when original is unoriginal

Noah doesn't really ask me to buy him LEGOs. He finds them too expensive (especially here in the Philippines) so he makes his own minifigs. 

Because he didn't have the Batman V Superman Batman minifig, he started to make one for himself. He made the bat sign with electric tape and drew the details from the movie costume on sticker paper. 

He felt the standard-issue cape wasn't movie-accurate so he made one with black fabric paper and tan (yes, according to him, not yellow) paint.

Then I, now regrettably, got him the Kryptonite Interception set so he got an original Batman minifig. 

And he decided to abandon the custom chest he made months ago and used the standard-issue Batman torso. He still felt the arms & legs weren't true-to-the-movie...

... so he recreated it by carefully drawing the chest pattern on Batman's limbs.

He also wasn't satisfied with Batman's eyes which were just a white strip.

So he "got sticker paper, drew a circle with a black pen, outlined it with some dark gray and covered the top part with black so there'd be that gray half-circle. Like a crescent. It was very tedious."

I love Noah's custom eyes, arms and legs. But I prefer his custom torso with the electric tape bat sign than the original LEGO one. And his custom cape. In my opinion, Noah's customs are much more original than the original.

Photos are my own & from Google Images. 

Noah's age when he created these: 11  years, 3 months & 11 years, 11 months

torn between two lightsabers

So Noah saw the awesome Star Wars trailer. Of course, Han Solo caught my attention. Meanwhile, what Noah noticed was the new lightsaber! Here's a screenshot of the trailer from YouTube...

And this is his first homemade attempt at it...

It's so adorable that he used minifig hands!

I already thought this was awesome. But he made another one. This time, he cut the top and bottom pieces with a nail cutter to make the middle piece.

He colored the gray piece with a silver Sharpie and the gold piece with gray & black Sharpies. Then he glued the tiny pieces together. 

That middle piece, he combined with these red staffs. The two small red rods were again cut from another long red staff.

And after all that meticulous cutting and coloring, this was his second light saber attempt. It's still lacking a black handle that he also plans to Mighty Bond to the lightsaber. 

He says he made two options of the lightsaber for me to choose from. But I'm torn! I love the adorable ingenuity of the minifig hands of the first one. But I also love the realistic look of the second. And the masterful craftsmanship that went into it. 

How in the world do I choose between the two? I'm so torn between these two lightsabers!

Noah's age when he created this: 10 years, 4 months

Dissatisfaction Guaranteed

Since we watched Avengers 2, Noah has been busy working on minifig projects because he isn't satisfied with the standard issue LEGO Avengers 2 minifigs. He is obsessed with making minifigs that are as authentic and true to the movie as possible. 

For instance, this is work-in-progress Ultron made from Toy Story Woody's arms & legs. 

When he was showing me the LEGO Avengers 2 sets on Google, I noticed the LEGO Ultron is regular-sized. So I asked him why he decided to use Woody's long limbs for Ultron. He said Ultron is 8 feet tall versus Captain America & Thor who are 6'4". So since Cap & Thor are regular-sized minifigs, the Ultron minifig needs to be taller. 

He was also not satisfied with this standard issue Thor minifig...

So he carved (yes, etched with a knife!) these details on Thor's arm...

A plain leg didn't cut it either. Here are the hand-drawn leg details...

Thor's hammer needed "upgrading" too. It needed blending and a handle. 

The standard issue scepter of Loki was missing the mind stone, he said. 

So he cut off the middle prong, trimmed another prong, colored it silver, and stuck a blue mind-stone-looking LEGO piece in the middle. 

He was also dissatisfied by the fact that the standard issue Nick Fury doesn't have a coat. 

So he is making his own out of black paper fabric we got from Wrap Shop (I don't know if there are any other 10-year-olds who ask to go to this store), sticker paper he colored with a Sharpie and some colored pencils. 

You've seen Captain America's helmet before. So you already know that Noah used Flash's helmet to make Captain America's headgear. He cut off Flash's lightning horns with a nailcutter! Then, he used blue paint, aqua & blue Sharpies and a correction marker for the A. 

But did you know why he needed to make a helmet? Because he was not satisfied with the standard issue Captain America minifig that comes with a mask printed on the minifig head!

He was also dissatisfied by the standard issue Vision minifig. 

He didn't like it that they used "sand green" on the body. He says it should be a darker green. And the cape shouldn't just be plain yellow. 

So he fashioned one with the authentic details with these materials...

Finally, he was dissatisfied with Black Widow's body. So he carved out her sides to give her a more womanly body. 

Yes, my perfectionist son is incredibly hard to satisfy. But I love that his dissatisfaction leads to these homemade, customized minifigs with such intricate details. Ironically, his dissatisfaction guarantees my satisfaction. 

Noah's age when he created these: 10 years, 4 months

Photos of standard issue LEGO minifigs are from Amazon.com

Captivating Captain A

Shield meets Arm. 

Arm inches toward Shield.

Shield can't help it.

Shield finds itself being pulled towards Arm by an unexplainable attraction.

Is it infatuation? Is it love? 

No, it's a magnet that Noah Mighty-Bonded [Kragled] to Captain America's shield!

How does it work with Cap's arm? See the silver square on the hand in the first photo? That's a metal strip Noah glued onto the LEGO hand. 

Watch the love - er, magnetic - story here.

I was certainly captivated! Of course, am trying not to be bothered by the fact that Noah destroyed his LEGO Toy Story 3 train to get the magnet for Cap's shield (magnets connected the train cars to each other). Haha, I guess Shield' previous relationship was with a train!

Noah's age when he created this: almost 10 years, 4 months

batteries now included

When I asked Noah at the start of summer what lessons he wanted to take, he said he didn't want the usual sports, music or art classes. He wanted "to learn things like woodshop or how to put a tiny light in my LEGOs". Needless to say, I didn't find any summer classes like that for kids. But he was determined. Turns out he didn't even need lessons.

I came home to Ironman with the front of his chest chiseled away with an X-Acto knife, some batteries and an LED light.

He hasn't started on the chest but I begged him to let me take a photo with a stand-in chest.

I was beyond amazed! I can't believe his homemade LEGO creations have batteries now included!

Noah's age when he created this: almost 10 years, 4 months

Noah builds...

I know Avengers 2 is out because of Noah's work-in-progress homemade LEGO creations. 

He made Ironman's new armor/suit with cardboards. As usual, he used Sharpies, a black fine-tip pen and gold & silver colored pencils to draw the details of the suit.

I love that Noah makes do with the materials he has on-hand. He used Flash's helmet to make Captain America's headgear. This is why the insides are red. He had to cut off Flash's lightning horns with a nailcutter! Blue paint, aqua & blue Sharpies and a correction marker for the A helped him complete Captain's helmet.

I have a feeling Noah will be busy completing the Avengers 2 cast after we watch the movie. :)

Noah's age when he created this: 10 years, 3 months.