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Concerning cutting, gluing, painting, molding, and decaling of standard
LEGO parts as applies to Minifig and Model customization.
A lot of fellow LEGO builders online tend to either like or dislike my
creations based on their own concerns about what should and should not
be allowed when creating a LEGO MOC. Well, I have my own feelings on the
subject as well, and so that we can understand each other better, I have
made this page detailing my LEGO-building philosophy (or policy, if you
prefer). I simply ask that you, if you have any qualms over my LEGO
building methods, please read through this page completely.
I've been part of the online LEGO building community since around 1998, and over that period of time, I've made a few observations about
my fellow LEGO builders (especially AFOLs, or Adult Fans of LEGO). First
of all, they usually fall into one of three categories... First there
are the Classical Purists, who are often hard to find and only support
building LEGO models with official parts, yellow minifigs, etc. On the
complete opposite end of the spectrum are the Minifig Customizers, who
are willing to use their knife, clay, paint, stickers, and more in order
to get the desired results on their minifigs (LEGO people). However,
they usually build ONLY minifigs, not actual LEGO models. And finally,
there are the Liberal Purists, as I like to call them. They seem to be
the most common these days, even though they are also the most
hypocritical. They support using only official LEGO pieces and dislike
cutting, painting, decaling, etc... and yet, for some reason that
continues to confound me, they are often willing to use peach-skin
minifigs, official LEGO stickers, and even some custom non-LEGO parts
(weapons, usually)
from such places as LittleArmory, BrickArms, and BrickForge. This last
group is the main one I am trying to communicate to with this page.
Due to the fact that the Minifig Customizers, as professional as they
may be, only customize minifigs and seldom build actual LEGO models,
they usually form their own distinct communities, apart from other
builders. You'll find your Purists and Liberal Purists at places like
Classic-Space and your Minifig Customizers at places like MCN: the
Minifig Customization Network. The problem in my case is that I do not
fall into either of these two distinct groups. I enjoy building LEGO
models AND I enjoy customizing minifigs. So I find myself between
groups, and I feel like I need to explain where I stand. So
without further ado, here are my own precise policies on LEGO
building...
First of all, I customize my minifigs. While standard LEGO minifigs are
often times sufficient, they usually are NOT sufficient to accurately
recreate characters from existing subjects like movies and video games.
For instance, try to make an accurate representation of the Ninja from
Metal Gear Solid without using decals... one that you can show to a
random gamer and he will actually recognize who it is supposed to be
without being told. In most cases, this is nearly impossible.
Personally, I think there is nothing wrong with using decals on
minifigs, since it is the very same thing that the LEGO company itself
would do if they made official LEGO sets based on that franchise. Does
LEGO use existing pieces from previous lines to make new ones? Not a
chance!
Part customization using cutting or clay is much the same. When LEGO
needs a special new piece (or even sometimes when they don't), they make
a new mold for that piece. Take, for example, the helmet on the minifig
to the far left in this photo. It was made specifically for Lando
Calrissian in the Jabba's Sail Barge set. So far it has been used for
nothing else, and it has only been included in that one single set. So
why can't we make special helmets too? Furthermore, I would like to ask
you purists a question: how many of you actually use the blobby,
cartoony KK2 swords like he's holding there? The ones that all of
the Knights Kingdom 2 LEGO minifigs use (and most of the Vikings)? They
are unrealistic, hard to pose, too big, and look utterly silly. If I'm
guessing correctly, you probably hate them, like most Castle builders
do. So why
not cut them up? Then you can make things like a Roman-style sword (like
the gladiator is holding) or an Orc-style scimitar (like Gothmog is
holding), which are far better-looking and more useful! Is it really
such a huge loss of a LEGO piece that you probably aren't going to use
in its normal form anyway? I don't think so.
Heck, often times today, LEGO uses the same customization methods
anyway. Take, for example, the Ferrari pit crew guys and the
international soccer (football) team figs. They both come with blank
torsos, and the builder has to apply the decals themselves! This is the
same thing that minifig customizers like myself simply do for our own
minifigs, like those shown on the right. We simply use our artistic
talents to make the decals ourselves. LEGO also uses new cloth elements
whenever necessary (such as the oversized shoulder pauldrons on their
Sandtroopers), so why can't we? Admittedly, I try not to over-detail my
model with cloth elements in order to keep it from turning from a LEGO
minifig into a Barbie doll. This also loses the point of building with
LEGO, as the minifig is no longer useful for sitting in a LEGO vehicle,
which is, in my opinion, the very point of making a custom LEGO minifig
in the first place. If you're not going to build vehicles and you would
rather use cloth for your minifig's entire outfit, why not just
customize action figures or dolls?
In short, while minifig customization is sometimes unnecessary and can
be avoided, it sometimes is necessary to create the desired effect, and
it really is nothing more than the LEGO Company itself does anyway.
Besides, custom minifigs, when done professionally, can be awesome works
of art in themselves... as long as you don't take it too far and start
making dolls instead of LEGO people for LEGO models. And if you do not
have the right equipment for creating decals, or you are not good at it,
or if minifig customization is simply not your thing... that's fine, but
don't fault others for doing what they enjoy and taking their LEGO hobby
in a different direction. Or, in my case, both directions.
Now, customizing an actual LEGO model is an entirely different game, and
different rules apply. First of all, cutting up LEGO parts in order to
achieve the right result on your model is a no-no. The entire point of
building with LEGO is to build your model as accurately as possible
using the existing parts. Admittedly, LEGO makes new parts when it needs
them, but if you're willing to do this yourself, then why bother using
LEGO at all? Why not use model kits or something similar? LEGO minifigs
have a much more limited range of parts and applications, but you can
usually achieve any desired result with regular LEGO parts when building
a model, if you are just inventive enough and have the right pieces. I
admit that I once cut a LEGO part for my model of Metal Gear RAY (shown
here), but I have greatly regretted it since then. Especially since,
ironically, LEGO soon came out with a part which would have made the
customization unnecessary (the two of them are shown above). Indeed,
this is often the case, as LEGO sometimes does release their own,
official version of the very part that the "cutters" were trying to
generate in the first place. One of the most common part customizations
performed for models is cutting a LEGO rod pieces slightly short. One
day, mark my words, LEGO will probably release a rod piece that is about
3-studs long, and then all of those customizations will be rendered
unnecessary, and indeed, hardly "customizations" at all anymore. I'm not
saying it justifies them, but it's true.
Stickers (decals) are also sometimes applied to models. While I
sometimes use a few decals on my models, I draw the line at the point
where the decals become the model itself. These days more than in the
past, the LEGO company often uses stickers for things like headlights
and technological details, where ACTUAL LEGO headlights or LEGO "greebling"
would have been far preferable. In my opinion, this is going too far.
Again, if you are going to use stickers for all the details, why use
LEGO at all? Why not buy a model kit that uses such stickers anyway, and
get a more accurate overall shape? If you're going to build with LEGO,
then use LEGO, not stickers. Otherwise you're losing the point.
And yet, in a move that I find completely baffling, many LEGO
customizers that fall into my "Liberal Purist" group are willing to use
such decals on their models, just because LEGO made them. Most prevalent
are the use of Exo-Force stickers, which many Space and Mecha builders
who otherwise despise all decals are willing to apply to their own
custom models.
Much of the time, these are the same individuals who find my use of my
own custom-designed decals to be abhorrent. Personally, I find this to
be highly illogical. If one is willing to use decals that LEGO made for
their lines, then what could possibly be wrong with making your own? In
my opinion, it adds a greater level of artistic personalization to your
model. I don't go so far as to add great quantities of detail using
simple stickers (though this is often what the Exo-Force ones do), but I
do like to include a few custom faction emblems, like LEGO did with most
of their Classic Space lines. That is my policy for using decals on
models.
In summary, this is my policy in short:
- For minifigs, anything goes that is necessary to achieve the desired
results, so long as your LEGO minifig can still be used for its intended
purpose and does not end up looking like a doll.
- For models, only official, unmodified LEGO parts should be used, or the entire
point of building with LEGO is lost. For the same reason, decals should
only be used for minor details like emblems and not as a substitute on
major parts of the model that LEGO parts could be used for.
In conclusion, to you Purists and Liberal Purists out there: I hold no illusions that this page is not going to change
your mind or make you build differently than you want to... although I
would appreciate it if you would now consider at least giving other
methods a try. But mostly, I simply ask for you to give my creations and
those like them the same level of respect and credit you would to
builders who do not use decals. Just because builders like myself do not
build using the same methods as you is no reason to lower your rating of
our creations or simply dismiss everything we make. LEGO is, in
essence, still just a toy, and we all play with it in the way that we
enjoy.
- Scorp
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