A BUTTERFLY'S TALE:
THE LOST TREASURE OF TORLYNN FOUR (LEGO) PROJECT #539 CREATED: 2015 "If you're lucky, you'll be found by a very lovely and very naked girl with butterfly wings. She will heal your injuries and break your heart, in that order." There's just something inherently fun about translating existing characters to a LEGO mini-figure format. LEGO has kind of been a big deal in our household for the last couple of years (my son is all about them and my wife loves them, too) and so I got to thinking about how much I wanted to build tiny versions of Four and Mariposa, the main characters from my Butterfly Princess e-books (on sale now!) as a birthday gift for my wife. I tried to make these projects reasonably authentic, and tried to build Four out of existing LEGO parts that were already the right color (so my wife could touch them and pose them without paint flecking off). At the same time, though, I also went crazy, doing things that LEGO would never do with an official figure. I used a Prince Dastan head from a Prince of Persia set, which had the correct face stubble and a smirking face that fit the character well. I built his vest out of two life jackets, using one for the front and the other for the back. I drilled a tiny hole in his head for the bandana to poke out. I added as much paint detail as possible, even painting the tiny buckles on his boots. I gave him a small dagger (with paint applications to simulate rust) and built a removable leg holster for him. Of course, I also did a LEGO version of Mariposa, because you just can't have Four without his beloved butterfly princess. |