Level 60 Tauren Druid

[Darkblane]

Hi everyone,

I've never created a custom minifig before, but thought this contest was a good reason to give it a go.

I've not got any experience with creating transfers, so opted to use green stuff and acrylic paints as I've used these before for wargaming.

Unfortunately I had a few problems with the paint, as it didn't stick as well as I would have liked and is a little too easy to scratch off. I'm assuming that I should have sanded the LEGO parts slightly before painting. I attempted to use some varnish to seal the paint to the parts and also to give them a gloss finish as the paint was matt, but the varnish didn't spread very well and left quite a few visible brush strokes. I've got some different varnish to try next time.

Regardless of these issues, here is my entry.

Theme: World of Warcraft

Character: Level 60 Tauren Druid

Cost of LEGO parts: Approximately £3 (the majority of parts are from the witch collectable minifig, plus a head, cape and lightsaber handle)

Cost of custom material: Approximately £3 (some green stuff, acrylic paint and a small amount of plastic for the weapon blades)

Welcome to the Blizzcon Costume contest and our first contestant: Level 60 Tauren Druid.

He's wearing the Wildheart Rainment and wielding the Tower of the Mouldering Corpse.

Unfortunately the judges will be quick to identify that the Tower of the Mouldering Corpse is a Level 80 weapon and will be sure to mark the contestant down for this anacronism. There'll probably also be some debate as to whether or not the contestant's glasses are appropriate for a Tauren ...

Vignette

Front

Back

Right Side

Left Side

Additional photos can be found on Flickr: Level 60 Tauren Druid @ Flickr

Additional Notes

For anyone not familiar with World of Warcraft, I thought I'd include a small amount of additional information:

Blizzcon is a genuine convention, annual held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their major franchises: Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo.

As part of this, there is an actual costume contest, as well as a dance contest and in previous years, a soundalike contest.

Within World of Warcraft, Tauren a race of are huge nomadic creatures who live on the grassy, open plains of Mulgore in central Kalimdor. Tauren are large, muscular humanoids and bovine in appearance, complete with hooves and horns. They stand anywhere from six and a half to nine feet tall and weigh anywhere from 400 to 700 pounds. Their immense bodies are covered with fine, short fur that ranges in color from black to gray to white to red to brown to tan.

So as you can see, apart from the horns which my cosplay character has attached directly to his helmet, he doesn't exactly meet the requirements of a Tauren, and definitely doesn't look bovine in appearance, especially with his glasses on (which he can't see without as he is extremely short sighted).

And yes, I do play a Tauren Druid in World of Warcraft, and I chose to recreate the Wildheart Rainment as it is my favourite set of druid armour.

The Tower of the Mouldering Corpse is the weapon my in game character is currently wielding, and I thought it was a nice design to try and replicate.

[The Yellow Brick]

AWESOME, I really love his helmet and the details you've added

[sok117]

That is just AWESOME, great job on this one, I can't believe you've never created a custom before, and your first turns out so EPIC!

[The Penguin]

Good work! )

Being a WOW player (not that active now though) I really like the way you did the tauren! And I must say that the vig is very well done.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! )

[LuxorV]

Very nice entry, Darkblane, especially for a new customiser!

Also thank you for the notes and explainations, which will be most useful for those who (like me) do not know WoW much

[XimenaPaulina]

Great entry Darkblane! This is actually my most favorite entry so far (more than mine even ). You've impressed me with both of your Minifigure Series entries and now this one, the overall presentation is just very professional looking and the custom fig is actually great for your first one. Now there's goes my chances in the contest ... Best of luck bud! This surely has my vote.

[Jebediahs]

Unfortunately the judges will be quick to identify that the Tower of the Mouldering Corpse is a Level 80 weapon and will be sure to mark the contestant down for this anacronism. There'll probably also be some debate as to whether or not the contestant's glasses are appropriate for a Tauren ...

lol This set is one of the most recognizable druid gear sets and you did a lovely job with it! I flashed back to my wildheart days. Well done.

ORC!

[Masked Builder]

I think he's great! I really like the Armour .

[Darth Yogi]

This looks great.

Really good for a first try and looks really realistic. Good luck in the contest.

Nice job

[Darkblane]

I just thought I'd post and say thanks for all the comments.

I get a lot of enjoyment from building with LEGO, but it's also really nice to have what I build appreciated by other people.

It's one of the reasons I like to enter LEGO contests, though I also like the challenge of trying to build models to fulfill predefined specifications.

So now that the voting has started, if you like my entry, please don't forget to vote for me.

[CommanderFox]

A really cool entry Darkblane!

The details your've put on him are perfect, and the sculpy components are very good. I really like the Tower of the Mouldering Corpse weapon, the lightsaber hilt looks really good in there!

Good luck with the voting!

C-Fox