Samurai of the Blood Moon

This was one of the simple character models I made as a relaxing activity during last spring’s hectic schoolwork. It was inspired by Skeleton Warriors, a 90s action cartoon we re-watched during the pandemic (we also watched Lego Elves and we’re currently watching Bravestarr). I also just simply wanted to make another samurai (the latest, samurai of the garden, was built in November 2018, and Samurai Mech in last summer). Samurai armour has plenty of interesting material patterns that inspire new piece uses. This character is not a skeletal samurai (nor skeleton warrior) but idea of skeleton-esque oni mask felt cool.

The first version of the mask was built around astromechanic droid leg as a nose and large eye holes with cheese slopes. It had some potential, but it was too bulky and tall and thus unfitting with the bulky shoulder and neck armour. It was replaced by more streamlined looking skull mask with thin eye holes and delicate nose bones made with barb pieces. I used strong contrasts of black and red to go with the pale mask but added some dark bley so the colour scheme wouldn’t be too close to my black-and red-warriot series I made a year ago. I bet using those long mudguard pieces as the helmet horns isn’t new trick, but it looks good and gives the limelight to those elegantly shaped pieces.

The black bamboo armour built with car bumper pieces is one the seed part uses of this model. I had plenty of those around, without much use for them. I like the rounded shape they give to the torso above the cloth belt. Another piece use was using those weird, U-shaped wedge pieces to form the loincloth. They’re connected in a diagonal pattern with some help from 1x1 quarter round tiles, forming a piece of textile with tattered edges. The neck armour uses octagonal panel with Ninjago dragon sticker, a piece that has been looking for use for some time now. Its edges are furbished with lever bases and 1x1 round plates. The shoulder armour plates limit the movement bit too much, but I like how they line up almost gapless with the other pieces of armour. Bulky shoulder plates are essential part of samurai silhouette.

Using thread links as skirt armour is another old trick, but I haven’t used it for a while, if ever. At least it is easy and looks good with the similar pattern of chest armour. Samurai of the Blood Moon has two swords; permission to carry two swords was essential part of samurai class. The upper legs are easily tackled with large CCBS shells, representing simple trousers. The lower legs I’m especially happy with. The knee armour with its red lines turned out nice.

-Eero