Alternative builds for official LEGO sets are a big thing, Rebrickable and other websites thrive on creators designing these awesome and often completely different builds for themselves, fans, or as a side-hussle.
Today’s feature is inspired by one of my all-time favourite movie franchises, Alien. The Face Hugger is know by most as a creepy-crawley creature that latches onto its preys’ face and lays an egg in the stomach where, shall we say, a cute Alien poops out. In the latest outing, Alien Romulas, there are 100s of them on screen at once and it makes for a truly terrifying piece of cinema.
When perusing Instagram I came across a post that sent me on a spiral of quickly buying a LEGO set that I would never have got otherwise – LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Cute Rabbit (31162). You’ll notice the word Cute in that name, making an alternative build that is the complete opposite is a stroke of genius, perhaps this is what helps ‘sell’ the thought of the Face Hugger.
Designed by @dicken_tututu, an Instagram user that has a ton of alt builds under their belt. We approached them and asked if we could feature the Face Hugger in all it’s glory. We also asked a few questions to get a rough idea of how the idea come about, starting off with, what made you think the cute Rabbit (31162) set would make a good Face Hugger?
I’m a MOCer, maybe the parts and colors contributed to this idea.
It’s quite a simple looking build but there are a ton of cool part usages, including the larger sloped pieces that make up the tail, making it look scaled and skin-like. Attaching the flangey bits either side by ball & sockets is good too and allows for a little movement. Each of the shorter legs attach in the same way apart from the front two legs that are held by a single stud and clamped in place.
Are you an Alien fan @dicken_tututu? Which film is your favourite?
I’m not an Alien fan, but I did watch every Alien movie, yes, every one. Including some spin-offs.
With it’s slick body thanks to the large tan curves and the jagged use of plates and bare studs, the Face Hugger build is the perfect example of an alternative design of a set that started of so. Innocently. It can be displayed in a couple of ways the main position is on its tail, propped up and balanced very precariously. The other way is wrapped around you hand or on your dace, not ideal but fun to do if only once.
The creatures innards are on show too and look gruesome, well as much as LEGO can be. With its mouth open ready to pounce, legs flailing in around and tail Read to coil – you wouldn’t want this coming for you real or in LEGO form.
How long with it take to perfect the Face Hugger alt build?
It actually took only about 2-3 hours. I spent much more time on the instructions. Because I usually don’t create in Studio.
The instructions are available online via @dicken_tututu‘s Instagram account, which we’ve conveniently linked to here. Each step is easy to follow, although I did get stuck on one section where I didn’t have the required part so went ahead and used a different one. You can get this alt build out of one LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Cute Rabbit (31162) set, you’ll have a ton of parts left over, maybe try and make a small plinth for it or add some greebling to the Face Hugger, making it extra scary.
Thank you to @dicken_tututu for such an incredible and inspiring alternate build, we absolutely love it and will pop it amongst my display, ready to make visitors jump with shock! Please head over to the creators Instagram and show your support, it helps with future projects too and builds a better community, thank you.
What is your reaction?
YES!
I like it
It's OK
Not Sure
No!
