Any The Office TV show fans here? Peter has something for you. Enriched with many details and favourite characters, he brings The Office set, based on the Dunder Mifflin office from this popular series, to your hands.
Help us congratulate SoGenius106 in the comments!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
My name is Peter.
- Where are you from?
I am from Canada.
- What hobbies do you have?
Obviously building and collecting LEGO, but I also enjoy making art and playing video games in my free time.
- How and when did your interest for LEGO products come about?
My Interest started when I got my first LEGO set when I was 6 years old, I got a Star Wars LEGO X-wing for Christmas. It was a bit difficult to build, but I had fun playing with it once it was done being built.
- What is LEGO for you? What does it mean for you? How does it fit in your life? E.g. build, display, meetups, play the games.. or 'just' watch the cartoons.
LEGO is pretty significant to me. You can make anything with LEGO bricks, it’s fun to see what people can make with it. I build with LEGO for many reasons, I very much enjoy the building process because I get to see how the set was designed and I may learn new building techniques. I also like the display factor, to me I think LEGO can make a great piece of decor in your home. I like to display most of my sets anywhere in my home that fits, this is so I can see and appreciate them.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
My favourite LEGO theme is Ideas. I like that I am building a LEGO set that a fellow Ideas member thought of and came up with. Ideas has a vast array of sets, this theme has inspired me to use my imagination to cook up any idea I think of. The LEGO Ideas theme has inspired me to plan and think of some original ideas that I still haven't made yet and are still written on paper.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set? Why?
There are two sets I love, LEGO Wall-e and LEGO 123 Sesame Street. I really do love the new 123 Sesame Street set, but I would have to say I love the Wall-e set a bit more. The reason LEGO Wall-e is my favourite set is because of how true it is to its movie counterpart. I love the expression it was given, the pieces used to make the poseable eyes and hands make it life-like. But also the things I enjoy most about it are its many possible poses and its playability. The arms can move front to back, side to side, and rotate 360 degrees, it truly is movie-accurate from the treads to every single hinge and ball joint.
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
Element #48831 is my favourite. This little bird piece is probably one of the cutest pieces out there. I like its subtle one-stud design and when added to a set it can make all the difference.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
I love The Office (US) show, so I decided to create a set around that. I love this show because to me it is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen, it’s one of my favourite shows to watch. I thought if there was one set I would love to buy it would be based on the office.
- How long was the process of making the project did, and what did you have to research as well. What kind of prep, research and design phases did you go through to produce your creation?
This was the second project I have ever submitted on LEGO Ideas, back then I had little if not any experience building LEGO digitally. Since this was in my early days of building this creation, I remember just going for it and planning as I went. I did look at various scenes from the show of course to verify its accuracy.
- If you could talk to yourself before you started on this project, what would you tell him/her? What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
I wish I would have told myself to get my project out there more. Promoting your projects is key, I wasn't sure how to do that back then, but I’ve learned along the way.
- How long did it take to complete the model? Did you finish it fairly quickly, or did it take a long time? And how did the build time compare to the time you spent promoting your Product Idea to reach 10,000 supporters?
Due to this set’s simple nature, it took me only a few days to build. It took a very long time for this project to hit 10K, I believe it was because the photos didn’t look so pleasing at first, but I later revisited the model and made newly updated renders.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
It took a while to sink in because it was very crazy at first to have hit 10K. It took a little over two years for this project to hit 10,000. It felt very rewarding because of the time spent waiting and promoting, even though there were times I thought it wasn’t going to get to 10K because of how little time it had left. This project hit 10k about 8 days before it was set to expire, this is what really made me nervous, knowing that this project was so close to 10K but had little time to get there. I am very thankful for everyone who voted in its final weeks. I am proud of this achievement and feel deserving of it.
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
This model uses 722 pieces.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
Not so much a technique but I like how I created "invisible walls” in this set. If you take a look, this set is missing some walls and doors in the front view. This was done to provide a more open set that could be viewed from most angles, rather than just having a top viewing angle if all 4 walls were put in place.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
When I first made this project in early 2019 I designed it in LEGO Digital Designer and rendered it in software called Pov-ray. At first, I thought these renders were pretty good but as I learned over the years about building and rendering models I decided to give it a refresh. This year (2021) I imported this project into another LEGO software called Mecabricks, I then decided to make some subtle changes and adjustments to it. I then imported that new model into a 3D animation program called Blender, this is how I got the model to look close to realism. The comparison between the old and new images is night and day, quite literally in fact.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
Just create something you've always wanted in LEGO form, have fun with it.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
At first, I did not, but then as the days were running short for it I promoted as much as I could, most notably in Blocks Magazine Issue 77.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
One of my favourite product ideas is BRICK PROJECT’s Ratatouille: Re-open the Doors project, what I like about this one is that he got all the little areas right from the film, like the glass ceiling portion, and all of the excellently custom replicated LEGO Prints. I also like that he expanded the dining area in this version of his build. Another favourite of mine is ExeSanbox’s Spongebob Squarepants: Krusty Krab, his rendition of the Krusty Krab is really accurate and vibrant. One of my favourite things is how well he did the boat mobile, and the dining tables inside.
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
I like that a big company like LEGO is giving us the opportunity to think of a possible LEGO product. I like that I am given the opportunity to think up an idea that could be on store shelves possibly. For those thinking of uploading on LEGO Ideas, I would highly advise you to put some nice level of detail and time in the project, I can assure you it will pay in some way. Also, make sure that your images are nicely taken/rendered, presentation is key.
- Do you have plans to submit any other Product Ideas in the future? If yes, can you give us a hint what that might be?
I have quite of few projects that I plan on making, but the next project I submit is going to be very “tasty” you could say.
By
Kamila9