AHSOKA WAS ANAKIN SKYWALKER’S PADAWAN during the Clone Wars, but left the Jedi Order before The Jedi Purge. After helping the Rebellion overthrow the Galactic Empire, she began a quest to locate Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn. With her uniquely striking design, we knew capturing the essence of Ahsoka in LEGO form was a must.
Ahsoka Tano has a very striking look that distinguishes her from a lot of other Star Wars characters. We really wanted to accurately capture all the details in her costume, as well as the determination in her face and stance.
The model’s palette of Black, Dark Stone Grey and Bright Orange made the selection of LEGO® parts quite broad which helped immensely with the build. Ahsoka’s costume is quite complex, with a variety of colours and textures across almost every area. Even her shoes and shins have a mix of black fabric and armoured plates.
LEGO® BRICKS
BUILD HOURS
Her billowing pants, reminiscent of Japanese tattsuke hakama, were sculpted with folds and crevices to mimic the loose flowing fabric. The glow of her Lightsaber blades do an amazing job of highlighting all the work we put into making these look natural.
Adding the belt’s beading details was a fun challenge, we achieved this using a combination of 1 x 1 round LEGO bricks, flex tube and LEGO Technic™ elements. These were secured to the model with Technic elements and stacks of round plates built into the model, adapting to the changing direction of the beads. We also found a NPU (Nice Part Usage) for a LEGO broom, which mimicked the tassel at the end of the beads!
Crafting Ahsoka’s face was an exceptionally complex undertaking, but we were fortunate that Bright Orange and White offer a decent selection of elements to work with. Our challenge extended beyond simply capturing actress Rosario Dawson’s silhouette; we also had to meticulously build in her distinctive facial markings. This involved numerous changes in stud direction and intricate SNOT (Studs Not On Top) techniques. It demanded countless hours of design and refinement, but the final result was undeniably worth the effort.
Her entire face was also angled slightly downward within the frame of her headdress and lekku (head tails) to further convey her determination. The symbols on her headdress were made using triangular street signs and two minifig shields. We utilised a significant amount of LEGO plate to add crucial detail and resolution to key areas, such as the striking Sand Blue stripes on her lekku and montrals (horns).
Beyond getting her face right, the hardest part of the build was getting her hands in the right positions for her Lightaber blades to cross, but not collide. To achieve this, we carefully twisted the forearms on one axis and then again at the wrist. We also built the hands on the same axis as the Lightsaber, meaning they met the wrists at 45º. This meant we could fill this angled gap neatly with slope bricks. Her Lightsaber designs were fairly modular, meaning we were able to adjust them to fit in her hands relatively easily.
Witness these incredible models and more at the world-first LEGO® Star Wars: The Exhibition. Embark on an epic, hands-on adventure through the Star Wars galaxy – Created by Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught and his talented team with over eight million LEGO bricks and 25,000+ build hours. Now open at Melbourne Museum.
