MOCing minifigures like a pro
Posted by Huw,
Have you ever wondered how to create the perfect customised minifigure? This article by guest author Zander will show you how:
On the face of it, there’s nothing to MOCing minifigures. Attach a head and some legs to a torso and voila! a minifigure. But creating great minifigures is not, for the most part, about the technical aspects. It’s about the art. And like all art forms, knowing the basics can get you a long way to becoming a master.
When I started MOCing minifigures back in 1993, AFOLdom was not the well established, interconnected community it is today. Each of us was off doing our own thing, so I had to work out for myself what worked, what didn’t and why. Here are a few guidelines and suggestions that I developed over the years, plus learnings I picked up from other AFOLs along the way. I hope they help.
Whenever you’re deciding between simplicity and complexity in your minifigure MOCs, the former is generally the way to go. Minifigure body parts are stylised, blockish and small. Minifigure lines are simple and modelled on what can easily be made of wood. A minifigure’s head, for example, is a shape that can be fashioned with a lathe. That simplicity needs to be respected in your final MOC. An overly elaborate design will look jarring against a minifigure’s minimalism. To preserve the simplicity, try limiting the number of colours you use. Official LEGO minifigures rarely use more than five main colours (ignoring skin colour, black outlines/folds and small details) and they are always complementary, drawn from similar shades, or universal matches, i.e. black, white or grey.
Another way of keeping it simple is through a motif, recurring shape or theme that binds the minifigure together. A spiky helmet will look best with matching armour; a dirty, stained, ripped shirt will seem odd paired with pristine white trousers.
Sometimes a colour can be a source of inspiration. When I was browsing BrickLink one time, it occurred to me that the Harry Potter troll is the same colour – sand blue – as the female cyclops CMF. I already had that CMF in my display collection but thought I could use a spare of the CMF’s head without the horned hood piece combined with the HP troll’s body to create a bigfig cyclops. And that’s what I did.
One decision that every minifigure MOCer has to make is yellow skin versus fleshy. Both have their merits though not both on the same minifigure. Fleshies are evidently more lifelike and allow you to create many characters from existing franchises, while yellowies are more traditional and varied. Personally, I prefer yellowies, but there is no right or wrong on this one as long as you don’t use both together. That can create a problem if the neckline or décolletage is one colour and your preferred head is another.
I love minifigure accessories as much as the next AFOL, but the same principle holds for accessories as it does for minifigure parts. It’s easy to fall into the trap of piling every cool weapon, shield, hat, cape, adornment, flower and animal on your minifigure, but you can easily overdo it. If you have lots of accessories that you really want to use, consider splitting them between different minifigures and making a team or army of variants.
The danger of loading too many extras on your minifigures should not deter you from accumulating them in your bits boxes. I have about 700 minifigures in my display collection but thousands of spare minifigure parts and accessories. Nothing is more frustrating than not having the right piece. That’s just as true for minifigure specialists as it is for LEGO enthusiasts in general and why I often buy duplicate CMFs and scour the secondary market. I may never use the additional parts I get, but it’s good to know I have them and immensely satisfying when I need one.
Some minifigure MOCers focus on specific franchises while other are more eclectic or generic. If you choose to create minifigures based on existing IP (intellectual property), make your MOCs recognisable even if you’re going for obscure characters. If you show your MOC to other aficionados of the franchise and they don’t recognise them, something is wrong and you need to go back to the drawing board. A minifigure should be identifiable without prompting.
If you create original characters not based on IP, inject some personality into them. You should stimulate the viewer’s imagination and tacitly invite them to impose their own ideas on your creations.
You might not be the next J.R.R. Tolkien or George Lucas, but even if you are, minifigures are not the medium through which to develop your characters. Skollob the Invincible, your 50th level half-orc, half-elf, half-deity Dungeons & Dragons character may be your pride and joy, but to anyone other than the players in your game, the minifigure needs to stand on its own visual merits. Consider a look and possibly a name, and let the viewer imagine the rest.
Another decision every minifigure MOCer needs to consider is pose. The setting and situation a minifigure is in may govern its body shape and orientation if in a vehicle or diorama. If, on the other hand, you line up your minifigures up on stands or in display cases, you will have to decide whether to have them standing at attention, in an action pose, or a combination of the two. If you have lots of minifigures, it’s better if they are not all in action stances. The viewer won’t know where to look. Instead, consider having most in a neutral stance and a select few in more dynamic or comic positions, using clear trans pieces for minifigures that are jumping, flying or swimming. It will focus attention where you want it.
Lastly, and perhaps most controversially, is the issue of purism versus non-purism. Purists insist on using only LEGO parts as LEGO intended. Non-purists are willing to use third-party pieces and prints, and some even cut or recolour parts. Purists regard non-LEGO parts as cheating: the recourse of those not creative enough to find novel uses for official pieces. Non-purists see LEGO as the basis of their MOCs but don’t allow LEGO’s limitations to be their own. Sometimes, non-purism is the only option. If you want to create minifigures representing recent or modern warfare, gore or certain IP – subject matters LEGO won’t or can’t touch – you may have no choice but to go non-purist. For the rest of us, it’s yet another choice to be made. As you can tell from the pictures, I’m a not a purist.
But as with everything in the world of minifigures (not just purism versus non-purism), it’s up to you. Sometimes breaking the rules produces the best results.
118 likes
42 comments on this article
I do love the feeling when everything in figure you make matches!
That's why I will never understand people who focus just one one theme -they are missing pieces that CAN fit.
Bravo!
Terrific article. Really enjoyed that, even though I'm not much of a one for minifigs.
Adversity is bringing out the best in Brickset!
I'm totally shocked at seeing so many pieces I've never seen before!
Edit: So it seems some of these pieces are non-LEGO.
I like it but I don't have a local LEGO store in Derby so it's hard to get minifig pieces. I run a D&D campaign and I would like nothing more than to present a custom mini figure for each character to my adventurers. Thanks for the inspiration though @Zander!
I‘m off to go build some minifigures.
Does anyone know what the beard part number is for the Scottish soldier? I'm thinking it might work for a custom Endgame Thor I've wanted to make. Whether it fits with a long hairpiece being a different story....
Nice! A very helpful article, especially as I enjoy making custom minifigures as well (although I'm a purist).
@VictorvanSchagen said:
"I'm totally shocked at seeing so many pieces I've never seen before!"
@mrware said:
"Does anyone know what the beard part number is for the Scottish soldier? I'm thinking it might work for a custom Endgame Thor I've wanted to make. Whether it fits with a long hairpiece being a different story...."
Many of these pieces are custom and from third-party sellers like Brickarms or Arealight. I don't know who made what, but I do know what parts are from Lego as an experienced Bricklink seller. I've made a list of all the ones I could find that are custom:
- (Gold elf) Elf armour
- (Gold elf) Elf helmet
- (Ice elf) Ice sword blade
- (Large Cyclops) cloth? (might just be an existing part though)
- (Goblin) poncho with quiver
- (Goblin) crossbow
- (Goblin) wooden shield
- (Goblin) Spear
- (Goblin) Spiked helmet
- (Goblin) Sharp knives
- (Goblins) Posable short legs
- (Vampire) Short cape? (might be an existing piece)
- (Scotsman) Beard
- (Penguin) Top hat, short
- (Penguin) Midi legs (seems to not be the HP one)
- (Alien) Two-headed body cover
- (Jester) Jester hat
- (Jester) Jester frill
- (Jester) Juggling pins
- (Jester) Posable short legs
- (Zombie villager) Cloth pieces
- (Zombie villager) Tan axe
- (Zombie villager) Dead head with blood
- (Zombie villager) Blood splat
All other parts should be from Lego. Some NPU (nice parts usage) here, especially the use of a ninjago anglerfish helmet with the Medusa torso and Merman tail pieces!
Hope this helps!
Thank you, that was very helpful and interesting!
@Binnekamp thanks for the info!
@Binnekamp the posable short legs did appear in the Disney CMS on Chip and Dale in series 2. They weren't black ones though.
Wonderful article, keep up the great work Brickset and all of you amazing members! I stumbled across a (sadly now closed) small website shop several years ago that inspired me to create several of the Minifigure characters missing from my collection. And as this article is all about custom Minifigures, I'd like to make a huge shout out to Jared K. Burks! Really miss your store man, but keep up the great work on Flickr!
Anyone know what that mermaid head is?
@Slobrojoe said:
" @Binnekamp the posable short legs did appear in the Disney CMS on Chip and Dale in series 2. They weren't black ones though.
"
Possible short legs also appear in the new Harry Potter line, and Stranger Things set.
That last bit looks great and thanks for this article.
@Zackula said:
"Anyone know what that mermaid head is?"
That’s from the Ninjago Movie CMF line, the female shark army trooper, I think.
@mrware said:
"Does anyone know what the beard part number is for the Scottish soldier? I'm thinking it might work for a custom Endgame Thor I've wanted to make. Whether it fits with a long hairpiece being a different story...."
I think that beard is from Brickforge. I didn’t see it on their site by itself, but it might be in a multi pack of accessories. Most of the other custom parts in these pics look like they are from Brickwarriors.
Those goblins remind me how much I’d really love an official dungeon builder - the next castle theme perhaps?
Awesome article.
Thanks, this is pretty helpful. I usually only use official LEGO parts, but for Minifigures I don't mind painting modding parts.
@Slobrojoe @Dadbod_Bricks The posable short legs from Harry Potter are a medium height between regular legs and unposable short legs. The Penguin in the other photo (as in cobblepot, not the penguin suit guy) uses the Harry Potter legs, and there is noticeably a bit more space between the feet and the rounded part of the leg than there is on the third-party posable short legs the jester and goblins are using.
@kongutahu thanks. That certainly cleared it up!
@Slobrojoe said:
"I like it but I don't have a local LEGO store in Derby so it's hard to get minifig pieces. I run a D&D campaign and I would like nothing more than to present a custom mini figure for each character to my adventurers. Thanks for the inspiration though @Zander!"
Its less than an hour to Meadowhall on the m1 for parts, plus theres the new store in Birmingham. Or even order online from Lego or Bricklink, thats my goto at the moment for parts etc!
Great article! I especially love the tree monster at the end of the article, I'm going to have to pick some of those tree part up sometime. I've been wanting to MOC all of the NEXO Knights themes that never got released (the ones from the Book of Monsters). Something like that would fit in quite nicely with the forest monsters.
Very interesting Zander, I should get started on some of my loose parts!
@Dadbod_Bricks said:
" @mrware said:
"Does anyone know what the beard part number is for the Scottish soldier? I'm thinking it might work for a custom Endgame Thor I've wanted to make. Whether it fits with a long hairpiece being a different story...."
The beard is from BrickForge it is only available in one of the dwarf warrior packs currently.
Lots of great tips on customizing figures here! Customizing minifigures is a lego art to itself.
Great article! I take pride and joy when creating minifigures, especially on LDD which has limited prints.
I have a file of goodness knows how many minifigures with everything from Ghandi to Bill Haley, Crocodile Dundee, Father Brown,Hercule Poirot world stereotypes and a whole ANZAC/WW1 display for the centenary plus many many more.
It annoys me when people on Lego Ideas do great builds but terrible minifigures with mix-matched legs (including having the middle piece a different colour to the legs for no apparent reason). I really think about who Im creating, especially since I like doing historical settings (usually 1930s-1950s) thus I pay attention to hair styles and clothing, sometimes getting advice from my mother regarding women's fashion of a specific era hahah. As of yet I have not worked out how to represent a lady minifigure with curlers in her hair LOL.
Last night I was sorting through some fake Lego (far more threatening then the virus right now haha) and found some fake lego spacemen which had a very Kalashnikov-like gun so as noted, for those of us who want guns and are unable to get Brickarms, fake lego is not a bad idea. Ive found that those cheap army action figures guns can sometimes fit in a minifigures hand, plus especially for WW2 or Halo weapons I reckon those Mega Bloks weapons would look good, if one is willing to commit that mortal sin!
@lordofdragonss:
It really depends on _why_ you focus on one theme. I do so because my chosen theme is Batman. While I don't have nearly as many custom minifigs as Zander, and not all of mine are even modified (much less true customs) I may have the world's largest collection of unique Batman-related minifigs with over 370.
@Binnekamp:
I only know of one 3rd party source for custom minifig legs, and they only make the short ones. Prior to the HP CMF, custom midi legs were unlikely as there weren't any legs that size to match them against, and afterwards there was no point in creating the molds when people could buy the real thing instead.
As for the custom parts, you did miss two. The tree monster's black vine and smaller mushroom are both 3rd party elements.
@Brickchap:
Brickforge did, for a while, offer what looked like a custom AK-47, but it was _WAY_ too huge for minifigs. The gun, like the scooter they sell, was licensed from an outside designer, and from what I understand the original owner of Brickforge didn't realize how gargantuan it was until the agreement had been made. I've never actually bought one myself, but I did get one or two as free items with purchases of other stuff, and it honestly looks like it came with a 3.75" action figure like G.I.Joe, except for that the handgrip is clearly designed for a minifig hand.
As for WWII or Halo, there are plenty of 3rd party options, so there's no reason to actually dive into clone brands.
@PurpleDave regarding WW2 and Halo, yes your correct however not everyone lives in the US where gun culture and thus things like brickarms and brick forge are easy to find.
Australia only has 2 brickarms stores, both of which arent even in my state and are out of stock on most guns.
Im not a halo fan at all, I just like old things including old guns so hopefully those brickarms stores are back up & running soon. Oh and I dont really want to order from the US online for a couple of toy guns.
Interestingly, it is relatively easy to make modern guns out of real lego pieces, especially by adding parts to star wars guns, but sadly ww1/ww2 guns are generally much more difficult to make. I did manage to make a couple of Lewis guns though!
Funny thing: I saw some guy do a ww1 desert diorama and he used real .22 bullets as artillery shells; they are the perfect scale for minifigs LOL. I was very concerned when he said the bullets were live...
@PJ76uk if you’ve looked at my profile/reviews, you’d know I’m a TFoL and going down to Birmingham for a day isn’t my kind of idea of fun. Also, on weekdays, I’ve got school work to do and, since Coronavirus says I can’t go out at all, I wouldn’t be able to go down the m1 anyway. And, I don’t have a job so I’ve got a very limited amount of money to spend on parts or LEGO altogether. Thanks for the suggestions though
Great article, thanks for sharing!
@Brickchap:
There's an online reseller based in Australia. Have you tried them? Also, if there are specific things you're looking for, you should try asking about them. If they know they have a guaranteed sale, I'm sure any reseller would be willing to bump their order to accommodate you.
@coenstegeman:
Brickforge makes the smaller one-piece mushroom. The big mushroom has shown up in about a dozen sets, and started with the Harry Potter theme.
Excellent article, and 10 bonus points for the name Skollob.
Thank you to those who posted their appreciation or liked the article. I hope it brought a bit of happiness during these challenging times.
There has been some speculation regarding who makes the third-party pieces. Well done to everyone who identified a non-LEGO part especially @Binnekamp and @PurpleDave !
The parts and who makes them are listed below based on Binnekamp's list and Dave's & my additions.
BW = BrickWarriors. BF = BrickForge.
- (Gold elf) Elf armour: BW
- (Gold elf) Elf helmet: BW
- (Gold elf) Cape: capes4minifigs
- (Ice elf) Ice sword blade: BF
- (Large Cyclops) cloth? (might just be an existing part though): MOC
- (Goblin) poncho with quiver: BW
- (Goblin) crossbow: BW
- (Goblin) wooden shield: BW
- (Goblin) Spear: BW
- (Goblin) Spiked helmet: BW (the knobbly helmet; the horned hat is LEGO)
- (Goblin) Sharp knives: Little Armory - out of production
- (Goblins) Posable short legs: BrickFortress
- (Vampire) Short cape? (might be an existing piece): LEGO https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=bb0899&idColor=0 T=S&C=0&O={%22color%22:0,%22iconly%22:0}
- (Scotsman) Beard: BF
- (Penguin) Top hat, short: BW
- (Penguin) Midi legs (seems to not be the HP one): LEGO https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=970cm00&idColor=11 T=S&C=11&O={%22color%22:11,%22iconly%22:0}
Originally, I used BrickFortress but when the HP CMFs were released, I replaced them.
- (Alien) Two-headed body cover: BW
- (Jester) Jester hat: BW
- (Jester) Jester frill: BW
- (Jester) Juggling pins: BW
- (Jester) Posable short legs: BrickFortress
- (Zombie villager) Cloth pieces: MOC
- (Zombie villager) Tan axe: BF
- (Zombie villager) Dead head with blood: Citizen Brick - out of production
- (Zombie villager) Blood splat: BF
- (Tree monster) Smaller mushroom: BF
- (Tree monster) Black vine: BW
@Zackula , As @Dadbod_Bricks surmised, the mer-creature's head is from the Ninjago Movie. It's this: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=25407pb01&idColor=55 T=S&C=48&O={%22color%22:%2248%22,%22iconly%22:0}
One of the pictured LEGO parts has been recoloured, one has had print removed, and one has had some print removed and other added. Can you identify the modified parts and the modifications?
Why in the world did the site have to remove Flickr links from profiles???
@Zander,
Have you got a Flickr/IG account by any chance? Would be great to have a chat etc. Cheers!
@Sepulchure , Please PM me via the 'Contact' link in my Brickset profile ;~)
@Zander:
1.Fishman's "mouth" head
2. center back Goblin's hat
3. Penguin's head
@PurpleDave said:
"1.Fishman's "mouth" head
2. center back Goblin's hat
3. Penguin's head"
1. While it's true that I removed the eyes from that head, it would have been unfair to have expected anyone to have guessed that as you can't see that part of the head. So an excellent guess, but not the right answer.
The recolour is in plain sight in one of the pictures.
2. Bingo! Well spotted! I removed the patch from the goblin's hat in the back, middle of the raiding party. The one in the front, middle still has a patch.
3. Well spotted again! Penguin's head has indeed had some print removed and other added.
@Zander:
1. Well, it wasn't even a recolor anyways. It was late when I posted that, and I got them mixed up a bit. I was originally going to guess the Fishman's head for 2, because I knew that they didn't make a plain sand-green head, but then I spotted the two mismatched Goblin hats (a quick check showed that they never made that without the patch). And I don't collect Elves, so I didn't even think about her hair. But now I know I've got it for sure, especially since I know exactly what you used to change the color. However, there was a time when I was wondering if it was one of the two elf heads, but I _REALLY_ didn't want to dig through Bricklink trying to find if they were originally yellow or fleshies. And ironically, now that it doesn't matter anymore, I recognize the male elf's head, which should have eyebrows that match the female elf's dress. Still don't know where her head came from, which, aside from not knowing which printed head you wiped for the Fishman, is the only head that I can't positively ID.
2. If you hadn't used an unmodified Goblin hat in the same shot, I doubt I ever would have caught that one.
3. I knew the theme the head came from, and it was just a matter of figuring out which minifig it belonged to. To be fair, my initial guess was someone with a little sparkle in his eye, which of course was totally wrong. I still had to track it down to determine if you'd just removed print, or if you'd also added something. And ironically it's the bit you added that had me thinking of the wrong head, because it was the right eye (that is to say, the left one).
@PurpleDave , The mer-monster’s inner head is just an orc (troll) head backwards. The head with the wiped eyes that is hidden from view in the picture is the tree-monster’s (sorry for the confusion in my post above).
You are spot on about the frost elf - well done! Her hair/ears piece is from an Elves minidoll. I recoloured her ears from light flesh to yellow. Her head is from the CMF Series 17 Elf Maiden.
Penguin’s head is Dr Inferno’s ( https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3626bpb0305&idColor=3 T=S&C=3&O={"color":3,"iconly":0} ) with print removed and added.
@Zander:
YOU WIPED PRINT FROM MY FAVORITE MINIFIG HEAD?!?!?!? No, no, it's okay...I'll be alright...probably... *just gotta breathe*
I love articles like this; probably why I pour though Brickjournal, and their two ‘compilation’ books on the subject. Fav pic is: the Ice Elf, Gladiator, and the Merniod. Although: Troll-kins, the Double Headed Alien, Jester, and Zombgirl pics are really cool, along w/Hal, Oswald, and one of his Goons are also cool…
Funny enough, when I saw the ‘splat’ under zomgirls bag reminded me ‘gee, when was the last time I order from Brickforge…?’…so I’ve got an ‘in the pipeline’ somewhere, so I guess: I’m not “a purist”. But then again: who would be saying that after they saw, say the android head by Brick Warriors? And part’s others. I mean; I found so many great parts of ‘Shapeways’ (a 3D printing community): weapons, helmets, heads.
Also (as I was reminded by one of the Shapeways store), it’s amazing how many 3 ¾-4 Inch figures weapons and equipment work/fit with a minifigure’s hands. Yeah the scale can be wonky, but remember putting a Playmobile revolver (from a western Sheriff PM figure) into a minifig's hand, and going “Wow…fits, and looks good”
Maybe, and since I got ‘time on my hands’; I’ll break out that mono-colored aqua/light-blue blank minifigure, and get to work on that ‘Blue Devil Project’ I’ve been thinking about (as in minifiguring one of DC comics most underappreciated character). Then, who knows…Ambush Bug mayhaps:)