✨Snowman !✨

Here’s my take on a batch of custom Nexo Knights minifigs !

Closeups and thoughts under the cut

So, in no particular order, the closeups, with comments and comparisons with the actual characters from the original Lego theme (also, because of Tumblr’s image limits, I had to badly stitch together my pictures, sorry-)

1) Mace

Pretty cool one, and the only girl in the team in the original cast, who also happen to have troubles because her dad is the king. But eh, none of that here, so she get the cool cloak I assign to any cool red character I can find (yes, you’ll see it again many times in the future). The overall design is pretty nice (mostly this face, the other one on the brick is not as good; the printed armor, which is from season 4, is pretty nice, and does a nice job with the large dark piece (coming from later Hero Factory sets). The weapons are from the Chima theme (and so is the cloak !). The hairs are from the only Tron set, which should have been continued as whole theme but eh-

2) Axel

Stupid and muscular originally. Well, now he’s got a Large Axe (Bionicle) to stand to his name. The helmet is all Nexo, but with some custom brew of mine, and so is the shield. Also, the custom arm was possible because the large chest has a technic pin.

3) Clay(more)

Not room much modifications on the base character (s1). The sword is from a season four version of the character, the shield is homemade with some fun pieces I had lying around. The two arms are modified from the Ultimate set. …which I transformed in guns…Yeah.

4) Aaron

Green ! Always had a cooler weapon. The armor is from the mech set, the chest piece is from s3-4, the Google’s are from the Ultimate set, and the shoulder thingy is from Boba Fett. I kept the original shield with some added pieces, which is made to fly (like with the original al character) but changed the face to give him a more serious expression. The weapon is mostly from the original crossbow, with some nice twists (the beam on the first image is from a ninjago sword).

5) Lance Whatever their name is now

Really a bad character : rich, 'very pretty', egocentric. So, well…I took the armor and made an entire new one. I really like them, but it might be because it took an awful lot of time to figure out the weapon (transparent white piece similar to the green beam mentioned above). Armor-wise, it’s s1 body, with a grey pauldron (Clone Wars) and a light grey kama (…Also Clone Wars). The hairs are a really cool piece from a Ninjago set, and the head…Come from a City ski set. But the orange visor makes it work !

6) Never remembered the name of that one

Original character is a very smart kid with not much development in the show. Well, firstly I made him an adult (legs are from a black widow figure), and then I decided to push the technical side a little. So, full suit with crystal swords, which works ! Most pieces are actually from the theme, except the red dots (Ninjago again), the crystals in the back (Power Mine [really a cool theme !]), and the helmet (City firefighters + Ninjago…again). It was the first one I made, which made me do the others.

I might get them in a diorama at some point, to set them against the very many custom monsters from the same theme (which were already much cooler than the original minifigs). In fact, most of the theme was really cool, the two sad points are that it was discontinued, and the TV show was…Well, it didn’t push much sci-fi nor fantasy, so I had to do the job.

Now, with that post I have finally revealed my three favorites things to do with legos : Dioramas, Big Mechs, and Custom minifigures (plus any Clone Wars related stuff, but it’s probably just as much because of the fandom aspect as it is the Lego aspect). One day perhaps, I’ll get all three of these aspects in one epic scene, but I have no idea of how for now, so maybe later~

✨Trade space station !✨

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Today’s gonna be about the progress of the build in time, which allows me to ramble about the building process. Yay !

Before actually commenting the build. You may notice chocolate and my (empty) tea mug. They should be apparent in most of the earliest pictures (there was not enough space on the table for them at the end of the project, sadly~

So, here, you can see that my first step was to see the scale of my project. The template of the large ring to see how much space it would take, and the small ring to see how round I could make it (and at the bottom, you can see the white curved pieces. Enjoy this view, it won’t last.)

You can also notice above that I already stared making some small ships.

The next day ! You can see on the left my long rod. This was the ideal height for the central cylinder. I also created the first core of the build (replaced later because too fragile), and the first arms to hold the ring (too fragile too).

Progress ! This is the moment I realised my original color scheme would not work (you can see orange and bright green on the side, which I tried before the sand green).

I had half of the big cylinder added (you can see the slots left for the additional details) and another naked half on the right side. And my collection of boxes on the table is growing. It’s only getting worse after that.

See ? More boxes (and pieces) scattered all around. And a hammer, too. I at this point mostly finished the big cylinder (or so I thought, some reinforcements were necessary), started the smaller cylinder, and realised white pieces were running out. I also still haven’t touch the ring yet, as I wanted to stay focused on one bit.

Mostly done with the cylinders at the point (you can even see the start of the smallest one on the right side). Agin the boxes grow ominously.

Since it was time to start the ring, I created a replica of a sixth of it. Given that there were twelve sections, I wanted to be sure of the design before starting to build them all, starting with the facade. It took some fiddling around (you can see these aren’t symmetrical, as I was trying out different designs). Really, if you have this kind of things to do, try to make it in a vacuum first, you’ll gain a lot of time later, once the prototype has every problem answered (mine were mostly the curve, and the link between each plates (solved with mod 1*2 black plates).

See ? After the prototype was done, I simply built all of the facades and attached them (you can see my 1*4 curved pieces were all missing at the time though).

I kept the prototype on the side, because I’ll still need it later. I also am missing half of the ring (the part above, since there is only a structure below), because I was not sure of how everything would fit, and I waited until these parts were assembled before making it, in case adjustments were needed.

Here is the top part ! And all the hangars done, too. It took me a surprising amount of time to do all twelve of them…

Huge progress ! There is no more room on the table for the boxes, but you can see them…on the floor, on the left…Lot was done, from the bottom cylinder now finished along with its ring, the covering pieces of the big ring (except the internal faces), the hat of the station, and a huge reinforcement for the six arms, which was done separately). At this point, except for a few details, the station itself is finished.

And there is a picture taken moments before disaster. The station is done (ignoring the transitions between cylinders) the arm…supposedly, too.

Sadly, the arm wasn’t, in fact, finished. If you read the first post, you will notice it isn’t as bulky, and isn’t attached on baseplates yet.

Well, guess what ? When I finally tried to see if the arm would hold onto the station, it broke. Rather, two pieces broke, then the rest came down, and so did the station, which shattered on the floor below. Luckily for me, the main cylinder was so dense it practically completely survived. Most of the hangars of the rings only broke section per section, so it only took a few hours to get it back together, but much more time to make the arm solid. And now, it can hold the station for ten hours without flinching ! So, here is a lesson. If something you do fails when you do it with your heart, let the rage flow through you and build it back out of spite. It works* !

*don’t hold me accountable for any failure using that method

So, uhm. I wanted to post something a bit different here today. Behold a short thing I did a while ago (I'm actually posting it because I found it while cleaning some files). I'll admit, the quality of both the image and whatever I was trying to tell is pretty low. But I think overall, it's still surprisingly decent, for what it's supposed to be.

I did a lot of these some time ago, but it's terribly time-consuming, so I've had to stop. Hopefully, next break, I'll have the occasion to do these again (now with better image quality, and even proper MOCs to use). I miss doing stop-motion a lot-

I sadly don't have much of that project left (images, bits of the background...), though strangely enough, I still have some of the characters. Though I know why the lighting is so bad : at that point, I only had a set of blue lights, which caused this blue filter all over it (it looked really nice, though. Without any camera...)

I won't point out all of the weird details, but I am still quite proud of that odd use of a hair piece as a broom. Some pieces certainly have some unexpected uses.

✨ Lego enby flag ! ✨

Happy non-binary awareness week :}

✨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.

✨(Tiny) Agender pride flag✨

Want your flag to be made in Lego ? Simply ask (instructions can be provided if you ask nicely :} )

(See previous work here)

✨Bionicle…Rahi ?✨

Yeah, I’m not sure what that one exactly is…But I like it.

I don’t currently have any other Rahi in stock (well, I do have one but it’s terribly ugly), however I do have one in the making, which might be ready for next week. Else, I have a few other things I might get at (including a fancy idea since it’s pride month, which I’m hoping to manage to pull off…). Of course, if you have ideas, I’d gladly hear them !

Aaanyway, rant aside, building details under the cut !

For once, legs are utterly simple, since they’re all made of a single blade piece. Nevertheless, I had to use feet somewhere, so you might notice that the entire spine is made of feet piled on top of each other. They are only connected near the tail by a single socket.

Speaking of the tail, it’s made of a weapon piece of Nuju Metru, but the connector was all twisted so I couldn’t use it as a proper weapon. Well, it gives some movement to the beast, so it’s a great thing still.

Similarly, the tongue/flame (I’m still unsure of which it is meant to be) is a partially broken Tahu sword. It’s not actually held securely, because it’s inserted in the technic pin connector of the dark red shoulder blade I’m using as the face of the beast. On each side of this piece are silver Bohrok eyes as teeth, which themselves are partially covered with limb armor pieces.

The main body is not actually very complex, because I found a quite large red technic piece which looks somewhat like a throne and acts as a great base (if anyone has any idea where this piece comes from, based on this very unclear description, I’d like to know where it comes from); and four small blades placed horizontally to make the body slightly rounder.

You will notice this Rahi can actually more or less fit in my shelf studio, which is quite remarkable, because it means I don’t have to set up a temporary studio all over again. Might have to do it for the next build, though.

Also, I actually started my spreadsheet for bionicle gens ! (It incredibly tedious..)

✨Yet another combat mech !✨

A bit of laziness here, I couldn’t bring myself to get proper pictures, so I got old ones from when one of my LEDs broke, hence the blueish lighting-

Lore and closeups below, and previous work here !

Mech closeups :

Pilot closeup :

Lore time (world explanation in previous works..) !

So, Scorcher (the mech) is terrifyingly large, next to most others, which is already impressive, but it’s also one of the most equipped ones on the field : large circular saw, flamethrower, integrated calculation computer, you named it. The only real weak point is the reservoir in the back, which is what the flamethrower is powered by, and it’s hard to reach because one has to get behind Scorcher to get it.

The pilot is well equipped too, with last gen holographic equipment and a powerful high resolution display helmet, under which he somehow manages to fit all his hair. But he’s not alone, since he also have an entire team behind him (called Dragon, for obvious reasons), which helps him during and outside of combats, making this make one of the bests there are.

Unrelated to the lore, the large dome used for the head falls off every time I try to move something. It may have plot armor in the lore, but in real life I think a fly could beat it. Most of these joints are rigid, except at the waist, which is a mistake I probably won’t make ever again, it’s terrible. I’m also glad I stole the arms of another minifig for this one, because it was quite bland with purely red arms.

Following in my pride flag series :

✨Ace pride flag✨

(Previous work here !)

✨Trans pride flag !✨

Had some inspiration and a nice motivation (here)

(See previous work here)

Alt version below the cut :

Pastel version ! It looks a bit bland because I didn’t have enough pieces to make enough variations (this type of pink is exactly what I needed, but also happens to be very hard to find). It’s probably more fitting for the actual flag compared to the one above, which is very neon-y (and I tuned it down a bit, it could be much worse brighter than it is now). But the above version looks better, I admit, and it give a bit of peps in the middle of all my other works, too, because of the unique colors.