BioniLUG

Today, we are featuring Brandon.Builds, showcasing his MOCs and the process behind them.

The name’s Brandon! I go Brandon.Builds on Flickr and Instagram.

What kinds of LEGO MOCs do you like to build?

I’d describe myself as a character/creature builder, but BIONICLE is king! Revamps are my favorite thing to build, but I don’t shy away from making my own creatures!

Where do you get your inspiration?

I spend a lot of my time looking at Sci-Fi character art. My Pinterest boards are filled with inspiration I’ve found. However, no inspiration is better than my friends’ builds!

What are some of your favorite pieces or building techniques?

My favorite part is the Bad Robot Arm! It helps me create essential angles and is super accessible (unless it’s in red) I’ve used it for fingers, torsos, and even an entire fish body!

Who is your favorite Bionicle character?

It’s cliche, but Tahu, to me, is basically BIONICLE Superman. Why else would I have revamped him 4 times?

MOC Spotlight

Makuta (Teridax if you wanna call him that) is the baddest villain out there. Building him in a way that did him justice was a super big challenge, but I was able to get the job done! Shout to Alex, for inspiring this build!

Thank you Brandon for sharing your answers and your builds. Stay tuned for more BioniLUG Member Spotlights featuring our talented builders!

Today, we are featuring Cody Avery, showcasing his builds and the process behind them. You can find him on Flickr or Instagram.

Hi I’m Cody! I’m an artist/concept designer/maker, recently “escaped” the states and living in Denmark!

What kinds of LEGO MOCs do you like to build?

I grew up building mostly with Bionicle when I was little, when the original sets came out in 2001(25 years ago…) I was 11. So the whole world and cool robots with collectible masks hit me square in the target audience. I’ve been building my own custom stuff since getting back into building around 2019.

A lot of my builds are creatures, like my Elder Beast, Xamura, and Kaza-Hem. Mecha and sci-fi stuff is also a passion of mine like my Baby Harvester, and Squig Slab. The occasional revamp/in-universe Bionicle build erupts from my hands sometimes too.

Where do you get your inspiration?

I love nature, science and art. All of these things inspire me to tell stories in my art and my LEGO builds. Film is another huge reason I’m a designer. Really the art of movie making and behind the scenes, the process of making movies and special effects is almost more interesting to me than the final product. I rented a tape of the making of Star Wars with my brother when we were young and I was hooked.

What are some of your favorite pieces or building techniques?

The longer I build the more I find that I start building at bar and clip scale, like trying to increase the fidelity of the build with smaller elements to contrast larger ones. I especially love greebling and detailing with fun odd pieces. When I start a build I usually start with a bunch of separate chunks, like limbs etc., based on a sketch. I then find myself trying to find a way to bring it all together.

I do have a favorite technique that once appeared in a dream… maybe you’ll spot it someday.

Who is your favorite Bionicle character?

Kopaka has always been my favorite. My brother and I both walked into Wal*Mart with $7 of allowance in 2001. He picked up Tahu, and I grabbed Kopaka.

Other Comments?

Learn as much as you can, don’t be afraid to try things, and keep making cool stuff.

Thank you Cody for sharing your answers and your builds. Stay tuned for more BioniLUG Member Spotlights featuring our talented builders!

Today, we are featuring Patrick, showcasing his builds and the process behind them. You can find him on Instagram at @dviddy.

I am Patrick, a long-time member of the online BIONICLE community, an Okie, a Portlander, and now an immigrant in Denmark. I have stubbornly never given up on the hobby or building, and at this point I’m not sure I ever will. I’ve been chasing *something* in my builds for a long time, and I think that will be a chase I will never finish. I’ve been very fortunate to exist inside the building community since almost the beginning, and I wish I could show the early day folks what we’d all be capable of now.

What kinds of LEGO MOCs do you like to build?

To this day I am still fascinated by the larger-than-life mythological aspect of Toa originally depicted in early BIONICLE years and especially as seen in the Mata-Nui Online Game. When I build “BIONICLE,” I am probably building a Toa.

I also like to build creatures and wonders that tell stories representing the human experience. Lots of shadowy animals with lanterns, y’know.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Well, despite myself, I still find inspiration in the stories from the BIONICLE lore. But for models not set in a “BIONICLE world,” I am inspired a lot by the world around us, and the mythological, almost spiritual, role of community, emotions, nature, life, death, etc. I think a lot about how fears, worries, love, laughter, come together, and I try to express them in builds that feel reverent and maybe a touch awesome in the literary sense.

What are some of your favorite pieces or building techniques?

Who would any of us be these days without the 1×2 half-thick technic liftarm or the newer system plate equivalent with the hollow studs?? I love the bad robot arm, the pneumatic-T, lightsaber rods, Kanohi… I’m a sucker for the dino tail parts, and I would die for the threeve.

Who is your favorite Bionicle character?

Kopaka is always the coolest.

Other Comments?

I think it is important to remember that no one is an island. Life is fleeting, and doing things all alone and all on your own are self-defeating. Our communities exist for a reason, and it is through the love and shared life of your communities and comrades that you can make a difference and enact changes in the world. Building MOCs, making art, none of that is any different. Life (and art) does not have to be lonely.

Thank you Patrick for sharing your answers and your builds. Stay tuned for more BioniLUG Member Spotlights featuring our talented builders!

Today, we are featuring ToaTimeLord, showcasing his builds and the process behind them.

I am ToaTimeLord, a longtime fan of LEGO and MOC making. I am a professional artist and teacher when I’m not building. You can find me on Instagram as @ToaTimeLord and @anartistnamedstorm.

What kinds of LEGO MOCs do you like to build?

I primarily build medieval/fantasy and technic creatures.

Where do you get your inspiration?

When building my technic creations, I mainly have parts randomly around me and try to focus on one key feature or force myself to get a certain piece to centerpiece a design. When it comes to architecture, I will sketch a design and work from there to compose the build.

What are some of your favorite pieces or building techniques?

I love SNOT and using unconventional parts to get a design to come together. Getting very greebly with my robotic builds.

Who is your favorite Bionicle character?

My favorite Bionicle characters are Teridax and Artaka.

What is your best MOC?

The Crown Knight Castle is my most prized MOC. It has had many versions throughout my life and has only evolved and improved as I have built upon it.

Thank you ToaTimeLord for sharing your answers and your builds. Stay tuned for more BioniLUG Member Spotlights featuring our talented builders!

Today, we are featuring Cement Addiction, showcasing his builds and the process behind them. You can find him on Flickr and Instagram.

I’m Cement Addiction, or Ben (one of many in the community!)

What kinds of LEGO MOCs do you like to build?

I primarily like to make characters, usually inspired by either pre-existing ones, or I like to use older parts in unique ways to create my own. I also like to host and join collabs – it always provides some fun new ideas! I never would have made something like “First Round Pick” (2025) if it wasn’t for that specific collab, and it really opened up some new ideas for building! The opposite is true too, I love hosting collabs to force all my friends build things that are my special interest, like the collabs for Hatsune Miku and Kasane Teto’s birthdays.

Where do you get your inspiration?

I’m inspired by other artists and builders in the community. Some of the key inspirations for me are Djokson, the Maestro, Fuzz-E, and dee.3×3. For traditional artists, I take a lot of inspiration from ZloNoNameSov, Mamoru Nagano, and Arata.

What are some of your favorite pieces or building techniques?

My favorite pieces are the angled technic connector #4 and almost anything old and really specific! Some highlights are the octagonal Aquazone parts, Znap, and the silver Krika parts. Anything from the early days of LEGO that’s huge, stupidly specific, and annoying to use are my favorite parts to challenge myself to build around and make the centerpiece of a character.

I also love building in monochromatic colors, specifically silver and old dark grey. I find the latter super fun because of how many part restrictions you have, and it forces you to get really creative with almost exclusively pre 2003 parts.

MOC Highlights

Built for Droneuary 2026, this was built around 2 key parts: the Duplo barrel (I had it sitting on my desk for 3 years) and the Technic Tread Frame 5-point in the middle.

Kasane Teto MOC built in collaboration with several others in celebration of her birthday.

Exercise in using primarily old dark gray, with the giant UFO saucer pieces as a seed part.

Other Comments?

I find that the most important and enjoyable aspects about LEGO are collaboration, critique, and style. Collabs are a great way to get closer with people in the community and step out of your comfort zone! And if you want to do more collabs, take the matters into your own hands – create your own! Invite people who you think would have the right style for the subject matter, and have fun!

Thank you Ben for sharing your answers and your builds. Stay tuned for more BioniLUG Member Spotlights featuring our talented builders!