Pirate Aesthetics

After the Dark Ages

Llano River Blue: There was a period where I stopped playing with toys and stopped collecting toys. I got these messages as I got older that I had to be a certain way and had to conform more. I equate it to my Queer identity, too. I was really gender nonconforming when I was little. To me, those things are really linked. Once I started embracing more of who I am within my Queer identity, I started being like, oh, I never stopped liking toys and building a little world around me and having control over this world.

I got back into LEGO almost 10 years ago. I'm 34 now. Toy collecting started back up very slowly. LEGO especially really gained momentum over lockdown. I'm a filmmaker and stop motion animator. LEGO is a great tool for stop motion animation. That’s like the ultimate level of control. If I'm animating, then I am playing every character. It is kind of like the more adult way to play with toys. I'm not like picking up my Toy Story toys and like smashing 'em together and playing out scenarios anymore.

 Zoe: Is there something special to you about the tactile qualities of LEGOS?

Llano: Uh, yeah, absolutely—just having everything be articulated and moveable and the angles and corners of pieces for sure. There's definitely a tactile element of it. The clicking of putting pieces together is really satisfying. I had a bunch of dental work a while back and I would just keep a LEGO mini-figure in my pocket. And it was like something to focus the stress on.

Zoe: Do you feel that LEGO connects you to your childhood self in some way?

When I was little, I wanted to be a toy designer and toys were really important to me.

Llano: There's this kind of universal-ness. LEGO, particularly like--the design has been essentially the same since the 1950s. So there's very much this through line of -- even though there's new sculpts and new prints and things—there is this timelessness about it. I would say the feel of a figure in your hands and like the way the legs move is something that I can remember feeling when I was little, too.

Zoe: When you make a microenvironment, what do you call them?

Llano: There's an acronym in the LEGO community, MOC. That stands for My Own Creation. So you'd say like I'm building a MOC as opposed to I'm building a “set”—that's something that LEGO gave you instructions for.

Zoe: When you're building a MOC, do you place yourself as a character within it? 

Llano: Not usually. But there's also a thing within that community called a SIG FIG. A SIG FIG means your Signature Figure. I do a lot of personal narrative in other artwork, and I haven't really done personal narrative in Lego. I did do a photo series that was made up to match different existing printed Lego mini figure heads. I would have these like little split screens of me and my look next to my SIG FIG.

Zoe: Are there other terms to know about in the Lego community besides MOC and SIG FIG?

Llano: Yeah. The other big one is AFOL that's Adult Fan of Lego.

Zoe: LEGO appreciation seems like really naturally Queer.

Llano: Right? I think so. It’s certainly creative, which those things often go hand in hand. I'm very connected to the like queer and fem side.

 Zoe: And there's like a customizable element to it. Like the attributes of LEGOS can change. And it makes them like more fluid.

Llano: Yeah, very much so. I was talking about MOCs versus sets--there's a huge side of it that is just like set collectors, following the instructions won't mix and match pieces that much. I'm much more focused on creating my own things and my own characters. As many fandoms are, it's very like white CisHet, male dominated, but I've really found my little community within that. It is so supportive and fun. It’s a great way to have this kind of virtual community. And there's a lot of live streamers. Being able to see what other people are building and commenting on it, getting inspired by each other, people having build challenges where everyone's like building something in the same theme. I’m most active on Instagram. My LEGO Instagram handle is @femmefromtheblock.

Zoe: I'm curious if you have any toys you're exceptionally attached to? 

Llano: I definitely have a handful of things that I've had since I was a kid. There's just like a couple things where it's like, this was too special to sell at a yard sale, you know. Um, but everything that's behind me, that's like pride of place. It's mostly like colorful nineties sci-fi that I loved as a kid. And then most of the Toy Story, I'm not a big fan of Woody, but I love Buzz Light Year and the aliens.

 Zoe: Why Toy Story?

Llano: When I was little, I wanted to be a toy designer and toys were really important to me. So when Toy Story came out, let's see, 1995, I would've been nine. I was just at that prime age. I play with my toys and I think that they're alive. And so like, it was just something that I really responded to.

A Queer Pirate Island

Llano: My Pirate Island is very early in development. I would love to do a stop motion animation with it eventually. But it's getting so big, I don't really have the appropriate set space for it. It's a cool opportunity to be like, oh a black captain, female pirate in the crow's nest. Not super feminine. She's not wearing a corset and like long hair, you know, so it's definitely a fun way to create new characters that you wouldn't see in LEGO specifically. And then like, for whatever reason, you know, I wanted to have my marrrrket or like I've got a pet store and I've got a carrrtographer and all of those have female pirate or like femme-presenting pirate owners.

Just the idea of like business owners that are femme pirates. Like, I don't know, it's just fun--it's a fun way to create my own world. And I think in the LEGO community, so many people have like LEGO cities, and I never was really interested in that because it seemed kind of boring. And then when this idea came to me, I was like, Oh, that would be a really fun way to create a creative little world for myself.

Zoe: How would you define a toy?

Llano: I guess to me a toy is something that's intended for a child to play with.  There's a lot of people in the toy community that, feel the need to be like, I'm an adult and I don't play with toys. I photograph toys.  I build with LEGO. I don't play with LEGO-- like I see a lot of people that are trying to justify-- even I was like, you know, “stop motion animation is kind of the adult version of playing with toys.” But again, I'm still playing with toys. I make money at it sometimes, but I think it's okay for anyone to play with any toys. I don't wanna have to justify my hobby, which a lot of people feel they need to do. I'm still a big kid, you know?

Zoe: Do you think the limitations of the pandemic forced you into a new creativity with LEGOS and if so, I guess I'm wondering, do you see yourself really pushing forward with that?

 Llano: Yes. And yes. I think more than that, It gave me an ability to like make my own world when I didn't have access to the outside world. And then more than that to find a new community, which was so strong, virtually and supportive and creative, was really big during the pandemic.

Zoe: Did you make a lot of new connections then?

 Llano: Absolutely. What changed in the pandemic is I was sharing regularly and getting feedback and giving feedback. That had a lot to do with finding a new community.

I was really adamant that what we don't want is a Pride set.

Tricky Bricks (Lego artists who are part of the Queer Lego community) did a “build a monster“ competition last year and the year before. And so I built this purple creature and was like, this is a really cool character. What would this story be behind this? it was just at that certain point in lockdown where it's like, I have to do something with my life since I can't do any of the things that I used to do. I've always made-up stories since I was really little and made up my own characters. So I made this creature be born out of a seed pod and a witch would bring it to life. There are some undertones in there that I don't think anyone would necessarily pick up on, but like the covenant of witches in the beginning fighting off these skeletons-- there's some environmental messages of this idea that they're protecting a forest. All of the witches have darker skin tones and then they're like fighting these blonde skeletons. So there's some like, white supremacy battling subtext that again, I don't think anyone would really pick up on without me saying it.

This Is the EVERYONE IS AWESOME set which LEGO released last year. And in the original set the figures don't have any accessories or prints and they're just like in a diagonal line, which is very pretty and is definitely aimed at collectors who want to display something. But I had a lot of fun just giving them a little more character, putting some short legs on there and giving them different abilities, which wasn't really represented. So many people did mash ups of this set, which was really cool to see too. People were excited to have this rainbow set and then do their own thing with it.

Just trying to get like a little bit more hair texture in there too is something I was excited to do. And this character with the hat is probably my favorite. (Llano thinks quietly to herself for a second.) I guess I can talk about this: so a couple of months before this set was announced, I was part of a small panel that spoke to LEGO employees about our experience as Queer LEGO fans. We got to talk about, you know, what we would want to see in representation. Again, not knowing that this was about to come out. So I think they were kind of like gauging reaction. This came out June 1st, but it wasn’t like a Pride set. I was really adamant that what we don't want is a Pride set. We want something that's available all year round, representation all year round. And when this was announced, it was saying this is an evergreen set that will always be in the store. So I feel like I helped push that needle.

Llano River Blue (she/her) loves pirates and sci-fi and Toy Story and is an active member of the Adult LEGO Community. When she's not playing with toys, she makes music and movies and talks about identity. Originally from the SF Bay Area, she lives in Portland, OR with her wife and two tiny dogs. You can find @LLANORIVERBLUE on Instagram and YouTube and her LEGO content on Instagram @femmefromtheblock .