Before we get to our guest feature, perhaps a bit of context is in order. When LEGO sends early copies of sets to Fan Media like this site, there’s usually a pretty good hint of what to expect, whether from a clear theme (like Star Wars or Ninjago) or  product numbers that leak long in advance. Very rarely we see an offer where there’s no clue what’s coming, which was the case with a two newly released set labeled only as “Seasons & Occassions – Space” and “Seasons & Occassions – Travel.” Instead of a standad review, we reached out to Margit, a creator we’ve long admired who made our Builder-of-the-Year shortlist, to see if she’d like to receive these mystery sets and make something fun with them. Of course, she delivered – which is only appropriatee considering one of those sets turned out to be a Maersk shipping vessel!

When the Brothers Brick reached out to see if I’d be interested in covering a pair of new sets, all that we knew was that one of them was Space themed, so they asked me to build something under the theme of space and have fun with it. When LEGO generously sent me the sets a week later, they turned out to be the  Up-Scaled Blue Astronaut Minifigure and the Maersk Dual-Fuel Container Vessel. What do these sets have in common other than being Danish icons? Not much!

I was excited to build the astronaut, as I’d been wanting to try one of the upscaled minifigure builds. The build was fun and pretty quick. I loved seeing all the new blue recolored parts! My only complaint is that the figure comes apart at the waist too easily, but I asked the designer, Maddison Stapleton, about it, and she said that was a design requirement because minifigures come apart there.

I wanted to do something with the astronaut, but not change it too much, since it’s a great model. I thought it would look good interacting with something made from the container ship parts. Since I was told to have fun, I had to make a weird, silly creature. I opened all the bags and dumped them out. I picked through the pieces, separating them into parts that interested me (anything with a curve that could be used as an organic shape) and other parts. As soon as I saw the medium azure bow pieces, I knew they would make a great mouth. Then I came across the dark red curved slope pieces, and I knew the big ones would make a perfect tongue, and the more slender ones might make some kind of spine or crest on the creature.

I wanted to use the parts that are unique to the sets, so I decided to use all of the printed tiles to make a box that the creature would be emerging from. That seemed like it would open up a lot of possibilities for storytelling, too. Once I decided on the box, I decided to use the space logo from the astronaut’s chest on the box as well to connect it to the theme.

The astronaut is piloted by a tiny robot, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get infected by space worms, so that part came about pretty quickly.

For storytelling, I was thinking the robot ordered a special parasite remover, and this is what he got.

I did have to add a few extra parts from my collection for the eyes and articulation of the mouth, in addition to a few other snot bricks and tiles, but most of the creature and box comes from the container vessel set.

I did have to add a few extra parts for the eyes and articulation of the mouth, in addition to a few other snot bricks and tiles, and some bricks and Technic connectors for the internals, but most of the creature and box comes from the container vessel set.

Inside the box, a base of bricks provides a counterweight and supports a Technic frame sitting on turntables to get the angle I wanted for the creature’s neck. To hide the internals, I made a lid for the box and connected it to the Technic frame for the creature. It took some experimentation with different Technic connectors to get everything at the angles I wanted.

All in all, I definitely achieved my goal of having fun! I hope you enjoy my little creation too.

With any luck, the creature will soon bring our astronaut friend’s parasite count all the way to zero!

 

LEGO 40921 Up-scaled Blue Astronaut Minifigure| 793 Pieces | Available Now |US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99

LEGO 40955 Maersk Dual-Fuel Container Vessel| 1516 Pieces | Available Now |US $149.99 | CAN $189.99 | UK £139.99

 

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