It all started with Superman
Legos have been in my life for a while. As an adult, I wanted to get back into my old hobby. I was lucky enough that my parents kept my legos and shipped me off with them when I moved out. It was a small collection full of random sets. So, I knew that I’d have to start small and build my way up. I wanted to have a city like the ones I’d seen online but didn’t really know where to start. Then I found the set my parents got me a few years earlier for display, and it hit me. Why not build Metropolis? I already had Clark Kent, Prototype Suit Lex Luthor, and Superman. I could just build a city around them. I had watched the 90s Animated Batman and Superman cartoons with such adoration as a child. It seemed like the perfect combination of passions. It also helped me narrow down themes I could focus on.
In my first place with my wife, I didn’t have a lot of space, but I wanted to keep the excitement and goal alive. So, I started with a town center that I was able to display on a small table. For those who are wondering? Yes, that’s Lobo fighting Superman in the middle of the square. The Main Man parts 1 and 2 were my favorite episodes of the series! I was so happy to pick up that set. This is even the original photo I took of the square. Ah, the memories! I also added a minifig set to this scene. It was a park set, but I felt like it’d go great. With them, I was able to add more action to the scene. I even had a temporary Lois Lane taking photos of the fight! I could talk about this for hours, but I thought I’d give you my Lego City origin story for now. I hope you enjoy it! Stay tuned for more sets and plans for the future. I have big plans for the museum and hotel, for starters!
Thanks, everyone! Awkward Ace Out!
Thanks, everyone! Awkward Ace Out!
City Basics
A city is defined by more than just buildings. It's also about the people who fill it. As I work to design and expand the Museum and Hotel from the set that started this journey, I'd like to show you a couple of sets and how I fill them out into a story. So I saw this lovely corner shop with apartments and had to get it. I looked through my Mini figure collection to bring life to it. I fill out my town a couple of ways. I love collecting the series; they're about to release series 25! I also go to shops to build characters. I really enjoy that because if I ask someone to accompany me, I can ideally get them to create at least one mini with me. I consider those ones special. I get another person's perspective
That might sound confusing, right? A minifig only comes with a few parts. Well, let me tell you a brief story. I had my birthday back in April, and I wanted to build a bunch of characters. My siblings helped choose a couple of them, and I have to say it was a blast. How would I have ever imagined adding a nonbinary mini and a bar wench! As I write this now, I only regret not asking them to name their people. I will definitely try that in the future because I love having a piece of love from the people closest to me wandering in my city. Once again, adding character to my city. As for me in the picture above, I snuck a fun guy into the shot. The moment I saw him, I knew his name would be Stan Lee, after one of the greats in the comic world. Now for all you nerds out there, Stan Lee may be from the Marvelverse, but he's worth so much to the comic world that he belongs in my DC city. He meant so much to me as well:
So, in Stan Lee fashion, he has a cameo in my Metropolis. The is definitely more to come. I might even sneak a peak into the first floor of my museum in a mini post here shortly.
As a farewell, here is how I introduce my brand new sets into the city:
As a farewell, here is how I introduce my brand new sets into the city:
Lois Lane visits local Farmer's market for grand opening:
-Awkward Ace Out!
I'm Just a Girl in the material world
Making Metropolis has been quite the experiment for me. There are so many more questions to answer than I originally anticipated, but I wanted to start with my biggest roadblock: pieces. I have all the legos from my childhood, thanks to my Mom. Who kept them all for me until I moved out. I had long since turned to other forms of entertainment for my day-to-day. I figured that's the best place to start for pieces. I began the incredible task of sorting them. I went on YouTube briefly for answers, but I quickly ran into a strange problem: not enough pieces to do a mass sorting system like most current YouTube builders, but enough pieces that I needed some sort of smaller version. Not to mention, my Mom focused on non-city sets when I was a child. So I have aliens, dinosaurs, cowboys, and knights. For which I am super grateful but it won't help my city. The aliens will help for Superman flare, though, so yay!
So now I'm at the point of figuring out which is easier: buying bulk colors first, then sorting them to build buildings, or I can design buildings, then get the individual pieces I need for each separate building. I've been working on this for two years. My answer is currently: I'm doing a strange mix of both? It's complicated… I think, much like my city corner sets, I want to build what I would consider cornerstones of my world-building that will inspire everything else. Those sets will most likely need to be designed and then get the specific pieces. Like my current project, which is a museum that is being expanded from my original street corner set. Here is a picture of the original building:
Anyone following me on my socials will know that this has been a year-long project that is still in its building phase. My main departure from what the Lego Ideas contest did was that I'm using it to honor the history of Lego sets. Not human history. My plan for the ground floor is different space minifigs from my childhood. Then, the other floors will feature each of my main childhood sets of pirates, cowboys/sheriff, medieval knights, and ninjas/samurai. I'm talking about the sets before Ninjago, by the way. My ninjas will look like this:
Enough on that, though. I want a full series on it. Other buildings I'd like to build are S.T.A.R. labs, The Daily Planet, and possibly CatCo. I would also like to include a retro arcade, park, and bank. I haven't decided if I should use the leftover alien-themed pieces to make the arcade or not. The bank is definitely going to look like the kind that's been around forever and be near the capitol building. If you have any thoughts, let me know!
When I move to putting in buildings that fill negative spaces, I will turn to bulk buying, especially when it comes to houses and apartment buildings. I can pick color schemes and get sets off eBay. I'm excited about this, too, because I think most of my ideas will come from discovering fun colors and unique pieces to let my imagination run wild. I might do a neon-themed bowling alley. Who knows?
Stay tuned!
Awkward Ace Out!
- "What if a child dreams of becoming something other than what society had intended? What if a child aspires to something greater."Jor-El
- "It's not an S, on my world it means hope."Superman
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