BrickWarriors: A Silent Era Star minifig homage

BrickWarriors "Silent Film Star" #16/60 looks to be primarily a mix of an homage mainly to the amazing Charlie Chaplin, with just a dash of CW Fields added in.

I didn't hesitate to get this wonderfully designed minifig of the "Silent Movie Star", as I am a fan of both Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin's work. BrickWarriors' inclusion of a collector card with the limited number edition on it is an appreciated little bonus.

Now, I'm not sure if it was meant to be a complete homage to Chaplin, and if it was, they nailed it on the torso details. I will say that although the yellow skin option was not that big of a deal, to have seen this figure in a greyscale rendition would have been cool.

LEGO does produce a Bowler hat, and it's readily available online through various other sellers, so it's not hard to get one. Had there been a bowler made for this figure that also featured a bit of Chaplin's curly locks of hair sculpted to it (as his bowler was a bit smaller fitting on his head), this would have brought this figure to another level.

Most canes are just a usage of the standard hand grip sized LEGO bar elements (used to connect wheels, gears, etc.), and I was actually surprised that only one other 3rd party Lego accessory maker made an element that could be cut down some in length to make a proper looking walking cane.

Two items that would make it a more complete Lego rendition would be the addition of the LEGO Bowler hat, and modifying the "Shepard's Crook" part from another company's offering to fashion a cane for the minifig. I stood him next to my Chaplin Smurf minifig (by Schleich) just for the hell of it.

By no means do any of the points above take away from BrickWarriors' minifig offering. It's a great addition to any collection. But as a fan of Chaplin, this figure could have been a killer unique homage to the great silent film comedian. And if you want to put a little searching and work into it, you can opt to upgrade his accessories to make it all come together in a more Chaplin accurate way.

Stats	Rating/Information
Items	Silent Film Star Minifigure
Made by	BrickWarriors
Rarity	Limited Edition of 60
Classification	In Production
Condition	New
Procured	www.brickwarriors.com
Worth	$18
Investment	$18
Build Time	n/a
Trivia & Fun Facts	Chaplin appeared on the July 6, 1925 issue of Time magazine, a U.S.-based news magazine. He was the first actor ever to appear on the magazine known for its influential cover photos.

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue

www.theartisanrogue.com

BrickWarriors - Digger Armor Set

There are some other parts that I have featured in this review, that are not part of the Digger set. These are the main components that go together as the intended set.

I had picked up some great new LEGO minifig compatible bits that come from the minds over at BrickWarriors, and the one I'm reviewing today is the fantastic Digger Armor Set!

As I was getting ready to review these, the urge to get some custom painting done with this set came over me, as it has a great Warhammer Fantasy/Hobbit-Battle of the Five Armies Dwarven/Orc armor sort of vibe going for it.

Now it had been some time since I really painted miniatures (slaps own hand), so it took a while to get the nerve to jump back in and paint something this small. But true to the quality of BrickWarriors' bits, the designs are made of premium plastic, have clean workable line and form, that look beautiful as is, but also take a paint job very well.

The vambrace armor in the lower left corner is the original dark gray that the set came in. After spraying a white base coat, I followed it with a copper base color. (the blue wire is just a paper clip I bend and push up through some chipboard for holding down small parts as I paint them)

I'm pretty snobbish when it comes to spray paint, as I primarily use Montana for my projects, which is what you see being used above, but I had hoped to jump onto seeing how well the new Ironlak Sugar paints that are out now would work, but that's a whole other custom toy/paint demo I'll tackle down the road.

Along with the helmet, weapon, shield, and breastplate armor, I also picked up (shown in lower right hand corner) the vambrace and shin guard elements to round out my soon to be heavily armored minifigure.

First of all, all of these parts were an absolute joy to paint, and after doing a lengthy run of searching, the custom Lego market has some genuine artists out there creating some extremely cool dioramas and unique characters. I'm looking to do a bit of coverage on this in a later post, as some of the work is just astounding.

So I went with a silver, copper, and red color motif, with accents of black and acid green and other little hints of blue and off white throughout it. The helmet and shield above I believe were the most successful, but that's more to the fact that I was fumbling back through my own miniature painting skills like a drunk sushi chef wielding sporks on a Tuesday during all you can inhale spicy tuna roll night.

Mini figure on left top and bottom shown with unpainted armor set. Finished version on right top and bottom.

While there are a few things I would go back and fix about my own paint application, Brick Warriors' excellent attention to design and form made even this hard to screw up. Eventually, I'd like to build a small unit of these, Warhammer Fantasy style, just to see what that looks like.

So if you're looking for some kick ass fantasy armor to round out your LEGO or other brick building sets, you can't go wrong here with the parts above. Thanks for reading!

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue

www.theartisanrogue.com