Mr. Scilingo’s LEGOs

SCILINGO’S LEGOS

TEACHER BUILDS BUSINESS BRICK BY BRICK

Text by RYAN SETO and ANDIE TETZLAFF Photo by RYAN SETO Art by AVERY HANNA

LOVE FOR LEGOS — Palo Alto High School teacher Randy Scilingo happily looks at his online Etsy store where he sells handcrafted LEGO minifigures. “I really like it when people leave their ratings and they leave comments,” Scilingo said. “I've had a few people just say I really enjoy your passion for creating things because your imagination goes wild.”

AS HE CAREFULLY HOLDS a LEGO replica of a medieval helmet the size of a bottle cap, Palo Alto High School anatomy and biology teacher Randy Scilingo delicately brushes another layer of paint across the armor.

While balancing teaching and time with his family, Scilingo has been able to indulge in a unique pastime: crafting his own LEGO minifigures. Scilingo uses resin printing to form these LEGO figurines and accessories. He then uses layers of stickers and different types of paint to make the minifigures more detailed and realistic — from soldiers dressed in Ancient Egyptian clothing to knights in Spartan armor.

Building beginnings

Scilingo began making his custom LEGO minifigures in 2005 and first sold them in 2007. However, his passion for collecting began years earlier after finding websites that sold such collectibles online.

“I got clued into this whole LEGO customizing hobby 20 years ago and I was just fascinated by crazy pictures of some little [LEGO] knights and stuff,” Scilingo said. “So I just started researching, trying to figure out how these LEGO customizers were doing this and started trying to make them myself.”

After a prominent custom minifigure creator ceased production, Scilingo attempted to recreate their high-quality figurines.

“In the early 2000s, there was this one guy who created this little store,” Scilingo said. “The minifigures were incredibly authentic, perfectly proportional ... and realistic looking, with castle weapons and armor and helmets. … I've been working to reverse engineer these little parts.”

Scilingo originally sold his minifigures on eBay to make back the money he had previously spent on collecting LEGOs himself, but he later switched to Etsy where he saw his business grow exponentially.

As his business has grown, Scilingo has been able to invest more money so that he can produce minifigures more efficiently in order to allow LEGO enthusiasts like himself to expand their collections

“Eventually I want to injection-mold these [minifigures] and start selling them to replenish the world's supply, which a ton of weirdos like me really want,” Scilingo said. “It's an adventure and an odyssey, and I'm tripping out that nobody's done it yet.”

Because Scilingo’s minifigures are such high-quality and in limited supply, his clientele spans the entire globe.

“There’s a gentleman in Korea, a couple in Europe, one in Canada and this guy in New York who have bought a lot of my stuff,” Scilingo said. “And these people, … they're so excited to get these parts created.”

Scilingo spreads his passion and gratitude for his creations to his loyal customers and the custom LEGO artist community.

“It's incredible how many discussions and message strings I've had having fun [and] getting to know people, which is just totally unexpected,” Scilingo said. “I have never sent out any of these things that are sold without writing a personal note on a card.”

Scilingo also believes customer satisfaction and generosity are the most important aspects of running his business.

“For those who are repeat customers, there are quite a few times where I've sent out little bonus items, … like an entire new minifigure or a brand new thing that I haven't done yet,” Scilingo said. “That's something that my sons [say] — ‘you're just wasting money on it.’ I know. But, … customer satisfaction is the goal.”

Piecing it together

Throughout this entire journey, however, Scilingo says that the most valuable asset he has gained has been the time working on his hobby with his family.

“My kids have kind of gotten involved so … [that is] one of my favorite parts,” Scilingo said. “My son helps me paint … [and] my daughters have helped me cut out stickers and apply stickers.”

Scilingo hopes to continue growing his business while pursuing his passion for his family and teaching.

“I only have so much time to expand on this [business] since I’ve got three kids to raise and a wife to love,” Scilingo said. “Teaching is my passion, I love teaching biology and anatomy. We've got a lot of big families that we spent a lot of time with … so there's only so much bandwidth and time but I love doing this so much.” v