D00M99 Posted March 5, 2014 Hey all! New member to the forums here. Found my way here after my friend instilled hype and a revived love of Lego after we went to watch The Lego Movie. Which was, of course, AWESOME. I'm interested in the world of Minifig customization, and my question to the community is how do you get started? And I don't mean the research and reading bits, I've found lots of helpful tutorials, methods, tips, and tricks from various places, as well a s this forum. What I'm curious about are the minifigs you use. Where do you buy them for cheap? What existing parts and accessories are the most easily modifiable? Do "minifig blanks" exist? And what do you personally use? I'm all up for from-scratch modifications, sculpting, repaints, decals as fun and fair game, so any advice on purchasing figures for modification would be helpful. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuxorV Posted March 5, 2014 Welcome to EB and the MCW, D00M99. You may want to introduce yourself to our community in the Hello! My name is,,, forum. I know many people buy cheap figs on Bricklink, or even cheap minifig parts on Pick-A-Brick (either from the LEGO.com site or in actual stores for the countries where they exist). Another option is to buy Collectible Minifigures or cheap sets and re-cycle the figs parts (a bit more expensive, but could have the advantage of providing useful parts/bricks as well). Garage sales, e-Bay and such can be good, too. It's all in finding the best bargains. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wardancer Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) Some loose ideas: 1. Bricklink. I use it not only to buy, but also to browse the part lists. A lot. You want to build a green and white warrior? Check all torsos in white, all pants in white, all helmets, all weapons, all torsos in green and so on. Your mind will develop ideas. You will find gaps that can only be filled by painting (this armor just comes in gold, I'll paint it myself...) 2. Get to know third party products such as capemadness, brickwarriors etc. 3. Paint: I use Games Workshop Citadel and Revell paint. Edited March 5, 2014 by Wardancer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr Leg O Brick Posted March 5, 2014 I started of as non-purist, but as my collection, and knowledge, has grown I've become more purist. I get my parts in two major ways: Charity shop castaways, sometimes you get nine figures, sometimes twenty nine, but in all cases you never know what you might get. I've found sometimes that can open my mind as well, a theme I might have just said "Meh, nothing useful" actually might have the very hair piece I might need. However, most of my spares are made out of CMFs. I don't particularly care that the figs come from China, as long as they can stand the test of being used and I don't glow in the dark after using, I'm fine mixing them. Some of the heads may look the same, but you never truly know weather that similar head may be exactly what your looking for. I don't tend to use Bricklink, and eBay can be a bit hit and miss. However, one amazing tip I can give you that I discovered with my Marvel customs is that nail clippers are great for snipping small parts if need be. Hand cuffs, staffs, I've found that they can take quite a beating and you get a fine result. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wardancer Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) The CMF Series a good way to get many different figs. Once you have mastered the "feeling" method to find out what fig is in the bag, 2,49 is a good price for a fig. Most of my army consists of modified CMF. Good tools are a scalpel, superglue, sand paper or nail polisher, maybe a dremel. The important thing is learning by doing. I have made every mistake in the (imaginary) book, including glueing my fingers together, accidentally painting the kitchen table, dropping a hand tailored piece of cape into a bowl of soup, cutting myself etc. But this is how you find out what works for you. Edited March 5, 2014 by Wardancer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maniac4Legos Posted March 7, 2014 Welcome to the community. I was attracted here since you were interested in Minifigure customization. Do you mean making your own Minifigures apart from lego versions? I take Minifigure parts and mix them around for all kinds of combinations. If that's what you mean let me know. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
B-Lister Posted March 7, 2014 There are two major schools of Minifigure customizing, I think it important to define them so you can better understand what possibilities are available for both. 1) Purist: Purist customizers limit themselves only to parts already available. And 'as found' with no modification to part or deco. 2) Modifiers: A modifier alters existing parts or decos to create parts and characters not available from TLG. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hammerstein NWC Posted March 7, 2014 Don't forget the kitbash crew, people like me B-Lister! :) There is a third school of customisers who kitbash, we take purist products and custom produced parts and mix them together. Ie using Lego group stuff and adding Brickarms, brickwarriors tiny tactical etc. to make the best figs we can without having to cut or paint. Doom99 here are some custom houses who provide accessories for your figs that can save you time when starting out. You may need to google the full address, I'm not sure what Eurobricks think about posting actual shop links, so I will stay on the side of caution. Brickwarriors.com Brickforge.com Eclipsebricks.com Brickarms.com Customcrazy.com Crazy bricks.com Minifigcat.com Tinytactical.com Minifigs4u.com Penzora.com Minifigsforlife.com Solidbrixstudios.com Phoenixcustombricks.com Custom bricks.com The amount of accessories and superb quality figs will blow your mind at first when you see them! There are also some interchangeable Minifig accessories that you can use from kreo Cityville, lite brix and even megabloks (which sis. A dirty word in these parts). If you haven't found it yet I recommend you register at Flickr.com, the Lego community has a massive online presence there. Shoot me an mf or message me here if you need any help getting started! :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
B-Lister Posted March 7, 2014 My apologies Hammerstein. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AmperZand Posted March 11, 2014 (edited) Don't forget the kitbash crew, people like me B-Lister! :) There is a third school of customisers who kitbash, we take purist products and custom produced parts and mix them together. Ie using Lego group stuff and adding Brickarms, brickwarriors tiny tactical etc. to make the best figs we can without having to cut or paint. Doom99 here are some custom houses who provide accessories for your figs that can save you time when starting out. You may need to google the full address, I'm not sure what Eurobricks think about posting actual shop links, so I will stay on the side of caution. Brickwarriors.com Brickforge.com Eclipsebricks.com Brickarms.com Customcrazy.com Crazy bricks.com Minifigcat.com Tinytactical.com Minifigs4u.com Penzora.com Minifigsforlife.com Solidbrixstudios.com Phoenixcustombricks.com Custom bricks.com Yes, indeed, don't forget the kitbashers. We're out there. :smiley: Incidentally, penzora is a .co.uk, not a .com and it's minifigforlife, not minifigsforlife with an 's'. Arealight (arealightcustoms.com) deserves a mention for their shaped female torsos and various Star Wars parts. One other that I would add is brickfortress.com . They do high quality articulated short legs. LEGO short legs are all static. As well as forums such as this one, a good way of finding out what third party parts are available is to go to reseller sites like firestartoys.com . They tend to be quite expensive though, so I visit their sites more for information than for acquisition. Edited March 11, 2014 by AmperZand Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
