Lego Minifigs (2018)

Mixed Media

After making a life-sized Han Solo for the holiday gift exchange the year before, I was looking for another interesting idea for 2018. I first had the idea of an oversized minifig in January that year after watching a video of some guy who built one out of a single 2x4. It was a work of art, the dude was brilliant. I wanted to make one too! But I was going to make the entire Avengers team.

You Can't Build That!

But I soon realized I didn't have all the tools nor the skill to work at such a scale. The heads alone required lathe skills way outside my level. Plus the outfits, weapons, extras... not happening. So I scaled it back.

Thinking a Little Smaller

Instead of the Avengers, how about Batman and Wonder Woman. And instead of 2-ft high characters, how about a foot. That I felt I could manage. So I set off in June to build them out.

I needed all of that and barely finished a few days before the party. I used wood for the entire body of both characters. Batman's helmet started out as paper mache, but I moved to paper clay instead — more malleable and easier to shape. Wonder Woman's hair was also paper clay

Presentation is Everything

But how do you serve these up? You can't just stick them in a paper bag. If the presentation was bad, it ruins the whole experience. I needed the packaging for this to be as interesting as the gift itself.

Both character's came in a wooden box resembling a giant Lego piece and the inside was lined with monotone vintage comic book covers of that hero. Plus, each one could be taken apart (like a real minifig) and put together again. The pieces snapped together with super strong neodymium magnets.

Overall, I was very happy with the results. My next challenge is to create a Lego Iron Man with lights & SFX incorporated into it. Due to the complexity of the helmet, I'll be doing that with a 3D printer instead of wood.

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