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Hey guys, I’m back with yet another discussion question. A more specific question, but I think it’s simpler than the others. Do you use blood/gore in your battle scenes or MOCs in general?

I mention this because battle scenes with blood and battle scenes without have different feelings, not necessarily one better than the other but they certainly evoke a different sense. So, how do you guys feel? Do you use blood/gore? Do you like it when other builders use it?

I, as a general rule, don’t use it in large-scale battle scenes. However, in smaller MOCs, I have used some gruesome depictions to show a scene (My “You’ve been Chopped!” vignette makes use of a red flag piece for a blood squirt following decapitation).

Another question worth mentioning, is there a limit on the amount of blood/gore in a MOC before it becomes too ridiculous? Less is more, or do you prefer to go Tarantino style in your builds?

In the specifics of things, some builders use trans-red, while others use plain red, which do you use, if you use any at all? Do you feel one is better than the other?

Looking forward to what you guys have to say.

I prefer using small amounts. If done right, 0 gore can get the feeling across just as good if not better, similar to how old horror movies were still scary without even seeing blood. I also prefer trans-red as opposed to flat red. Being a customizer, it's great to see screen printed items or the awesome spill/splat piece that BrickForge produced used for blood effects. The fun thing about LEGO is that dismemberment and decapitation to a minifig can look both horrible and comical depending on the mood you choose to set. A credit has to go to the post 2000 heads for giving us expressions of shock and fear on our minifigs. I still like seeing some MOCs that use flat red as blood, but for me, I need trans-red.

I've never built a MOC with blood in it and have no plans to, but I'll weigh in with my opinions.

Blood in a MOC always looks weird to me, and I think it's because LEGO is a very "wholesome" activity and the minifig designs don't really lend themselves to genuine drama or horror. At best, a gory scene looks like it's making light of horrible violence, and at worst, I tend to wonder if the builder has issues that should get checked out...

Okay, that's not fair. Honestly, I don't judge people for including blood in a scene, especially given the popularity of historical warfare themes among the AFOL crowd. It's just not my cup of tea.

Seconding the preference for trans-red over plain red for blood effects, though. Even though real blood is basically opaque, trans-red just looks more liquid.

And the Brickforge splat piece is indeed awesome. I should probably order some for my own special effects.

I use blood effects occasionally, but I generally try to avoid extremely gory scenes, just cause I don't like them.

When I do I use trans red. Though, I've seen some great use of normal red. Like in the MOC you mentioned, Overload.

Mark of Falworth wrote:I use blood effects occasionally, but I generally try to avoid extremely gory scenes, just cause I don't like them.

When I do I use trans red. Though, I've seen some great use of normal red. Like in the MOC you mentioned, Overload.

I am like you Mark, I just don't like gory scenes. I do use blood effects in some scenes, but i'm not one of those guys that gets thrills and excitement over things that are just gruesome (movies like SAW that just have senseless violence, as an example).

I don't usually use blood in my MOCs unless it is a small scene like the one I did for GC4 where you absolutely need to convey that a minifig is dead (since there isn't really a good way to depict death on most minifig faces).

Occasionally I'll use some blood/gore in my builds. I prefer just enough to get your point across though.