The key to finding another great builder? This nose knows.

Can you believe that it has been over six months since the last time I have interviewed a builder on BrickNerd? I thought to myself, “that can’t be right”, and yet it was. I decided to remedy that by diving back into the deep end of the LEGO Flickr group photo pool and searching once again for something (or someone) completely different to highlight.

About a page or so into the photo pool, it was this little blue pup that clued me into another builder that I had somehow missed following on Flickr: Philippe Moisan - a self-described “AFOL and math teacher from Québec, Canada”. Philippe has built MOCs across a varying number of themes, but it was his wonderful homages to the original “The Karate Kid” movie series that knocked me senseless and had the Cobra Kai cronies yelling to "get him a body bag!"

For those unfamiliar with “The Karate Kid”, it is one of those coming-of-age movies that seemed ubiquitous growing up in the 1980s, replete with situations like dealing with bullies, doing chores around a neighbor’s house under the guise of it being martial arts training, overcoming adversity, and “getting the girl” in the end—all wrapped up neatly with a dubiously edited finale montage set to music… (I mean, let’s get real. There’s absolutely no way that Daniel gets past Dutch in that tournament and into the finals. Dutch was merciless! That bout definitely needed more screen time for that outcome to be plausible. That scene was the movie equivalent of “and yada, yada, yada - Daniel won”… but I digress.) The movie has spawned its fair share of sequels and reboots, but there is still nothing like the original movie starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita (or its recent hit as a revival series called Cobra Kai on Netflix).

I reached out to Philippe to learn more about him, his builds, and to wax nostalgic about “The Karate Kid” … and to learn if he, like Daniel LaRusso, has an Uncle Louie from Parsippany.

An Interview with Philippe Moisan

Ted Andes: Greetings, Philippe. I recently came across all of your MOCs featuring “The Karate Kid” on Flickr. If you don't mind, I’m sure our readers would also like to learn a bit more about you and your builds.

Philippe: I'm really flattered by your interest. I would be happy to answer what questions you have.

Ted: To start, I noticed that you created your Flickr account in 2016. How long have you been building with LEGO? Did you have a LEGO "dark age"?

Philippe: When my oldest kid got to be three years old in 2009 (I was 32), my mom asked me: ”Do you want your LEGO back for him?”. That was the end of 15 years of dark ages… and also the return of a lost feeling from childhood of having to go to pee, but holding on just a little longer so that I could keep playing with LEGO. I’m sure I’m not the only one who does that, right?

Ted: Wow. Now that you mention it, I still do that myself even as an adult… except these days it is when I’m engrossed playing video games (…just…one…more… level…), or binge-watching a video series (ah man, another cliff hanger?! What happens next?!), or even while trying to finish a MOC round-up article on toilets.

So once out of your dark ages, did you eventually join a LEGO User Group (LUG)? If so, how have things been for your group during the COVID epidemic?

Philippe: I joined QuéLUG in 2015. Our online forum has always been a dynamic place to share and exchange with other AFOLs, even if the heart of the club is largely at the in-person meetings. Since March 2020, we still hold those regular meetings but with Zoom. Thanks to the awesome people who give of their time for the group, they created new games to play during the meetings (like a quiz to find a certain brick in your collection, to name a few). Even if we had fun meetings that way and had the opportunity to visit everyone's home virtually, I’m particularly thrilled to think we will finally have an in-person meeting again in two weeks.

Ted: It’s always great to finally get together in person to catch up with everyone and to see what everyone has been building. Speaking of which, what was it that inspired you to start building your MOCs from “The Karate Kid”? I assume that since you had a karate gi to put your LEGO Miyagi-Do Karate logo onto, that you practice martial arts yourself? Karate, or another discipline?

Philippe: I did karate as a teenager and got my black belt in Yoseikan style around 24 but didn’t keep doing it seriously after that. It’s the “Cobra Kai” series on Netflix that brought the flame back to life. It got me back to karate classes (online) and inspired me to build those MOCs.

Ted: For the Miyagi-Do Karate logo, you mentioned in the comments of your photo that it holds onto the back of the gi with three sets of badge magnets. Even with all of those magnets, how fragile is it when moving around? What challenges did you face when building it?

Philippe: The magnets do the job for holding the logo to the gi. But I had to reinforce the end of the branches of the bonsai tree. On my basement table, everything looked fine, but the first time I wore it (for Halloween) I kept losing leaves because my back is not as flat as the table I built it on (big surprise, right?… I should have known better). Now everything is fixed, and I’m ready for the next convention.

Ted: Looking through your other builds from “The Karate Kid”, is there a reason that your first build in the series was the Cobra Kai logo? Or was it actually Mr. Miyagi’s car collection? (I noticed that the cars you built for his house are posted earlier in your photostream).

Philippe: The stunning Cobra Kai snake at the end of every Netflix show was the spark of inspiration, and that was the first “Karate Kid” project that I started (having watched every episode of the series). I chose to re-watch the “Karate Kid” movies while I was building that logo, and that was when I decided it would be fun to also recreate those magic Mr. Miyagi quotes in LEGO vignettes (like “Wax on… Wax off.”). I kept that project as a little bit of a mystery as I started by building the trucks and cars first, and I had friends wondering why I started building cars all of a sudden (I’m not really a “City” theme guy). I kept the Cobra Kai logo a secret to myself until the entire home of Mr. Miyagi was done as well.

Ted: His house really turned out great! Speaking of Mr. Miyagi, that bust that you built of him was absolutely phenomenal! The likeness of Pat Morita (the actor who portrays him) is unmistakable. What was your building process for creating the bust? Did you do any planning in advance, or did you just sculpt it freestyle? Where does one even begin on a build like that?

Philippe: You see the light bluish gray triangle (tile, modified 2 x 2) under his mouth? That’s where it all started. I built the mouth and beard during the first day. And when the eyes came together the second day, it confirmed me I was going to like the result. I built it from the front to the back and it’s fair to say I built it three times. The first time was to get the shape right. The second time (when I knew the size of the outside) was to build something sturdy inside. And the third time was to rebuild a lot of it because Mr. Miyagi was too skinny. Most of my MOCs are made from pictures I print and hang around my workspace for reference. Before I print them out, I sometimes add a grid over the picture to help with the scaling (like for the Cobra Kai logo).

Ted: Have you had the chance to display any of your Karate Kid MOCs in public yet? What has been the reception?

Philippe: I have not had the chance to show them to a live audience, but hopefully “Deux Tonnes de Briques” will be held in May. I’ve got it all planned: Mr. Miyagi between the Cobra Kai logo and a computer screen showing the quotes, the house is in front of the screen and I’m behind the table dressed like Daniel to talk with the public.

Ted: Do you have any further builds planned from “The Karate Kid”? Perhaps Mr. Miyagi catching a fly with chopsticks?

Philippe: After the success with building the head, I instead decided to keep going in that direction. I did a build of a well-known QuéLUG member, I just finished another of a Canadian politician, and I'm planning to build my grandparents.

Ted: Is there anything else that you would like to share with BrickNerd readers? You mention being a math teacher in your Flickr profile. What math subjects do you teach? (I am an engineer by degree and am currently doing statistical analytic work, so I am just naturally curious about that)… and do you have an “Uncle Louie” living in Parsippany, New Jersey?

Picture of Philippe “Lovin’ it” (even without having poutine gravy and cheese curds on those fries)

Philippe: I teach in high school, mostly algebra and geometry (an evident connection with LEGO here), at the same school I went as a teen in Saint-Marc-des-Carrières (a small rural town near Québec City). Most of my family lives around here, so no, I don’t have an Uncle Louis from Parsippany. ;-)

Ted: Well, I figured that it couldn’t hurt to ask. Thanks so much, Philippe for the time and for sharing more about yourself and your builds.

Philippe: I’m honoured you chose to know a little more about my creations. Hope you had a good time reading.

“Hey, Mr. Miyagi! We did it! We did it! Alright! Woohoo!”

What would you like to see built from The Karate Kid? Let us know in the comments below.

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