you're done :}

I went for a really basic thing, but technically, any shape is possible. I'll likely use it again someday, because it's quite fun !

And of course, the bonus picture, since you’re here ! I like the symbolic of this (also don’t pay attention to the tentacles).

I actually really wanted to get rid of this castle (which was gifted, not exactly desired, although I must admit it’s really well designed), and well. Now, it’s gone, and in its place lies the dragon…and my horrendous crab, too.

✨41st Recon Squad Camp Site ! ✨

Closeups and other stuffs under the cut !

Backside :

Right scene closeup :

Campfire scene closeup :

Tomb scene closeup :

And finally, my personal favourite :

New lights, new camera settings, and a larger space…because this one didn’t fit the other one…Indeed, using shelves as a photo studio is not my brightest idea, but in my defence, it works.

This MOC has entirely been made because of the camouflage cloak I found in the bottom of a box. I don’t know where it’s from, but it looked very cool with that particular trooper, and thus I needed to show it off.

It was also helped because the large amount of olive green plants I received recently (those that are all over the place).

I tried something new, which is that I have not a rectangular base, but rather, three trapezoidal ones linked together to play with the shapes a little. Some parts were a pain to link together, but some tricks can help with that. The crates, for instance, are on top of a hole I couldn’t fill because of the odd shape.

The tombstone was actually the best idea I could get because I’m missing a trooper torso ! I can’t find it, and a pair of legs and a helmet are all I have left, and I might have watched Tales of the Jedi again recently, so that ended up being here.

The tent itself is made thanks to a fun discovery of mine, combining nets and my recent shipment of plants. I put a plant every three holes, in one line, and continue the pattern diagonally. In the back, to hold them in place, I used 1/2 technic bushes, which are quite convenient. And of course, this part is not connected to the poles at all, I case I want to add something in the tent.

Finally, some will notice the main incoherence of the thing : all the smaller wooden poles (tent and fire pit) are not birch-coloured. That’s mainly because finding the good pieces would have been a terrible hassle, and also because the campfire would really look weird in white.

Also, I might have spent an entire night on these trees to find what the colour balance and shape would look the more natural, I hope these are good.

✨Custom stone Toa !✨

Yay ! It’s so big there are shadows on the top of my shelf studio.

Also, we’re already at 4/6 for these, isn’t that crazy ? I think it is.

Details below the cut !

Front/back :

I had some kind of vision with this one. As I started messaging by around with pieces, my brain said 'scorpion'. So mandibles and tail (and that’s about where the scorpion resemblance ends). Of course, I had to keep an element of Pohatu, so his foot is the end of the tail (which is quite wobbly-).

I tried to vary shapes from what I had previously, so I made some big shoulder parts, which look okay and offer some interesting movements, but are pretty weird if you think about it too hard.

The body-legs connection is a bit thin, but it still kind of work with the overall design, so I left it that way (that, and I am running out of brown pieces…)

The weapon are simple sticks with harpoons (?), nothing too complicated, though it was meant to be a single stick originally, it was waaaay to long for the photos. Also, has anyone any idea of which set these harpoons (still '?') come from ? I can’t seem to find it, apparently.

Side shot :

As you may see, I’ve made all the limbs quite thick, because it fitted what I had in mind well, and I messed with a bunch of old pieces for the legs (mostly the sand pieces). There is also have a Bohrok’s body for each foot, because these work surprisingly well, and the middle segment of the leg is backward to give some hypothetical springiness to the legs. Also, Rahkshi feet as armor, that’s always a good recipe.

Head shot ! (Ah, that’s funny.)

Look at how dark that shot is ! If only I had taller shelves…

Anyway, the head is a mix of Rahkshi and Vahki heads, which mix well (there is also a gear underneath. Don’t ask me why. It just exists.)

All of that makes it looks like a V2 Rahkshi (when there is a single stick) which was pretty much on purpose.

On a side note, I’m pretty much done with my big project (which is good, I’m meant to expose it this weekend. Whoops, that’s suddenly very close.)

And, yes, I finally added the #moc, thank you for reminding me every time, I’ll add it from now on :}

I realised I’ve posted quite a lot of my MOCs on this blog, but any of my more 'photographic' works, yet, so here’s one of the first I made (we don’t talk about previous attempts), which still works quite well, although there are some things I would do differently, were I to do this again.

My process, and other details, below :}

So. The process I used to get this effect is not a really complicated one, but it still offers a more or less good render at the end, which is nice.

The blue guy has nothing special, but the red one I made float, but how ? The answer is not telekinesis, but superposition. Take a look at the images below :

Left one is the original, with no special effect (and no cropping, to offer a larger view), while the right one is the same, without the red minifig. By taking both photos without changing the camera angle (which is a painful thing to do with a phone, I would not recommend), and with a simple image editor, I put the 'empty' image (right) on a layer under the image I want to modify, and simply erase the supports.

It is important to note that if the erased bit casts a shadow, it’s better to also remove it, to avoid weird effects (here, there are no shadows because of the light source).

I’m also using an old set of blue LEDs inserted directly into Lego bricks to get this foggy aspect at the top, and to get a darker aspect to the blade of the red minifig, though there is also a desk lamp above providing some proper light, of the whole thing would be blue.

Last interesting point, this technic is the same I’ve used for the blog’s banner (but with proper lighting, for once). One might even recognise that the background for the two pictures is the same, because black was easily findable and gives quite the dramatic effect. The banner is, in fact, only half of my picture. Since you’ve made it here, I’ll offer another tiny bit of it here, as a treat :}

(And yes, I stole the characters from Star Wars sets, gave them light sabres even if they’re not meant to have one, and also added one of my cool cloaks, and made them fight. Don’t you dare judge my poor choices.)

✨Aroace Door Tag✨

‘Name' looks really terrible, but couldn’t just put my real name here-

In hindsight, Sample might have been better. Anyway, if you want to get something like that yourself and are struggling with the letters, my dms are open — or asks even, if you’re feeling bold-

And of course, studio closeups bellow the cut

With, and without 'name' (M is really a terrible letter because of how wide it is, though now that I’m writing this, I know how I could have done it better. Well, too late.)

✨Bionicle insect !✨

Yay, back to Bionicles MOCs !

I made fewer of these, but here is the first one (other images and additional details below the cut).

I’m still not entirely convinced of the edited photos, but given the size of these MOCs, I didn’t really have much choice but to do how I did. At least the ones with background give a few colours.

Anyway, photos of the left and underside !

This was really a fun one to work with, obviously largely inspired by the Visorak sets (I kept the head piece and the claws), but with more legs !

The claws are combined with feet to add some shape (the two pieces work quite well together) to the end of the legs, then I made of 4 joints articulations to give it a proper insect-like stance. The middle legs are slightly longer (using a long transparent blue piece, instead of the small dark one), which makes it less linear.

I kept the disc of the Visorak, held in place by…a broken Pirahka headpiece. Yes, I’m not exactly very original in my techniques, and I have a lot of these broken pieces. As you might see in the third picture, I have the secondary connectors of that piece attached to the belly of the beast, so to speak.

Although, speaking of techniques, the one I’m using for the 'tail' is not exactly recommendable. It’s a bit tough to see, but there is an elastic band attached to the foot used as a tail part on the third picture. It’s the only element which connects the end of the tail (shiny Visorak claw in second picture) to the rest of the body, which makes it wobbly but offers some interesting movements if needed.

Oh yeah, I also used Vakama’s disc launcher again, as mandibles this time. I originally tried to make a transparent blue disc (from all promotional sets) inside, but it doesn’t fit well enough).

I’m considering making another in another colour, but I’ll have to see if I even have enough ressources to do so~ Maybe green and silver, since these are pieces I have a bunch of, or black and silver…Only time will tell.

✨Clone wars Scuba trooper !✨

A like to make custom clones only using official pieces, here is a scuba (because lego did not give us a Monnk...)

It's not really complicated, although trying to get a DC-12U was far from easy. It's still a bit bulky but I like how it turned out (and one day, I'll try to have multiple of these to get a small underwater diorama, that would be lovely).

✨Snowman !✨

Couldn’t miss this year’s Christmas-themed MOC, of course ! Although it certainly is way less 'christmasy' than the previous ones (here and here) and more of a general winter decoration, it fits well.

There’s not a lot of technical work here, the spheres are classic designs which I tweaked a little, the arms are quite simple, the scarf has nothing complicated either; the only interesting bit might be the hat, because I used a really old technic piece — can’t find its id on bricklink… — with some other gears and such.

Anyway, merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and good day to everyone else !

Also, sorry for the terrible pic quality, I don’t have any proper set up; and I know I have a few things sitting in my inbox, I’ll get to it I swear.

✨Pride clones !✨

As I mentioned somewhere in my previous post (I think ?) I found my clones missing colours. So I did a rainbow Cody, and things went downhill from here.

There's not much to say about it built-wise that I haven't already said, but a few mentions of my colour palette might be interesting, notably some shade of 'rubber' materials, for a few of the purples. Also, there aren't nearly enough blue-green shades to satisfy my needs, but I can't do much about it.

You may also ask for other flags, who knows how they'll look...

Speaking of, the flags here have nothing to do with any headcannons or whatnot, they're purely aesthetic - or practical, since some colour subdivisions are easier to represent on some models than on others.

✨Custom fire Toa !✨

Yay, yet another custom bionicle ! And a big one this time !

Details below the cut !

Front/side views :

I’m using Vakama Metru’s kanohi for that one, as it’s pretty good shape-wise and there are few dark-red kanohis anyway.

Anyway, this was a lot of fun to make, and this time starting with absolutely nothing. Most of the bright red pieces were added at the end to give a bit of contrast. You might recognise some Stars elements, as well as some Bohrok elements from an unknown set, and even a very old piece from the precursors of Bionicle.

If you pay attention to proportions, the legs are completely messed up (bottom part too small, higher part far too long). It’s fixed on all the others of this series, luckily. Given it still works visually, I kept it that way.

The weapon is a mix of a cool disc launcher, with the flame sword from Stars set, to make…what you want it to be. I initially said it was some type of crossbow, but to be fair, it doesn’t look like anything at all.

Just like the others I have shared so far, I am doubling some limb pieces to quickly give some thickness. On the higher part of the legs, though, I have used the body

Most of this is quite experimental, from the feet to the higher parts of the legs using Vakama Metru’s body piece (it’s a fun one to work with).

And, yes, maybe I will be spreading this over 6 weeks to get enough time to finish my current project (currently waiting for important parts to arrive…), and because I am running out of content faster than I can make it, but well.

To pardon me, take this picture I took to see if the articulations had a good enough range :