Project Overview
This will be an absolute mammoth of a write up as this is by far the longest I have ever spent on a single project. There were many times when I wanted to just give up and move on to other more exciting projects, but I’m so proud of the fact that I never did. Throughout the course of the build I amassed an incredible 481 photos documenting the process and was helped by a host of talented builders, who will all be referenced throughout! Without further ado, let’s dive into a journey which started over a year ago!
The Beginnings
The origin’s of this build date back to Brickworld 2024, where I made a host of new friends from the Lego constraction community. After spending a whole weekend learning the dark arts and secrets on how to build creatures and characters, I was incredibly inspired to give it a shot! Specifically, some of my friend’s builds that inspired me included the vibrant colors of Aiden’s (@aiden.builds) Blyrakas, the dynamism of Michael’s (@J6Crash) Sagittarius, and the perfection of Nathan’s (@woomy_world) Karashishi. During convention tear down, they even showed me the internals of their builds and taught me how to use a variety of different techniques to capture a desired look. Overall, I was just itching to build something when I got home, but first I needed some Bricklink orders to acquire some of the constraction basics. In one of the orders, I was recommended by Nathan to grab the Ninjago Rising Dragon Strike head as well as the Ninjago Firstbourne printed eyes. He had used these in his Tempura Dragon, and having a prefabricated head design was much easier for me to start out on. After putting the combo together, I realized a very vague resemblance to the relatively new legendary Pokémon Koraidon, and the concept was formed.
Reality Check
Although much more challenging than I had initially expected, my first draft was complete in no time. I had received feedback from many builders online helping me with part suggestions and giving me a lot of positive feedback. I felt like everything was going great, but in reality the build was going terribly. Ignoring the fact that it just didn’t look great, I reflect now that my vision for the project was all over the place. A large problem that had been brewing from the start was my lack of decision making. I never committed to fully making Koraidon, but I also never differentiated from the key features Koraidon has. This is where the name Koraidon(?) came from, and as can be seen in the final product, this issue lasted throughout the entire build process. From a technical standpoint, I was also all over the place. Although I knew the parts I “should” be using, I was executing things all wrong. I would often use parts that although a similar shape, had very different textures and curvature. In the end, my first attempt is brutal yet somewhat poetic to look back upon. Luckily, I was slapped into shape by some great friends that kept things 100% real with me. Positive reinforcement can be helpful, but left unchecked, I had convinced myself I knew what I was doing, when in reality I was completely lost.
Factory Reset
Dang this was too long to type in one sitting, check back another time to see if I finished this write up!