While, like my retro and futuristic figbarfs, I designed this LEGO Minifigure arrangement for a contest, I think of this series more as a successor to my previous three series of fantasy minifigs. Like the characters you see in those, the motley assembly here comes from the world of Dragon Lands, a medieval fantasy “theme” of my own creation. As I continue work on a new “wave” of Dragon Lands “products” (official re-launch announcement coming later!), sharing a few more characters felt like a good way to start building hype for myself and my fans.
Dragon Lands Minifigures Series FOUR
From left to right, these are our characters:
• Isbahn, an augmented blade-master. The arm Isbahn lost in his youth has only made him stronger— some advanced swordplay just isn’t possible with a human hand, after all!
I bought Isbahn’s head, hair, and torso/legs combo all in one Bricklink order, intending to share the wealth of new elements among my collection of fantasy minifigs. However, as soon as I had experimentally clicked these bits together, I knew I had a great character on my hands and refused to share them anywhere else! The prosthetic blade-arm was a pretty late addition, enabled largely by me getting some of those new short-handled Ninjago katanas which fit perfectly in the forearm stump. I love how muted Isbahn’s color scheme is; it really gives off the “rugged adventurer” vibes I wanted.
• Bruiz, a merciless executioner. Bruiz is unlikely to let convicts have any last words; he prefers to let his enormous axe do the talking.
This character came together around that axe design. The wicked, curved blade screamed “executioner,” so I figured I’d ride that instinct and go for the classic, bare-chested-and-hooded stereotype. The big difference here, of course, is that I made Bruiz an ustokal (orc-like species in the Dragon Lands world). His torso bears a custom sticker I designed, modeled on a musculature pattern I stole from Jake Gylenhaal.
• Kunaye, an ancient mage. Since the Dawn of Magic, Kunaye has been around to help impose some limits on its rampant energies… and, of course, on power-hungry wizards.
Kunaye is my favorite fig of this series. She’s one of my favorite fantasy figs I’ve ever assembled. I think this is because of how perfectly and naturally all her parts complement each other, wrapping her up into a unified design. For instance, the skirt of the Sensei Wu robes goes great with a cape (and the skirt and cape are both made of the same fabric). The subsequent all-white outfit, combined with white hair, lends this character a sense of purity, age, and wisdom. I love how the hairpiece guided me to this lovely skin tone, and that one of the coolest heads in that rare skin tone comes with—how synchronously!—white patterning on its face. The white/nougat scheme gets reinforced a third time by a set of dual-molded white legs with nougat feet. The gradient into gold on her hairpiece (not visible from this angle) informs the use of the golden staff. All ties together.
• Ynul, a hungry hatchling. He’s got a ravenous appetite— he’ll grow several feet longer every day if he’s fed properly— so you should probably keep your distance!
I’ve had this mini-dragon design around for a while. It actually predates my micro Balrog and micro Fell Beast, even though those got published first. Making Ynul monochromatic felt like an obvious choice, because it helps sell this collection of bricks as a single being. Black was the way to go, since that’s one of the only colors I had these little wings in! I’m glad I opted to include fire coming from Ynul’s mouth, too, because I think that detail really gives him a sense of activity beyond “sitting there flapping his wings.” Adding some bones at the base of his perch helped link Ynul to Stish, who is feeding him.
• Stish, a conniving merchant. Stish will do anything to squeeze another few coins out of life, whether it means selling watered-down wine or illegally importing, hatching, raising, and selling baby dragons.
Finally, a good chance to use “teenage legs” from the Harry Potter collectible minifigs series! Mixing these legs with that Goblin torso from The Hobbit was the combo that led to the rest of the character. The body I’d crafted felt insidious, wicked, but not especially dangerous… shifty merchant? Bingo! I chose one of the most wrinkly-faced minifig heads I had on hand to match with Stish’s messy, gnarled torso; I imagine he’s suffered a lot of injury smuggling dangerous creatures. Adding the vibrant turban felt right, too, since I feel like it perfectly situates this character in a bazaar setting.
• Waka Mhol, a brutish warrior. Waka’s vocabulary is limited to words like “me,” “you,” “happy,” “angry,” “club,” and “smack;” otherwise, he communicates using guttural growls and shrill whoops.
Sam Flot and Waka Mhol were originally conceived as a duo, so when the time came to publish my last Dragon Lands figbarf, I felt a little sad to be splitting them up. I’m just happy now that Waka is getting his time to shine. I so love the disproportionate look of the Chima crocodile head on a short-legged body. My inroad to this figure was the silver jaw armor on its headpiece, the which I tied to the silvered breastplate piece. When I first designed this figure, I didn’t know what weapon would be appropriate for such a “regal,” silver-clad crocodilian warrior. The answer (almost literally) smacked me in the face, giving me a perfect tool to cast this character in a more comic light. And yes, the name-pun is intentional.
Thanks for reading! If you have any other questions or comments about these minifigs, feel free to leave them in the comments below