I’m a huge fan of custom pad printed LEGO stuff, particularly minifigs. Whether they’re sold as parts like heads, torsos, and legs or as a whole character, I love that I have more options outside of what LEGO offers in sets and Build-a-Minfigure areas in LEGO Stores.
True Red Studio is run by Alex Carrozzino out of Rome, Italy who designs and prints his own LEGO minifigs. In this review, I’ll be looking at three of his custom LEGO minifigs: The Operator, The Boy Far From Home, and Made by Humans.
Disclaimer: These minifigs were sent to me by True Red Studio for review, but all opinions are my own.
LEGO quality
My criteria for acquiring custom LEGO parts is they have to adhere to LEGO aesthetics and use the same printing technology. Essentially, they’ve got to be pad printed and not have overly detailed designs. (For a short overview of UV vs pad printing, see my Brickrock Press review.)
In addition, they must use original LEGO parts for minfigs and tiles.
True Red Studio meets all 3 of my criteria. Under my macro lens, I can see that the printing matches, and in some cases, exceeds LEGO’s print standard for accuracy. Here’s a closer look at The Operator minifig:
From a regular viewing distance, the minifig looks great! The close-up photo of the print detail on the arm reveals some irregularity, but that’s something I expect from LEGO themselves.
Compare the printing of the head to an official LEGO minifig and you’ll see that True Red Studio has a slightly cleaner print:
The glasses aren’t immaculate with the little bumps across the top of the rims but that’s hardly noticeable. The splotches around Owen’s eyes are more noticeable to me at this level of magnification.
If you zoom in even closer, you’ll see ghosting on the beard stubble on the official minifig vs the clean print on True Red Studio’s.
In my typical LEGO photography, I hardly ever shoot this closely so any of these kinds of flaws are insignificant to me.
Character ideas
One thing that sets True Red Studio apart from other LEGO custom makers is his style: a lot of his characters are commentary and there’s a distinct lean towards horror. To your typical LEGO fan, they can be offbeat or bizarre.
The Operator is probably one of the most normal minifigs in his current collection, but the inspiration for it came from real life: “The operator guy came to my mind thinking of a goofy guy who was suddenly thrown inside a spaceship without knowing how to do anything, as unfortunately happens in my country with so many jobs.”
Towards the bizarre end, there’s the Made by Humans character with a glitchy face, swirl print on the hair piece, and a simple message on a plain white torso. He’s chained to a device with “Enter keyword” printed on it.
“Made by Humans is a reference to AI-generated art, which could be the death of something important to art in general. The ease we have today of being able to do anything, whether it’s done well or badly, is to discredit those who have put effort and perseverance into it.”
Somewhere in between normal and bizarre is The Boy Far From Home, a lost alien youth with radioactive hands.
“I tried to keep a funny face, but with a rather serious body. I always try to give a funny look to terrifying and very dangerous creatures,” Alex said of this character.
Availability and pricing
Typical of custom pad print shops, True Red Studio minifigs run about €23-25/$25-27 and are very limited. Pad printing is more difficult and more expensive to set up than UV printing, so once the current stock is gone, they don’t usually come back.
10/10 Rating
I give these True Red Studio minifigs a 10/10 for the concepts, design, and adherence to the quality I expect from LEGO. Everything is printed on original LEGO parts and looks like they could blend in with any LEGO scene.
If you’re a horror fan, check out some of the other minifigs in the True Red Studio collection.