It’s been well advertised including the titular minifigure in your Building Entries is not a requirement.
Nonetheless, the lack of an official Steve minifigure may deter some from entering… so let’s put those concerns to rest!
The Contest rules firmly state including the Steve minifigure or Cutter Ship is not mandatory so this is merely a creative challenge for you to overcome.
But if you’re dead in the water and need guidance, the Classic Pirates will help you move forward…
What Do the Rules Say?
The rules are pretty lenient, actually…
Including the Steve minifigure is NOT mandatory, nor is including The Cutter ship.
Steve can depicted at any age, wearing any clothes… on any ship or location around the world… maybe when he’s older he has a grey beard… or no beard at all…
Your Entry could also be focused on a supporting character or without any minifigures at all!
For example; a mini build, a maxi figure, a mosaic portrait, etc.
Given Steve isn’t required to look identical to the classic minifigure, you’ve been afforded plenty of creative freedom.
What’s more, Steve’s appearance varied in official media.
Steve’s appearance has never been set in stone, not even in the official artwork
For example; in the Skulls Eye Schooner box art, he dons an eye patch and bicorne with Jolly Roger insignia – a vastly different visage from what we observe in the artwork associated with the The Imperial Trading Post.
Be sure to read the Who IS Steve? article so you may witness this evolution and perhaps gain some inspiration towards how you may approach Steve without a Steve minifigure.
But if yer still stuck, read on…
Build Steve from Similar Parts
For some, this is a given… This is LEGO after all, and builders have been updating classic minifigures with modern parts ever since modern parts have existed to update them with!
Here’s a selection of contest Entries which have substituted various Steve parts
The rules also state that Steve can be depicted at any age, so naturally we should expect him to appear differently during other phases of his life.
Steve as a young lad on the left… and an old codger on the right
Browse the Entries Index to observe how other Participants have incorporated Steve into their Entries without the official minifigure.
Build Steve Digitally
It just so happens BrickLink Studio has all the parts necessary to assemble a classic Steve, but you may use whatever software yer please.
An assortment of digital Steves entered into the Contest
So if you have digital designer skills, this could be a convenient way to overcome a lack a physical parts.
Build an Entry Without Minifigures
This may be an outrageous suggestion but you don’t have to include minifigures in your Building Entry!
There be plenty of creative solutions to ensure your entries remain compelling without populating them with little LEGO people!
Mini and Micro Builds
The Classic Pirates keep stressing you don’t need to spend a vast amount of time building gigantic Entries for this Contest!
Dynamic building duo, 13 year old Sydney and her father, SevenDeadlyStreamers show us how its done with their “Mini Imperial Trading Post“.
The minimum Part Count is 25 Pieces so your Micro Build could be smaller this 156 Piece Build
An entire LEGO Set is quite an ambitious feat, just The Cutter ship alone would suffice providing you used at least 25 Pieces.
But Sydney was even more ambitious… after submitting their initial build, SevenDeadlyStreamers devised an ingenious solution for incorporating minfigs into their Micro Scale creation.
Decals and stickers are another method you can incorporate Steve into your builds
Sydney constructed the minfigs in BrickLink Studio and then SevenDeadlyStreamers converted them into decals before applying them to 1×1 translucent bricks.
Pretty clever, huh?
Sydney has already won a 25€ LEGO Set Prize for this Entry and deserves to WIN more prizes – unless you wish to rise to the challenge and demonstrate some ingenuity!
Maxi Figures
Instead, you could go in the opposite direction and build a gigantic Steve maxi-figure!
LEGO House 40504 A Minifigure Tribute released in 2023
During 2023, the Captain Redbeard minifigure was re-imagined and reconstructed as a maxi-figure for a LEGO House Exclusive set, 40504 A Minifigure Tribute.
So how do yer fancy building a Steve maxi-figure? And if you should happen to possess the Captain Redbeard tribute, perhaps yer could borrow the face to create a larger than life Pirate Steve!
Mosaics
In recent times The LEGO Group has expanded the format of LEGO Sets to compass a wider variety of building styles and artistic forms.
Mosaics by nature are an obvious choice; tiling smaller pieces to compose a larger, two dimensional picture.
Official set 76271 Batman: The Animated Series Gotham City
mosaic
The LEGO Art range has given us everything from the Milky Way, to the Mona Lisa to Batman to The Beatles, but not one pirate!
You don’t have to depict Steve in three dimensions
Leave it to the fans to innovate!
Above are a couple of LEGO Mosaics by intrepid builders; “Lego Mosaic Jack Sparrow” by Dave Ware and “Classic Lego Pirate” by Matt and Libby Shailer of PerthLUG.
Now, how could you give Steve the same treatment?
But don’t limit yourself to Mosaics, perhaps there be other art styles yer could lend yer hand to…
Focus on Other Characters
Steve is not the only character in Steve’s story… who’s that stripey sailor seen onboard The Cutter with Steve?
Who be this? How did he come to sail with Steve? What happened to him after Steve became a pirate?
What happened at the Imperial Trading Post after Steve joined the Skulls Eye Schooner crew? Did Admiral Woodhouse miss him?
And what of the storyline exploring the blue coat Soldiers commandeering The Cutter and re-stationing it Eldorado Fortress?
What Do Yer Think?
Are yer bold enough to tackle an Infamous Steve Entry without the Steve minifigure?
We have TWO Grand Prizes; Sets of your choice to the value of $215/215€
Or are yer gonna sit on the sidelines and let someone else WIN the Prizes – all because you don’t have a particular minifig?
What kind of wretch does that? Not YOU – so get building!
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