How do you make a giant red alien lady laugh? With ten tickles! Ha! Get it? Tentacles… Ok, in all seriousness, I’ve never been into Anime, but the images that come out of it can be awe-inspiring sometimes. The highly stylized art form has a strong visual presence, to say the least. And this LEGO build by Sheo. has a strong visual presence, too, with that red alien lady and a spaceship in the background. The ship is the Sidonia, from the Manga and Anime work called Knights of Sidonia. The red figure is Tsumugi, a genetic hybrid of human and alien, designed to fight off the bad aliens with her giant body and immense powers. I love the use of ten tickles, er, tentacles to create a ragged organic shape, and the pirate hats for breasts is inspired. The end result is something disturbingly close to human, but still very much alien. Does it match the source? I don’t really know, and don’t much care, because as a LEGO build, she’s awesome! As long as she keeps her distance.
Tag Archives: Anime
Dream if you can a courtyard, an ocean of violets in bloom
Suddenly I have Prince tunes going through my head and I don’t know why. It’s weird when that happens. Anyway, Marco De Bon built this delightfully purple mech he calls the FA-13 “Venus” and we’re all tickled pink about it. Or…purple, actually. Well, maybe a little pink. The translucent sparkly pink wings are actually doors that come from a rare Belleville set (good luck finding that!) and are used brilliantly here. The mech stands 8-inches (20cm) tall and is inspired by the insect-like mechs of the Aura Battler Dunbine anime series from the 80s.
Marco also constructed a stand for flying and action poses.
Delivering tofu with style in a Toyota AE86
This build by Peter Blackert is a throwback to the culture that sparked drifting and made the Toyota AE86 an iconic phenomenon. It’s said that, to date, Toyota AE86’s inflated price is not only because of its rarity but also because of its cult following from fans seeing it featured in the Japanese manga Initial D in the mid-90s and its appearance into the anime scene in the late 90s. The AE86 was popular for its capability to drift with its relatively lightweight and rear-wheel drive combination and also the main premise of the legendary stories in the aforementioned manga. In LEGO, the 10-stud wide design gives it a lot more room for design language compared to the regular 6-stud wide designs from the Speed Champions series from LEGO’s own take on popular cars.
LEGO EVA Unit 02 has activated
Mathijs Dubbeldam had a goal: to build the world’s most accurate EVA Unit 02 from the anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion. The head in particular reads strikingly accurate to me, but I am also impressed with the iconic long limbs, lanky frame, and spot-on details right down to the fingernails.
See more of this intricate model, including one of the building’s interiors.
Off the grid to find Akira
The prototypical LEGO piece is the 2×4 rectangular brick. It has ninety-degree angles on every side, and using it, together with most other LEGO bricks, one can build things with lots of right angles. Unless you are Thorsten Bonsch, that is, and you are building off the grid, setting your scene at a cool forty-five degree angle. The greebled elements that comprise the science fiction setting, all the pipes and valves and whatnot, are a lovely backdrop to an epic showdown between Tetsuo, a character from Akira, and one of the authorities trying to stop him. I hope Tetsuo can avoid those rockets firing at him!
There is nothing that fancy going on in the sloped section, though I do enjoy the ubiquitous fence piece making an appearance; it is just a masterfully arranged assortment of textured elements and repetitive piping. The cumulative effect of it, however, is brilliant. But the platform is what catches my eye. The yellow and black striping is excellent, and the various subtle offsets of the grey surface are gorgeous. Now, I don’t know much about Akira, but if this creation is anything to go by, it must be awesome!
The ultimate crossover anime movie of the century, if it ever happens
If the right copyright holders ever found a way to collaborate, any movie featuring this legendary trio would probably be an instant blockbuster hit. The Gundam RX-78-2, Voltron, and Optimus Prime all in a single scene saving the world is what Tom Vanhaelen teases us with. I found it quite delightful how Voltron was sized down tremendously from its official LEGO Ideas Voltron set using some of the printed parts and looks like a medium-sized model of its larger cousin.
A different kind of Thunderbird
Ted Andes says his latest LEGO spaceship was partly modelled on the Cosmo-class starfighters of anime series Space Battleship Yamato. Regardless of the original inspiration, this is an excellent model, packed full of interesting angles, nice integration of Technic panels along with the regular bricks, and strong colour blocking. The white and orange add a pleasing burst of colour against the military-grey styling, and the restrained use of stickers works well, adding touches of detail without distracting the eye from the overall shape.
A laser axe for felling enemies, not space trees
If you have been following the Brothers Brick for a while, you are probably familiar with the figure-building madman known as Eero Okkonen, who is known to often produce his masterful figure builds on a weekly basis or faster. This time Eero brings us a creation that he built a while back, but only recently shared online. It is a part of a series of Japanese video-game inspired characters we have been following on the Brothers Brick for a while now.
The build is faithful to the series, using the striking colour scheme and Clickits strings as laser blades on the amazing space axe. On the other hand, it is unique and a clear improvement on previous installments. There are so many exotic pieces used in unique ways that I can not even begin to cover, but what stands out most is the wildly flowing hair made of balloon panels in earth orange.
Friends in the rain: LEGO BrickHeadz Totoro and Satsuki
It would take a hard heart not to be moved by Kendall Brown‘s adorable digital LEGO Totoro and Satsuki. As with his Elf and Narwhal and Wizard of Oz characters, which we recently featured, it’s a perfect example of how to build in the BrickHeadz theme. In this case it’s the selection of cartoon tile eyes, perfectly spaced, which captures Totoro’s quizzical expression and lifts the build to another level. Mix in all those extra touches like the flicks in Satsuki’s hair, Totoro’s tummy fur, and atmospheric Photoshop rain and you have a fitting tribute to one of the greatest animated films of all time.
LEGO soot sprite from Spirited Away will warm your heart
If you’re a fan of Hayao Miyazaki films, then this LEGO creation inspired by the 2001 release Spirited Away by Chris Xenyo will be instantly recognizable. These little fuzzy-looking critters, known as soot sprites, or Susuwatari are formed from soot, and they can lift things much heavier than themselves. Without a job to keep them busy, they sometimes revert back to soot.
Even though the model is fairly simple, the attention to detail, from the spiny look (made from black levers) to the thin and spindly arms and legs (made from flexible tubing) is very accurate to its on-screen inspiration. Even the background which includes the tiny tunnels where the Susuwatari makes their homes, and the wooden platform that borders their path to the furnace, make this scene jump straight out of the movie.
Femme fatale can be interpreted in many ways
We have seen many top-notch character builds from Eero Okkonen over the years, including his recent recreation of the Finnish band Circle, and it seems Eero has nailed the human form in bricks so well that he can pump them out with an (ironically) inhuman speed, with each better than the last!
The builder often takes inspiration from Japanese videogames and cartoons and his latest creation, RADIANT EXERT IV is no different. While there is no specific source material that Eero has tried to recreate, the bulky armour, bunny-ear ribbon in her hair and a miniskirt are unmistakably Japanese. There is a strange yet perfectly balanced mix of bulk and elegance, with eye-catching details like a sword with a laser blade made of Clickits string and wings on her boots.
LEGO GAT-X105 Strike Gundam with AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Striker
The LEGO Ideas Voltron set has made me nostalgic for all the Giant Robot TV shows I watched as a kid back in Japan, not least of which was the fantastic Gundam. Two Rabbits shares my love of all things big and stompy, and demonstrates that passion with a series of really excellent Mobile Suits, kitted out with extra gear like the AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Striker pack with Strike Gundam from the SEED series. Beyond the rocket engines and weapons pods, the highly detailed frame itself is worth a closer look, with great shaping on the legs and torso, topped with the iconic Gundam head.
From the Wing series, the XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero features gorgeous angel wings and completely different detail on the mecha frame.