Turning characters into MOC Factions (Ninjago/Nexo Knight compatible)

[TeriXeri]

I got this idea of instead of thinking of minifigs as strict characters, instead, you could turn all the somewhat duplicate Ninjas or Nexo Knights into their own colored factions by swapping heads/hair etc, it's LEGO.

Just trying to think of different ways to use a collection of minifigs, while a theme like Chima was more well defined within Animal Tribes, that doesn't mean that Ninjago , Nexo Knights etc. couldn't be seen as seperate factions as well, instead of Lions vs Wolf , you'd have Red vs Blue Knights, or Green Knights vs Red Ninjas etc.

 

Instead of seeing an army of 10 Lloyd vs 10 Kai, you'd have 10 different green ninjas and red ninjas with different faces.

 

I collected many Nexo Knights sets for example and now I end up with like multiple (some even duplicate) of each main knight, with variants per season and some 1-off variants, but they still have a Falcon, Fox, Bull, Dragon, Lion etc on their torsos.

So instead of thinking those duplicate Characters, as Clay, you could turn them into Falcons 2.0 or whatever you want to name it.

And while this won't be strictly Historic/Classic Castle or Ninja, it's a good idea to expand already owned figures into a different purpose.

Having 10 variants of the same knight or ninja, with very much mostly the same head on each , does get a bit boring after a while.

 

Certainly with a set like the 3-in-1 Castle on the horizon, but no real current Castle figure packs etc, I think it's a good way to work within existing parts.

Using Nexo Knight or Ninjago minifigs might be too futuristic for historic uses, but I think the well-defined colors work well within an already colorful MOC setting from Creator sets, and the 2021 Blacksmith is also fairly colorful.

 

And this is for now leaving the vehicles and robots out of the equation, just strictly thinking minifigs, and Shield Tiles.

Maybe it also reminds me of older times when it was just Smiley faces instead of Character, but that's an entirely different topic.

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by TeriXeri

[Oky]

Oh, I actually really love this idea! This could especially work for Ninjago as you could turn the variants of each of the main ninjas into a faction based around a certain element so that you end up with an Avatar: The Last Airbender style world with a Fire Ninja clan, an Ice Ninja clan, etc. Sadly I don't have nearly enough Ninjago sets to do that, but I'd love to see someone realize this idea!

I actually did something similar for my Pharaoh's Quest Chess Set where I turned my many Johnny Thunders into a team of generic adventurers by switching the heads.

[Lucarex]

11 hours ago, Oky said:

I actually did something similar for my Pharaoh's Quest Chess Set where I turned my many Johnny Thunders into a team of generic adventurers by switching the heads.

Ok so whatever became of this absolutely gorgeous MOC ? If it lies bagged up, protected from the sands of time (ok well 10 years) in a dark tomb-like drawer somewhere, drop me a PM 

[Flak Maniak]

I've long thought of Ninjago this way; it's a source of really cool-looking minifigures, and, well, who they are, their roles... That's for me to decide. Any Lego-original theme (and some licensed ones!) are just there to provide cool-looking figs that spark my imagination. "Could this be a space faction?" "What if this outfit were in the X-color fantasy faction?" "Should this torso/legs be used for some grunts, or is it too fancy? Which other minifigs does it go with?"

[elfprince13]

On 5/4/2021 at 1:57 PM, Flak Maniak said:

I've long thought of Ninjago this way; it's a source of really cool-looking minifigures, and, well, who they are, their roles... That's for me to decide. Any Lego-original theme (and some licensed ones!) are just there to provide cool-looking figs that spark my imagination. "Could this be a space faction?" "What if this outfit were in the X-color fantasy faction?" "Should this torso/legs be used for some grunts, or is it too fancy? Which other minifigs does it go with?"

Totally agreed with this. If I find a minifig with a great part that I need but still want to keep the original intact, I end up looking for a spare on Bricklink or in a less expensive set.